Childish

43

Hi, everyone! I just wanted to hop on and wish you all a happy mother's day! I'm a little late so please excuse that. 

Thank you all for reading Childish. It means so much to me that you all love my stories and my writing. I have lots more planned for Lyla and Alex and the rest of Alpine so stay tuned!

---

Alex handed me over to Ms. Diane. "Be good for Ms. Diane today."

I rolled my eyes at him. He always acted like I was the worst kid in town. At one point, I would have believed that. But for the last few months, I was nearly perfect.

Ms. Diane patted my back. "Should I keep my eye on her today?"

"No, I was good all weekend."

"Alexander, you don't have anything to worry about. Lyla stays out of trouble."

He raised his eyebrows at me. "I'll have to take your word for it."

Ms. Diane waved her hand at him. "Alright, you need to get to work and Lyla needs to go play."

He kissed the top of my head before taking a step away from us and toward the door. "Okay, okay. I'm going. I'll see you later."

I laughed as Ms. Diane exhaled as if she was exhausted.

"He just wouldn't leave and let you play, would he?"

I wrapped my arms around her neck and held onto her as she carried me over to the different play areas within the room. "Well, I've been sort of... moody lately. I think he's trying to make things up to me so he's being more... caring, I guess."

She set me down on the floor before she sat down beside me. "Did something happen between you two?"

I crawled past her and pulled out the bin of large blocks, dragging it with me so we could both get to them. "I guess it's been happening. He gave me some news a few weeks ago that I haven't taken well."

"Are you going to tell me or am I going to have to drag it out of you?" She asked with a laugh.

I looked down at the blocks as I color-coordinated them. "Naomi's pregnant. We found out it's a boy but I still... don't know how I feel about it."

"Do you think you're jealous of having a sibling now? This means you'll have to share your parents' attention."

I didn't like admitting that I was jealous. Because, to me, it meant that I thought I wasn't good enough in some aspects. Like someone else was worth Naomi and Alex's attention and time and love more than me. But Ms. Diane was right and I couldn't lie to her.

"Yeah. I've been an only child my whole life. The baby isn't even here yet and I feel like things are changing so much."

"Your parents aren't going to just forget about you. They still have to take care of you and they're still going to love you just the same."

I looked up at her and exhaled the breath I'd been holding. Deep down, I felt like I knew Alex and Naomi still loved me. There was enough for both me and the new baby. Yet I worried that I wasn't good enough and it would be their excuse for not wanting to give me much attention. I was hard to deal with and I was sure both Alex and Naomi knew it. Part of me wanted the baby around so I could see if it would happen or not. But the other part didn't want the baby to come so I could enjoy my time as an only child.

Ms. Diane took my hand and squeezed it. "Honey, you don't have anything to worry about."

A little boy crawled over to us and his pacifier fell from his mouth as he approached me. He reached out for one of the blue blocks and a long string of saliva fell from his mouth and onto my arm.

I scooted away from him, scowling at the back of his sandy blonde hair. I hated little kids and being surrounded by them every day just made me hate them more.

Ms. Diane tried to hide her smile as she got to her feet and walked over to me. "Come on, Lyla. Let's get you cleaned up. Lucas can play with the blocks and we'll find something else."

She carried me to my cubby where she grabbed my bag. She took me to the bathroom and laid me on the changing table. She pulled a wipe from the pack and cleaned my arm off.

"Why are kids so gross?"

"You've drooled on me before so you're not totally innocent."

My eyes widened. "Name one time."

She shook her head. "Everyone does it at some point."

"That's so gross. I don't even wanna think about it."

She smiled as she grabbed a clean diaper from my diaper bag. "It doesn't bother me anymore. I've been puked on and pooped on and everything in between. It's just how babies are."

"I don't think I want kids then."

"There's always time to change your mind."

I never thought about having kids. It was never on my mind since I wasn't around kids that often growing up. But being in Alpine made me sort of jealous that I might never have the chance to have a child of my own. If I wanted one, that was.

She patted my butt before she took my hands and pulled me into a sitting position. "Alright, let's go find something to play with that isn't drool-covered."

"Good luck with that."