Apricity (l.s.)

chapter two

"I'll see you on Monday", the professor says as I finish packing up, stuffing all my pens and books along with a bunch of crumbled pieces of paper containing important notes into my backpack before walking out of the building again.

I start shivering as soon as I step outside and draw the zipper of my jacket close before putting my black beanie on.

After about a five minutes walk through the cold city I arrive at Harry's flat and ring, only once, despite nearly freezing to death.

"Hi", I say, forcing a small smile, trying not to shiver too obviously.

"Hello", Harry says curtly and opens the door a bit further so I can step into the hallways.

"I need to leave right away", he says, reaching for a black coat, "Elia's in the living room, she's watching TV right now so make sure she doesn't watch too much today, please."

I nod, slipping out of my shoes. "Of course."

I've been looking after Elia, Harry's daughter for about half a year now. When my job at the cafe got too boring, I knew that babysitting would be a safe option since I already knew how to take care of kids considering that I have loads of younger siblings. Besides that, Harry pays pretty well and needs me to take care of Elia rather often so it's kind of perfect.

We walk to the living room where Harry says goodbye to Elia, sitting down on the sofa to press a kiss to the three-year old's cheek. "Bye, baby. Don't cause any trouble, yeah?"

She nods, focused on the television in front of her. "Good", Harry says, carefully ruffling through her brown curls, "I love you, honey. Will be home in a bit and snuggle into bed with you, how does that sound?"

Elia nods again, turning away from the television this time to peck Harry's lips quickly. "Sound good. Love you, daddy."

Harry smiles softly. "Have a good time."

He then gets up, the smile leaving his face again. "Bye, Louis. Money's on the kitchen table and there's some leftover pasta from yesterday in the fridge that you can warm up."

"Alright. Bye, Harry."

I really don't know where he's headed to, but as far as I've gotten to know him, it's probably work related. He's still going to university but he obviously has to work as well, considering he's a single dad having to look after a child.

"Hi, Elia", I say, smiling down at her.

"Hi", she says, smiling up at me with tilted lips, "I'm just watching this", she says, pointing to the TV, "It's with animals."

"Sounds pretty cool", I say, "How about you finish that episode and once it's over, you can have some pasta for dinner, okay?"

She ignores me, too busy with watching peppa pig, so I decide to let her be and warm up the pasta in the microwave.

Their flat is pretty big, keep in mind that Harry is probably younger than me and has a daughter while still going to uni. Elia has her own room and besides Harry's room, they also have a living room. Harry probably works a lot.

"Elia, love, come to the kitchen, will you?", I call, getting her little spoon from the drawer and blowing on the food a little.

She comes walking into the kitchen, her big blue hoodie covering half of her legs, her curls a bit untamed from laying on the couch.

"Hungry", she shouts, running towards the table and climbing onto one of the chairs. "I love pasta. Daddy makes it for me always."

She grins, showing off the small gap between her front teeth. I smile back, ruffling through her curls once. "I'm glad you like the pasta. I can't really cook anything else; you know."

I make a silly face what makes her giggle quietly. I laugh as well, her laugh being too contagious and cute to not start chuckling with her. She doesn't finish her plate as usual but asks for some chocolate afterwards, shining her big hazel eyes widely up at me knowing exactly that that'll work.

"Two more spoons full, okay? Then you can have your chocolate."

She sighs as if this was one of the worst things she ever had to do and doesn't start moving so I take the spoon, feeding her a bit more of the pasta. "Now it's okay", she determines, "I can have some chocolate."

"If you say so", I respond, smiling when her curls fall into her face as she keeps nodding excitedly.

"I say so. I love chocolate."
She gets of her chair and runs to the drawer where they keep their sweets, searching through it until she finds something she wants and pulls out a bar of chocolate. "This one?", she asks, waving it through the air.

I nod. "Yes, you can have that one, love. Finish it and then I think it's a good idea to head to bed. It's too late already, can't believe you can stay up so long."

"I can", she says, confirming with a nod, "I'm not a baby."
I smile, getting up so I can get her pyjamas from her room. "You really aren't, no. Getting so big. Tell me how old you are again."

"So much", she says, holding out three fingers, "And a little more. Because my birthday was summer and now it's winter."

"Such a smart girl. Tell me what pyjamas you want to wear today?"

She nods, running to her room with the chocolate bar in her hand. "I know. My favourite", she shouts, pointing to the top shelf of her closet she can't reach. "The dogs one."

I get her the purple pyjama with small dogs on it. "That one's so pretty. Bet it feels super cosy too, doesn't it?"

"Yes. Super, super." She takes the clothes out of my hand and sits down on the floor to get dressed.

I take the shirt and help her slip it over her head carefully before she does the pants by herself. "Done", she says, smiling as she gets up.

"Very good", I say, offering her a hand so we can high five. She slaps her hand onto mine with force, giggling at the noise it makes.

"Off we go", I say, taking her hand, "You brush your teeth and I'll go over it afterwards to make sure they're all clean, okay? We gotta make sure all that chocolate is gone."

She nods. "Okay. But you do the toothpaste."

I help her squeeze the toothpaste onto the tooth brush, brush her teeth and wash her face. "Sleeping at daddy's or your room tonight?"

"Daddy's", she says, grinning, "'Cause he wanna cuddle when he get home."

"Understandable. So nice that you think of your daddy so much", I say, smiling and start walking towards Harry's bedroom. She climbs into bed and quickly crawls towards the headboard, leaning against it and getting the book that lays on the nightstand. "Read me?", she asks, smiling.

"Three pages, alright?" I sit down at the edge of the bed next to her.

She nods, smiling as she slips down until she's laying in bed properly, turning to her side. I pull the blanket up to her chin and tug her in properly, ruffling through her hair carefully.

"Goodnight, Elia, sleep well."

"Thank you, goodnight", she mumbles, closing her eyes, and pulling her knees up towards her chest. I start reading, watching her drift of to sleep out of the corner of my eye, admiring the way her long eyelashes flutter a little as she slowly falls asleep.

Once I've read the three pages, I stay a little longer until I'm sure she sleeps tightly and then brush my finger over her cheek once before leaving the room as quietly as possible.

~~~

happy new year everyone hope you have an amazing 2023 ahead of you <33

thanks for reading, I hope you liked the chapter :)