I stand silently while Ms. Janine gives me the same instructions for about the thousandth time. Make the kids' dinner, give them a bath, and let them stay up for thirty minutes to watch TV, then put them to bed. It's the same exact thing every damn time, and quite frankly it never goes the right way.
"Oh, and if you need anything, my nephew is just upstairs." She smiles and I knit my eyebrows in confusion. Nephew? Why am I here if she has her nephew here? He could be babysitting these little shits right now instead of me. "Well, have a good time!" Her and her new boyfriend exit through the front door, leaving the kids and I in the living room. I turn on my heel and look at the two of them.
"What would you guys like for din-"
"Mac and cheese!" They shout in unison, throwing their small hands in the air. I let out a long sigh and make my way to the kitchen. I grab a small pot from the cabinet and fill it with water before putting it on the stove. I reach into the pantry cabinet and grab a box of macaroni and cheese, tossing it onto the counter without a care in the world. I've been babysitting these kids for two years now, and every time I ask what they want, it's always macaroni and cheese. I don't even understand how Ms. Janine has the money to buy that much M&C. I don't even have enough money to buy a bottle of water from the dollar store.
"Alexis, the show ended." Bailey shouts from the living and I mentally slam my head on the counter. I suck it up and walk into the living room to put on another episode of SpongeBob. As I'm hitting play, I'm hit in the head with an overly large bouncy ball, causing my head to jolt to the side.
"God damn it," I mutter under my breath before dropping the remote on the table and looking at Brant, who threw the ball. "Brant, throw one more thing at me and you're going in time out." I assure him as calmly as I possibly can.
"Shut up!" He shouts and I raise my eyebrows at him.
"Excuse me?" I start walking towards him and he starts to giggle while putting his little hands over his mouth. "Don't talk to me like that or I'm telling your mother." I say and I'm hit in the head with an action figure. I spin around to look at Bailey. "Hey! Stop that." I pick Bailey up and set him on the couch. Brant starts kicking my leg and I turn to pick him up and set him next to Bailey. "Either the two of you stop acting up, or you don't get to stay up for thirty minutes to watch TV." To my surprise, I'm being unusually calm. I place my hands on my hips and stare at them. Their eyes go wide as they both look behind me. They immediately cross their hands on their laps and look up at me. "What?" I ask and Bailey barely lifts his hand and points to something behind me. I take a deep breath and slowly turn to look behind me.
My heart pounds against my chest when my eyes land on a tall, slightly tanned guy with dark brown hair. He is wearing black jeans and a black t-shirt, along with a black pair of Vans. He stares directly into my eyes with his arms crossed and before I can say anything, there's a loud beeping noise and it takes me a second to realize that the water is boiling and the kitchen is probably smoky by now.
I turn away from the mysterious boy and sprint to the kitchen. I can hardly see due to the amount of smoke and the alarm is still going off, nearly causing me to go deaf. I shut the burner off and grab a hand towel to wave in the air by the smoke detector.
By the time the smoke cleared out, Bailey and Brant are standing in the kitchen, along with the guy that was staring at me earlier. This is obviously Janine's nephew.
"Alright, so you two are not having Mac and cheese tonight. How does pizza sound?" I ask and they cheer while jumping around the dining room. Their cousin stands still, staring at me. "Can you stop staring at me?" I ask and push past him. He smells like Calvin Klein cologne and my nostrils feel as if they are resting on cloud 9.
