"Tanya is great. She's a little headstrong but easy to get along with. She was the first person I met when I moved here," Shana tells me as she stares straight ahead at the road.
I nod, listening. "She sounds cool."
It's about 7:45 am, and we are currently on our way to meet the family I will be nannying for. Though it is my first day at a job I have no experience with, I am excited to be making my own money. And how hard is it to watch a kid?
"Oooh, and Terri is the cutest. Like she kidnap-able cute."
"What's wrong with you?" I laughed.
"She is!" Shana shouts as she pulls over to the curb. "Here we are." Shana nods her chin to a lovely home on the same side as me.
"Wow, they don't live that far from us," I noticed.
"So, you don't mind walking your ass back home? I can't be waking up at the crack of dawn every day."
"If that's how you feel," I say, squinting my eyes at her as we both get out of the car.
Once we make it to the front step, Shana rings the doorbell. I crack my knuckles as we wait. Shana shoulder bumps me, smiling.
Soon, we hear the sound of heels running towards the door before a beautiful older dark skin Black lady; I'm assuming Tanya opens it. She and Shana excitedly embrace each other. Once released, Tayna turns to me.
"You must be Andrea. I'm Tanya," Tanya smiles, holding her hand out for me.
"Hi, it's nice to meet you, Tanya." I smiled as I shook her hand.
"I'm so happy you'll be nannying for us. Shana told me so much about you."
"Well, thank you for the opportunity," I tell her as she lets us inside. From the inside, you can definitely tell she gets paid well. "Wow, your home is beautiful."
"Thank ya," Tanya says as I stare inside her decorated home.
"Where's my baby?" Shana asks before jogging to the kitchen, where we see Terri sitting in her high chair, eating breakfast. "How's my baby!"
With her mouth full of french toast, Terri excitedly claps her hands once she sees Shana running up to her.
"This little bean is Terri," Tayna says softly as she smiles at her baby and then at me.
Terri might be the cutest baby I have seen in a while. Her giant dark brown eyes fit her chubby little face so perfectly. She had her mother's skin-toned, which went perfect with her two buddle-up space buns.
"Hi, miss Terri," I shake her sticky baby hand."Whoa, she got a strong grip there."
"As she should," Tanya said with a chuckle.
We all talked a little bit before Shana had to head for work.
"So, I wrote a little schedule for you. You know, just to make your day a little easier." Tayna lets me know before passing a sheet of paper to me.
"Thanks, I appreciate it." I scanned the sheet of paper, impressed at how detailed everything looked.
Before she left for work, Tanya and I got to know each other a little bit more and discussed my pay. We were around the same age, her being a little older than me. As I learned more about her, I wondered what I was doing with my life. I know it's not a competition or anything. Tayna has a great career, a wonderful home, and a beautiful daughter.
It made me question everything about myself. After my attempted suicide, it was like my mind was in a clear state. My dreams have to start over. I don't know what I want to do anymore.
Before leaving, she gives Terri a kiss on the cheek and heads towards the front door. With her hand on the doorknob, she stops and turns to me.
"Thanks again, Andrea," Tanya begins to say. "I know it's unlikely hiring someone on the spot before interviewing them...I would have asked my sister or mom, but they live miles away from me." I noticed a touch of sadness in her voice.
"Shana is my only family here."
"I understand" I nodded. "She's my only family here too...and don't worry, Terri is in safe hands," I reassured her.
After Tanya left, I took the time to read the detailed schedule;
7:30 - 7:45 am - Breakfast
8:30 - 10:30 am - Activity/ TV time
10:30 am - 12:00 pm - Independent play
12:00 pm - lunch
1:00 pm - nap
2:30 pm - wake up from nap and have a snack
2:30 - 4:00 pm - Outside time, take a walk
4:00 - 5:30 pm - free play
*I should be home around 5 pm to fix Terri's dinner.
Once I was done reading the schedule, I looked up at Terri and smiled.
"We're gonna have fun?" Terri coos at me. "Yeah, we're gonna have fun," I sighed, not knowing what to do. Oh yeah, the schedule. Duh.
~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~
Though I tried my hardest to put Terri down for her nap, it was difficult. So I decided to take her outside a little bit before 2.
I got Terri dressed in a cute denim overall dress; Tanya left her this morning. Before strapping Terri into her stroller, I filled her lunch box with Chex mix, grapes, and a juice box.
I strapped Terri into her stroller, grabbed the extra set of house keys, and we headed out the front door.
I followed the way Shana drove till I found myself at a familiar landmark; The record store.
Stopping in front of the store, I immediately thought about the cashier who tried giving Layne her number. The toxic side of me lowkey wants to go in and convince her that I just gave birth to Layne's baby.
"Should I?" I ask Terri as I lean over the stroller. Terri looks up at me, a confused frown on her lips as she chews on her grapes.
