Chapter 18 and 19

Chapter 18

~Grayson~

"Grayson," Dad snapped as he marched into the living room. He snatched the

TV remote out of my hand and turned off the TV. "You are not allowed to watch TV."

"What, why?" I asked.

Dad narrowed his eyes at me. "First, we are having very important guests come over soon. And secondly, you took off yesterday doing the family dinner. It was worse when we already ordered the food and nobody could eat it."

I crossed my arms and leaned back. "So?"

"Grayson, you need to stop acting like this," Dad said. "Not everything can go your way."

Tell me about it. Breaking up with Poppy was stupid to say the least, but I couldn't seem to get it to her how much harm Dedrick can do to a person. She already got hurt by Belle's stupid brother and I didn't want Poppy to go through that again. What Ben did, Dedrick has done many times, especially to the girlfriends of his enemies. I couldn't put Poppy through that.

"You honestly think I try getting my way?" I asked. "What about Graeme? He gets every damn thing he wants!"

"Don't raise your voice at me," Dad snapped. "And your brother doesn't get anything he wants. Your brother liked Poppy, but you had to take her instead."

I couldn't believe what he was saying. "Are you serious? First, Poppy was my friend first and I liked her first. She was my first girlfriend, but instead, you see it as taking something away from Graeme, like always!"

Dad turned away from me and faced the stairs leading upstairs. "Gale!" he called. "Please come talk some sense into your younger brother!"

I almost laughed. Yes, please talk some sense into me. If only Dad noticed that Gale always took my side. Sucker.

Gale came down the stairs. "What's this about?" she asked.

"Your brother is acting like he always gets his way," Dad said.

"No I'm not!" I objected. "Dad's getting mad at me because I apparently took someone away from Graeme!" I looked at Dad. "I liked her first!"

Gale sighed. "Dad, do you mind giving Grayson and I some privacy? I'll talk some sense into him."

Dad nodded. "Please. I'll be upstairs. Remember, we're having a very important guest coming over shortly." Dad went upstairs as Gale sat beside me.

"Talking about Poppy?" Gale asked.

"Apparently, I took her away because Graeme liked her first," I told her, urging to punch something. Or someone. Preferably my stupid brother. "I just wish he would know about Graeme's stupid game to date every single girl that has been close to me. Poppy was the only one who didn't fall for it. And I made the stupid mistake to fall for her." I muttered the last part, mostly because I was angry over the break up, even though I was the one to do it.

"You're such an idiot," Gale scoffed. I looked at her, confused. "I told you not to get too close to anyone. But you had to ignore me and fall for someone."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, because I can totally control falling for someone." I scoffed. "And I'm the idiot."

Gale sighed and shook her head. "You chose to get close to her. It's all on you."

"It doesn't matter anymore," I muttered. "She's no longer my girlfriend."

Gale looked at me, her face unreadable. Finally, she spoke up. "What happened?"

"Dedrick," I said. "That jerk. When Poppy and I left, we went to the beach and ran into Dedrick and Devon. Dedrick found out that Poppy was my weakness and I don't want her getting hurt again, so I broke up with her."

"What do you mean getting hurt again?" Gale asked.

I shook my head. "Doesn't matter. It's in the past now."

Graeme decided to come down the stairs then and sit on the couch beside me. "Well, if it isn't the girlfriend stealer?"

"Shut the hell up." I snapped. "She never was your girlfriend and she never will be."

Graeme gave me a fake pout. "You really hurt me, brother. You took girl I like."

"Drop the act, douche," Gale said. "I don't know why you do the game."

Graeme smirked. "It's fun."

I was so close to beating the crap out of my brother. He was literally the worst family member ever. What kind of brother does what he did?

If the doorbell didn't ring, I probably would have beat Graeme. He was lucky.

Graeme looked at me. "Go get the door, Grayson," he said. "You're the youngest."

"Well, you're the douche of the family," Gale retorted. "You get it."

"Shouldn't the girls be answering the door?" Graeme asked.

"Just get the damn door!" I yelled at Graeme. I was not in a good mood at all. Someone had to get the door soon or I was going to snap.

Dad came down the stairs. "What is with all the yelling?"

"Someone's at the door," Graeme said.

"Grayson, go answer the door," Dad said. Of course he would pick me.

However, I stood my ground. "No."

"He's in a bad mood," Gale defended. "Something happened."

"When isn't he in a bad mood?" Dad muttered under his breath as he walked towards the front door. I heard him open it and talk to the person who was there before closing the door again. "We have guests, you three." Dad and the guests were now in the living room, so I turned my head to see who they were.

My mouth almost dropped open from the shock. "Mom?!" Mom walked out on our family five years ago and made no form of communication, beside the annual birthday cards. I never thought I would ever see her again.

Then, my eyes were drawn to a little girl standing beside Mom. She had the same blonde hair and blue eyes that Mom had. Mom's daughter, I guessed. Who would the Dad be then?

More importantly, why was Mom here?

Gale was the first one to greet Mom. She got up and hugged her. "I missed you so much!" Graeme then joined in.

Mom looked at me, expecting me to get up to hug her, but she was wrong. She couldn't walk out on us and not talk to us, only to show up one day.

When Mom figured I wasn't going to stand, she looked at Gale and Graeme before bending down beside the little girl. "This is your little sister," she said. "Ginny."

Gale smiled. "Way to keep up the G tradition." Gale bent down. "Hi Ginny. I'm your big sister."

