Chapter 75

Chapter 44 For what seemed like the hundredth time, Grayson knocked on my bedroom door. "Poppy, seriously," he said in an annoyed tone. "Get the hell out of your room. You look so damn perfect and you don't have to get ready any longer." I rolled my eyes as I put on the necklace Grayson gave me for Christmas. "Grayson, you don't know what I look like right now," I said. "You can wait. I'm almost ready." "My god, hurry the hell up," he said. "Someone's impatient," I said. "You know, I thought you would actually be all nice and stuff on prom day." "Shut up and hurry up before I break down your door." I walked over to my bedroom door and opened it. "There, I'm ready to go. You don't have to be so pushy." Grayson didn't reply. He looked my prom dress up and down before looking at me. "Holy crap. You... You look so damn beautiful." I smiled, going on my tiptoes to press a kiss on his cheek. "Aw, you got lipstick on my cheek!" he exclaimed in disgust, wiping the lipstick off his cheek. "What are you complaining about?" I asked. "I kiss you all the time when I wear lipgloss." "You never wear red lipstick," Grayson said. "Which, by the way, makes you look sexy, but still. I don't want it on my cheek." He sighed and handed me the corsage he was holding. Black, his favorite color. I didn't even tell him what color my prom dress was. I was planning on getting red, my favorite color, but I decided to get Grayson's favorite. He put it on my wrist before leaning down and kissing my cheek. "So I can't kiss your cheek but you can kiss mine?" I asked. "I'm not wearing lipstick," he pointed out. "Let's just go." He took my hand and led me downstairs where my parents were waiting. Mom wanted to see my prom dress since I refused to show anyone and Dad wanted to take a lot of pictures. A lot. "Oh my gosh," Mom gushed with a huge smile on her face. "Poppy, you look so beautiful!" "Thank you," I said, smiling back. "Gene, take some pictures," Mom said, slapping Dad's shoulder. "Hurry up!" "Hold on a second," Dad said as he turned on the camera. He got Grayson and I to pose for a lot of pictures since my dad was obsessed with taking them. Finally, he finished. "Oh, don't forget that you mother and I won't be here after you get back, Poppy." I nodded. It was my mom's sister's birthday and she lived out of town. I was going to go with them, but they had to leave before prom ended and there was no way I was going to miss the best night of my high school life. My parents weren't even going to be back until the next day. "Have fun," Mom told us as Grayson and I walked out of the house and to his car. When we got to the school, I was extremely excited to get to the gym. The prom theme was Hollywood and I couldn't wait to see the decorations. Grayson held out his elbow and I wrapped my hand around it before we walked to the gym. A red carpet was at the entrance for us to walk down with velvet ropes on both sides. The color scheme was black, red, and silver. The gym looked absolutely beautiful. As soon as Grayson and I got in the gym, Thalia walked over to us. "Wow, Poppy, I love your dress," she said with a smile. Belle wasn't so happy that I forgave Thalia, but I couldn't blame her. In my opinion, Thalia hurt Belle a lot more than she hurt me. However, I was quick to forgive people and after Thalia explained why she hated me, I completely understood. "Thank you," I said, returning the smile. "I love your dress as well." Thalia thanked me. Her dress was absolutely beautiful. It was a simple dress, though; red with sequins on the straps and around the belt area. "By the way," she said. "I already voted for you two as prom king and queen." "Aw, man!" Grayson whined. "I don't want to be prom king! It's too much attention." I rolled my eyes. "You think everything is too much attention." It was true. In the yearbook, Grayson and I won the cutest couple and he complained about it, saying that it was attracting too much attention. "Just think, if we win, you get to rub it in Belle's face because apparently, you don't like her again." "I kind of hope we win now," Grayson said. "Well, good luck," Thalia said. "I should go find my boyfriend now." That was another reason why I forgave Thalia. She had a boyfriend now and I could tell that they definitely loved each other a whole lot. His name was Roland and he was really sweet to her. I was happy for Thalia. When Thalia walked away, Grayson turned to face me. "Why are you so forgiving at times?" Grayson asked. "She was so mean to you, yet you forgave her." I shrugged. "Everyone deserves a second chance," I said. "Besides, look at her." I gestured towards Thalia, who was currently hugging Roland. "Look how happy she is. Yes, she was mean to me, but I understand why." "Not everyone deserves a second chance," Grayson muttered under his breath. "Oh, really?" I asked. "Didn't I give you a second chance?" Grayson sighed. "Yeah, you're right. You know what? Let's just go dance. Have fun. Possibly make out later. Who knows?" I rolled my eyes and led him towards the dance floor. For the next two hours or so, Grayson and I spent the time dancing, eating food, and talking. So far, the night was perfect. Thalia was one of the people in charge of prom, so she was the one to announce prom king and queen. When the music stopped, so got on the stage and walked to the microphone. "I suppose everyone is having a great night," she said, which got a lot of people to cheer. "And now, it's the moment you've all been waiting for. Prom king and queen. Can I get all the nominees on the stage please?" Our school was doing it differently than how it was normally done. Instead of having individuals running, most people wanted to elect couples to run. A total of six couples were nominated, two