Arms folded over my chest, my position straight with my head slightly inclined down, I stared blankly at the little girl in front of me. My enemy shared the same posture as me except that she was raising her little head up to be able to look at me in the eyes.
"You," she said at last. "You are the one who didn't want to give me my milkshake."
Right, of course, she would remember me and judging from the look in her eyes, she did not like to see me at her house. Honestly, when Pierre asked me if I was free to come do some babysitting with him, I accepted immediately, without even knowing that I was going to, in fact, babysit Annie and her siblings.
"Come on, Annie, stop glaring at Declan. That's not a very nice thing to do," my love told the little Annie with a smile stuck on his face and I wondered how he could keep his cool that much with her. I did not know her for long but I could already tell that that little girl was hard to deal with. "Can you please call your parents for me?"
"No," she replied right away and from the looks of it, she was not joking. Pierre sighed. We were currently standing in front of the door of Annie's house and when we knocked at the door, it was her who opened it.
"Okay, can you let us pass then?" Pierre tried a different approach and she shook her head.
"You can but not him," she precised and my love blinked.
"Please, my friend is here to help me babysit you," he told her, still in a nice tone and she shook her head once again.
"No, goodbye," she stated and she slammed the door shut in our faces. That was kind of unexpected.
"Okay, let's return home," I declared, turning around to walk away but Pierre grabbed me by my arm to stop me.
"No, we are not going anywhere, we came here to do babysitting so we are going to do babysitting," my love said and he knocked at the door once again, "Annie, open that door. Stop acting like this."
"I don't think that that's gonna help," I told him honestly and he glared at me.
"Shut up, you're not helping," he accused me. "Why didn't you simply smile when Annie opened the door? You looked at her like if you were ready to attack."
"Hey, she glared at me first."
"It's a kid, Declan. She glares at you, you smile, she is wrong to you, you don't get angry, you simply talk to her nicely and explain to her why she is wrong."
"That's a too positive approach," I told him with a frown. "You are way too nice. No wonder she closed the door in your face. She knows that you will not scold her."
"Are you questioning my method of taking care of children?" He asked me in disbelief, pointing at himself.
"Maybe," was my reply. "I mean, it's good to be nice and not get angry so easily but if the kid is acting like a brat, don't expect me to smile and let it go."
"Scandalous," he simply said and he rang the bell of the house this time. He tapped his feet on the ground impatiently. He threw one glance at me, while folding his arms, and then he continued, "I want to be firm sometimes but I can't. I just have to look at the kid's face and I basically melt soon after. They are just too cute. I can't resist."
I let out a chuckle and shook my head, "You will get easily manipulated if you continue that way. It's obvious that Annie has you wrapped around her little finger."
"You are talking like if she is an evil woman," he said with an huff. "She's good really. Just give her her chance. You will come to adore her."
"Because you adore her?" I asked him with wide eyes and he looked at me like if it was obvious. Before I got the chance to say something else, the door of the house opened once again but this time, it wasn't Annie at the door but a grown up woman.
"Oh, good morning, Mrs Spencer," Pierre greeted the woman in relief and actually, she seemed to be more relieved than him.
"Oh, thank god, Pierre, you're finally here," she exclaimed. "I'm so late and I need to go immediately. I won't go into details as you must surely already know what to do. The children are in the kitchen having breakfast. Food is in the fridge, just do whatever you think is right for lunch. And don't let my children destroy my house. My husband and I should be back at about six."
"Alright," Pierre said with a nod, absorbing every word she was saying, and then he pointed at me, "I already told your husband about it over the phone but I brought my friend with me. I hope that it's not a problem."
Mrs Spencer seemed to realize my presence just then and she looked at me with surprised eyes. Her mouth opened but no words came out. She blinked quickly and then shook her head.
"It's okay, I think, I guess," she said with a frown and I blinked. "I don't have time for this. All I want is that my house remains in its normal state until I return and that my children don't hurt each other. I'm trusting you on this, Pierre."
And she was gone in a matter of seconds. I hummed, watching her as she went away before turning to Pierre.
"Well, that went well," I told him. "I was expecting the parents to scream at me and not let me in the house."
He rolled his eyes, "Stop being dramatic. There is no reason to explain why they shouldn't let you inside their house." I gave him an 'are you serious' look and he simply shrugged and got in the house. Letting out a sigh, I followed behind him and closed the door.
I immediately noticed the simplicity of the house as Pierre took me to the kitchen. That reminded me that he said that Annie's family were financially lacking. I guessed that it wasn't fun for the parents to have a lot of kids when they have money problems.
