Stay With Them Tonight

Really, it’s been two years, Al. Why are you still avoiding him? I asked myself. I fell asleep, promising myself to call or text Kelly in the morning. Who was she talking about with our neighbor earlier? How well does she know Mrs. Luce? My brain wandered until I finally fell asleep.
* x * x * x * x *

Hi, how may I help you?” A boy and girl about my age stood in front of me, the boy looking less than interested.

The girl pressed herself against him while giving her order, a non-fat strawberry gelato, and then pressed her boobs into his chest so hard I was sure she would leave imprints when she pulled away, asking him to pay. He pulled his wallet out and handed me a random bill, big enough to cover the order.

“Will that be all? We have a new coconut—”

“Yeah, thanks.” Well, I thought, at least he said “thanks.” Asshole. Although I certaintly wouldn’t want some idiot girl with overgrown breasts hanging off of me. Then again, I am a girl. Whatever his problem was, I didn’t care. He was just some young guy who got reeled in by your run-of-the-mill bimbo.

“Okay, would you like a receipt?” I handed it and his change back to him before he answered. I was as quick as possible, especially with customers like these. I handed Mrs. Clingy her gelato. “Have a nice day.” I smiled at the next person in line.

I went from one person to the next, serving them all with a smile. At one point the manager came in to check in, and I did my best to make it look like I was having the time of my life while making the customers happy. A happy employee is a happy customer. Or something, right? The customers were nice at that time, for which I was thankful. As soon as my manager left though, I had one girl who was completely rude.

“Sorry, we don’t have any more of that right now; it’s a popular flavor.”

“Bitch!” she muttered. I raised my eyebrows at her. “Fine, whatever. Get me the blueberry yogurt.” She flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder. This was the part that I hated—when you had to be nice even to the most spoiled brats imaginable. I mean really, this girl couldn’t have been fifteen. That was about the only reason I didn’t turn her away. That, and the fact that I would totally get fired.

When I got home at 3, I flopped down onto the couch. It had been nonstop, and I had dealt with multiple annoying or pushy customers. Hopefully they didn’t notice how pissed off I was. And I had the morning shift all this week, trying to get as many hours in as I could before school started.

I heard a knock on the door and groaned, but pushed myself up and went and answered it. “Oh. Hi, Mrs. Luce!” I smiled, my eyes darting down to her hands. Damn. No cookies.

“Hi, Allie! I’m sorry this is kind of sudden, but I have to go down to Chicago to see my sister—she was in a car accident, and needs someone to watch over her for the night to make sure she’s okay. I’m worried about my boys being home alone tonight. My husband would be home, but he had to take an early flight away for work.” Her sentences ran together, like he was in a hurry. She looked worried and a little scared for her sister. Chicago is a little bit south, just a couple hours’ drive.

“Oh! I’m so sorry about your sister. Would you like me to babysit tonight? I’ll have to ask my parents first, but I’m sure they wouldn’t mind. Or they could come over here . . . but we don’t have rooms sorted out.” I crinkled my brow, thinking.

“It’s not that they aren’t old enough to be okay for a night, I’m just worried about what trouble they might get into. And Danny is the youngest, and I’m not usually gone for the night on such short notice. Could you stay over for the night? We have a spare bedroom.”

“Yeah, let me ask my dad. Why don’t you come in while I get him?” I showed her to the living room and went upstairs, finding my dad in the den, which was really just one of the spare rooms.

“Dad? Mrs. Luce wants me to babysit tonight. She’s waiting downstairs.”

“Oh. Alright, let’s go down then.” He got up and walked over. We thumped down the stairs, and Mrs. Luce was sitting on the couch.

“I don’t mind if she babysits tonight. I’m sure Melanie won’t either.” he referred to my mom as he smiled at Mrs. Luce. “Do you mind if I ask why?”

“My sister was in an accident this morning, and I have to run down to Chicago to watch her tonight.” The worried look came back again. “I’d like to leave as soon as possible. . .”

