When I went to check on Jonas in the morning, he seemed fine. He didn't have a temperature or anything, so I decided to take his word for it and not take him to the doctor.
We spent the day inside due to the stormy weather. Around dinner time, the storm cleared up and the kids finally convinced me to take them out to eat. Because he had to deal with the expired milk yesterday, I let Jonas pick the restaurant. That was a bad idea.
We ended up eating at Chuck E. Cheese's. I feel like I just had expired milk. Ethan got lost in the ball-pit, Rose started crying when she lost whack-a-mole, Beth was scared of the mascot, and Jonas was told he weighed too much to go on the playground.
Afterwards, I just wanted to go home. They convinced me to take them mini-golfing. Let me just say, Crystal has an award-winning puppy dog face. I caved in an instant.
By the eleventh hole, Jonas is getting heated. Probably because he is in last place as of now with a pitiful score of 104. "This game is rigged," he mutters after his ball ends up in the water again.
"Don't hate the game; hate the player," Addison jokes and ruffles her brother's hair.
"Maybe you'll make a great comeback in the next seven holes," I say to cheer up the cranky teen. "You're only 62 strokes behind Ethan."
Jonas mutters something under his breath before picking up his ball from the water and placing it at the start again. The rest of us already got the ball in the hole, so we're just waiting on Jonas. Twenty-four strokes later, we go on to hole twelve.
"I'm tired!" Crystal announces after her twelfth hole-in-one. "Can we go home?"
"Aw, is little miss perfect shot afraid she won't be able to keep her score?" Jonas asks in a patronizing voice, crouching to be at her level.
Crystal rolls her eyes. "No! I said I was tired. Can we please go home, Ivy?"
"Well, we can take a vote. Those in favor of staying to complete the game.."
Jonas raises his hand and holds up Ethan's hand as well in a desperate attempt to stay.
"Those in favor of going home.."
Everyone else raises their hand, including Beth.
"Sorry, Jonas," I apologize. "The democracy has decided."
"Whatever. I'll stick to soccer," he mutters and storms off to return his club and his ball.
The rest of us follow him and return our things. I tip the man who sadly had to stay extra late in this dingy glow-in-the-dark place. We were the only people here and probably the only reason he had to stay here.
After I buckle Beth into her car seat and make sure Ethan is clicked in as well, I move to the front seat of the mini-van and pull out of the parking lot. Jonas sits in the passenger's seat, claiming he has radio rights.
"Don't you think the winner should get shotgun?" Crystal asks from the back of the car.
"Maybe if the winner wasn't two feet tall!" Jonas shoots back and a cheeky grin.
Crystal sticks out her tongue before turning to engage in conversation with her twin.
"How long have you played soccer?"
"I've been playing since I was four. Not going to lie, I was the best one of the team. I started playing travel soccer around age seven. I stopped being the best one on the team. I have to practice really hard each time try-outs come around."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. This year, it is imperative I make the Eagles. Since I'll be going to high school soon, I need to impress the varsity coaches in order to make the team."
I nod. "Well, we will have to make sure you practice everyday this summer, rain or sun. I can be your coach."
"Did you play soccer?"
"I played on the little league. Not going to lie, I was the best on the team," I joke and send him a wink.
As I pull into the driveway, I'm thrown off by how little cars there are. There are only two cars parked along the curb. I don't see people outside; I can't hear any music. Is there even a party? Did it not start yet?
The kids run to the house, leaving just Beth and me. I unbuckle the baby and hold her in my arms. She whacks lightly at my face as we walk into the house.
There is no one on the first floor of the house other than the kids who have swarmed the television and are already fighting over the remote. I set Beth down next to Addison before continuing my search.
The basement. That has to be it! It is a total party center. There are probably hundreds of kids down there right now, drinking and talking and dancing and doing whatever else partiers do.
I open the basement door. Hm, no blaring music, just soft, didn't any music. While walking downstairs, I hear Elliott's voice. So, there are people down here? Finally making my way to the basement, I'm shocked at what I find.