of them being me and Grayson, and Belle and Devon. Belle's dress was beautiful. It was a pale pink color with sequins as the chest area and the straps. Once all the couples were on the stage, someone handed Thalia an envelope. "Here it is," she said. "The prom king and queens. Though I'm pretty sure we all know who it is." I didn't... "Without further ado, your prom king and queen is..." She opened the envelope and pulled a piece of paper it. "Not-so-coincidentally the cutest couple, Grayson Prince and Poppy McCormick!" "Dammit," Grayson muttered. He then sighed and pulled me into a hug. We didn't even have the choice to be nominees. Thalia nominated us. I think she wanted to show me and Grayson that she didn't hate me anymore for dating her ex. Thalia put the crowns on our head, then picked up the microphone. "Now it's time for the king and queen dance," she said. When the slow song was on, Grayson took my hand and led me to the middle of the dance floor. His arm wrapped around my waist while he kept his other hand in my. I rested my hand on his shoulder. "I really hate this attention," he said to me. "I thought you liked being center of attention," I teased. "Well, everyone does get to see how fine I am," Grayson said. "You're not mad that we won, right?" I asked. Grayson shook his head. "No, of course not. I'm not up to the whole prom king and queen thing, but we didn't really have a choice. And now, I can dance with you and everyone knows you're mine. Especially that Henry." "You know he stopped hitting on me, right?" I asked. "Yeah, but I still don't like him," Grayson said. "You don't like a lot of people," I pointed out. "Henry, Belle, Thalia..." "Nah, Thalia's okay now," Grayson said. "You're right, she is happy now. And she's nice to you again, so she's alright in my book. Belle on the other hand, is a devil spawn. Worse than that Munro kid." "What?" I asked. "No way. Munro was much worse than Belle. Belle never called you an old man, has she?" "No, but she... I don't know, she's just a devil spawn," Grayson said. "So, are you excited for graduation?" "Knowing that we'll both going to MDC, yeah," I said. "I didn't want to be separated from you. And Belle and Devon are also going to MDC. I won't lose any of my friends." Yes, I considered Devon to be my friend. It was weird at first, but he actually was a very sweet guy. "Great, the devil spawn is going," Grayson said. "Any chance she can not go?" "No," I said. "Can you stop hating on her for tonight? You can do it another time. This is our last high school dance. Be nice." "Fine," Grayson said, looking around the gym. "When is everyone else going to dance?" "Soon, I guess," I said. "Don't worry, I also hate being center of attention." "Not as much as me," Grayson said. "But I'm dancing with you, so it evens out." I smiled at him. "You know, I would kiss you right now, but you probably don't want lipstick on your lips." "Screw it," Grayson said before he leaned down and pressed his lips on mine for a short kiss. When he pulled away, he said, "Please tell me I didn't get lipstick on my lips." I shook my head. "No, you're safe from that." "Good," Grayson said. "Because I get to kiss you again." I smiled as our lips connected again, also for a short kiss. When we pulled away, I wrapped my arms around him in a hug. "I love you, Flower." "I love you too, Grayson," I said. For the rest of the night, we danced together, taking a few breaks here and there. When it was over, he led me to his car so we could head home. Like my parents said, they were gone by the time we got home. We both went to our rooms to change out of our clothes and into pajamas. And by that, I meant my in a pair of shorts and one of Grayson's shirts, and Grayson in just a pair of sweats. We decided to watch a movie together. Even though we danced a whole lot tonight, I was not tired at all and it was almost midnight. We got onto my bed after I turned my TV on. I snuggled closer to Grayson, resting my head on his chest and tracing my finger over his poppy tattoo while we watched the movie. Not even ten minutes after the movie started, I zoned out. I was too busy thinking about something a bit... personal. "Poppy?" Grayson asked. "What are you thinking about?" "Nothing," I lied. "What makes you think that?" "You're not paying attention to the movie," he said. "What's up?" "It's, uh, embarrassing," I muttered. "And awkward." Grayson snorted. "Flower, nothing you say to me will be embarrassing or awkward. You can trust me with anything. You know that, right?" "Yeah, but... I don't know. It's too awkward for me to say." "I'm serious," he said. "Nothing you say will be awkward." "Why haven't we had sex yet?" I asked before I could stop myself. "... What?" I sighed, burrowing my face in his chest as my cheeks started burning. "Nothing," I muttered. "Wait, that's what you thought was awkward and embarrassing?" Grayson asked. "Because you're wondering why we've never had sex? Poppy, there's nothing awkward or embarrassing about asking that. And to answer you're question, I honestly don't know. Couples don't have to have sex." "I know," I said. "The time will come when it comes," Grayson said, holding me tighter in his arms. "Why did you ask that?" I shrugged. "It's just been on my mind recently, since we found that one bedroom apartment. We'd have to share a bed and one thing leads to another and... I don't know. I'm sorry for making this awkward." Grayson laughed. "Poppy, you didn't make this awkward. You asked a question, that's all. Just focus on the movie, okay? And never be afraid to ask me a question. It doesn't matter what it is. All you have to do is trust me." I looked at him and smiled. "You're the best." I gave him a quick kiss before laying back down.