We soon reached the kitchen and we found four little kids sat around a rounded table. They were all eating cereals and whispering quietly to each other. Though, at our entrance, they all shut up immediately and looked in our direction. Pierre smiled right away.
"Hi, everyone," he greeted them and I stood awkwardly beside him. I would never admit it to Pierre but this whole babysitting thing was kind of scaring me. I never spent a whole day with little beings before. "I'm here to babysit you again and I brought a friend with me. His name is Declan, be nice to him," Pierre continued and then he added, "And Annie, it was not nice to shut the door in our faces."
"But I did not want him in," she complained, an annoyed look coming on her face. "He was bad to me."
"Hey, I think that your definition of bad is erroneous," I told her and she pulled her tongue out at me before looking away.
"Okay, Declan, you already know Annie but the others are Jaime, Tony and Jenny," my love informed me, pointing to each kid as he said theirs names. "Everyone say hi to Declan."
"Hi, Declan," they all said in union in a robotic way.
"Hi," I said with a frown. Things were still as awkward as earlier.
"Pierre, why did you bring him with you?" Jenny asked my love as he walked closer to them.
"I thought that it would be nice to have him here. The more we are, the more fun we will have together," he answered and he examined the table. "Guys, you spilled milk on the table again. I told you hundredth times to eat more properly." He walked to the sink and took a piece of cloth placed nearby before washing it with water. He came back to wipe the table. "Just finish eating and then I will wash the dishes." He returned the cloth to the sink and then turned to me, "Want me to make you visit the house until they are done?"
I nodded immediately, wanting to get away from them already and Pierre and I walked out of the kitchen. He brought me to the living room, then upstairs where the bedrooms and the one single bathroom and toilet were found. There were three bedrooms in all, one for the parents, one for the four siblings and the last one was for their big brother who happened to be at work. Once the visit was done, we made our way back to the kitchen, though, I stopped Pierre mid-way through the stairs.
"Tell me, what do you normally do the whole day with them?" I asked him. "I have a feeling that they are troublesome."
He rolled his eyes, "They are not troublesome...well, sometimes they are but believe me, they're nice. And we normally play some games together, like hide and seek, they absolutely love that game. Then at lunch time, while I prepare something to eat, I let them watch TV, then after eating, I make them clean their bedroom, then we do some drawing or reading. I make them shower, then it's nap time. That's basically it. You don't have to worry about anything."
"Well, I have a feeling that they won't like me that much. That's something for me to worry about," I told him as I got down the remaining stairs. "Proof, Annie already doesn't like me."
"Just give them a chance, I'm sure that they will love you," he assured me with a smile and he came to grab my arm. "Just show them your sweet and lovely daddy side."
I gave him a look of disbelief and he let out a laugh. A little voice captured our attention at that moment:
"Pierre, we finished eating."
I turned my head to see Tony looking at us with a frown. He placed his hands on his hips and huffed.
"Hey, are you Pierre's boyfriend?" he asked me unexpectedly and I gasped while Pierre nearly choked with his own saliva.
"Tony, what are you talking about?" Pierre asked him nervously before I could say anything. "Why do you think that Declan is my boyfriend?"
"You look at him funny and you never brought one of your friends here before. Why him?" the little one replied. "I hope that you are not going to start kissing. I saw two guys kissing on the TV once and it was yuck!"
"Well, well, well, you have a big mouth," I told him. "How old are you?"
"Eleven," was his reply. "But I'm not dumb. I don't want you to start kissing."
"I will kiss Pierre if I want to," I told him and Pierre gave me a slap on the arm.
"Don't provoke him," he scolded me. "And Tony, we are not going to kiss."
"Good," he said and he walked away towards the kitchen. I glared back at him and Pierre elbowed me, motioning me to follow him. We arrived in the kitchen as the others were placing their dishes in the sink.
"Let me help you," Pierre said, going to them to wash the dishes. They all got out of his way to let him do his task.
"Pierre, can we play hide and seek?" Jaime asked him, grabbing the bottom of his shirt and jumping on his feet, he seemed to be the younger one of them all. "We haven't played it with you since a long time."
"That's a great idea, Jaime," Pierre told him. "Don't you think so, Declan?"
"Yeah, I guess," I replied, folding my arms and Jenny looked at me curiously.
"Do you have siblings to play hide and seek with?" she asked me, tilting her head to the side and I blinked.
"I do have siblings but they are all grown ups. I don't think that hide and seek is one of their things to do," I replied.
