The Babysitter

Saturday morning, Wynonna awoke to the phone ringing in the living room. After a long yawn, she stretched and got out of bed to walk towards the home phone.

“Hello?” She said sleepily.

“Hi baby! It’s Mom, how’s everything?”

“Pretty good.” Wynonna responded lazily.

“Are you sure? Zacky treating you guys alright? You aren’t giving him a lot of trouble are you?”

“No more than I should be. Where’s Dad?”

“Talking to Grandpa about politics. He’s looking at me right now, wondering why I brought him along in the first place.”

“I would be too.” She laughed into the receiver, “Are you coming home soon?”

“Sweetie, it’s only been three days. Grandma still isn’t feeling any better.”

“Can I have an estimate?”

“Wednesday, if not, maybe Thursday. It depends on traffic and what time we go and Grandma’s condition. Alright?”

Wynonna sighed, “Alright.”

“I’ve gotta go now. I was just checking if Zacky was treating you well. Is Andy okay?”

“Yeah, Andy really likes Zack.”

“Is that so? Odd considering he didn’t like any of the sitters before, maybe we’ll hire him again.”

“Hopefully not.”

“Be nice. Anyway, your father is practically yanking my leg, I’ll call you later on tonight. Sound good?”

“Sounds good.”

“Okay, bye baby. We love you, tell Andy that too.”

“Sure thing.” And with that, her mother ended the call and left Wynonna listening to the dial of the disconnected phone. She hung up and sat on the couch, closing her eyes and enjoying the quiet environment. She pretended that there was no brother or babysitter on her back annoying her, it was just her on the couch drifting in her own mind.

“What are you doing on the couch?” Zack asked.

Aggravated, she opened her eyes to see a shirtless Zacky at the other end of the couch, “I was pretending you didn’t exist.”

“Tell me how you really feel.” He mocked, sitting on the arm of the couch.

“Don’t you own a shirt?”

“I own several.”

“Ever think of putting one on?”

“Hasn’t crossed my mind.” He grinned, making Wynonna roll her eyes in response.

“You’re annoying.”

“You’re not on my favorite list either.”

“Then why are you still here?”

“Because I need the money more than anything, and taking care of a bratty little kid like you will help me greatly.”

“I’m not a kid.”

“And I’m not your babysitter.”

“I’m fifteen years old, I can take care of myself!” She spat, her voice becoming louder.

“Am I sensing anger?”

“No, you're sensing a whole lot of love and compassion.”

“Obviously you’re not eligible to take care of yourself or else your mom wouldn’t have hired me.” Zack stated, ignoring her previous comment.

“She’s over protective!”

“You must’ve done something to tick her off.”

“I didn’t do anything!”

“Then why wouldn’t she trust a little nerd like you to stay home? You just moved here. You don’t have any friends, the only friends you have are those twins and your game system so it’s obvious that you that you wouldn’t throw a massive party or go on a killing rampage. So tell me, what was it that pissed your mom off?”

Wynonna gritted her teeth and balled up her fist, “I didn’t do anything!” She repeated, yelling now.

“Was it something in Portland?”

“Shut up!”

“So it was something in Portland? What did you do? Set the house on fire?”

Eventually, Wynonna had enough of the teasing and saw that her brother was on top of the stairs, watching his sister with a worried look. Andy knew and he wished that Zack would stop talking. She felt the tears well up in her eyes and she left without another word. Soon, Andy replaced Wynonna spot on the couch. “Zack?”

“Yeah?”

“There was a reason why I told you I worried for my sister.” He said quietly, getting off the couch and walking to the kitchen. Zacky’s smug smirk faded when he saw the solemn face of her brother, soon, the hilarity of the situation was replaced by guilt. Hearing the sounds of Final Fantasy VI upstairs, he debated whether he should go up in apologize. But by the time he made a decision, the sounds of the video game stopped and soon, the house was quiet. The only sound that remained was the sound of Andy’s spoon hitting the porcelain bowl.

xx

By lunchtime, the scene from this morning was long forgotten in Andy and Zacky’s mind, but when Wynonna came down for lunch, it was evident that she had been crying from the red around her eyes. She didn’t say anything. No smart remarks, no insults. Nothing. She came down for her grilled cheese sandwiches and went back upstairs without another word. It was then when Zacky realized that he truly and honestly, fucked up.