Elliott, Flynn, and two other girls are playing a game of ping-pong. They're the only four people in the basement. What kind of party is this? This doesn't seem like a party to me. I stayed out all night to avoid this? Some friends hanging out?
"What is this?"
They direct their attention to me. Flynn waves, as do the girls. Elliott sets down his paddle and walks towards me.
"My party," he says casually.
"There's three other people here!" I point out. "You told me I should take the kids out as if this party would be insane."
He smirks and crosses his arms in front of his chest. "You were expecting Animal House, weren't you?"
"A spin-off of some sort," I admit embarrassingly.
"Well, I'm sorry if you expected me to throw a rager, princess, but that isn't really my thing," he says with a faint grin.
"Seems like your thing," I mutter. "You purposely made it sound like your thing to get me and the kids out of the house."
"All I said was that I was having a party. You're the one who made up the rager." He points a finger in my direction. "You know, it was pretty shallow of you to assume I'd be a massive partier."
"You are a massive partier, Liot," Flynn jumps into the conversation and throws an arm over Elliott's shoulders. "He's just against being the party host."
Elliott pushes Flynn's arm off of him. "I don't like being in charge of a bunch of idiots who have no self-control."
"Why wouldn't you just invite your friends to your parties then so you won't have to worry about those idiots who have no self-control?" I suggest.
"My friends are idiots who have no self-control," he says and looks at Flynn.
Flynn laughs and pats his back. "This guy with the compliments!"
"Yeah and you're ugly too," Elliott mutters before turning back to join the girls at the ping-pong table.
"So, why don't you hang out with us for a bit?" Flynn says to me with his golden boy smile. "We're not doing much, so the more the merrier and less likely I'll be to hit myself in the face with a ping-pong ball."
"Tempting," I say flatly, "but I should probably go check on the kids and get them ready for bed."
He nods. "Yeah, yeah, of course. But afterwards when you're sitting on the couch skeptically waiting for more people to show up to this party because you truly believe Elliott will have a rager, remember that we have an extra paddle."
"Okay."
I turn around and make my way back upstairs only to find that Addison did my job once again and got everyone back in bed. I would've yelled at her, but she was sound asleep in her room just like the rest of the kids. Well, now I know what makes them tired: mini-golf and an indoor playground place with greasy pizza.
After checking on the kids, I go downstairs to the living room and turn on the tv. I should be wiped out from today, but I'm not tired at all actually. Weird.
You know what else is weird? Elliott not having the party I expected. Why did he even call it a party though? He could've just asked me if he could have some friends over and I wouldn't have had a problem! Obviously he just wanted us out of the house most of the night. I kept Beth out way past her bedtime because of him. It just makes me so annoyed.
And then he has the nerve to call me shallow for assuming he'd have a party! Right, I'm the shallow one! He's the one who is whispering things in my ear like he can control me or something with his sensuality. I'm not stupid, Elliott Kennedy. Those tricks won't work on me! No, no, no. Never again.
"Come on, Carter," Elliott groans as the girl storms past me into the kitchen with Elliott trailing closely behind. "It was an accident!"
"I'm going to have a black eye tomorrow morning, idiot!" the girls screams. "I have a photo shoot with Tyra Banks!"
My ears perk up. Tyra Banks? Can I come?
"Well, don't they airbrush you anyway?" Elliott asks.
Dumb move, I think to myself.
Carter scoffs. "Screw you, Elliott Kennedy!"
With that being said, the backdoor slams shut. Elliott walks into the family room with almost an amused smile on his face, about to open the basement door.
"How'd you give her a black eye?" I ask, hoping he'll ignore the fact I was eavesdropping.
He turns around to look at me. "I punched her in the face just as you probably expected."
I raise an eyebrow. "You punched a girl in the face? Seems a bit extreme, even for you."
"Yeah, well," he mumbles. "That's what she gets for telling me she didn't like the color of our basement walls."
"You didn't.."
"Yeah, I didn't," he laughs at his own joke. "I actually was aiming to hit Flynn as hard as I possibly could with the ping-pong ball, but I sort of missed and hit Carter instead."
