Spoilers from: Protector 1-3, Wilde 1
BONUS CHAPTER 5: Ryder the Love Expert
~Grayson: Age 23~
"I'm seriously done right now," Laughlin said as he and his brothers sat down at the table Ryder and I were at. He looked extremely fed up as well as upset.
"What now?" I asked.
Laughlin said. "It's Elliot. I mean, I lover her more than anything, but she's pissed at me just because I didn't wake up in the middle of the night to take care of Aaron. And now, she's not talking to me."
The waitress walked up to us, giving Ryder his cup of apple juice and me my glass of Coca-Cola. She then took Laughlin, Munro, and Nick's orders for drinks before going back to the kitchen.
"It wasn't even my fault," Laughlin continued. "I was up late at night taking care of a whiny Elizabeth so when I did get to bed, nothing could have woken me up."
"Women, am I right?" I asked, taking a sip out of my drink. Don't get me wrong, I loved Poppy, nut sometimes, she acted like a hypocrite and got mad at me for things she caused. And I knew things were going to be worse when the triplets came. Oh, the joy.
"Tell me about it," Laughlin muttered.
"Men don't need women," Munro said, playing with the strings on his sweater. I still remembered when he was a thirteen year old annoying piece of crap. Now, he was a seventeen year old and kind of reminded me of myself. He was going through something and liked shutting people out.
Just like I did.
"Tell that to Kamille," Nick muttered.
"Who's Kamille?" I asked.
"The girl Munro has a thing with."
Munro's eyes snapped over to his little brother. "What? I....I don't have a thing with Kamille. We're leads in the play that I was forced to be in. That's it."
"You get to kiss her in the end," Nick said with a smile. "That will changed things."
"Shut up."
Laughlin sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I'm only twenty-three and I have to raise teenagers," he said. "I'm too young for this. I'm going to have grey hair before I'm thirty."
Ryder reached for the crayons that were sitting in the middle of the table and dumped them in front of him before coloring on the picture the waitress gave him earlier.
The waitress came back with the Wilde boys' drinks and set them in front of them. She then took our order, which took a whole because Ryder wanted grilled cheese just like his mom made them, but I kept trying to tell him that they didn't know how to make it the way his mom did. In the end, he settled for chicken strips.
"I don't even know what to do about Elliot," Laughlin said. "She hasn't been this pissed at me before, even when she was pregnant with Aaron. And I didn't even do anything wrong."
"Just buy her flowers," Munro said.
"Flowers are cliche," Ryder spoke up, still coloring.
"How do you know what that word means?" Munro asked. "You're three." Yeah, a three year old with a freaking high IQ.
"Still," Ryder said, looking at Laughlin. "Flowers are cliche. It's showing that you love her, but not enough to do something special. Anyone who buys flowers are cheap."
I was taking a sip out of my drink when he said that. "Ryder!"
"What?"
"I bought your mom flowers two days ago," I reminded.
"Daddy, shush, I'm trying to talk," Ryder said, squeezing my lips shut with his small fingers so I wouldn't talk. I raised an eyebrow as I looked at him, but he ignored me and looked at Laughlin again. "Buy her chocolates."
I moved his hand off my mouth. "And you're saying flowers are cliche?"
"Daddy, shush," Ryder said again. "I didn't finish. I was gonna say buy her chocolates and a ticked to the spa. Let her relax while you take care of the kids so she knows you appreciate her."
"That actually sounds like a good idea," Laughlin said. "Thanks, Ryder."
Ryder smiled before he went back to coloring. "You're welcome."
Two girls probably around my and Laughlin's age walked up to us. "Hi," one said. "We were just wondering if any of you have seen an earring sitting anywhere. I lost it."
Munro snorted and muttered something under his breath as Laughlin told the girls we haven't. I looked at Munro with furrowed eyebrows, and he rolled his eyes. What was he going on about?
"Oh," the girl said with a smile. "Well, it looks like this." She moved her black hair out of the way so she could show us the diamond earring in her ear.
