Waking up in Vegas
And maybe I just wanted to see you
I was eating some cereal at the kitchen table when Dad came down the stairs. When he saw me in the kitchen he headed my way.
“Kendall your Aunt Jane and Uncle Ed are going to be in town tonight so we need you to watch Charlie so we can go out to dinner with them.”
“What? Why didn’t you ask me sooner? I have plans tonight,” I complained. They always waited till the last minute for everything.
“We’re sorry honey; we didn’t know until a couple hours ago that they were even coming to town. But it’s been so long since we’ve seen them, and we really, really need a babysitter. Can’t you reschedule? I’m sure Cassie won’t mind.”
“Why do you assume I have plans with Cassie?” I asked. They couldn’t be more wrong.
“You always have plans with Cassie.”
“Well not tonight.”
“Who is it then? Camrynn? Jayla? Mallory?”
“Wrong, wrong, and wrong.”
“Ooh, is it Johnny?” Daddy asked as he entered the kitchen, wiggling his eyebrows. Apparently he had heard the rest of the conversation.
“Maybe,” I answered quietly, trying not to blush. “And his name is John, not Johnny.”
“Well, sorry. But I’m sure he’ll understand if you explain the situation to him. You can just reschedule.”
“Why can’t you just reschedule? Or find another babysitter?”
“We can’t reschedule because this is the only night they’re going to be in town. And there is nobody else we could ask unless we want to find some stranger to watch him. Would you do that to poor Charlie? Just leave him with a crazy stranger?”
Oh great, now they were trying to guilt trip me into it.
“Fine. But I expect to be paid.” I wanted to at least get something out of it.
“I can give you ten dollars,” Dad offered. Well, I guess it was better than nothing.
I finished my cereal then went up to my bedroom to give John a call and let him know that I would have to cancel our date that night. It sucked because we had just recently started actually ‘dating’ and we hadn’t really been able to spend as much time together as either of us would have liked.
“Hey!” he answered the phone excitedly and I was already feeling guilty for having to cancel.
“Hey, so I need to cancel for tonight.” I figured I might as well just get it over with.
“What? Why?”
“I’m stuck babysitting. And my dad didn’t tell me until like ten minutes ago.”
“But I thought you were an only child.”
“I am. It’s my five year old cousin. So do you mind rescheduling? I’m really sorry but there’s no way I can get out of this.”
“Yeah, that’s fine. Really sucks though, I was looking forward to seeing you.”
“I know, me too. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not really your fault.” Well at least he was being understanding.
We talked for a few more minutes before hanging up, promising that we would see each other soon.
I took a shower and messed around on the internet and gave myself some time to relax before Charlie showed up. It had been a few months since I had seen him but I still knew how he acted. He was a little ball of energy that never stopped. I wanted to make sure I was prepared to deal with him the whole night.
Aunt Jane and Uncle Ed showed up at 6:30 and I greeted them both with hugs, telling them how nice it was to see them. We all talked for a few minutes but they had to leave to make their 7:00 reservation at the restaurant.
Dad said he didn’t know when they would be home and Daddy told me to have fun with the little monster and they both gave me hugs and kisses before they left.
“Well, what do you wanna do Charlie?” I asked after all the adults had left.
“Build a fort!”
“A fort? Wow, that’s a cool idea! Let’s see what we can do. First we have to move stuff around.”
We moved some furniture around in the living room. Well, I did. He tried to help but a five year old can only do so much. We left the couch and I grabbed some chairs from the kitchen so we would have a base for our fort.
“Now what do we need?” I asked Charlie.
“Blankets!” he shouted excitedly.
“Of course!” We went to the closet and grabbed all the spare blankets we had in there. “We should get some pillows too, to make it more comfy.”
“Yeah!” Charlie grabbed as many pillows as his short little arms could carry and threw them on the couch.
We started setting up the furniture when the doorbell rang.
“Who’s here Kendall?” Charlie asked me with a confused look on his face.
“I have no idea. Should we go check it out?”
He nodded and we walked towards the door. I looked out the window on the way and I really don’t know why I was surprised. I opened the door to see John, who was smiling widely.
“What are you doing here? I told you I had to babysit.” I definitely was not ready for him to see me looking like that. I had on some crazy shorts and a band t-shirt with my knee high socks. I had no makeup on and my hair was tied up in a crazy bun.
“I know. I thought I could help. And maybe I just wanted to see you.”
I blushed a little and moved aside so he could come in. I tried to look discreetly in the hallway mirror to make sure my hair wasn’t too crazy, but it’s not like I could do anything to fix it now when John was already here.
“Who are you?” Charlie asked him curiously.
“I’m John, I’m Kendall’s friend. What’s your name?”
“My name is Charlie!” he answered proudly.
