in my wildest dreams - a taylor swift fanfiction

60 - think about the good times

SKYLAR

"How old are the kids?" Zade asked as he came up behind me and handed me my phone.

"Thanks." I took the phone from him and put it in my purse. "Uh, James turns five in a few days, Inez is three, and Betty was born in October," I replied inattentively while readjusting my purple beanie in front of the mirror.

"October? She's only like two months old!" Zade exclaimed, and I shifted my gaze to look at him through the mirror. "Do you know how small a two-month-old baby is? They're, like, extremely tiny," he continued, sounding a little freaked out and making me smile.

"Very early October. And I know how small she is; I've met her," I replied and put my coat on. "Mom! We're leaving!" I called out into the apartment.

"Okay! Do you have your passes? You need them to get in," she called back from somewhere inside.

I turned to look at Zade. "Do we?"

"I think you put them in the bag," he said, pointing to my purse. I checked it and found them.

"Yeah, we do!" I shouted so that Taylor would be able to hear.

"Okay! Remember to be there at seven!"

"Yeah! Have fun tonight Mom! See ya tomorrow!"

"Thanks baby! Love you!"

"Bye Taylor!" Zade called out.

"Bye Zade! Good luck guys!"

We left the apartment together and tried to avoid the paparazzi and fans crowded outside. Now that everyone knew who I was, they were a lot more interested in me than they had been in the summer, but they thankfully forgot about us as soon as we slipped into the backseat of the waiting car.

Zade and I had spent Thanksgiving together two weeks earlier, and Taylor had even asked if he had wanted to come skiing with us that same weekend. When Blake asked me to babysit their kids while they'd be celebrating Taylor's thirtieth birthday after the Jingle Ball concert, I had immediately thought of asking Zade to help me out since he lived in the city.

Josh's feelings about Zade and me spending so much time together hadn't gone unnoticed by either of us. He called me several times to check in on us throughout the Thanksgiving weekend, and Zade unfortunately picked up on it after the third phone call. I hadn't planned on telling Josh about us babysitting together, knowing it would make him feel insecure. However, he had asked me about it since he knew Zade lived in the city, and I didn't want to lie to him.

It took us about an hour and twenty minutes to get to Blake and Ryan's neighborhood, and the driver dropped us off right outside their house. Our plan was to spend some time with the kids so they could get to know Zade before we'd leave again with Blake and Ryan. After the concert, we planned to return to the house to take over from the other babysitter and look after the kids for the rest of the night.

Ryan greeted us at the door with a tired smile, wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses and a white Los Pollos Hermanos t-shirt. The sound of someone crying loudly from inside the house caught my attention right away and provided an explanation for Ryan's tired expression.

"Hey! Come right on in guys!" he said, stepping aside to let us enter and close the door behind us. "Hi, welcome, I'm Ryan," he greeted, offering his hand for Zade to shake.

"Zade, nice to meet you," Zade said, shaking his hand.

"Are you the boyfriend Taylor's told us about?" he asked with raised eyebrows, prompting me to step in.

"Nope! Just a friend," I quickly clarified, placing my hand on Zade's arm. We'd gotten used to people assuming Zade was my boyfriend as almost Joe's entire family and even Scott had assumed we were a couple at Thanksgiving.