Bloodbond

Chapter 1

"Nanny! Come!" I heard Tyler yell from the bathroom. No doubt he needed help wiping himself again.

I put down the spoon I had in my hand and let out a tired sigh as I headed down the hall. I loved kids and all but there IS such a thing as spending too much time around them. I think I needed a vacation. If only.

"You need the money, Cas," I told myself. Oh well. The vacation could wait, I guess.

When I got to the bathroom, I saw tyler sitting on the toilet with his pants down. This was nothing new. Tyler was four years old and, like his twin sister, Tiffany, he was still trying to learn how to properly clean himself. Oh, the joys of taking care of other people's kids. I get to wipe butts all day. What more could you ask for?

Anyways, back to the bathroom situation.

"What do you need, Tyler?"

"Wipe me," he demanded. Boy, you've just got to love that attitude.

"What do you say?" I asked him with a pointed look.

"Please, Nanny." With that, I turned and grabbed a baby wipe from the counter, folded it up and handed it to Tyler.

"Okay, Tyler. Do you remember what we've been doing?" Tyler nodded his head and stood up to try and clean himself. When he had finished, he washed his hands, walked out of the bathroom and headed to the living room to play with Tiffany. I went back to the kitchen so I could finish making their dinner. Just another couple of hours and I could go home.

After dinner, I gave the twins their allotted T.V. time and cleaned up. I sometimes found myself fantasizing about living in a place like this. While their home was by no means a mansion, it was certainly something to be proud of. With two stories, vaulted ceilings, spacious rooms, and a backyard to die for, I couldn't help but be a bit envious. While I wasn't sure if the wife even had a job, I did know that the husband worked for some computer company. I wasn't sure just what he did for them but, if their house was any indication, he made some decent money doing it. Comfortable house, cushy job. Not a bad life.

At nine o'clock, as the twins were brushing their teeth, their dad arrived, taking over and allowing me to go home. I was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to collapse onto my bed and pass out for the next ten hours. Sadly, my wish did not come true.

The moment I walked into my apartment, my roommate, Sara, hurled her tiny body at me, nearly knocking me off balance.

"You're back!" she squealed. "I'm so glad you're here!. I didn't get a chance to see you at all yesterday."

"Probably because you spent the night at Michael's," I wheezed through her death grip. Michael was Sara's boyfriend of two years. Surprisingly, despite the fact that Sara and I have been best friends since third grade, I wasn't very close to Michael and didn't get the chance to spend much time around him. But, from what I did know, he seemed nice enough.

Sara ignored my comment as she pulled away and continued speaking. "So, a bunch of my cohorts are going out to some club tonight. Why don't you get dressed with me and we can head out at ten."

Now, here's the thing. Even though Sara and I are best friends, our personalities are almost polar opposites, not to mention our appearances. Sara was a bubbly, outgoing, social butterfly working towards an advanced degree in chemical engineering. She was 5'2, with red hair, hazel eyes, and wore a size two. I, on the other hand, was more introverted and had a hard time in social settings. I suppose some people would call me shy and I'm okay with that. It's not like it wasn't true. While I was also working on an advanced degree, my focus was counseling. I had gotten so busy during the fall semester,however, that I had decided to take the Spring off just so I could breathe. The stress had really been getting to me.

I had dark hair and dark eyes and, while I was only an inch taller than Sara, I was nowhere near a size two. Now I was by no means huge, but I was definitely curvy. I did lack some much needed confidence in myself, but I also thought I wasn't too bad to look at. Sara was always telling me that I was beautiful and that I needed to see that, but it's easier said than done.

I looked at Sara for a moment before I responded. "Uh, I'm kinda tired. It's been a long day. Maybe some other time."

Sara gave me a look that read something along the lines of, "Yeah, right," but she didn't press it.

"Alright, but will you at least talk to me while I get ready?" she gave me her best puppy dog eyes and I releneted since I wouldn't be able to relax until she left the apartment anyway.

I went with her to her room, sat down on the bed and watched while she put on the rest of her make up at the vanity across from me. I was so tired that I began to space out and didn't realize that she had been talking until she clapped her hands, snapping me out of it.

"I'm sorry. What did you say?"

Sara frowned slightly. "Did you space out or something? I've been talking for the past few minutes."

"Yeah, sorry. I'm just tired. What did I miss?"

After a brief pause, she filled me in. "Our quarter ends tomorrow and the next quarter's classes won't start for a few weeks, so Michael and I decided to take a little vacation."

"Really? Where are you guys gonna go?"

"We've narrowed it down to a few places but we haven't completely decided yet." She turned around in her chair to look at me. "I figured I could stay at his place for a couple days and, once we decided where we wanted to go, we could just take off." She pointed to the large suitcase by the door that I had missed when I first walked in.

"That sounds fun. Exactly how long will you be gone?"

She scrunched up her nose in thought. "About two weeks? I'll definitely be back before classes start. I'm hoping spending some time together will be a good thing. Lately, I've felt like Michael and I have been in a rut. It feels like we aren't connecting like we used to."

I knew there was something going on between her and Michael because she'd been saying things like this a lot recently.

"I'm sure spending some time together. just the two of you, will help. You're both so busy all the time that you don't get much time for yourselves. Stay positive and just make sure that you're honest with him about how you're feeling."

She processed my words briefly, then nodded and gave me a small smile. "You're right. I need to stop getting so worked up about it. I know it's gonna be fine but, sometimes, it's nice to just talk about it. Sorry if I unload on you too much. You know you're the only one I talk to about these things."

I smiled at her. "I know and I do the same thing with you. I'm always here for you, Sar-bear."

She grinned at me before turning to finish her make up. Despite her assurance that she would be gone by ten o'clock, she wasn't actually out the door until ten forty-five. By the time I locked the door behind her, I was nearly asleep on my feet. It took every last ounce of energy I had to climb the stairs to my bedroom. Without even bothering to undress, I toppled onto my bed and was asleep before I hit the pillow.

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 I know this chapter was short and not all that interesting but it's just the starter. I promise future chapters will be longer and more interesting.

Also, I decided to include a cast list so as to make it easier to picture what I had in mind for the characters. I'll include pictures of them at the side when relevant. =)

This first picture is of  Sara =)