I nod, picturing the moment in my head. "I'd be pissed too.. especially if I had a photo shoot with Tyra freaking Banks the next morning."
He laughs lightly, his smile only lasting a split second. "Yeah."
"Is Carter okay?" Flynn asks, slamming the basement door into Elliott.
"She left," Elliott says. "I tried to apologize, but the chick was livid."
"You gave 'the chick' a black eye!" the other girl, whose name I do not know, snaps. "She has a photo shoot with Tyra Banks tomorrow!"
Elliott glances at me briefly, the faintest of smiles on his face.
"Can't she just use makeup to cover it?" Flynn asks slowly.
Dumb move, I think to myself once again.
Jen slaps Flynn across the face before storming out of the house and slamming the door just as Carter had.
"I like your friends," I comment, my eyes on the tv.
"I told you we shouldn't date models," Flynn mumbles before sitting on the couch with me.
"They were hot," Elliott defends before walking into the kitchen.
Flynn hums in agreement. "Way to go with the ping-pong incident, man. You're just a sore loser."
"Yeah? Well, Carter told me she'd give me a 'reward' if we won our game of ping-pong. So, yeah, dumbass, I was mad after you beat me at ping-pong," Elliott says with a mouthful of food.
"A reward," Flynn laughs. "Did she bring stickers?"
Elliott comes back and throws a bag of chips in Flynn's lap. "She brought a little something else, McClean. Shit, she was so hot!"
Flynn opens his chips and offers me some but I decline. "Look, dude, if you really expected to get lucky tonight, we shouldn't have been playing ping-pong. You always beat me at... Oh, wait. You never beat me."
Elliott nods and claps his hands together. "Good one!"
"So, Ivy, how was your night?" Flynn asks me, changing the subject completely.
I shrug. "It was nice. I took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese's and then we went to this indoor mini-golf place."
"That sounds fun!" Flynn says, obviously trying to stay as polite as possible. Yes, Flynn McClean, I realize I had a lame night, but I'm a nanny. What do you expect?
"Yeah," I say awkwardly and play with the hem of my shirt. "Um, I'm actually super tired. I think I should go to bed."
"Night," Flynn says cheerfully.
Elliott doesn't say anything as I leave the room to head upstairs, although I'm not that surprised. You know, I don't think I'll ever be able to understand how they're friends. Flynn is nice; Elliott is rude. Flynn has school spirit; Elliott vandalizes the school. Flynn calls me Ivy; Elliott probably doesn't know my name. I guess it makes sense that they don't hang out around school. They're just too different for that.
I can tell they're best friends though, even through all the differences. I always wished I had a best friend like that, one who stayed by my side even when I gave a model black eye.
I had friends throughout high school and all, but no best friends. I think I was too occupied with my job, starting from such a young age. The other girls were so much closer the time high school came around, so I was more just the third-party addition to any friend group.
It's not like I was sad about not having a best friend. My friends were nice enough and my job kept me busy. I had close relationships with the kids I babysit, like Mikey for example. But, yes, secretly I hoped I'd get a best friend to tell all my deepest secrets to and to be able to talk to for hours on hours.
I guess I'm just not one of the lucky ones.
As I get ready for bed, I can hear Flynn saying goodbye before the door opens and closes. Elliott comes upstairs, walking past my open door without a word. Twenty minutes later as I'm lying in bed on my phone, he heads past my room.
"Where are you going?" I ask.
He walks backwards to stop at my doorframe. "Out."
"It's like two in the morning," I say, glancing at the time.
"I'm like not tired," he shoots back.
"Where could you possibly go at two in the morning?"
He shrugs. "Out."
"Well... be safe," I say awkwardly, knowing I can't stop him from going out. I'm not his nanny.
"I'm too dangerous for that, remember?"
~~
AN:
hey friends! let me know how you're liking the story so far. i love writing it so there's that.
I want to get to know all my readers better so I'm going to ask a random question each chapter
random question of the chapter: would you rather be a kangaroo or a frog and why
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