The Bad Boy's Nanny

Ch. 21 - Gourmet Grilled Cheese

alright I've worked pretty hard on this playlist and I had 10+ songs I wanted to add, but they just wouldn't fit. so here's this list of 23 (of the 41) songs that I listen to while I write this story. most of them have to do with the story, but honestly some of them are just jams that I couldn't not include. I highly recommend listening to all of them because they're all great.

thank you & love you all!

"Ivy! Ivy! Watch me!"

I briefly glance up from the book in reading to watch Ethan go down the slide...for the thirteenth time in a row. "Good job, E!"

Bethany claps her hands in her carrier set in the grass next to the bench I'm sitting on. She was the one who made us all go to the park with her non-stop request "par-par" all of breakfast. Surprisingly, all of the kids- excluding Addison who decided to go to the mall with some friends- agreed to come, though they'd normally just sit at home watching television or playing video games.

It's a beautiful day outside, not too hot, but still warm and relaxing. The sky is blue, the clouds are gone, and Elliott Kennedy woke me with a kiss this morning.

Though the kiss was definitely not a Snow White and Prince Charming kiss. He first jumped on my bed to wake up me up, and it can only give a girl a heart attack to be woken up so suddenly. After he saw how scared I was, well, that's when he gave me the oh-so-precious-good-morning-kiss. Then immediately afterwards I kicked him out of the room before of the kids woke up as well.

"Ivy! Ivy! Watch me!"

Once again, I look to Ethan who goes down the slide. I give him a thumbs up and focus back on my book.

I stare at the words on the page blankly as my mind goes back to Elliott. We're really doing this. I'm plunging deeply into the freezing cold waters beyond the cliff, just praying I won't drown. I have to open up to Elliott because I want to be emotionally connected with someone other than my lame subconscious. A person can lose their mind talking to themselves their whole lives. If it weren't for Mikey, I probably would be in an asylum by now.

Obviously things are so much different with Elliott than Mikey. I don't actually talk to Mikey about everything. He's just the person I talk to the most about anything. It's a lot of pressure on a pubescent boy to be my only real friend and family. My relationship with Elliott won't be this one-sided. He is giving just as much as I am, and he knows that.

The most difficult thing for me right now is the timing. I can't just dump an entire life's worth of opinions and experiences on him. I want our relationship to be fun and light-hearted. Moving too quickly too fast is only going to create more collateral damage.

"Ivy! Ivy! Push me!"

I sigh and close my book, placing it on the bench before going to push Ethan on the swings. He doesn't get the whole concept of a swing, so it takes me a few minutes to explain it to him. After I explain it, he looks at me with his mouth formed in an 'o' shape and jumps off the swing.

"Watch me go down slide!" he says and runs back to the slide. As I turn around to sit back on the bench, he screams, "I said watch me!"

"Hey, why don't you watch your attitude?" I say with my arms akimbo.

He smiles with fear in his eyes before sliding down and running over to the twins and their friends near the small rock wall.