“Just Another Day”
Chapter Seven: Us? Babysitting?
For a moment I was regretting even telling Brian I would baby-sit. I knew this would happen. There he was, this rough looking yet baby faced handsome rock star, annoyed at this girl he talked to turning out way less than pretty. I knew it. I’m nothing like the girl he thought I’d be. I could tell he was staring in what I knew had to be shock. Just perfect, he was expecting someone Hollywood type gorgeous and he got the freaky frumpy plain fat girl. Freaking flipping peachy. I wanted to leave right then and there. Did I? No, but I still can’t tell you why I didn’t.
“Um hello?”
Nick seemed startled and smiled a little, seeming almost forced but it wasn’t, I could see it in his eyes. Well at least he wasn’t mad about me showing up. Not that that makes it a damn bit easier does it.
“Sorry,” he said a bit sheepishly, “Brian told me he’d send over help but I expected Jay, not you.”
“Oh.”
Then the most awkward silence I’ve had to deal with. And I’ve dealt with many. Why did I agree to this? I should have known better.
I frown, okay maybe I was wrong about doing this. “Look if you want I’ll just go.”
His eyes widen and I get the urge to giggle cause it was just so sudden and dramatic looking. “No! No! I want to hang out with the Calypso baby in person.” He gives me a grin and I could almost see why girls fawn over him. Almost. There was still that vibe I had gotten from talking to him, something that just said this person isn’t what he seemed. Which was the “perfect and happy rock star” there was something in his face that was almost pleading for help but so subtle you could easily forget it’s there. I stand there awkwardly, not knowing what to say to him for once, and becoming the shy quiet girl I always am around anyone who doesn’t know me well. My eyes focus on the ground and I curse my insecurities yet again.
He grins, trying to make me comfortable I think. It was a good try anyway. “You want to come in?”
“Sure” I reply quietly. Now I talked to this guy often enough. WHY was I suddenly shy? I always get shy. But he’s a friend now, I should be more comfortable than this. Why am I staring at the ground? Look up! Say something! Anything! I follow him inside and look around. This was nice, but not overdone, now if I didn’t see the gold records hidden down a hallway, I would never have thought this to be the house of a music star. Whoa. They’re human. Good reminder to have.
“So…um..”
I get tugged by my arm along to the living room and a small smile crawls upon my face. It’s almost like a kid. Almost. Then I get a sudden hug. Whoa. Wow. Ooh okay I like this. Oh my god I’m blushing! No! Not at a hug! My face is so hot. Oh lord. Damn my shyness!
“What was that for?” I ask, far too quiet for my own liking.
“Cause, you sounded like you needed a big one the other day and I couldn’t give it till today.” He said simply with a shrug. Like it was the most obvious thing in the world. I spotted Baylee entranced by Blue’s Clues in the living room, and laughed as the adorable little boy kept pushing the curls out of his eyes. I remember asking Brian about that and him admitting he needed to cut Baylee’s hair, but didn’t want to.
“Poor little guy, aren’t they ever going to cut his hair?” I muse, forgetting Nick was beside me for a second. How I forgot I’ll never know.
Then I heard his laugh. His lighthearted, infectious, hybrid giggle laugh. You have to hear it to understand it. “I don’t know but soon Rok’s gonna need a lawn mower to cut it at the rate its growing.”
I laughed along with him. Not at what he said, but because honestly, when he laughs, you can’t help but laugh along. He grinned. “You hungry? Bri’s got the fridge stocked.”
I blinked and watched him. “Is he okay with that?” And the shyness returns. Lovely.
He dragged me into the kitchen. “Nah, he’s cool with it. Bay’ll be okay, he never moves much when Blue is on.”
I follow him in and just kind of look around. On the walls adorned pictures of Brian’s family, pictures of the band, performances, pictures with other singers. I spotted one of Brian and the rest of the band when they must have been first starting out, on the counter. Nick followed my gaze as I picked up the frame.
“Wow, how old is this one?” I said quietly, surprised at how young they all looked in the photo, especially Nick.
“That was when we first started, I was fourteen.” He said from behind me, making me jump with surprise. I had thought he was rummaging through the fridge. The frame flew up into the air and we both dived for the ground to catch it. It seemed to happen in slow motion. That was until Nick thudded against the ground and I happened to land on top of him. His hand shot out and barely caught the frame moments before it would have hit the floor otherwise. After my relief passed, I realized our position.
**************
So here I am with this cute, sexy, girl on top of me. Something I usually dive right into. I didn’t. Go me. I did have a girlfriend. We both stared at each other a bit. I couldn’t help it. It was those big innocent blue eyes of hers. The ones her glasses framed and complimented. It wasn’t my fault she had such damn pretty eyes. I’m a sucky ass boyfriend. Because I didn’t want to move. She started turning red as we both stayed quiet. She’s so shy, its actually a hella refreshing change from what I’m used to.
“Sorry about that, are you alright?”
“All good. Lets go make sure Bay’s still alive.” I answered, knowing its time for the kid’s bedtime soon.
