Living with the Millers

Chapter 8 - Letting Go

Chapter 8 - Letting Go

I think I stood there for a full thirty seconds before Skylar noticed me. Slowly, his little head lifted with the biggest grin on his face, and he said, "Look what I did!"

If I hadn't been seconds away from a panic attack, I probably would have laughed.

"Whoa," a deep voice said behind me. My shoulders sunk as I let out a heavy sigh; of course Ben would find out about this, of course he would get to make fun of me as I scrambled to fix the mess I had allowed to happen.

"I don't need this right now," I told him, trying to keep the anger out of my voice. It was barely possible. "Just take Justin to his mom and leave me alone so I can try to clean this up and-"

"I already gave Justin to his mom," Ben cut me off, placing a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him, surprised. He smiled at me, and not the evil smile that I had come to know. "Take Skylar into my parents bathroom and clean him up the best you can, I'll try and get rid of all this."

I blinked at him, stunned. What in the actual hell had gotten into him? He was bipolar, I swear. One minute he's terrorizing me and the next he's offering his help. "Don't just stand there!" He exclaimed, giving me a little push. "My parents are going to be home any minute!"

Squeaking, Ieaped l forward and scooped Skylar off the bed. He yelled in protest, but I held him firmly and rushed into the bathroom. "We need to get you cleaned up," I said, setting him on the floor. As I turned on the tub he he huffed at me. "Do you want your parents to come home and get mad at you?"

"No," he said reluctantly, pulling off his shirt.

"Good," I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "You get yourself as clean as possible and I'm going to help Ben clean up the mess. Call me if you need anything."

For a minute I wondered if it was okay to leave him in the tub all by himself, but then I realized he was six years old. When I was six I was giving my little sisters baths all by myself, just checking in on him every once and a while to make sure he got all of the makeup off would suffice.

As I jogged out of the bathroom, I grabbed Savanna's hairspray off of the counter. One thing I had learned from the very brief, very sporadic visits from my mother was that hairspray was one of the few substances that could get lipstick off of things. The duvet was lost, but I could probably get the lipstick off of the wall if I tried hard enough.

"Just throw that thing away," I told Ben as I entered the room. He had gotten a wet washrag and was trying to scrub the stains out. Honestly, men are hopeless. "Take it out to your car and hide it the best you can, then get new covers. Please," I added as an afterthought, spraying the wall down.

I really hope this works, I thought.

Grunting, Ben scooped the duvet up in his arms and shuffled out of the room. Breathing hard, I made my way over to Savana's vanity and examined the damage. Most of the makeup had chunks missing, and those that didn't had colors smeared together. All I could to was throw them away and hope that she didn't use these palates often.

After burying the evidence deep in the kitchen trashcan, I filled a bowl with hot watcher and grabbed a dishcloth. "Everything okay in there, Skylar?" I called.

"I'm not a baby!" He yelled back, splashing in the water. I snorted, shaking my head. That boy was going to cause so much trouble for so many people, he was so strong headed.

Sighing, I started scrubbing the wall. Much to my relief it starting coming off right away, smearing at first but then finally coming clean. There were so many different shades and thicknesses that it was taking forever, but it was working. I could just picture Savanna walking in and having an aneurysm. This stuff needed to come off the wall, and fast.