Babysitting the Bad Boy's Brother

*kahoot theme plays* "i could totally strip to this"

"Hey little dude." I say, opening the door and setting my bag down.

"Hey claire." Connor says, not looking up from the hot-wheels car he's sliding along the floor.

"Where's your mom?"

"Kitchen."

I head over to the large kitchen to see his mom sitting with her head in her hands. She looks exhausted, but as soon as she sees me she stands up with a smile. "Hello Claire."

"How are you today?"

"I'm doing great, thanks so much for asking. It's going to be a late night tonight, I hope you don't mind putting him to bed again." She pats down her graying hair, assuring herself that nothing is out of place.

"I don't mind at all." I give her a kind smile. I feel bad for her, raising two boys. Never once have I seen or heard of a father figure in the house. It doesn't help the Alec seems to sit on his ass all day and not help his mom out- I really dislike that kid. 

We chat for a while before his mom has to rush out the door.

Connor seems actually kind of pleasant today. We go outside and he rides his bike as I sit in the lawn. After he falls off his bike and scrapes his knee, he doesn't even protest when I put hydrogen peroxide and Neosporin on it. For dinner I make chicken nuggets and after we watch a movie.

"Is everything okay Connor?" I ask as I'm changing him into his pajamas.

"Yeah. Why?"

"I don't know. You're acting different." Nice, even. He simply shrugs. I pick him up and set him on the bed. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, Claire. Butt out." He crawls into bed and turns away from me.

"Do you want me to read to you?"

"Goodnight Claire." I sigh but turn on his nightlight and leave the door cracked, heading downstairs and plopping myself on the couch. I scroll through T.V. to find something to watch but am unsuccessful, so I just sit on the couch sideways against the arm rest and scroll through my twitter feed.

I hear the door open and strain my head, looking towards the door. It's only 8:30, and since Mrs. Hirst shouldn't be back for a while, I decide it's probably Alec and that I also don't care.

I hear the jangling of his keys and his foot steps over towards where I'm sitting.

Alec does a double take. "What the fuck did you do?"

I give him a snarky smile. "Nice to see you too."

"Blue? Really?"

"Bye, Alec." I echo what Connor said to me earlier and don't look up from my phone as I hear him sprint up the stairs and back down a couple of minutes later.

He turns to stare at me and I briefly look up from my screen, my eyes meeting his. I can't decipher the look on his face, but I don't really try to anyways. "Do you need something?" I ask boredly, wearing my best I-don't-want-to-be-having-this-conversation expression.

He opens his mouth to say something, but is interrupted by the front door opening.

Great. What now?

I strain my head and see someone I certainly didn't expect- but probably should've because apparently my life is one deep dark cliche pit of despair.

"What's she doing here?" Alexis Sickert says, popping her hip out and flipping her black hair over her shoulders while eyeing me suspiciously. I sit up and look to the side uncomfortably, waiting for Alec to leave, taking Alexis with him. She leans over and says something softly in his ear. I catch the words "I thought we were gonna..." and I'm glad I didn't hear the rest.