Childish

21

"Are you ever going to sleep in your own bed?" Alex asked as he stood at the foot end of the bed. He wore a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants but no socks. Meanwhile, I had a pair of footie pajamas on that covered my feet.

I sat back against the pillows, my bunny pressed against my chest. My bear sat on the bed beside me. "I doubt it. You should have known this would happen."

He raised his eyebrows. "Oh really?"

I nodded.

He shook his head. "Get under the covers. I'm turning the lights off."

I did as he said, knowing I wouldn't be able to see well once the lights went off. I was moving my stuffed animals under the covers with me when he turned the lights off and walked back to the bed. He pushed the blanket aside and got into the bed beside me.

I rolled onto my back as I thought of how the next day would go. I was nervous, even more than I was expecting to be. Going from a sixteen-year-old to a two-year-old to a full-on baby was hard enough to process. I couldn't imagine how everyone else handled it.

"Lyla?"

I turned my head toward the sound of Alex's voice though I couldn't see more than an outline of his face. The only light that came in the room was from the nightlight he had plugged in beside the door. "Yeah?"

"You're thinking about it again, aren't you?"

I groaned, hating that he knew me so well. "I can't help it."

He rolled onto his side. "This isn't your first time going to school. You already know how your day's going to go. It's the same routine nearly every day."

"That's not what I'm nervous about."

He ran his thumb across my cheek as his hand cupped my face. "You know you're going to make friends. I mean, most of the kids you'll be with probably won't be able to talk much but I'm sure they'll like playing with you."

"That's the problem. I don't really know how to play."

"That didn't stop you your first day there. You're thinking too much about this."

I shook my head and rolled onto my stomach, hiding my face in the pillow. "I can't play like that now. I'm just a baby."

He pulled me into his arms and hugged me. "I don't buy that for a second. Aren't you the one who's always telling me you're not a baby?"

"I am a baby."

"Nope. You're a smart, strong little girl who I know is going to make friends at school tomorrow. You're not supposed to even bat an eye about it. Let me handle that."

I settled into his embrace and closed my eyes. I'd been in three different classrooms at daycare. I wasn't sure what to expect this time going back. Would they put me in a room I was familiar with or would it be a new room where all the babies were? Even though everyone under 18 was considered a baby, they couldn't put a seventeen-year-old in a class with someone like me who couldn't even walk. I'd end up trampled.

Thanks to my body being so little and not being able to stay up too late, I managed to fall asleep not long after the lights were turned off and we stopped talking. Being surrounded by warmth and my stuffed animals, I fell into a comfortable sleep.

---

"Relax, Lyla. You're going to be fine." Alex said as he lifted me from my car seat. He reached in to grab my diaper bag and slung the strap over his opposite shoulder.

I laid my head on his shoulder, my bear tucked firmly between his chest and my arm. I was worried about taking my bear at all, knowing how rough kids were with stuffed animals. I didn't want anything to happen to it but I also needed it to sleep when it came time for my nap.