Babysitting the Bad Boy's Little Brother

Chapter 5

We spent about three hours at the park, and then it was time for supper. Austin and I had to get Alex to leave. "Alex!" I shout, trying to find the kid. Luckily, he comes running towards me and wraps his arms around me. I can feel Austin watching me. "It's time to go, kiddo," I tell him.

"No! But we just got here." He complains.

"Three hours ago." I correct him.

"It's time to leave. We can go home and I'll cook you some dinner." I say to him.

"Fine." He gives in and rolls his eyes. I pick him up and walk back to the truck, Austin walking behind me. When we get to the truck, I opened the door and was about to put Alex in when Austin said, "Let me do it. Go get in your seat."

I did as he said, not in the mood to argue with him. One minute, he is a complete jerk who won't even talk to me. The next, he's a nice guy who does things for and to me. I'm not around many two-faced people so it's hard dealing with him. He's messing with my emotions. I don't know how to feel about him. Why can't he choose to be nice and stop being so indecisive? Thoughts kept swarming through my head, and before I knew it, we were pulling into the driveway. I get out and walk Alex into the house.  "What do you want to eat?" I ask him as we open the door to their house.

"I don't know. I'll ask Austin." Then he walks into Austin's bedroom. "What do you want to eat, Austin?" He asks. Austin opens his door and gets down on his knees so that he is the same height as him and says, "I don't know. How about spaghetti? Do you want spaghetti?"

"Yes, I love spaghetti!" Alex screams, happily.

"I'll go cook y'all some spaghetti," I tell them, and put my stuff down.

***

"Yummy! This spaghetti is so good! It's even better than mom's!" Alex exclaims, slurping the noodles in his mouth and getting tomato sauce all over his mouth.

"Well, thank you. I'm glad you like it." I tell him as I set my plate down beside Austin, to eat as well. It was either sit beside him, or across from him, and I didn't want to see him staring at me while I ate. I already have to see him enough.

"This seat is taken." He looks at me.

"Yeah, by me," I replied, sarcastically, making him shoot me a dirty look. If he's going to push my buttons, I'm going to push his. Let the games begin.

He then gets up from his seat, taking his plate with him, and goes to sit beside Alex across from me. "Hey buddy, can I sit by you?" He asks him.

"Sure. But why not by Emma? She's very nice."

"Because I want to sit by you. Emma isn't nice to me."

"Again, right here and right now, why? I have been so nice to you, so don't you speak lies to me, and to Alex."

"Rule #3." He threatens.

"I can do what I want as you are and don't care about your stupid rules because your mom told me to babysit you guys so that's what I'm doing. I can see why she doesn't trust you." I coldly say to him. I abruptly get up from the table putting my plate and utensils in the sink and left to the living room. I sat down on the couch and turned on the tv. The local news was on so I decided to watch it.

A few minutes later, he gets up from the table and walks towards me. Then, he sits down in the empty space beside me. "Are you okay?" He calmly says.

"Am I okay? I have tried my hardest to be the best I can to you and have acted good towards Alex and you and all I get in return from your crap. I don't even know why I agreed to be here in the first place. When your mother gets home, I might even tell her that I'm quitting. I'll give her a friend's phone number that babysits."

"Emma, I'm sorry." He makes eye contact with me for a second before kissing me. I feel fireworks explode in my stomach and time seems to stop. So this is what it feels like to be kissed.

When he pulls away, we both look at each other again. me staring into his crystal blue eyes. "Why did you do that?" Is the only thing that came to my mind.

"Because I do what I want, and that's what I wanted to do." And, he's back. He must be bipolar or something I swear.

"Well so do I, and I did not want to do that," I argue just for the heck of it.

"Oh sweetheart, I'm sure you did." Before I know it, I feel my cheeks turn bright red. He laughs. Why did he just kiss me? I thought he despised me. I didn't want him to kiss me. More importantly, I shouldn't have let him do it.

"That's what I thought." He smiles.

"Not funny." I hit him with a pillow. He still laughs.

"You think you're fierce, don't you?" He says and hits me with the other pillow. "But, you're actually pretty weak."

"Oh really?" I challenge and hit him again with the pillow, a little harder.

"Really? That's all you've got?" He taunts.

I hit him back as hard as I could, determined to win what was now a pillow fight.

"Ouch. I guess I was wrong, you are strong." He gives up and sighs in defeat.

"I know, I work out," I say confidently.

"Hot."

"Shut up," I exclaim, tiredly lying my head on the edge of his shoulder. Surprisingly, he didn't move it.

***

Around 8:00 pm, Alex's mom, Claire, was pulling into their garage and getting out of her car.

"Thanks for watching my kids, I hope they were on their best behavior." She said, walking into the house in her work clothes, bringing in a rain jacket. It must have been raining if so I haven't taken the time to notice.

"No problem. I enjoyed doing so." I tell her.

"Good. Did Austin give you any trouble?" She asks.

"Mom, seriously, what am I, five? Seriously, I'm seventeen and I can handle myself." He butts in, annoyingly.

"He was being difficult at first, but he got better. We had no issues." I tell her. Austin shoots me a 'what was that for' look but I ignore it as I gather my things together to leave. He knew what that was for.

"Oh, Emma, would you mind babysitting Alex again Friday? I'd hate to bombard you and things but I've been trying to work as much as possible lately and it would be a big help." She says.

"Sure, I'd love to. How long?"

"I'll work a twelve-hour shift at the hospital seven pm to seven am if that is okay with you. I know that it is really long and unusual for a babysitter, but it would help tremendously. We have an extra guest room across from Austin's room that's beside Alex's." She smiles.

"Yes, that would be perfect. I'll see you then." I reply.

"Thanks so much, dear, goodbye." Ms. Claire says as I walk through the door, leaving their house, and get in my car.

What a crazy day this has been. I didn't expect today to turn out the way it did. I came into the babysitting offer thinking it would be fun and easy, a great opportunity to make some extra money. Little did I know how much trouble Alex's brother is. I thought Alex would be the one that needed to behave. Austin proved my assumption wrong. I'll try my best to fix whatever he's doing, I don't want trouble in my life.

Boys should be the least of my worries right now. I guess girls date them because they're bored and have nothing to do, I'm not sure. Why date someone, especially at sixteen, when you might not end up marrying them. And, even if you do, that doesn't guarantee you won't get divorced. That's why I don't believe in love, not now.

Tomorrow I don't have to babysit any kids thankfully. I think I'll call my best friend, Alexis, up in the morning and go shopping with her and just catch up. I haven't seen her since May when I finished my sophomore year. We'll be in the same classes next year for our junior year and that relieves me a little. We've known each other since seventh grade and have stuck together ever since. She's the only friend I know that will never leave your side. Ever.
I take a shower, take my makeup off, and crawl into my comfy bed. It's around eleven o'clock when I fall asleep, dreaming the night away.