Zinnia And Me

Day 5

I couldn't stop thinking about that horrific moment I saw in the mall. What was Zinnia doing with Gary anyways? And why was he going to ask her out to the dance.
Gary was just doing this to cause attention and was jealous because I admitted that I had a crush on her.

Mom, Danny, and I decorated the tree, along with Greg, Danny's nephew. Greg enjoyed helping us decorate the tree, as he gently wrapped the golden tensile around the tree. Greg would be staying with us for a few days while Danny's younger brother, uncle Joey would be out with his wife, Allie, doing some winter photo shoots.
Greg was the same age as me, but by 3 months. He already knows what it's like to date a girl, as he had been in a relationship, but sadly broke up with the girl just not to long ago. He's still not happy about it, but because we're decorating the tree, he doesn't tend to talk or think about it.

"Decorating two Christmas trees in one week. This is awesome," Greg says, placing the snow flakes on the tree.
Mom and Danny smile, but the smile quickly wipes off when Danny looks at the door. Liam had been out the whole day, and still has not returned. Liam used to love decorating the tree with Dad before he died, but now that Danny's appeared, Liam found himself to old to even participate in anything Christmas related.

"When Liam gets home, he's gonna get in huge trouble," Danny mutters.
Mom sighs.
Greg shakes his head.
"What's up with Liam?" He asked.
Mom and Danny don't answer.
Next thing we knew, a rusty old minivan pulled up into the driveway and knocked over the trash can. We all watched from the window as Liam and his friend, Austin get out of the van. The two of them were laughing and pushing each other, and Danny did not like it.

Liam and Austin walk in and Danny quickly jumps off the couch and squeezes Austin by his arm.
"Hey! Get off of me!" Austin exclaims.
"Go home! Beat it!" Danny yells, pushing him out the door.
"Get off of him!" Liam yells, but Danny gives him a glare, and shoves Austin out to the porch.

"Boys, upstairs, now!" Mom tells us, and we do what we are told.
Greg and I peek out of the stairs hallway, looking at the horrible scene. Austin is getting ready to punch Danny when he violently punches him in the nose. Austin gives up and storms out.

Mom grabs Danny away from the door and tries to calm him down. Austin yells and curses and calls Danny a name. He then jumps into the van and speeds away.
Liam is angry and yells at Danny.
"You're a fool, Liam! You're 17, and it's time you acted like one!" Danny yells.
"You're not my father and you'll never be my father!" Liam snaps.

Greg grabs me by my arm.
"We better go, things are gonna get worse," he hissed.
I nod my head and I lead Greg up to my room. When we get there, we can still here the yelling. Mom is now included into this war, and she's keeps pestering Liam to tell her where he had been.

"So I hear through the grapevine that your trying to get a girl," Greg says.
I nod. "But I have a bigger problem. Gary is trying to steal her from me!" I explain.
Greg is confused.
"Who is this Gary?"
I sigh.
"Gary Sullivan. He's this boy that I used Robb's friends with up until I told him I liked Zinnia. I don't know why he doesn't like me, but I think he's trying to steal Zinnia from me."
"Then steal her back."
"How?"
"Impress this, Zinnia girl. When are you going to tell her how you feel?"
"Christmas Eve. Our birthday."
"You better hope Gary doesn't ask her out before then, or else you're in trouble."

I look to the floor.
"The thing is," I begin. "What if Gary already asked her out? What if Zinnia chooses him over me? What if she starts to-"
"Enough!" Greg says, seizing me by the shoulders and shaking me.
"There is no what ifs! If Gary claims her before you do, roll with it. There are other girls out there that will date you. But if you claim her before he does, congrats. Don't end up like me, I already had my heart broken."
I make eye contact with him. "How?" I asked.
Greg looks away and takes a deep breath.

"I met this girl named Amber," Greg begins. "She was a really nice girl at first, and I gave her my heart and my trust. We caught everyone's attention considering I was dating the school's head cheerleader. We had everything in common, and next thing you know, we fell in love. She made my heart skip a beat.
"A few weeks later, I see her with another guy. To make things worse, she...she kissed him. I wanted to know why she kissed him, and she told me I wasn't her type. Things weren't working out. She played a trick on me and only wanted me for attention. She could've told me and I would have understood, but to break my heart like that was totally uncalled for."

I could see tears forming in Greg's eyes. He quickly wipes his eyes and stares at me, his expressions were very serious.
"Zach, we may be the same age, 3 months apart, but I'm telling you this now. I don't want to see you hurt, especially at 14."

I nod.
"I don't want you to make the same mistake I did. Fall in love with someone who's going to dump you in the end. Even if this event took place last week, my heart still hurts. It's going to take a long time to heal."
He hugs me, and I hug him back. We then hear a loud crash coming from downstairs. We quickly scramble down the stairs to see the Christmas tree on the floor.

Liam storms right passed us as Danny picks up the tree. Luckily, none of the glass ornaments were hung, but the tensile dropped to the floor while some of the snowflakes landed gracefully undamaged.
"I'm sorry you had to see that," Danny says. He sits on the piano stool and we sit down next to us.
"I'm going to get him into shape," he says. "You'll see."