"Pierre likes to play with us, even if he is old," Jenny said thoughtfully and I chuckled.
"He's not that old. He is still a kid in his head."
"Hey! Don't act like if you are older than me!"
"But I'm older than you," I reminded him.
"By a few months only," he said. "Besides, being a kid is great. That means innocence."
"And you sure are innocent," I told him with a wink and his eyes widened in disbelief.
"I told you that they're boyfriends," I heard Tony murmur to Annie and my head snapped in their direction.
"Do you have something to say?" I asked him with a hard look and he puffed.
"Yeah, my daddy calls your kind fag," he replied and he really took me by surprise.
"Tony!" Pierre exclaimed at him in horror. "Don't say that. This is a bad word."
"But my dad said it."
"I don't care about what your dad said. You don't have to repeat it."
An angry expression came on Tony's face and he walked to me before giving me an unexpected kick on the leg. I grimaced immediately.
"You, little son of a-"
"Declan," Pierre shouted in horror. "Enough already. Let's just start the game. You all go hide and Declan and I will come search for you. On count of fifty."
That was enough to make all of them run away towards a hiding place. Once they were all gone, Pierre came to me and slapped me on the shoulder.
"Hey, that's the second time that you're hitting me today," I informed him.
"You deserved it. Were you seriously going to swear at a little kid?" he asked me, incredulous and I rubbed my shoulder.
"He doesn't really seem like a kid to me with that big mouth of his," I told him and I sighed. "Are you sure that it was a good idea to bring me here? Who knows what those little ones will tell their parents once they're back? I don't want you to get into any kind of trouble."
"I won't," he assured me right away. "And I don't want you to go. One week has already passed since school break and the only times that we talk was on the phone. I just want to have some time with you."
True enough, since our lunch at his place, we did not quite get the time to see each other. I had been busy with work and when I was finally free, he was the one busy doing something so talking became rare. That was why I was so happy when he asked me if I wanted to do babysitting with him.
We remained in the kitchen a few more minutes before we decided that it was time for us to go search for the others. Pierre informed me that they, most of the time, always chose the same place to hide each time they play hide and seek but he did not want to kill their joy, so he made sure to always search in the wrong places first before going to really get them. The first one that we found was Jenny and then Annie, who did not seem so happy to have gotten herself caught.
"Well, now we need to find Jaime and Tony," Pierre said and Jenny raised her hand.
"I know where they are," she said.
"Oh, no, don't tell," Pierre stopped her. "It's for us to find them."
"But they went to hide in the basement," Jenny said it anyway and Pierre's eyes widened.
"Jenny, why did you tell them?" Annie gave her sister a disapproving look.
"You're really out of your mind. You have no right to play in the basement," Pierre groaned. "God, I need to go get them."
"What's wrong with the basement?" I asked him as I followed close behind him.
"That's where their dad place all his tools for work. This place is forbidden because they can get hurt if they go there. The door is normally closed but I guess that it was left open," he replied and we soon stopped in front of a door which I assumed was the door to the basement. Pierre opened it and the door opened slowly. The first thing that we saw was stairs going down and it was pretty dark down here. "Jaime, Tony," my love called out theirs names but he did not make a move to go down.
"I don't think that they will reply," I told him. "We should probably just get down to get them."
"Right," he said and he gulped. Though, he still did not make a step forward. It took only a few seconds for me to realize what was wrong.
"Don't tell me that you're scared, love?" I asked him with wide eyes and he covered his face in shame.
"It's dark and I don't like it," he complained with a pout and I shook my head in disbelief.
"I guess that I will go first then," I told him and I advanced forward. I felt him grab my hand and I looked back at him in surprise. He just motioned for me to continue going down.
I decided not to mind him and we continued to go further down. That was strange. My love was scared of going down here because of the dark but still, those two kids went to hide there? It was questionable. It was only when we reached the bottom of the stairs that we heard a few giggles coming from upstairs. We both looked in the direction of the door and we found all four siblings reunited.
"What the-"
"Have a nice time down here," Annie chanted, waving at us with an evil smile on her face before she closed the door shut. We heard the lock got turn on soon after. We froze.
Oh, damn.
"Ahh!" Pierre shouted at the top of his lungs as he ran back up the stairs. He tried to open the door but failed miserably. "Open that door, Annie! You can't let us here!" He started hitting on the door as I made my way up to stop him. "Open the door!"
"I don't think that that will work," I told him and it immediately clicked in my head. "Damn, they must have planned to lock us here all this time."
