The Bad Boy's Nanny

Ch. 22 - Shish Kabob

Elliott and I have been pretty good with the whole secret relationship these past couple of days.

We sneak in kisses while Ethan tries to tie his shoes before camp, while Jonas turns to get the milk out of the refrigerator, while Addison bends down to pick up her crutches. The only person who has caught us so far is Bethany, but I'm pretty sure she won't tell anyone, unless overnight she becomes fluent in words besides "poo" and "mama".

The late night dinner date became a regular thing, not always involving actual dinner food. We pig-out on candy, ice cream, and anything sugary. And for hours we just talk about the most random things, our favorite movies, celebrities, bands. We tell stories and we fight back our laughter to keep from waking up the kids.

Sometimes we don't even talk. It happened last night, actually. There was a moment when the conversation died out, but that wasn't an issue. We just sat in a beautiful silence for a few minutes, looking at one another. The silence was broken when Elliott screamed, "you blinked!"

I still get a little dizzy thinking back on how true that silence was last night, that mystical silence with this boy who is slowly knocking down my walls without even realizing that our discussions about aliens and Paul Rudd meant a hammer crashing into the brick barrier I spent years building.

"Ideally, you'd give me $50. I'm willing to lower my price to $40."

"You're just going to the movies, kid," I say to Jonas. "Here's ten bucks." I slap a ten dollar bill in his hand. "Buy some candy." Grabbing him by the sleeve of his shirt and sniffing the air around him, I ask, "are you wearing perfume?"

He scoffs. "Um, Ivy, I'm not wearing perfume. I'm a man in case you didn't realize. Men don't wear perfume."

"You're right," I sigh, though I definitely still believe he's wearing perfume. "So, what time are you getting picked up?"

"In like fifteen minutes," he says after checking his watch. "Well, I've got fifteen minutes to kill. Entertain me."

"I have an even better idea!" I say. "Why don't you do the dishes while you wait?"

Jonas frowns. "What's the point of having a nanny if she can't even do the dishes?" he asks and jumps off his stool to go to the sink.

Elliott enters the kitchen, pecking my cheek with his lips before hopping on the top of the counter near Jonas. "Dude, are you wearing perfume?"

"Okay, is it really that noticeable?" he asks, spinning around with his arms to his sides. "I might have accidentally sprayed a little of Addison's perfume."

"It smells like you bathed in it," Elliott says and sniffs the air.

Jonas sighs. "Well, I also got a little carried away with the spritz and walk through thing. It just happens sometimes."

"Why'd you put perfume on in the first place?" I ask. "And don't think I didn't notice that you gelled your hair. Are you going on a date, Jo?"

"No!" he screams, his eyes wild. "Why would you even ask that? God, Ivy, sorry that I like to look nice when I go to the movies!"

Elliott and I share a look.

"So, who's the unlucky girl?" Elliott asks, hitting his brother's shoulder lightly.