"Ugh, fine." I go to turn the stroller back around and immediately bump into someone.
It's Jerry. And next to him is Layne.
"Whoa there," Jerry says as he holds my upper arms, preventing me from knocking myself and the stroller over.
"Hey, guys, sorry about that," I said as I gathered myself back to my feet.
"Don't worry," Jerry begins to chuckle. "I don't mind catching you in my arms."
I see Layne rolling his eyes at that comment.
"How are you doing, Andrea?" Layne asks me, stomping a cigarette on the ground.
"Good, I'm good," I breathe out. Every time I saw Layne, he appeared cuter and taller than the last time I saw him. Staring up at him, I forgot about the stroller in front of me until they both looked down.
"Who's your little friend?" Layne then asks me.
"Oh, this is Terri. I just started nannying for her mom."
"Oh yeah?" Layne asks before squatting down in front of Terri. "Hey, pretty girl."
"Hi," Terri shyly whispers. Jerry squats down as well, giving her a fist bump. I sense her quickly warming up to them.
"How old is she?" Jerry asks.
"1 and a half," I tell them before asking, "So what are y'all up to?"
"We just got done doing a little songwriting. We're just about to go get something to eat." Jerry informs me, standing up.
"You hungry?" Layne asks Terri. She nods, chewing on her last grape. "How about pizza? Does that sound good?" Terri screeches excitedly. It was cute watching Layne interact with Terri.
"You want some pizza?" Layne asks me. A smile flashed on his lips once his eyes met mine.
~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~
"I feel like I cant find the one, you know?" Jerry sighs as he swallows another slice of pizza.
Layne and Jerry sit across from me at the table as Terri and I sit on the other side, her looking cute as ever with her booster seat and an elephant bib around her neck.
"What about your girlfriend?" I ask, chewing on the crust of a cheese pizza.
"Girlfriend?"
"The girl from the party-" I stop mid-sentence as I notice Jerry's confused face turn into an amused look. A smile breaks out on Jerry's lips, and Layne laughs at my assumption. "Oh, sorry," I say, quickly realizing. "I didn't know. She just looked like she was in love."
"I wonder why," Jerry winks.
"Ew," I laugh. Though my mind wanders to Jerry putting in the work. This damn dirty mind.
"Yeah, there's a child here," Layne exclaims, laughing.
"My bad." Jerry holds her hands up in defense. "You didn't catch that, did you?" he silly asks Terri, who's too busy sucking on a pizza crust. "Good."
"And what about you?" I asked Layne as Jerry continued to baby talk with Terri.
"What about me?"
"Are you having a difficult time finding the one?"
Layne gave me a soft look, and suddenly it felt like this should be a personal conversation between us.
"Well..." he smirks. "I was hoping for Mike to fall in love with me, but then he met your cousin."
"Now, you two would make a beautiful baby."
"I think so too!" Layne's blue eyes grew wider as he exclaimed.
Laughing, I slid the cheese off the pizza and ate it separately.
"You see, Andrea. We just can't win," Jerry sighs, throwing an arm over Layne's shoulder. His eyes then move, and I follow them. "Unless," he then says, staring at a girl by the counter who's staring him down seductively. "Excuse me." Jerry winks at me before getting up and smoothly walking over to the blushing redhead.
And there it was, just Layne and me. And Terri.
I look at Layne and smile.
"You're a messy eater," Layne tells me, motioning to my face. I gasp, wiping my mouth with a napkin. "You're still cute, though," he adds. Okay, Layne thinks I'm cute. That's good to know. I smile against his compliment.
"Oh, Stawp," I pout, wiping Terri's greasy mouth before ripping another slice of pizza into tiny pieces for her.
"Do you wanna have kids one day?" Layne suddenly asks me.
"Mmh, maybe...only if I find the right person to have them with...what about you?"
"I can't wait to start a family," he smiles. "Of course, with the right person, though."
"Pinky promise?"
"You want to pinky promise about having kids?"
"No," I laughed. "Pinky promise we'll have them with the right person." I know, I know. I'm corny.
"I like that." Layne wraps his pinky around mine and shakes. "Let's see if you'll remember."
"Me? You're the rockstar."
"What does that mean?"
"I watch MTV," I laugh. "I know what happens after a show. That lifestyle is like 50% sex." I felt nervous saying that word in front of him.
Layne shrugs, "You'll be surprised." Though, it wasn't the answer I was hoping for him to say.
I silently shook my head, sipping on my drink.
"Someone's getting a little sleepy," Layne mentions. I slightly turn my head and see Terri yawn, rubbing one of her eyes.
"Mmh, it must be time for her nap," I sighed, knowing I would have to leave him. "Just when the conversation was about to get juicy."
Layne must have taken notice of my sudden demeanor. With his elbows on the table, he leans forward, "What's with the sad face?"