We both stayed there though. I laughed to ease the tension. “We have to move.”
Cally made a face as she seemed to move and then stop. “Okay, well..”
“What?”
She laughed hard and I smiled a bit. “Well, you’re going to find this totally crazy.”
“Not with what I’ve seen and done before.” I replied with a chuckle. If she only knew how true that one was.
“Well my overall strap latchy thingies are tangled with your necklaces.”
This is where I lost it. It just stuck me as hilarious. Here I am, having thought this would be a depressing night with babysitting and now it turns out I’m babysitting with this pretty girl stuck on top of me. Well. That fucking teaches me to assume now doesn’t it.
She started giggling too. “It’s…not…funny…” she protested between laughs.
I gave her a wild grin as I shifted my gaze to where Baylee is sitting. Well…sleeping now. At least we were able to see him from where we were. “Bay’s safe, sound, and asleep on the couch. We’re stuck, so as we try and untangle this shit, it gives us a good chance to chat don’t ya think?”
Cally reached back and tightened her ponytail as best as she could before nodding. I smirked. Now if she’d been around me longer, she’d see that smirk is a sign of danger. Well, according to Brian anyway. Humph. Its really more a sign of me having fun. What can I say? Had to take advantage of the situation. Muahaha. And that hair was begging to be freed from the ponytail. Really. It was. I could hear it. So with my long ass arms I sneaky sneaky managed to tug that scrunchie away and set that hair free! All while being stuck to her due the freaky nature of overall straps and necklaces.
“Heeeey! What was that for?” She said with a pout. Wow. She’s pretty good at that. I think its all in those eyes of hers. I really like her eyes, prolly why they keep entering my screwed up ADHD mind. Shit! Nick! Girlfriend! Remember Tracy! Fuck I suck.
I gave her the most innocent look I could muster. Wonder if it worked. She was getting more comfortable though at least, she wasn’t staring at the ground or at the wall as much now. “What was what for?” They should put a halo over my head right about… now.
Before she could answer. My cell rang. On the coffee table. Which now seemed 20 miles away. And it was the ring tone for Brian’s number. Aww shit. He was checking up on us. Oh no. Don’t let it wake up Baylee. I could just see him start to stir. Uh oh. And I wonder why Brian never likes me babysitting alone. But! This wouldn’t have happened if I was alone. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Shit! Focus!
“We have to get that. It’s Bri and if we don’t answer, I’m doomed.”
She chuckled. “Oh and we’re gonna get that how. Ooh I hope Baylee doesn’t wake up.”
Light bulb! Damn thing finally, ever so fucking slowly, flickered on above my head. “If we both kinda slide/crawl at the same time we could.” My god, this sounds like dry humping even to me. Thank the lord its only me and her. Thank you God that Tracy is back in Vegas and can’t come by to visit.
From the look on Cally’s face, yeah, she’s thinking the same dirty damn thing I am. Minus the thanking God that Tracy’s not here. Not that He exists anyway. Focus now. “I know it sounds hella weird, but I can’t think of anythin’ else here.”
“Um, lets try it then.”
“Push with your arms as I slide backward.” Oh yeah, she’s thinking I’m a dirty old man now. No, the dirty old man is AJ. I’m just a fucking freak. No, that’s AJ too. Forget it, I ain’t got time for my fucked up mind to wander right now.
So she pushed and I slid and after a few tries we got moving. I really hope she doesn’t feel what I do though as we slowly move towards the coffee table…
***************
Oddest night of my life. I swear to the ever freaking lordie. I am here, babysitting with this cool guy who happens to be famous. We chat, almost break a photo, fall on each other trying to catch it. As we do that we end up stuck to each other and now we’re rubbing on each other in an effort to get to the cell phone of Nick’s that Brian is calling while we pray Baylee doesn’t wake up only inches away from said phone on the couch. All because of some freaky joining of overall strap latchy things and necklaces. And I’m on top of him. Rubbing so we can move. Wow. Okay. I know my face is bright red now. Whoa! I felt a big freaking bump! Oh…my…god… Cally, don’t look down there. No matter how tempting it is. Don’t look. Don’t look. Don’t look. For the love of all things mountain dew minus that nasty orange kind, don’t look! Or he’ll know you felt it. Wow. Oddest night of my life. I swear. We finally get to the coffee table and since I was on top (wow that sounds dirty) I was able to get to the phone easier. I could only lift my head up so far so my hand kinda reached till I felt something. So I answered.
“You call me mellow yellow?” I’m odd and I need a distraction. Best I could do. The bump is still there. I can also feel Nick desperately trying to shift. Oh boy. Literally.
“Calypso?”
Probably expected Nick. Oh well. Don’t think of Nick. Don’t. Cause then you’ll look and looking is bad…
“Hey Brian, what’s up?”
“How’s the babysitting? Everything okay?” Hmm, music is playing, wonder if Nick changed the channel. I snuck a glance downward and Nick was singing softly to Baylee to soothe him. The music was Nick, ooh. Guess the little tyke did wake up a little. Hmm, Nick has a good voice. Knew that, but its so sweet right then.
