The Human Body

11

11

Spending a few days with Johnny and Iris was making what Prince and I talked about more...real. Seeing Prince hold Iris and to watch him put her down for a nap was something I thought only certain people could do, but he did it. Today, we get to babysit her while Johnny went and auditioned for a movie. "Okay, so the diapers are in the bag, she's already been changed and she changed into her day clothes. I was holding Iris following Johnny around as he showed that he made bottles for the day and the only thing he asked us to do was boil some bottles. Seemed easy. Prince was listening, too, all the way til Johnny got in his car and left for the city.

We walked back inside and Prince took Iris into his arms. "Let's play with her on the floor." He said. I smiled and joined them on the floor where Prince was laying next to Iris with a rattler. "She's just waking up so she might not want to play right now." I told him. I put her in my lap and Prince was getting in her face. "Baby." I said with a giggle. "Imagine if I got right in your face when you woke up." Iris rubbed her eyes and whimpered. Prince sat in front of me staring at her as she rested her head on my chest. "I don't want to rot her brain with the TV. There's gotta be something she wants to do." I giggled again. "Give her time, Prince. Why don't you get her a bottle. Johnny said she hasn't had breakfast yet." I told him. Prince stood up and walked into the kitchen. The clicking of his heels caught Iris' attention and she craned her head around to see what he was doing. When she saw the bottle, she knew what was about to happen and she seemed to perk up.

Prince sat back down on the floor in front of me and started to feed her while she was in my arms. He had a twinkle in his eye as he was feeding her. He even had his feet up as he was on his stomach with his other hand under his jaw. "This is too cute." I said. "I know, she just knows what's coming. She sees the bottle and-" "No, I mean...yeah, but...the way you're acting right now is cute." Iris drank almost her full bottle and I handed her off to Prince so he could burp her. "She drools a lot." He said. "That's what babies do." I said. I kissed his lips while he was burping and I stood up to make us breakfast. Johnny didn't have a whole lot in his fridge as he had been away for so long, but I found us some pancakes. I didn't have the time or the ingredients to make them like Prince liked.

I was listening to him playing with Iris now as she had finally woken up enough to be social. He was singing to her as she was banging on a play bongo which was so cute. "Prince, breakfast is ready." I called for him. He walked into the kitchen with Iris in his arms and I kissed his cheek before taking Iris so he could take his plate. We all were at the table and I was stroking her hair. "You think Johnny is gonna get the part?" I smiled. "Tim's directing this one, so probably. You know Tim always hooks Johnny up." I said to Prince.

"Do you think she'll be like her dad? Or her mom?" "I think she'll be like both." I said. "I haven't met her mother, but Johnny has good tastes in women." I told him. Iris cooed and I kissed her forehead. "Daddy will be home in an hour or two, sweetie. He should be here when you wake up from your nap." I reassured her. After Prince was done eating, he was playing with her. They were laying on the sofa and he would lift her up and down gently. She wasn't a newborn, but she wasn't a year old yet, so he could do that.

Eventually, playtime ended with Iris falling asleep on Prince's chest and Prince asleep as well. He had his arm over his eyes to shield out the light and one hand in Iris' back. Yeah, he was definitely father material for sure. I was upstairs working on a new painting. It was a landscape painting with a field and a sunset and tree's that were growing. The earth was getting brighter, the planet was healing from the damage of a former generation. It was...beautiful. I heard the door open and close gently and I walked over to the railing to see Johnny looking at Prince and Iris. "Pst!" I whispered. Johnny looked up at me and grinned before coming upstairs. "Hey." He hugged me and I smiled. The hugs were always the same. "Hey, how'd it go?" "It went well. Tim didn't know what part I'd play, but I'm playing Ichabod Crane." He said.

I pulled away and walked back over to my painting. "You know, I'm so fucking proud of you." He said lighting a cigarette. "Why, because I'm getting into a gallery or-" "No, you just...you've grown so much and all it took was someone that's just like you." I cocked an eyebrow at him. "Prince and I are very different." "No, I mean...Nevermind. You'll get it one day." He said. I was painting the grass which took a lot of fine detail and I wasn't that good at it yet. "You want a drag?" He asked. I shook my head. "I think we're gonna try for a baby soon. I want to be clean." His eyes got wide. "Okay, Felicity...like, that's great and all but...I didn't need to know the exact time?" I laughed a little. "I'm just letting you know why I rejected." I said to him.

"Has she been good?" Johnny asked. "She's been perfect. I had to explain to Prince that she wasn't quite awake when we first got her because he was wanting to play with her." Johnny laughed and sat down on our bean bags with the guitar. "Felicity...are you gonna movie in with him?" I set the brush aside to grab a bristle paint brush. "I want to. We'd still be in contact. Plus, you wouldn't make it in Minnesota. You're from Kentucky but was raised in Florida...it's not gonna work out. As someone from the south, I can tell you you won't make it." He laughed and I came over to sit next to him.

"You sure you're gonna be okay with him?" I nodded. "I'll be more than okay. I'll be...I'll be taken care of. Emotionally and physically." I said to him. Johnny kissed my temple and hugged me again. "It's still awhile before we go back to Minnesota. Louisiana comes first. I'm sure we'll be down every summer so we can thaw out." I told him. Suddenly he stood up and went downstairs and I realized Iris was whimpering. He was trying to take her before it woke Prince up, but it did anyway. "Is she okay?" Prince asked. "Yeah. Just a diaper change." Johnny went to my old room to change Iris' diaper and Prince stood up to stretch.

"Have a good nap?" I asked him. He nodded and I hugged him. "I told Johnny I was leaving with you to Minnesota. He seemed pretty okay with it." "I hope so. He can always come visit if he can." I pulled away and he kissed my forehead. "You didn't take any pictures of me sleeping, did you?" I laughed. "No." I said. "But you did look cute holding Iris. She was sleeping so good, too." Johnny and Iris returned. "Thanks for watching her, you two. I really appreciate it." Johnny said. "Hey, man. No problem." It was quiet and Prince gathered his blazer from the couch. "How much longer are you gonna be in town?" He asked us. I looked at Prince because I wasn't really sure. "Probably another month." Prince said. "I wanna give Felicity some time to get stuff together and we gotta get moved." He put his arm around me and kissed my cheek.

"Still plenty of time for baby sitting if you need it." I said to Johnny. Iris rubbed her eye with her mitten. We said our goodbyes for the night and walked over to Prince's house. I couldn't believe that my life was better when I never thought it could ever get better. I was in love, I was selling paintings, I was...happy. I was so happy. Prince plopped on the couch to watch his basketball game and I curled up right next to him. His heels were crossed on the coffee table and he was relaxed. "You smell like baby powder." I said while nuzzling my nose in his shirt. Prince kissed my forehead. "I'll probably smell like that all the time when we have kids of our own." He said. "Good." I told him.