Chapter 7

       I was really not liking this universe's Alan. Why did it have to make him a huge jerk? Nolan told me everything he said after he came home from the small road trip, and even I couldn't believe it. Alan had always been so accepting of Nolan and protective of him when anyone tried bashing him.

       So why did this change?

       I was not a violent person, but I was ready to smack Alan with my shovel. Right now, Mae and I were over at the Princes' house and I was sitting quite close to Nolan on the couch, and Alan just had to scoff at the both of us when he came down the stairs.

       "What was that?" Grayson asked Alan. "Did you just ask to be grounded for another week? I mean, if you insist."

       "Yes, continue picking favourites," Alan said.

       "You really are something else, aren't you?" Grayson asked. "I just don't get why you can't get over the fact that Nolan's gay and very happy dating Jerome."

       "Because it's wrong," Alan said. 

       "So is bashing your brother, but that's not stopping you," Grayson said.

       At least the Princes were still savages in this timeline. At least, all but Alan. He was not a savage and he wasn't not allowed to be one until he got over whatever problem he had.

       Alan didn't say anything else as he headed to the kitchen.

       "You better not be getting anything to eat!" Grayson called. "Dinner is getting made!"

       "I'm not!" Alan called back. "I just don't want to be near any of you!"

       "I'm sorry, can you repeat that?!" Grayson asked. "Because to me, it sounded like you said you wanted me to add another month to your grounding!"

       "Do it! Me being grounded won't change the fact that being gay is wrong!"

       Grayson sighed and looked over at Nolan. "I'm sorry he's being a....What's the word, Ryder?"

       "Imbecile?" Ryder asked. "Douche bag? Idiot? Dick? Homophobe? Inconsequential? Vexatious?"

       "Do you read a dictionary before you go to bed?" Grayson asked.

       "No."

       "Alright then. And the word I was looking for was imbecile, not all those other words."

       "Those other words still described Alan."

       Ryder was right about that.

       The door opened and Orchid walked in, her eyes a bit red as if she was crying. "Hey, are you okay?" Grayson asked, and Orchid shook her head, so he got up from the couch and pulled her daughter into a hug as she started crying.

       "Who do I have to beat up?" Ryder asked. "Is it Felix? Do you need me to beat him up?"

       "Can you not be violent right now?" Mae asked.

       "Not when my little sister is crying," Ryder said.

       "Not now, Ryder," Grayson said. "Orchid, what happened?"

       Orchid pulled away and wiped her tears off her face. "I broke up with Felix," she said.

       "So....why are you crying?" Grayson asked.

       "Because....he almost hurt me," Orchid said. "After I broke up with him, he got really mad and grabbed my wrist and was holding it really hard. He could have hurt me really bad."

       "What stopped him?" Grayson asked.

       "Some guy that goes to our school," Orchid said. "We were outside of the cafe when it happened and he was about to go in when he saw it happening."

       It better be Atticus.

       Who was I kidding? Of course it was Atticus. He was the only one who wasn't afraid to stand up to Felix.

       "Orchid, can you give me Felix's address?" Ryder asked. "For....educational purposes."

       "You're not going to hurt him, Ryder," Grayson said. "I want you to, but that would probably make me a bad father for letting you do it."

       "Then how about I do it without your knowledge?" Ryder asked.

       Grayson actually looked like as if he was debating it before he finally shook his head. "I'd rather you not get violent," he said before looking back at Orchid. "If you ever need to talk to someone, we'll be here for you. Except for Alan. He's too moody right now."

       "He's too much of an imbecile."

       "We got it Ryder. You read the dictionary."

       "I'm just going to wash up before Grandma and Grandpa get here," Orchid said.

       "Okay," Grayson said.

       It wasn't long after Orchid went upstairs that Gene and Izzy showed up. As soon as Gene walked in, he said, "Alright, where's my future grandson-in-law."

       I was so happy that he was still the same.

       "Right here," I said, and Gene looked over before giving me a smile.

       "Grandpa, we just started dating a few days ago," Nolan said. "We're not going to get married. I mean, not right away. Maybe in a few years and....yeah, I'm going to shut up now."

       "Aww, you're so cute when you're flustered," I said, poking his cheek. Nolan glared at me and swatted my hand away.

       Alan walked out of the kitchen, must have hearing his grandpa's voice. "Grandpa, why did you block me on Facebook?" he asked.

       "Did you actually?" Izzy asked.

       "Yes," Gene said. "I said I'm blocking out the haters. Alan was hating on my new OTP."

       "Wait, Alan, how did you know he blocked you?" Grayson asked. "I took away your phone and laptop."

       "Orchid let me use hers," Alan said. "You going to ground her too, or are you going to keep playing favourites and only ground me?"

       "Well, I would, but you keep giving me sass, so I think I'm just going to ground you," Grayson said.

       Alan scowled as Tulip ran down the stairs, then over to Gene and throwing her arms around him. "Grandpa!" she said. "Did you know about Nolan's boyfriend? They're so cute, right? Right?"

       Grandpa chuckled. "Of course they are. They're my new OTP."

       "Good, good," Tulip said. "Although, sorry to break it to you, but I'm the captain of the ship."

       "What?" Grandpa asked. "Why not me?"

       "Because I was shipping them before Nolan even told anyone that he's....what's the word?" 

       "Gay?" Nolan asked.

       "Yes, that," Tulip asked. "I shipped Jerlan when you came with me to sit with Mae and Jerome at the beach since I already knew Jerome was gay."

       "Wait, really?" Nolan asked. "You shipped us before you found out I was gay?"

       "Uh, yeah," Tulip said. "Why do you think I got Mae to come with me to look for seashells? So you two can talk and get to know each other. You know it's a good ship as soon as I start shipping it. All the ships in this family are good ships. Except for Orchid and Felix....They're another NOTP."

       Orchid was coming down the stairs just then and must have heard the last few sentences Tulip said. "Actually, I broke up with Felix," Orchid said. Her eyes were no longer red, and you couldn't even tell she was crying.

       "Can I cheer?" Tulip asked. "I want to cheer."

       "Go ahead," Orchid said. "I hate Felix now."

       "Yay!" Tulip cheered.

________________

TULIP MY SHIPPING QUEEN YASSSSSS.

Get ready for some drama in the next chapter, which I'm going to start writing even though it's 11:20 pm lol oops.