“It’s very nice to meet you Charlie,” he said and held his hand out for the kid to shake. Charlie looked at him kind of funny at first, like he was sizing him up, and then finally took his hand in his own and gave it a shake.
“We’re building a fort,” Charlie told John.
“Wow! Can I help?”
Charlie nodded enthusiastically and ran off to find some more fort building supplies. John gave me a quick kiss before following Charlie in search of materials.
In about an hour we had built a pretty amazing pillow and blanket fort, if I do say so myself. Charlie was having a blast crawling around in it and he was pretending he was a spy on a super-secret mission. John was his captain and he was reporting his findings back to him. I was pretty sure that John was Charlie’s favorite person in the world now, and it was so adorable how John was interacting with him and playing along with everything.
“We have a situation,” John said into his fake walkie-talkie.
“What is it Captain?” Charlie asked in a serious voice.
“There is a giant woman trying to terrorize Fort Charlie. We have to take her down.”
Oh great, now I was a terrorizing giant woman. But I played along. I started acting like I was going to tear down the blankets and wreck the fort and Charlie came over and tried to tackle me. He was actually pretty darn strong for a five year old. But I fought him off and he screamed to John for help.
John came over and helped Charlie take me down. He used a secret weapon: tickling. I was one of the most ticklish people alive and it sucked that John knew that now. Charlie caught on pretty quickly and soon they had me down on the ground begging for mercy.
“Ok, I give, I give! I won’t terrorize the fort anymore!” I yelled through my giggles.
Finally they agreed to stop and I lay on the ground, trying to catch my breath. John lay down next to me after he told Charlie his next mission. Charlie crawled around in the fort, completing the mission while John wrapped his arm around my shoulder.
“You’re a hot giant woman,” he whispered into my ear. The fact that he still called me hot even though I looked like a bum made me like him even more. And I could tell he was being genuine because that’s just the kind of person John was.
“And you’re a hot captain,” I said giggling. And damn it was true.
He leaned over and kissed me and I couldn’t help but smile.
After Charlie had completed his mission we decided to put in a movie and we all lay down in the blanket fort to watch it. Charlie was asleep within ten minutes.
John and I were kind of paying attention to the movie but mostly we were talking and kissing every once in a while. But I was starting to get tired too. It was a lot of work entertaining a five year old, even with the help of someone else. I could feel my eyes growing heavier and getting droopier. It was hard to keep them open and I struggled until I finally gave in and let sleep overtake me while I was cuddled up between John and Charlie.
“Kendall your Aunt Jane and Uncle Ed are going to be in town tonight so we need you to watch Charlie so we can go out to dinner with them.”
“What? Why didn’t you ask me sooner? I have plans tonight,” I complained. They always waited till the last minute for everything.
“We’re sorry honey; we didn’t know until a couple hours ago that they were even coming to town. But it’s been so long since we’ve seen them, and we really, really need a babysitter. Can’t you reschedule? I’m sure Cassie won’t mind.”
“Why do you assume I have plans with Cassie?” I asked. They couldn’t be more wrong.
“You always have plans with Cassie.”
“Well not tonight.”
“Who is it then? Camrynn? Jayla? Mallory?”
“Wrong, wrong, and wrong.”
“Ooh, is it Johnny?” Daddy asked as he entered the kitchen, wiggling his eyebrows. Apparently he had heard the rest of the conversation.
“Maybe,” I answered quietly, trying not to blush. “And his name is John, not Johnny.”
“Well, sorry. But I’m sure he’ll understand if you explain the situation to him. You can just reschedule.”
“Why can’t you just reschedule? Or find another babysitter?”
“We can’t reschedule because this is the only night they’re going to be in town. And there is nobody else we could ask unless we want to find some stranger to watch him. Would you do that to poor Charlie? Just leave him with a crazy stranger?”
Oh great, now they were trying to guilt trip me into it.
“Fine. But I expect to be paid.” I wanted to at least get something out of it.
“I can give you ten dollars,” Dad offered. Well, I guess it was better than nothing.
I finished my cereal then went up to my bedroom to give John a call and let him know that I would have to cancel our date that night. It sucked because we had just recently started actually ‘dating’ and we hadn’t really been able to spend as much time together as either of us would have liked.
“Hey!” he answered the phone excitedly and I was already feeling guilty for having to cancel.
“Hey, so I need to cancel for tonight.” I figured I might as well just get it over with.
“What? Why?”
“I’m stuck babysitting. And my dad didn’t tell me until like ten minutes ago.”
“But I thought you were an only child.”
“I am. It’s my five year old cousin. So do you mind rescheduling? I’m really sorry but there’s no way I can get out of this.”
“Yeah, that’s fine. Really sucks though, I was looking forward to seeing you.”