"I like talking to you," I admit. I don't know, but for some reason, I felt confident enough to speak my mind today. Maybe it's because Terri makes me feel like an independent single mother.
As Layne is about to respond, Jerry walks back to the table.
"So, I'm about to hang out with my new friend over there." Jerry points to the now-beaming redhead before grinning back to us with impatience in his eyes.
"Have fun, Jerry," I giggle out, picking up Terri from her booster seat.
"Oh, I will," Jerry winks before saying goodbye. Chuckling, Layne stands from his seat and steps toward Terri and me.
"We should have made him pinky promise, too," Layne jokes as he helps me strap Terri back into her stroller.
~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~
Layne offered to walk me back to Terri's home, which I accepted. He walked beside me as I pushed the stroller, and it felt like we were a cute little couple taking their baby out for a walk.
It wasn't long before Terri quickly fell asleep.
"I realized that I don't know that much about you. Not that you're supposed to tell me everything about yourself...." Layne trails off.
"What do you want to know?"
"Whatever you're willing to share."
I roll my eyes, "Come on, ask me something."
"Okay, okay...burger or pizza?"
"Burgers! Fish or chicken?"
He doesn't let a second pass before answering, "Chicken...why did you move to Seattle? ....all of places."
It takes me a few seconds to respond to him. I'm unsure if I should tell him the truth or fabricate it a little.
"I just needed a change. Shana didn't mention the constant rain, though."
"Yeah, it is rainy here. I love it, though."
"You think you're gonna live here forever?"
"I don't know. I like L.A., but Seattle is my home."
I nod at his answer and I'm about to ask him another question, but the excitement of a cute old lady catches my attention. I stop pushing the stroller as she stops in front of us.
"She's adorable," the old lady says, bending down a little to get a good look at Terri.
"Thank you. She gets her looks from her mother," Layne says, nodding his head towards me. I lift my eyebrows at Layne, and he just gives me a smile and wink. I soon realized what game he was playing.
The old lady smiles at us before letting us continue our walk.
"So, we're playing house now?" I ask Layne but don't hide the smile rising on my lips.
"Why not take advantage of this opportunity?... Mommy," he says, then "Favorite movie?"
"Uh," I tried to think of movies as I was taken aback by him calling me mommy.
"Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory."
Layne laughs at my answer, "That's cute."
"What's your-" I begin to ask but I'm stopped by another lady approaching us.
"Aww, how old is she?" the lady asks.
"She'll be two next month," I lied, starting to have fun.
"So precious, what's her name, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Sadie," Layne quickly comes up with.
"Such a cute family y'all have," The lady sweetly complements us.
"Thank you," Layne and I both said. As the lady strolls past us, I turn to Layne.
"Sadie?" I ask him.
"What, you don't like it?"
"No, I think it's cute."
Layne nods, smiling. We stroll quietly for a minute before he asks me another question, "What are your goals in life?"
"Like, what do I want to be when I grow up?"
He nods, "Yeah. "
"When I was younger, I wanted to be a poet...now I just want to be happy." I nodded at my answer, but then self-doubt started to kick in."I know it's dumb."
"No, it's not dumb," Layne notes. His assurance made me more confident in my response and possible future. "It's not dumb," he says again.
Layne and I asked each other more questions until we made it back to Terri's home.
"Thanks for walking us back." As I dig for the house keys, he grabs a box of cigarettes from his shirt pocket and pats them.
"Of course, now daddy needs a cigarette break."
"I thought daddy was gonna quit?" I giggle with laughing eyes.
"When did daddy say that?" Layne lifts his brows, laughter consuming his voice.
"Aww, daddy needs to stop drinking," I soothe, caressing the side of his face playfully. He laughs and lowers his eyes, his blue orbs darkening. Layne then kisses my palm, surprising me. Woah. But I keep it there. He chuckles at my reaction.
"So I guess we make a cute couple," Layne says, but it comes out as a sweet whisper.
"You think so?" I ask, though it's not like I haven't been thinking about it. He and me. Us.
"That's what people are saying," he says, referring to the strangers complimenting us. Layne is smiling like a joke is running through his head. And I wanted to hear it.
"Mmmh," was all I could say. It's confusing being around Layne. Sometimes I feel bold and flirtatious, but then I'm sometimes shy and caught off guard.
"I wish I could read your mind," he tells me, biting his lower lip.
"This old thing?" I joke. It's obvious that we both knew we each liked each other. But who makes the first move? "I would invite you in, but this isnt my home," I laughed.
"So responsible," he says, retrieving shades from his pocket.
I shyly sway, looking up at him. Layne smirks down at me, something tempting in his thoughts.
"I should get her inside," I say to him after hearing Terri stir in her sleep.
"Yeah...I'll see you later then?"
"Yup." I blew a kiss at him before turning the key.