“Al, why don’t you go pack for the night while I talk to Mrs. Luce?” I nodded and went upstairs. “So you have three boys right? How old. . .” His voice faded as I went upstairs and closed my door.

I grabbed a small blue backpack and started stuffing clothes in it. I packed pajamas, clothes for tomorrow, a toothbrush and other necessities.

I glanced at the clock. Wow, it’s only three thirty-eight!? It seemed like eight at night. Wait. What’s going to happen when I need to go to work tomorrow morning? I kind of shrugged to myself, deciding to figure it out later.

I noticed I was still wearing my clothes from work, a blue shirt with the store’s logo in front and black dickeys, so I got out of them quickly and pulled on a pair of dark jeans and a white long-sleeved shirt instead.

They lived right next door, but I still grabbed the keys to my 2005 black Ford F150 truck. This had been my dream truck, and I had been saving up for it since before I got my permit. I had now had it for five months, and I was still in love with it. I thought I would be in love with that truck forever if I were allowed to be.

When I thought everything was in my bag, I went back down and found my dad very amused. He grinned knowingly at me as I went downstairs, and I shot him a confused look. “Are you okay Dad?”

He laughed. “Fine, fine. Have fun tonight, sweetie.” I shot him one last look ad Mrs. Luce and I cut across our yards to her front door. She opened it, and we walked through the front hall to the living room.

“Okay Allie, so—” Mrs. Luce began next to me as I looked around the living room. It was nice, clean, and spacious. And it looked a lot like my new living room, with different furniture. I kind of blanked out what she was saying, thinking instead that it would take no time at all to get acquainted with her house; this house really was almost exactly like mine.

I was, however, paying enough attention to know that there was plenty of food to fix in the kitchen, Danny’s bedtime was at 8, and she was talking about the other boys who went to bed whenever. Abstractly, I thought that giving kids that kind of freedom isn’t very smart.

She went and picked up her suitcase from the corner of the room and put it by the door.

I heard footsteps on the stairs, and saw Danny jump down the last step.

"It’s you!" he grinned his little-boy grin, and I couldn't help smiling back. How old were the other boys?

"You already know Danny, Allie. The other two must be upstairs."

A boy uh, guy walked down the stairs, tall and gorgeous. He walked around Danny before he noticed me. We stared at each other, a little awkwardly.

"Who's upstairs?" he asked facetiously. He held out his hand. "You must be Danny's new babysitter. I'm Ryan." He grinned, and I smiled back. He had short brown hair and an athletic build. This close, I could see that he had hazel eyes. He had tiny dimples when he smiled at me, before stepping back.

"This is Allie from next door, Ryan. She's here to babysit all of you." I balked, turning to stare at her, horrified. I vaguely noticed more footsteps coming down the stairs.

WHAT IS THIS LADY TALKING ABOUT!? I thought, totally freaked out. This guy had to be my age or older than me. Ryan’s expression was like a mirror image of my own.

To make matters worse, another guy came down the last few stairs slowly. He looked a lot like Ryan, but with longer, almost-curly dark brown hair. I think Ryan must have had similar hair, if he had grown it out a little more. On both guys, their hair suited them. The new guy was standing to the side of Ryan, who had retreated a little bit to the foot of the stairs.

"Mom, what are you up to?" the other guy asked. He didn't have the same friendly look as Ryan did. I swallowed against the nervous salvation in my mouth, and we all looked from each other to Mrs. Luce.

"This is my other son, Jason." she explained to me. "Allie, I would like you to watch all of my sons for the night. I’m sorry it was late notice, but I couldn't think of anyone else. All of them will behave." She was looking directly back and forth from Ryan to Jason, and spent special time glaring at Jason. I guessed he was the troublesome twin. They looked so much alike they couldn't be anything else. "Right, boys?" Mrs. Luce continued.

I looked down, and noticed Danny nod. I thought of the irony of my pointedly not calling them boys, even in my head, and then Mrs. L calling them exactly that. Now the free bedtime for the older two made sense.

I almost rolled my eyes at the situation I had gotten myself into. How did this happen?