My love ignored me and just continued to shout at the door. After a moment, it was getting too much so I grabbed him and forced him to stop. He looked at me in horror.
"Oh my god, we're going to die," he dramatized the situation and I rolled my eyes. "Something is going to attack us here in the dark. Like in that movie Lights Out."
I frowned, "Isn't that an horror movie? Love, how many times have I told you to stop watching horror? You always imagine the worst scenarios when you watch one."
"But I couldn't help it," he defended himself and he looked about to cry. "Please, Declan, get me out. I'm scared of the dark."
"You are going to be okay, love. I'm here with you," I told him and I pulled him into my arms. I got the idea of finding something to break the door open but Pierre refused, saying that things would be worse if we did break the door.
Having nothing else to do, we sat down on the stairs and I wrapped my arms around him as he leaned against me. He continued to murmur that we were going to die and I kept reassuring him that it was not going to happen so soon. I decided to distract him by telling him a funny event that happened at work this week and that succeeded to make him laugh.
We heard a few laughs coming from outside and Pierre literally slapped himself. I thought that maybe, at some point, they would start to get hungry and that they would come to free us to get food but that never happened. Jaime came to talk to us through the door though, saying that they were going to make cereals again for lunch.
We remained a lot of hours down there. We simply talked about this and that. At some point, we both started getting really hungry and together, we started shouting at the door for them to get it open but it was all in vain. So we sat back down and continued our talking.
Pierre remained close to me the whole time and I questioned myself about it. I noticed a lot. He did not blush as his hand got in mine, he did not seem embarrassed when his face got too close to mine when he would laugh.
He was at ease surprisingly.
"You know," he started suddenly, "It's not the first time that they lock me somewhere."
"What?" my eyes widened in disbelief.
"They locked me in an empty closet once," he admitted. "Well, Jenny did. She said that it was a mistake but I don't think that it really was one. God, I was finally able to come out when their parents returned home and the first thing that I did was to get out of their house."
I let out a long laugh and he simply looked at me with a smile. When my laughter finally ended, I said, "I told you. They are little devils."
"Maybe," he agreed with me surprisingly. "But I want to see the good in them. When they are not planning to lock someone somewhere, they are great to be around with and to talk to. I mean, they're kids and I will deal with them as long as it takes. I won't give up."
"You will really be a good dad," I told him and he laughed.
"I'm scared to be honest," he said, "What if I do something wrong and ruin the life of my own child? What if I say something wrong? What if I forget the baby somewhere? There are so many situations where things could go wrong."
"Love, you are sixteen years old," I reminded him. "You have all the time in the world to think about having kid. It's not like you are going to be a dad tomorrow morning. Just don't think about it anymore, that is until you are planning on getting married."
"You're probably right," he agreed. "I'm always thinking about the future, about the what if of my life. I created this little perfect world in my head where I get everything and do everything that I want but I'm only dreaming like always. You know, the dream is there, I can reach for it, I can get it if I want but I'm too much of a coward to do anything to reach for it."
"What are you talking about?" I asked him in confusion, seeing as there was a deeper meaning behind his words and he stared at me in the eyes.
"Nothing, it's just me talking nonsense again," he replied and he averted his eyes. I frowned and decided to kiss him on the cheek but as I leaned closer, he turned his face in my direction again and I stopped right away. "What are you doing?" he asked me as we both did not dare to move an inch.
"Kissing you on the cheek?" I replied but I did not look sure of myself.
"Your lips are not on my cheek right now," he said the obvious and he glanced down at my said lips, "They are far from it."
"I should probably pull back then," I told him.
"Yeah, you probably should," he said but still, I did not move.
"Why don't you pull back?" I asked him instead and he bit his bottom lip.
"I just can't," he replied in a whisper and I touched his cheeks. He closed his eyes and placed his hands on mine. I thought that he was going to pull my hands away but he did not, he just moved closer.
At that moment, I really thought that it was going to happen but before I could kiss him like I wanted to do since so long, we heard the door of the basement unlock and soon it was opened. Pierre's eyes snapped open immediately and he was pulling away from me before I could even process it.
"Mark, thank god," Pierre exclaimed in relief as he stood up. Me, I was a bit too stun to move. "Your brothers and sisters locked me again. I thought that we were never going to see the light ever again."
"Oh, you have a great chance of never seeing the light if you don't take care of the mess that the little devils did before my mom and dad get back home," the said Mark told him.
"Oh my god, oh my god," Pierre said and he went out of here to see what the kids had done. Theirs voices soon faded away as I remained on the stairs, unable to understand the current situation.
What just happened? I thought.