The Nanny Diaries

I never really noticed how much I hated packing. Usually we traveled by bus and all my stuff was just strewed around everywhere. If we happened to stay in a hotel, it was no problem cause I could just run out to the bus and fetch whatever I needed.

Lou informed me that I would be flying to Chicago with Lux tomorrow morning, so I was spending the whole night trying to pack everything I owned. The boys and Lou would be traveling to states like Pennsylvania and Michigan. Lou thought that I could just get a head start on sightseeing with Lux and I agreed with her.

I was working well into the night when my phone chimed on my nightstand. I had maybe half of my wardrobe packed up and I was trying to find my cosmetic bag when I was interrupted.

ayyo, we’re having a skype date tomorrow at noon. u up for it?

It was one of my brothers addressing the group chat that I was currently in with all of my siblings. Usually the two sets of twins just chatted back and forth and I just put in my two cents once in a while.

sure, i’ll be on a plane though

I replied and waited for the replies to swarm in. I avoided talking about my job to my siblings because they literally ask way too many questions.

omg where?

is the boy band finally sick of you

when are you coming to visit

you should get a new job

I had a really charming family. I deflected all of their questions and turned off my phone until the plane ride. It was five in the morning and I was beat. I still had to pack all of Lux’s belongings and I just knew that she was going to be cranky the whole way to Chicago.

The time flew, and before I knew it, I was hailing a cab that would take Lux and I to the airport. We were taking the boy’s private plane so that it would be easier to get to Chicago. One of the bodyguards was also escorting us, just for precautions.

We were all settled in the plane when I realized what time it was. It was almost time for the dreaded Skype date. I pulled out my newly purchased laptop, opened it, and signed on to Skype.

It was a few minutes until my siblings signed on, but when they did, I couldn’t miss it.

“Tatum!!” Both of my sisters practically screamed. I winced and turned down the volume on the computer. I knew that it was just going to get progressively louder throughout our chats.

“Hey, Tess and Tiffany, how’s UCLA?” They were both sharing the computer screen and kept shoving each other out of the way to tell me outrageous college stories.

Tessa and Tiffany were staying at UCLA all summer in their apartment that they shared. They were taking some summer classes and since training volleyball started so early, they didn’t see a reason to come back to England for a few weeks. I knew that my parents missed them a lot, but they knew that volleyball was their passion.

“Tate, you’ll never believe this, Tiff did a keg stand for almost two minutes. She’s a legend on campus!”

“Tiffany!” Ah, now the brothers had entered. Tiffany blushed as Tyler starting bitching her out because she wasn’t acting proper.

“Tiff, you should be focusing on volleyball and schoolwork. Not boozing it up with your frat buddies!” Tanner added in. I rolled my eyes, god I hated when Tanner and Tyler agreed with something. They always take it too far and no one can disagree with them.

As far as I know, they were still living in Manchester while running their shoe business. Every time I brought them up in a conversation with my mum, she would rant and rave about haw proud she was of them and how their business was booming. Personally, shoes seemed boring to me.

“Chill out you two, she’s just having fun. And two minutes? That’s nothing.” I winked at Tiff through the screen and she gave me a smile.

“Well, Tatum, tell us about One Direction!” Tanner sneered at me.

“Yeah, have you hooked up with any of them yet?” Tessa asked.

“Tessa!” Tyler scolded.

Christ, I was getting a headache. This is why I usually ignored these “dates”. The twins constantly bickered while I just sat back and kept quiet.

“No I haven’t, Tess. I’m friends with them!” I saw Tessa and Tiffany share a look and then they focused back on me again.

“What about that curly hair lad? Harry is his name? We’ve seen pictures of you two together in New York, ya know. Without the baby.” Tiff gave me a pointed look and it took all of my willpower not to roll my eyes at their outrageous accusations.

“First of all, Harry and I are not together. We’re not even friends. He doesn’t like me, and I don’t think very highly of him either.”

Lux started making some noises next to me so I started rummaging through her baby bag looking for her juice cup. Lux hadn’t slept through the night so I suspected that her naptime was approaching and that was never a pretty time to witness.

“Is that the baby? Can we see her?” I nodded my head as I finally found the cup and scooped Lux into my lap so she was facing the screen.

My sisters immediately started cooing while my brothers just looked at her with passive faces.

“Tatum! She’s so cute! What’s her name?”

“This is Lux. Can you say hi Lux?” She looked up at me with a worried face and then back at the computer with a frown on her face. I laughed a little as I handed her the juice.

“Predictable Lux. She was like that the first time we met. Took her forever to warm up to me, the little shit.”

“Tatum, you shouldn’t really swear in front of a toddler.”

