One Thousand Daisies

Chapter Two

Hello readers! if you don't already know, I'm actually expecting a baby soon so I'm not feeling my greatest right now. So this chapter is in two parts, so this remains enjoyable to me instead of a chore and that I get to write as best as I can for you guys. I will upload the next chapter either later tonight or tomorrow. Thanks, please be patient. I'm so sorry! I love you:)
"You cannot call it Lion, are you absolutely mad?" I say to my mom as she reads out her baby name ideas.
"It's a nice name!"
"Hope has such a nice name, And the you call me Cleopatra and you me other daughter, Lion? No mom."
"Cleo, you're such a drama queen!" she laughs and rubs her belly "Lion thinks your a drama queen too." rolling my eyes, I groan at her unfunny joke, she was so annoying sometimes - plus she'd invited Zander's family over for dinner so stress levels were running high.
I help Hope get dressed and pick out a nice summer dress for her which is covered in out favourite flower, daisies and she picks out a t-shirt dress for me which is just solid black with a gold necklace that matches hers, I probably wouldn't have chosen that dress to wear tonight but if wearing it makes Hope happy then so be it.
"Are you excited to see Toby?" I tease her.
"Shut up Cleo!" she huffs "Are you excited to see Zander?" she says mockingly.
"Not particularly." I laugh "They're going to be here any minute though."
"Oooooh Zander! Baby Zander I want to kiss you." she continues to mock and I can help but laugh "Oh Zander I want to sex you, I love you." she begins to make 'kissy' noises when my worst nightmare happens.
"Wow, Cleo. You want to sex me, huh?" I hear Zander in my living room laughing and I want to die.
"Oh my god!" I say a little to loud and turn around to face Zander who's holding a bunch of flowers.
"We brought these for your mom." he holds them up, still laughing.
I try not to laugh but I fail and the three of us fall into fits of laughter "That so embarrassing." I whine.
"Come into the kitchen you three!" my mom yells and I hold Hope's hand as we go through into the kitchen as we're told.
"Cleo this is Kate, Zander's mom." My mom introduces us.
"Nice to meet you."
"And this is Bella, Toby, Madison and Paige." I look down at the four of them and smile warmly, thinking about how nice and normal their names are.
I've gotten so used to putting on a fake smile (as tumblr, attention seeking status and typical 'depressed teenager' as that sounds) that I don't even consciously do it anymore. My mom is fucking psycho, she sees me speaking to a son of somebody she claims to be friends with for ten minutes and suddenly they're over for diner. It's like a bad movie where the boy just happens to come over and then they sleep together and she gets knocked up, or the sweeter scenario where the girl falls in love with him over a delicious meal of spaghetti and meatballs as she stares deep into her eyes. No.
I've watched a hell of a lot of movies and read even more books to know that yeah, they're great to watch and read but real life isn't like that. Nothing is perfect, nowhere near close and things don't go perfectly either and it pisses me off when people expect it to be like that. The naïveté astounds me.
I catch my mom look at Zander and then turn to me, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. I shake my head in disgust, definitely a psycho. I feel unbelievably awkward because I don't even know Zander and there's now four, most likely irritating, children about to burn my home to the ground an I wonder to myself why my mom is the way she is. She's a people person and she's nosey which means that as soon as she meets you, there's no going back. Seriously. You will come for dinner and you will tell her your entire life story.
"So.." Zander says awkwardly.
"What?" I snap, I was not in the mood for anybody, except Hope.
Laughing, he holds his hands up in defence "Calm down sweetie, I was just wondering what we were going to do." I could see myself stabbing him by the end of the evening.
"Let's go and watch T.V." I mumble "Come on hope." I say and grab the handles of her chair.
"Clee, can I stay in here with Toby?" oh, okay then Hope. Okay.
"Course your can! Shout me if you need anything."
"I will." kissing her forehead, I rue the day I ever spoke to Zander in the cafe, I wasn't in the right frame if mind to talk to people.
As we sit down I switch in the television and put on a channel we both 'agree' on, but in reality I just put on a programme that he said he liked and I just put it on "Why do you seem like such a genuinely sad person, Cleo?" Zander questions me.
"I'm not!" I lie.
"Tell me."
"I'm not, I spend every single second if everyday wondering what the point in life is but I have yet to discover it." I say blankly like that was all that was up, but I wasn't about to confide in a practical stranger. He laughs. Laughs. I feel my blood boiling lightly as they pulse through my throbbing veins.
"Say you break a plate, you try to put it back together every spare moment you have, so much that you obsess over it. You can over analyse the situation and try and wonder how you could've stopped it or how you could change it. But sometimes the best thing for you is to leave the broken plate pieces on the kitchen floor and move the fuck on. What else is there to do?"
His words hit me like a tonne of bricks.