Life As I Know It (Completed)

Chapter Thirteen - Babysitting Bedlam and Disastrous Dinners

          It was chaos at Drew's house. A lot of his family had flown in from Ireland for a visit and to get a chance to meet Mum and me. It was all really last-minute and so they hadn't been able to find a hotel or a B&B that had any vacancies anywhere. Everyone had either been staying at our house or Drew's for the past few days.

          Bedlam was a loose term I'd use to describe it.

          "It was mine!" Pippa screamed. At first look, she seemed like an adorable kid. Her blonde ringlets were held back from her face with a white hair band and her yellow and white polka dot dress just completed the whole angelic look. She also had the cutest Irish accent. I was fooled completely, but soon came to realise that she and the triplets were anything but angelic. She was five years old and currently had her three-year-old brother in a headlock.

         Personally, I couldn't fathom why her mother would want to have a kid again, so soon after already having one. She probably wouldn't have been so eager if she'd known she'd be conceiving triplets.

           "Knock it off you two." Drew came over and pulled Sayer away from his big sister. I was severely impressed by Drew's ability to look after all these kids. He picked Sayer up and placed him on his hips as he walked into the kitchen and began heating up a bottle for the baby. He'd been running around ever since we got back from college. Her name was Alice, and she was currently asleep on the sofa in the living room. How she could sleep in this ruckus, I was unsure.

           "He stole my chocolate bar!" She huffed indignantly, and began tugging on Drew's trousers to gain his attention. I leaned against the counter and watched for a while, unsure of whether I should intervene. I hadn't been around kids much, but Drew seemed to be a natural. He really got on well with these kids, and I found it rather cute.

           "I'll buy you another one. I'll buy you loads more." He tried to console her.

           "Yay. Let's go now!" she squealed, jumping on his words. She was smiling happily, when mere seconds ago, she'd been close to tears. I really didn't understand children.

           "What?" He looked panicked. "I'll take you later on, when your mum and dad get back to take care of everyone else," he told her.

           "No! I want one now." She crossed her arms stubbornly and then tugged on her brother's foot hard enough that he fell off of Drew's hip and landed in a heap on the floor.

          We all held our breath for a minute, hoping he'd be okay. But he began to wail. Loudly. Pippa began crying too, sobbing about chocolate. She began to scream in earnest when Sayer got up from the floor, tears streaming down his flushed face as he jumped on her, pulling her into a chokehold.

           "Oh my god. Guys, stop it!" Drew forgot about the milk and tried to separate the two without hurting either of them. "Ellie," he called, stressed.

          I hurried forward and tried to pull Sayer away from his sister. I was not good with children, at all. The kid struggled in my arms, but I held on and managed to pick him up. Drew went to Pippa and set her on his lap, wiping the tears away from her face. He pulled her into his chest and tried to quieten her down.

          That image was so adorable. I could imagine him clearly when he was older, perhaps with kids of his own.

           "I'm so sorry, Ellie," he apologised, looking up at me from where he was on the floor. "When I invited you round, I didn't think things would be this crazy."

           "Its fine, I don't mind." I smiled reassuringly at him, patting Sayer on his head. He had calmed down now and was playing with my hair, seemingly fascinated by the blonde, curly strands. He pulled one away from my head, and then let it go, watching as it bounced back into a curly spiral.