“Tanner, let’s remember who’s the nanny in this conversation. If I have any questions about shoes, I’ll be sure to come to you and Tyler with any questions or concerns.”

Tanner and Tyler simultaneously gave me the finger through the camera and I shielded Lux’s eyes in time.

“Okay, okay, on to more important thing. Tatum, when are you coming and visiting us? You promised!”

“Yeah, Tatum, you promised!” Tessa and Tiffany were giving me glares and I wanted to stick my arm through the screen and slap that look right off their faces.

“Let me check the schedule.” I pulled the calendar app up on my phone and saw that we were going to be there in the beginning of August.

“We have four concerts in the beginning of August. Starting on the seventh and going to the tenth. I think we might get there a day early, but I could probably stay behind and visit you for a few days after.”

I looked up and the girls had shit-eating grins attached to their faces. I could only imagine what they were thinking.

“Tatum, ohmygod, that’s-” Tessa started to say but Tiff interrupted her.

“Welcome week!”

They were now both frantically talking to each other and me at the same time and spewing out all these plans that we were going to do and all the frat parties we were going to go to. My head was swarming with all of the information they were throwing at me.

“We have to take you to Theta Xi. They throw the best Welcome Week parties. They have a pool in their frat house. I can’t tell you the amount of time a boy has thrown me in just to get me out of my clothes-”

“Okay, I think that’s enough information. Plus, it looks like Tatum’s head is about to explode.”

I nodded my head at Tanner’s words and was surprised that he would speak up for me. When he was little, he was the brother that was constantly picking on me. Albeit, both of them were pretty terrible, Tanner was the worst of the two. The girls weren’t listening to anyone though, just still rambling about parties.

“Tatum, we could fix you up with someone!” Tiffany shouted. Tessa gasped at her exclamation and leaned over to whisper in her ear. I could only imagine what they were gossiping about.

“Really guys, you don’t have to do that-”

“Gust!” They both, surprisingly, whispered the name and if it wasn’t for both of them saying the name at the same time, I wouldn’t have heard it.

“Gust? That’s a strange name.” Tyler spoke up, but they hushed him and continued on talk.

“No, no, he’s totally Tatum’s type! We have to introduce you. He’s the president of Theta Xi. Totally smart and he plays lacrosse.”

“Imagine if you two hit it off and then you came to school here! That would be crazy, Tatum, I can’t wait for you to come visit!”

He did seem like my type, but I wasn’t about to give them the satisfaction of finding me the perfect guy. For all I know, he’s probably a huge wanker. While I was off in my thoughts, I heard the two twins change subject and the girls were drilling the boys on their love lives. Tanner has a girlfriend of about 2 years so that was nothing interesting, but it seems like Tyler finally found someone.

“When can we meet her?”

“What’s her name?”

“Is she in uni?”

“Does she have a job?”

“Do you love her?”

I shook my head at my sisters and noticed that the bodyguard who was escorting Lux and I was motioning that we were arriving at O’Hare.

“Well, guys. We’re about to land so I gotta go. I love you and I’ll see you in August, girls!” They all shouted their goodbyes and I shut my laptop. Lux had fallen asleep on my lap and I gently moved her around so it was easier for me to carry her.

It took a while for the plane to land and I had to collect all of our luggage so it was about and hour and a half before Lux and I actually checked into the hotel. From what I saw of Chicago so far, I loved it. It reminded me of New York in some ways, but much less intense.

I could tell Lux was exhausted after flying so I let her nap for a bit while I did some planning for the next few days.

I figured that I would take Lux to Navy Pier and we would probably hit some stores and shop. It would be about a week until the boys would meet up with us so I had to make sure our schedule was filled.

I was quite excited about visiting my sisters at UCLA. Since I took my first year off of uni, I was feeling left out of what normal people my ages do. I wanted to go to a uni party and get wasted and then have to get up early the next day to make it to class. I wanted to eat shitty food in the dorms and meet new people and see new things. I know a lot of people would be jealous of my job and how I get to travel to all of these cool cities and be around a famous pop stars, but I didn’t see it like that. I just wanted a normal uni life and I couldn’t wait until I had enough money for my first year at a university.

I went back to thinking about what Tessa and Tiffany were saying about me actually going to school at UCLA. I knew it was a tough university to get into and I would love going to school with my sisters. But my actual dream school was to go to University of Manchester for law. It was a tough program to get into, but I knew that I could pull it off if I study enough for it. The problem was money.

Lou was playing me pretty well and I hoped that when this tour was over, I would have enough for the first two semesters of school. The problem was I didn’t have a job back in England that would support me and my college tuition. I didn’t want to be Lux’s nanny forever. These thoughts about my future we’re very overwhelming and I ended up falling asleep in front of my laptop to thoughts of dirty diapers and university applications.