Babysitting the Bad Boy's Little Brother

Chapter 6

"Hey girl, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out, go shopping maybe?" I asked Alexis as I spoke to her on my phone. I'm feeling a little nervous because I haven't spoke to her since school ended.

"Sure, I'm free all day. Want to go grab some lunch too?" She asks.

"Sounds great. I'll pick you up at 11:30." I say before hanging up.

It's ten o'clock on a Thursday morning and I have been up cleaning my messy room for two hours now, finally managing to get it somewhat organized. For someone who has no life, her room sure stays a mess. I have over an hour until I have to pick up Alexis so I decide to go get some Starbucks. I know that I should wait for Alexis before going since she and I both love Starbucks but what she doesn't know can't hurt her, I guess.

I get into my car and drive myself to my happy place, for some reason nerved by the traffic there is on the way. After twenty minutes of what was almost road rage, I finally arrive to await goodness. As soon as I walk in, not to my surprise, there was a line of seven people in front of me. The line was about out of the door long. Wow, so much for my quick coffee run. Even though my patience is low, I manage to wait. A guy who looks a few years older than me walks in and stands behind me. Stalker. No, he's just in this unreasonably long line and seems to have just enough patience to wait for his daily dose of caffeine.

"Line's pretty long, huh?" He says to me.

"Yeah, I guess. So much for a quick coffee run." I turn around slightly alarmed and reply, laughing at my own joke.

"Do you come here often?" He asks me, scratching the back of his head.

"Um, sometimes. I'm usually working so I don't have much time to myself."

"Oh, where do you work at?" He asks.

"It's not really a place. I babysit kids weekly and take online college classes." I say shyly. Why does he want to know about me? Again, I mention stalker.

"That sounds fun. It takes a special person to babysit, not everyone can do it. Surely not me. Do you go to an university?"

"Actually, I haven't graduated high school yet. I'm just getting credits ahead of time for future use." I say, embarrassed at the fact that this guy has to be at least four or five years older than me.

"Oh." He says, disappointment faint in his voice.

"What? Did I say something?" I ask unknowingly, worried at my obvious mistake.

"No, it's nothing." He says quietly then barely mumbles under his breath "I knew she was too pretty to be close to my age." Like I had assumed, he's much older than me.

" How old are you?" I ask, overhearing his mumbling.

He hesitates, realizing he had blown his cover and his future chances with me, "20".

I obliviously reply "16." I hear a quiet gasp as if he didn't expect me to be that young. The employee handed us both our coffees and I rushed to leave. This was way too awkward.

"Wait." He grabs my arm and spins me around to face him, "Could I have your number? Maybe we could keep in touch. Even though things are weird."

"I don't even know your name and you want my number? No way. What in the world are you thinking?" I say, frustrated at this crazy situation.

"My name is Daniel."

"Emma," I reply, almost immediately, my frustration now fading some and my shoulders relaxing.

"Nice to meet you, Emma." He moves a few strands of hair to behind my ear that was blowing in my face from the wind.

I give him my number, knowing that I can always block this stranger if I ever needed to and reply "Nice to meet you too."