Babysitting the Bad Boy's Little Sister

51

"Do you want this in the car?" I ask, struggling to keep ahold of a large cardboard box.

"Oh, you can just put that by the door to the basement, I'll get one of the boys to bring it downstairs. Feel free to grab anything in that box or the other piles over there. I'm donating it all when we get back," Mrs. Matthews grins. She walks off with more stuff and I set the box down by the basement, opening the flaps up to see a bunch of knick knacks, random books and other things.

Nothing strikes my fancy, so I close the box up and head into the kitchen, seeing Mr. Matthews rummage through the cabinets.

"Oh, hey," he smiles, grabbing a granola bar and a box of macaroni and cheese.

"Is that for Bee's lunch? I can make that, if you have more stuff to pack," I say.

"Oh, that would be amazing. Thanks kiddo." He ruffles my hair on the way past me and I can't help but grin. I start making the mac and cheese and I'm about to go fetch Bee when I hear a familiar loud voice come through the front door.

"...appreciate it! Oh my god, you're here!" Will comes running up to me from behind, picking me up and knocking the wind out of me.

"Jesus! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" I giggle, and he sets me back down again.

"You love the attention," he grins.

"You know me so well," I roll my eyes, unable to stop smiling nonetheless. "Why are you here?"

"I came to pick that thing up," he points up the stairs to Sam who's standing with a duffel bag over his shoulder. He showered, and he looks amazing. As we walks past me, I notice that familiar scent of his conditioner and I put myself in check. Reverting to smelling him? Stop being a creep!

"Ready, bro?" Will and Sam laugh, doing a handshake.

"Hell yeah."

"You guys are unbelievable," I giggle, starting up the stairs.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam cocks an eyebrow up, and I smirk at him.

"Go have your play date," I turn without seeing their reaction, but I hear Will laugh and then go silent after a light slap which I assume was from Sam. I smile as I retreat up the stairs to Bee's room, bringing her and her toys downstairs for lunch.

She sits and plays with her dolls at the table while I finish up with food, and we eat together, laughing as she tells me wild stories about her life. I'll have to ask her mom how true they are.

"So then, she kicked me in the leg and I fell and then I lost but everyone was still on my side and now everybody is mad at her," the little girl runs on, breathlessly. I giggle at her struggle to speak without punctuation.

"Wow! Did you tell an adult what happened?"

"No, but Sammy did. He was really mad. It was funny because I didn't care that much and he was very mad."

"Of course he was. Him and his mood swings. Did that help with the problem at school?" I can't help but be happy that he stood up for his sister. I wouldn't expect anything less, but in context of the past couple weeks, I was begging for a sign that he was the same person I learned to love.

Love? Woah.

"The teacher talked to her parents and she had to say sorry to me and my friends which was good," she smiles, taking another huge bite of her food.

"That's great," I say, setting my head in my hand lightly and picking at my bowl absently. I cant believe I just casually said that. I can't tell if I'm excited or worried. Everything going on right now is so overwhelming, I haven't even really evaluated my own feelings.