Girl Meets Mixed Up

Chapter Forty: Maya Matthews

"Waaaaahh! Waaaaaahh, Waaaaahhh!"

I groan. I want to press snooze on Hunter, but he's not an alarm. We brought him home last night and he's been up every two hours.

"Josh can you get him?" I ask. Josh groans.

"Waaaaahh! Waaaaaah!"

"Yeah, but it's your turn next time." He replies. He kisses my hair and crawls out of bed, heading to the nursery as I drift off to sleep.

...
I wake up the next morning smelling eggs and bacon. I smile and crawl out of bed. Wait. Why isn't Hunter crying? I run downstairs and smile in awe of what I see. Riley is feeding Hunter and Josh and Ranger Rick are making breakfast. Emilia is in the living room watching The Wiggles. When did Riley, Ranger Rick, and Emilia get here?

"Goodmorning sleeping beauty. How did you sleep last night?"Josh says, kissing me on the forehead.

"I slept okay besides the little man waking up every two hours." I say. Riley laughs.

"Yeah. I know what you're going through." She says. I walk over to her and kiss my son on the forehead. She takes his bottle out of his mouth and gently lifts him up over her shoulder to burp him.

"What time is it?" I ask with a little yawn. Ranger Rick pauses from what he's doing and checks his watch.

"It's quarter after seven. Riley and I have to be in class by nine. Will you guys be able to watch Emmy? Because we know you guys have a year off because both of you just had a baby." He says. Riley just started college after Emilia turned 1. I look at Josh and he shrugs.

"I don't know, guys. I mean, we just had a baby like you said and we're already having a difficult time taking care of our own." I say.

"Please?" Riley begs with puppy dog eyes. "She won't be any fussy. I promise." I nod. She better be right or I'm gonna walk straight into one of her classes and I'm gonna hand her the child.

"Yeah, we'll babysit her. Why can't Tracey babysit?" I ask. Tracey is Emilia's babysitter.

"Tracey is only thirteen. She's in school still. And she's only available nightly." Riley replies. I nod.

"We'll babysit her, but you guys have to be here no later than after college is done." Josh says. Riley squeals.

"Thank you Uncle Josh." She says. Hunter lets out a big burp and we all laugh. I pick him up gently in my arms and smell his butt. Nothing.

"Josh, did you change his diaper this morning?" I ask. He nods as he is placing eggs and bacon on our plates. I smile. "Thank you."

"It was no big deal really. All he did was pee." Josh says. I nod.

"And if he pooped or puked?" I ask. He shrugs and scrunches his nose.

"I'd probably make you deal with it." He says. Riley and I laugh.

"Yeah. Uncle Josh is such a girl. He gets grossed out very easily." Riley says. I laugh.

"I am not!" Josh says.

"Are you serious? How come I never knew that?" I ask Riley and ignoring Josh.

"Because you guys never had a baby till now?" Ranger Rick guesses. Riley flicks him across the head. "Ow!"

"Are you calling our child gross?" Riley asks. Ranger Rick immediately shakes his head.

"No, I'm just saying babies poop and puke and it's gross. But he's never dealt with it before!" Ranger Rick whines.

"I'm not a girl!" Josh repeats. It's almost as if he's offended by Riley calling him that.

"You're unbelievable." Riley says to Ranger Rick. "Lucas, it's normal for babies to do that. We do it too. Wanna know why? Because we're all humans." Ranger Rick nods.

"I can't believe I'm married to a smart ass." Ranger Rick whines. Riley slaps him. "I'm kidding!" She rolls her eyes.

"Watch your mouth! We've got a baby over here!" I scold them, covering my child's little ears.

"Guys, just to prove that I'm not a girl, for the next week or whenever Maya wants me to, I'm gonna deal with the poppy diapers and the puke." Josh says. He walks over to me and grabs Hunter. He's fast asleep.

"Promise?" I ask. He groans.

"Yes, I promise. And I won't complain and be grossed out either." He says. I laugh.

"Great." I say, smiling big. He brings Hunter to his nursery down the hall. We all sit down at the table. "You gonna grab your daughter Riley?" She shakes her head.

"She's fine. She ate before we left. She had cheerios." She says. I nod.

"Let's begin the feast!" Josh says, walking back into the kitchen with the baby monitor.

"Uncle Josh, it's not a feast. It's just bacon and eggs. And it's just breakfast." Riley says. Josh rolls his eyes as he sits down in between Riley and I.

"Why is my niece such a smart ass?" He asks. Riley slaps him. "Ow!"

"I don't like being called that!" She says.

"That's what you are, though!" He says. She slaps him again. "Ow!" Ranger Rick looks at his watch.

"Oh, would you look at the time? Riley, we've gotta go!" He says. Riley gives him a questionable look and checks the time on her phone.

"Lucas, it's only five after eight. Class doesn't start until nine." She says. Lucas gives her the "remember? We have to do something?" look. Riley nods and they leave the table.

"You guys haven't even touched your food!" I say, getting up and following them. Josh follows behind me. Riley kisses Emilia on the cheek.

"We're not really hungry. But thanks for making it though!" Riley says, rushing out the door. I grab her arm and Josh grabs Ranger Rick's arm.

"Then why did you come here?" I ask. She shrugs.

"Um, to drop off Emmy." Ranger Rick stutters. I give them a questionable look.

"Where are you guys going? What's the rush?" Josh asks.

"Um, to Starbucks!" Riley stutters. I roll my eyes.

"We have coffee here, you know." I say.

"They have really good muffins." Riley says. I know she's lying. She and Ranger Rick are doing something that I don't know about. She usually tells me everything and it irritates me that she's not telling me now.

"Riley, why are you lying to me? Can you please tell me what it is?" I ask. She rips out of my grasp on her arm.

"I will tell you when it happens, Maya." She says sternly. Ranger Rick rips out of Josh's grasp on his arm and they leave, running so that we don't chase them. What does she mean? What are they doing?

"I bet you any money that those two are having sex." Josh says. I'm still looking at the door, confused. They wouldn't have left so early just to have sex."You're doing that thing, Maya." I turn around to face him.

"What thing?" I ask.

"You tighten up your eyebrows whenever you're thinking too hard on something. And I find it kind of sexy." He says. I wrap my arms around his neck.

"Oh yeah?" I ask. He nods.

"Should we eat this food or throw it away?" He asks.

"Why would we wanna throw it away? Josh, I just had a baby. I'm starving." I say. He laughs.

"Then I'll eat with you." He says. I smile. We bring our plates to the living room so that we can watch Emilia. I can't believe that we're actually entertained by The Wiggles. Emilia walks over to me and hands me one of her toys, smiling. Wow, I never realized this before, but she looks a lot like her mom.

"Thank you." I say sweetly. "But you're gonna regret giving me this, honey. So, why don't you take it." I gently give it back to her. She gives me a pouty face, but sits back on her chair and continues watching her show.