Munro snorted again and I looked at him. He looked at me, then the girl, then back at me with a raised eyebrow. Oh. I get it.
Some girls really liked unavailable guys.
I looked at Laughlin and he seemed to know what Munro was saying as well. He gave me a faint nod before we looked at the girls. "If we see it, we'll let you know," Laughlin said. "And, actually while you're here, I kind of need some female advice. You see, my wife is made at me because I didn't wake up in the middle of the night to take care of our son even though I was taking care of our daughter before I went to bed."
One of the girls had a disappointed look on her face when he said that. "Oh," she said. "Well, just buy her flowers."
Ryder sighed loudly, and quite irritably. "No flowers. I told you, Laughlin, flowers are cliche."
"What are you, a love expert?" I asked.
"Yes." Wow, my son was a cocky little boy.
"Since when?" I asked.
"Since Mommy needed advice and I gave it to her," Ryder said.
"When did she ever need advice?" I asked.
"Yesterday."
"Yesterday? I don't remember...."
"Yesterday."
"Okay, yesterday," I said, raising my hands in defense. I blame Poppy for his cockiness.
....Thous it was probably my genes that made him cocky. Oops.
"I'm sorry, but can I just say how sweet it is for you to take your little brother out?" the other girl said. "You two have such a loving relationship."
"He's my daddy," Ryder corrected. "And my mommy is his....Is it wife?"
"Yeah," I said.
"Yeah!" he agreed happily. "My mommy is my daddy's wife. They love each other like....this much!" He held out his arms wide. "They've been together for five years! That's a long time!"
"Ryder, you know you don't have to tell every single person you see that," I said.
"Yes I do," Ryder said. "Because you love Mommy. And Mommy loves you. And I love both you and both of you love me! And my new siblings when they come!"
The girls suddenly walked away, which made Munro snort. "Girls always go for the unavailable guys."
"Do you like someone, Munro?" Ryder asked.
Munro looked at Ryder. "What? No. You're three, what do you know?"
"I know you like a girl," Ryder said. "Just be friends with her until you can open up to someone, especially her." Munro didn't say anything as he looked at the strings on his hoodie and started playing with them.
"Hey, Ryder," I said. "Since you're apparently the love expert, mind telling me how I can make it up to your mom by eating her cupcake."
"Duh, bake her a cupcake," Ryder said. "Ooh, and put white chocolate chips in it, because I know she likes those. And do vanilla icing. Ooh, and make one for me while you're at it."
I rolled my eyes. "Only because you asked so nicely."
Ryder nodded. "Good, good. And make sure you do it soon, like today, so she won't be mad for too long. Oh! And buy her flowers!"
"I thought you said flowers are cliche," I said.
"Well, yeah, but you call her Flower, so I thought it would mean something," Ryder said. "Bake a cupcake and give her flowers, okay Daddy?"
"Okay, Ryder."
My son. The three year old love expert.
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I wrote this scene a long time ago, but added a few more lines. I think I even wrote this before Ryder was born in My Protector: The Bad Boy.
I still miss Popson. cx I will never get over them. I have seriously never loved one of my couples so much before, or any couple, really. cx Well, except for a couple from a book my cousin is writing. They're so cute and would literally die for each other. #Cherri, am I right, rapunzeldeary?
A lot of you still want me to write a Popson book and I really want to, but there's two problems. 1) I'm going to be doing Dedrick's, Charlie's, and possibly Graeme and Thalia's stories. 2) I would have nothing to write after My Protector: The Bad Boy ended. I have no storyline for another Popson story. cx
So, random story time because why not? I decided to join my cousin's after school acting class, since they got into small groups to do mini-plays and our group is doing a mixed fairytale. We put in so much fairytale characters. My cousin and her boyfriend are Rapunzel and Flynn because they're so cute, his brothers are Aladdin and Abu, my other cousin is the Mad Hatter, and I'm Little Red Riding Hood. And when all those guys get together, it's the most hilarious thing ever. cx