"Um, this may be a stupid question," Graeme said, "but who is the dad?"

Mom looked at Dad. "I am," Dad said.

I scoffed and everyone looked at me. "What?"

"You need to clean up your attitude, Grayson," Dad warned. "Stop acting this way. Ever since you almost killed Devon..."

II couldn't believe Dad brought that up. More importantly, I couldn't believe that way he said it. "I didn't almost kill him!" I objected.

"What on earth are you talking about, Gary?" Mom asked.

"Grayson was driving a car and crashed," Dad explained. "It nearly killed someone."

"It wasn't my fault!" I said. "And that isn't the reason why I'm acting up! Maybe if you actually cared about me, then you would know what's affecting me!"

"Gale, please take Ginny to the backyard," Dad said. Gale hesitated before leading Ginny outside where she couldn't hear what I was guessing yelling.

"Grayson Alan Prince," Dad snapped. Oh no. He used my full name. Note the sarcasm. "I don't know where you got that absurd idea of me not caring for you."

"Maybe it's because you are always taking Graeme's side," I said. "Or maybe because you think the crash was my fault. Or it could also be the fact that you never knew that someone is out to hurt me! He threatened my girlfriend!" I didn't dare say ex-girlfriend since Graeme was still in the room. He would probably go for Poppy.

"Well maybe I didn't know of this because you never told me," Dad said.

"Or maybe it's because you care more for Graeme than you do me," I said.

"I care for all my children equally," Dad said.

"Really?" I asked. "Then how come you never noticed his stupid game?! You haven't noticed that he dated every single girl that was ever my friend and broke up with them within weeks? Have you ever seen them again? No, because they can't be near me without thinking about Graeme!"

"Graeme, is this true?" Mom asked. She seemed quite angry at the fact. I wasn't happy about her being here, but I was happy that she wasn't automatically taking Graeme's side.

"What? Of course not," Graeme replied.

"Really?" I asked. "Name one that you haven't dated."

"Poppy," Graeme said.

"Doesn't count," I said. "She wasn't stupid enough to fall for it."

"That's enough, Grayson!" Dad snapped. "Stop blaming things on your brother!"

"Are you serious?" I asked. "See, right there is the perfect example of why you don't care for me!" I stormed passed him and went to my bedroom, slamming the door behind me.

~*~*~*~*~

Chapter 19

Lying in bed has never made me feel so depressed. I loved being lazy but not when I was so sad.

Someone knocked on my door, but I was not in the mood to talk to anyone. "Go away!" I muttered into my pillow.

They didn't listen. Whoever was at my door walked into my room and sat on the edge of my bed. "Poppy, do you want to talk?" Mom asked me.

"No," I muttered. "I want to cry instead."

Mom sighed. "Why did Grayson break up with you?"

"Why do you care?" I asked. "You hate him anyway."

"That's not true Poppy," Mom said. "I didn't approve of him, but seeing you cry over him made me see that he means something to you and that's all I want. For you to be happy."

That got me to sit up. I rubbed my eyes and Mom handed me a tissue. "Thanks," I said quietly.

"Now why don't you tell me what happened?" Mom asked.

I wiped away my tears. "I don't even know what happened. He dropped me off and said we need to break up. I really like him, Mom. He's the only one who didn't treat me like an enemy because of what happened with Ben."

"I'm sure it was all a misunderstanding," Mom assured, but I knew it wasn't.

I shook my head. "He was very clear about it." I flopped back down on my bed and cried some more in my pillow. I couldn't believe that Grayson was just throwing away what we had. I thought he really liked me. I thought he knew I liked him.

"Poppy," Mom said. "First heartbreaks are hard, trust me. You'll get through this."

"I don't want to get through it," I said between sobs. "I don't want it to happen." I wanted Grayson here with me now, telling me everything was okay. I wanted Grayson to hold my hand or pull me into one of his comforting hugs. I just wanted Grayson.

I guess I was stupid to fall for the bad boy.

Mom stood up. "If you ever want to talk about it, I'll be here for you." She left, closing the door behind her. I had to admit, she was acting way different. She wasn't telling me that Grayson breaking up with me was a good thing so I wouldn't have to be with a 'bad influence' anymore. It was odd because yesterday, I snapped at her, telling her everything I hated that she did. I told her how I felt and instead of her getting angry, she was consoling me over the break up.

I cried some more into my pillow, which I had been doing all day, before realizing how hungry I was. I didn't want to get out of bed, but I didn't want to starve either, so I wiped my eyes before heading down the stairs with my blanket wrapped tightly around me in a comforting hug.

Tony was in the kitchen, cooking something that smelled delicious. He glanced over at me. "Hey," he said. "How are you doing?"

"Do I look like I'm doing fine?" I asked. "I just came down here to eat. Then I'm going back upstairs to cry more."

Tony sighed. "First heartbreak, huh? It gets better, though. Maybe you'll meet someone amazing from it?"

"What if I don't want to?" I asked. "What if I only want Grayson?"

"I know you're hurting," Tony said. "But that doesn't mean that you won't get over him."

"I'm not going to," I refused.

"Poppy..." Tony began, but I stopped him.

"No," I interrupted. "Tony, you don't understand at all. Grayson is the only one who doesn't treat me like an enemy at my school. Belle turned everyone against me, except for him." I sighed. "I'm not hungry anymore."

I went upstairs and cried some more. Oh heart. Why did you have to fall for the bad boy?