His Vice

14

She woke up a few days later when dawn broke, as she always did. Maxxy didn't sleep very long. He was already awake, she could hear him from the nursery. She smiled, her eyes open. She walked down the stairs, picking him up into her arms from the crib. She placed him softly down on the changing table as he fussed, trying to roll against the protective rails. She changed his diaper, leaning down to blow a raspberry on his tummy, hearing his adorable baby laughter. She noticed the baby bag against the wall, her baby bag that she had picked up from the thrift store after Maxxy was born.

It was stained, worn, surrounded by all the clean toys and shiny furniture, it looked disgusting. She picked up the bag, holding a hand on Maxxy's stomach so he wouldn't move from the changing table. She opened it, glancing at the worn clothes. She pulled out his blanket and a bright blue onesie. She pulled him out of the black one, tossing it on the floor, instead, putting him the blue one, putting his pacifier in his mouth to suckle on, giving him his blanket to hold on to. It was nice to get back to her lower-class roots sometimes, instead of just being bombarded by high society. She moved to the kitchen, placing him in a black high chair that stood by the fridge. She opened it, cursing when she realized there was no more mango.

"Anything?" she muttered to herself. She shut the door, glancing at Maxxy, who was waiting for his mango, just like he got every day. "I'm sorry Buddy, there's no mango" she claimed. She started rummaging through the cupboards, pulling out a box of cheerios. She didn't like feeding him cereal when there were less-processed things at her disposal, but it was her last resort. She placed them in a small plastic dish, placing them in front of him. She sat down, watching as he picked at them, placing them in his mouth, dumping some of them around the bowl when they didn't hit his mouth. She watched him in amusement

"So messy" she muttered with a soft smile.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" she turned, finding him standing in the doorway, his eyes bright red, lacking sleep, his hair in all directions.

"Babies don't sleep Maxwell" she responded, feeling as Maxxy started grabbing at her chest. She sighed, picking him up and placing him on her lap, unbuttoning her shirt.

"What are you doing?" she glanced at him incredulously.

"Breastfeeding Max, it's what Mothers do"

"Can you not do that in front of me?" he asked, turning away. She scoffed, turning away.

"What? too disgusting for you? you can be such a prick sometimes"

"No, it's not that" she looked up "I'll just think about replacing the baby and you'll be pissed when I try to" she smiled lightly, couldn't help but let a small laugh at his words.

"You're more than welcome to leave. You know where the door is, you live here after all" she responded.

"But, the coffee machine is in front of you" he claimed. Did he...did Maxwell Lucas just make...a joke?

"That sounds like a you problem" she responded. He sighed, covering his eyes with his hand. She watched as he held his other hand out as he walked across the floor, trying to feel for the cupboard. He hit his foot on a chair leg, cursing and grabbing it with his hand. She couldn't help but laugh, watching as he stumbled to the floor on his stubbed toe.

"Just open your eyes! you're going to hurt yourself!" she claimed

"No, I can't" he responded, getting to his feet, his eyes still closed, holding onto the kitchen table, the tops of the chairs. He leaned forward right in front of the upper cupboards, hitting his head.

"Fuck!" he grabbed his head, stumbling back into the table. She sighed, getting up from her chair.

"Move," she said softly, pushing him slightly out of the way. She held the child with one arm, grabbing the coffee off the counter with her other hand, opening the container and dishing the grounds into a filter, placed it in the machine and turn it on, grabbing a mug from the cupboard and placing it under the spout and pressing the on button.