“Oh yeah, everything’s good.”
“Is Nick okay?”
I chuckled. “Um yeah, we’re really sticking together with this babysitting thing.”
“Good to hear. How’s my Bay-man doing?”
“Sleeping like an angel.” My focus was on Nick. He’s so sweet. I couldn’t help it.
“We’ll be back in a little while.”
“Okie dokie pokie. Later gator.” I hung up and looked at Nick. “So, want to try getting unstuck?” No. I don’t, despite the moments of awkwardness coming with it.
“Sure, and we can talk like we planned.” I blew a lock of hair away from my face. Damn him for taking my scrunchie.
“Can I get my scrunchie back?” I reached for the remote next to the phone turned off the TV. The house was so peaceful, in a not lonely way.
“Why do you wear it?”
“I’m a tomboy at heart. I should cut it.”
The look on his face made me laugh. It was so much shock that it was funny. “Noooo. You shouldn’t. You have pretty hair.”
“Oh...um…thanks” What does one say to that?
“So, what do you wanna talk about?”
“Tell me more about yourself. The real you.”
His surprise told me so much. I wondered how many people actually wanted to hear more about that. I did though. The good I’m seeing, and the bad that has to be there. I want to know.
“The real me.”
I shrugged as best as I could since my movement was a bit limited. “Sure, why not.”
He shrugged, but I could see the question unnerved him. Crap. I didn’t mean to upset him. “What’s to know, twenty four year old musician…”
“Well, what’s it like?” I asked softly. I wanted to know. My gaze fixes upon the wall instead of on him below me.
“Crazy, insane as all…” his eyes shifted to Baylee and he censored himself. “heck.”
“You’re a good singer.”
He chuckled. Guess he’s heard that a lot. Yeah, I don’t sound lame. Lord. I hate being the dull wallflower I am sometimes. “Thanks. It was either sing or draw, I ain’t good at much else.”
My interest peaked. “You draw?”
“Nothing special, I would have tried comics if I didn’t make it in music. I ain’t all that smart.”
I frowned and tried to maneuver my arm on his chest so I can lean on it instead of on him cause my neck was getting tired. Those necklaces were caught tight, any effort to pull would choke Nick. I couldn’t unhook cause of how tight the tangle was and I was honestly too scared of even trying to get the overalls off; and of course the clasp part was in the tangle meaning the easy solution was out. Then I asked something I’ve been wanting to know.
“Why are you so down on yourself?”
**************
“Why are you so down on yourself?” I heard her ask sweetly. Last time she asked I just shut the conversation down. But now she’s saying she wanted to know about the real me. Was this chick for real? “Hard not to be.”
“There’s different types of smarts. You write songs for the band. You’re creative smart. You probably have all this music knowledge I’d have no clue about and would have issues understanding.”
“Ehh, its not that hard. It’d be nice to get my high school degree though.”
A frown came from her. “You mean you’ve never gotten it?”
I moved the arm she was trying to lean on and let her relax against me as I fiddled with the tangle mess. She looked uncomfortable trying to brace herself like that and the tangle still tugging her down. As first she stiffened, feeling shy. Aw, she’s turning pink again. Shyness. That was so damn new to me. It was like this huge ocean breeze came in with her. It was that refreshing. I love the ocean by the way. Then, she soon relaxed.
“No, had the tutors, but then I stopped caring.” That one was part lie. It wasn’t me who stopped caring. It was my money grubbing parents. Kevin had been pissed I stopped with the schooling.
“But you care now, why not get it?”
“I don’t remember half the shi-stuff I learned.”
“I could help you.” She replied, simply, honestly. I stared up at Cally. How could this girl care so much? I went to reply but we heard the door open and both of us tried to move, and there stood Brian and Leighanne. When we both tried to look we rolled over by accident and I was on top of Cally now. Damn. Brian go away. Shit! No, good, I’m glad Brian is here to help us. Really. Brian, well Brian just thought this was way too damn funny as Leighanne got Baylee and went to put him to bed.
“Okay, its not that funny.” Cally said with a slight smirk. She felt more comfortable with Brian than me. Well…fuck.
“We’re stuuuuck” I said in my classic whine. One I only used to bug the fellas.
“Hahehehehe, only the two of you would get stuck.”
“Ducky Boy, can you help us get free?”
“Sure, but what happened?”
I gave a knowing grin to the Cally Baby, (my nickname for her now, she doesn’t know it yet) before smirking at my best friend. “Long story Rok, long story. Hey, you were the one who thought it’d be a good idea for us to baby-sit.” It was. Remind me to thank Brian later.
Author's Chapter Notes:
And yet another update. I keep coming back to this fic, so I'm letting it flow hehe. Again, thanks to the ones who reviewed. Y'all are awesome. I hope to update soon but I also have exams coming up so that may delay me. Enjoy the chapter!