“I know, me too. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not really your fault.” Well at least he was being understanding.
We talked for a few more minutes before hanging up, promising that we would see each other soon.
I took a shower and messed around on the internet and gave myself some time to relax before Charlie showed up. It had been a few months since I had seen him but I still knew how he acted. He was a little ball of energy that never stopped. I wanted to make sure I was prepared to deal with him the whole night.
Aunt Jane and Uncle Ed showed up at 6:30 and I greeted them both with hugs, telling them how nice it was to see them. We all talked for a few minutes but they had to leave to make their 7:00 reservation at the restaurant.
Dad said he didn’t know when they would be home and Daddy told me to have fun with the little monster and they both gave me hugs and kisses before they left.
“Well, what do you wanna do Charlie?” I asked after all the adults had left.
“Build a fort!”
“A fort? Wow, that’s a cool idea! Let’s see what we can do. First we have to move stuff around.”
We moved some furniture around in the living room. Well, I did. He tried to help but a five year old can only do so much. We left the couch and I grabbed some chairs from the kitchen so we would have a base for our fort.
“Now what do we need?” I asked Charlie.
“Blankets!” he shouted excitedly.
“Of course!” We went to the closet and grabbed all the spare blankets we had in there. “We should get some pillows too, to make it more comfy.”
“Yeah!” Charlie grabbed as many pillows as his short little arms could carry and threw them on the couch.
We started setting up the furniture when the doorbell rang.
“Who’s here Kendall?” Charlie asked me with a confused look on his face.
“I have no idea. Should we go check it out?”
He nodded and we walked towards the door. I looked out the window on the way and I really don’t know why I was surprised. I opened the door to see John, who was smiling widely.
“What are you doing here? I told you I had to babysit.” I definitely was not ready for him to see me looking like that. I had on some crazy shorts and a band t-shirt with my knee high socks. I had no makeup on and my hair was tied up in a crazy bun.
“I know. I thought I could help. And maybe I just wanted to see you.”
I blushed a little and moved aside so he could come in. I tried to look discreetly in the hallway mirror to make sure my hair wasn’t too crazy, but it’s not like I could do anything to fix it now when John was already here.
“Who are you?” Charlie asked him curiously.
“I’m John, I’m Kendall’s friend. What’s your name?”
“My name is Charlie!” he answered proudly.
“It’s very nice to meet you Charlie,” he said and held his hand out for the kid to shake. Charlie looked at him kind of funny at first, like he was sizing him up, and then finally took his hand in his own and gave it a shake.
“We’re building a fort,” Charlie told John.
“Wow! Can I help?”
Charlie nodded enthusiastically and ran off to find some more fort building supplies. John gave me a quick kiss before following Charlie in search of materials.
In about an hour we had built a pretty amazing pillow and blanket fort, if I do say so myself. Charlie was having a blast crawling around in it and he was pretending he was a spy on a super-secret mission. John was his captain and he was reporting his findings back to him. I was pretty sure that John was Charlie’s favorite person in the world now, and it was so adorable how John was interacting with him and playing along with everything.
“We have a situation,” John said into his fake walkie-talkie.
“What is it Captain?” Charlie asked in a serious voice.
“There is a giant woman trying to terrorize Fort Charlie. We have to take her down.”
Oh great, now I was a terrorizing giant woman. But I played along. I started acting like I was going to tear down the blankets and wreck the fort and Charlie came over and tried to tackle me. He was actually pretty darn strong for a five year old. But I fought him off and he screamed to John for help.
John came over and helped Charlie take me down. He used a secret weapon: tickling. I was one of the most ticklish people alive and it sucked that John knew that now. Charlie caught on pretty quickly and soon they had me down on the ground begging for mercy.
“Ok, I give, I give! I won’t terrorize the fort anymore!” I yelled through my giggles.
Finally they agreed to stop and I lay on the ground, trying to catch my breath. John lay down next to me after he told Charlie his next mission. Charlie crawled around in the fort, completing the mission while John wrapped his arm around my shoulder.
“You’re a hot giant woman,” he whispered into my ear. The fact that he still called me hot even though I looked like a bum made me like him even more. And I could tell he was being genuine because that’s just the kind of person John was.
“And you’re a hot captain,” I said giggling. And damn it was true.
He leaned over and kissed me and I couldn’t help but smile.
After Charlie had completed his mission we decided to put in a movie and we all lay down in the blanket fort to watch it. Charlie was asleep within ten minutes.
John and I were kind of paying attention to the movie but mostly we were talking and kissing every once in a while. But I was starting to get tired too. It was a lot of work entertaining a five year old, even with the help of someone else. I could feel my eyes growing heavier and getting droopier. It was hard to keep them open and I struggled until I finally gave in and let sleep overtake me while I was cuddled up between John and Charlie.