After a couple of minutes, we went to our table and placed our orders. The waitress said it would be nearly an hour; I expected us to go somewhere else, where there would be less of a wait. But to my astonishment, no one even made a motion to get up. "Um, will it be okay to miss work for so long?" I asked uncertainly.
"We all took this afternoon off, just in case. We knew none of us would be able to focus on work today," Adrian grinned. I sat there, very flattered that they went to all this trouble just for me. We started to chat, but about twenty minutes later Ally started to cry.
"Uh oh," Keith smiled. "She's probably hungry." He tried to give her her bottle, but she turned her face away from it, continuing to wail.
"Give her to me," Holly begged, taking Ally from Keith. "Aw, you're just the most adorable baby ever, aren't you?" she cooed. It didn't work, Ally kept on crying. Vanessa tried too, as did Adrian, but to no avail.
"Akash, you try, maybe you can do something," Keith said, offering her to me.
"What can I do?" I said, a little afraid I might not be careful enough with Ally.
"Anything," he said, handing her to me. I took her and formed a little cradle with my arms, rocking her back and forth. I wasn't sure why I did it, but it felt normal. She still cried, but a little more quietly. Her eyes were focused on me.
"Hi Ally," I smiled, holding her so that she was standing on my legs. "What's wrong? Do you need something?" She made a little whining noise, but her crying had mostly subsided. "Keith, pass me my napkin please?" He did so, and I carefully wiped the streak of tears from the baby's face. Her eyes opened a little wider and the tiniest of smiles appeared across her features. Switching her position so that she had her head resting on my shoulder, I lightly patted her on the back. There was a sound of a small burp, and I brought Ally back to standing on me; she was now properly smiling. "There we go, you just had gas," I chuckled. Suddenly, I became aware that everyone at our table was staring at me with wide eyes.
"Is there anything you can't do?" Holly demanded. I looked blank, not sure what she meant. "How did you calm her down so quickly?! You made it look so easy!"
I didn't know what to say. "I dunno, I just tried what felt natural," I replied slowly. "It's no big deal, really."
"No big deal," Keith repeated incredulously. We've been busting our asses here for ten minutes, and you calmed her down in less than two! And she's even smiling!" I grinned, turning Ally around to face everyone else, and she laughed.
"Well, I do teach swimming lessons as well, so I kinda know how to handle kids. Plus I used to calm down my little brother like this all the time when he was born," I said, remembering now why I found it easy.
"Marry me? Seriously, you handled Ally better than I've ever seen anyone handle a baby!" Vanessa whined. We all roared with laughter, but it looked like the noise was going to upset Ally, so I quickly indicated to them to be quieter.
"Do you want to feed her? Maybe she'll be more willing to have her milk," Keith said, holding out her bottle.
"You sure?" I said.
"Yeah, you got her to stop crying, it's only fair that you get to feed her," he grinned. I took the bottle and held the baby in a cradle position again; calm now, she was more than happy to have her bottle. Our food arrived a few minutes later, but I didn't touch it, as my hands were full.
"You guys go ahead, start eating!" I smiled, noticing that they all seemed uncertain about starting without me. They nodded and began. I looked down at Ally; her eyes were wide open and fixed on me, and I smiled, enjoying this feeling and wondering if I was ever going to experience it for myself.
