Babysitting the Player

Chapter 5

"You didn't tell me we were hosting tonight," I say.

"It's on the calendar, I didn't think I needed to tell you." My mom points to today's box on the calendar on the countertop.

As I suspected, the box is empty.

"If it weren't for Grandma Peggy telling me, I still wouldn't know." I laugh.

"When did you see Grandma Peggy?"

"Yesterday, when I was with Bryce."

"Oh, speaking of Bryce, I talked to Maggie today. The three of them are planning on coming tonight."

"Oh, good."

"I forgot to tell them to wear pajamas though, could you text Bryce and let them know?"

"Sure." I pull my phone from my back pocket and go into my conversation with Bryce.

About tonight, wear pajamas. It's a thing

I send my message and his reply is quick.

Uh, okay

Mom turns to face me. "Could you grab the Adirondack chairs off the deck and bring them down to the lawn and set them up around the fire pit? Make sure they're far enough away that the smoke won't get in people's eyes but close enough that everyone can still reach the fire to toast their marshmallows. And leave some room for blankets for the kids."

"Got it." I grab a rag and open the sliding glass door and head onto the deck.

The dark blue Adirondack chairs are stacked up in the corner against the house so I pull the first one off the top of the pile and wipe it down. Since we use them pretty often, a dry rag is enough to do the trick. I do the same with the rest of the chairs and start bringing them down to the fire pit. Once I get the chairs set up, I head back in for the blankets. I make my way to the linen closet and grab some of our old blankets off the bottom shelf.

"Is four enough?" I shout to Mom.

"Should be! We can always grab more if we need to!"

I grab the stack and carry the blankets down toward the fire pit and drop them onto the ground with a satisfying plop. The purple square one is on top so I reach for that one first. I spread it out next to one of the chairs and decide it's a little too close to the cement blocks that make up the fire pit so I pull it back a bit and adjust the sides. A blue fuzzy blanket is now on the top of the stack so I grab that one next. I spread it out next to the purple one before grabbing the green one. It's a bit smaller than I thought it would be but I lay it down anyway. The last blanket is a black, fuzzy, rectangular one. I spread it out behind the other three and leave room for a fifth in case we need it. Once they're all spread out, I head back inside.

"Blankets are down," I say.

"Great. I've got a bunch of baskets with s'mores stuff we can bring out."

"Okay."

"Why don't you go put on pajamas first and then we can take care of the baskets?"

"Sure." I head to my room.

Okay, Bryce is coming tonight so I have to look decent.

Why does that make me want to look decent?

I slide open my pajama drawer and pull out a pair of gray sweatpants that are tight in my butt and thighs but flare out at the knees. My hands dig for a shirt and I settle on a pink high school football t-shirt from one of the team's many breast cancer fundraisers.

Perfect.

My blue crop top and black denim shorts come off and I change into a light purple and gray thong to avoid Bryce seeing any underwear lines when he inevitably checks me out later. I pull my sweatpants on and take a look at my butt in the mirror. I'm happy with how the bottoms look on me so I put on the t-shirt too. I look good but not like I'm trying to look good.