Stumbling Through It {C.H}

Chapter 4

I locked the door to my apartment, before heading to my car to go to Calum's house to babysit. I plugged the address he gave me into my phone's GPS. His house was located on the other side of town, about 20 minutes away. I listened to music as I drove through the town, watching the houses and buildings going from dumpy, like my apartment, to nice suburban areas.

I turned onto the street Calum lived on, and my jaw dropped. I felt like I had been transported to Beverly Hills. The houses could hardly be qualified as houses, they were basically mansions. The street was long, but there were only about five houses on each side of the road. Each mansion was surrounded by a pristine, freshly mowed lawn, and iron fences. I didn't even realize my small town had such an upscale community.

I turned into the third driveway on the right side, but was blocked by a large gate. I leaned out the window to what I assumed was an intercom. It felt like that scene from The Incredibles where Mr. Incredible goes to visit Edna Mode.

I pressed the little call button, "Um, hi, it's Ellie." I spoke into the metal box. There was a small buzz, and the gate began to retract, opening so I could drive past. The driveway was long and ended in a loop by the front door, a small fountain in the grass section in the middle of the loop.

I parked, and strode up the cobblestone walkway to the large front door. I rang the bell, and stared up at the looming white mansion. You could have fit at least 20 of my apartments in his house alone.

"Ellie!" A child's voice rang out as the door opened. Daniel attached himself to my leg, in a hug.

"Hi Daniel!" I greeted the little boy with a ruffle of his hair.

"Hi Ellie. Come in," Calum motioned me inside, "Daniel, please get off her leg so she can walk."

I tried to hide my amazement of the interior of his house. It was massive inside as expected, but gorgeous as well. And this was just the front entrance. It was a wide, circular room, with two curving staircases on each side wall, leading to the second floor. A crystal chandelier hung from the high ceiling, spalling in the sunlight that streamed from the windows.

"Band payed well I see." I chuckled.

Calum nodded, "Yep, not that the two of us need all this space, but whatever." He shrugged.

"Ellie! Ellie! I want to show you my toys!" Daniel pulled me down the hall, through the living room to another room, that I assumed was Daniel's toy room. It was surprisingly neat for a four year old boy. There was a section for arts and crafts, with a little table and chairs, and some storage shelves filled with art supplies. There was a section for blocks and other building toys. A section for toy cars, a section for action figures and even a section for playing pretend, complete with costumes, and a play kitchen. Finally there was a small platform, set up as a stage, with child sized guitars and a tiny drum kit.

"Wow Daniel, this is pretty cool!" I said in complete honesty. I would have loved something like this when I was a kid.

"Come see my pirate ship!" Daniel brought me over to a plastic toy ship, and held up a pirate figurine, "Arggg!" He grunted, clenching his teeth like a pirate.

"Okay buddy, you can show Ellie your pirates later. I have to show her around the house and tell her the rules first." Calum told his son, who nodded.

I followed Calum around his house as he pointed things out, "So this is the kitchen, you can eat whatever you want, just don't eat all the ice cream. Daniel can eat dinner around 5:30 and he can have one cookie for dessert. Here is the living room, you can watch tv if you want after Daniel goes to bed. Um that's the office, you won't need to go in there. Here's the bathroom and the laundry room. The basement is just a music room, make sure Daniel doesn't mess with the recording tech. Now upstairs..." We walked to the upper floor, "Um there's Dan's bedroom, he can go to bed at 7:00, his pajamas are laid out on his bed. There are three spare room. That's another tv room. The bathroom is here. Then there is my room. And I think that's it." Calum finished up the tour, "well beside the backyard but it's getting a bit late to go outside, so I guess you don't need to see that."

"Your house is amazing." I blurted a compliment.

He chuckled, "Thanks." We went back downstairs in the front room, "So I will be back around 9:00. Call me if you have any questions. You have my number right?"

"Yep." I nodded. I never thought I would ever has Calum Hood's number in my phone.

"Great." He bent down to his son, "You be good for Ellie, okay bud." Calum tickled Daniel's chin, causing him to burst into giggles.

"Okay daddy."

The doorbell rang, but the three guys didn't wait for an answer as they barged in.

"Hey Cal, you ready?" A familiar blond asked. I couldn't help but fangirl internally as my teenage idols entered the room.

"Well, who is this?" Michael looked me up and down with a raised eyebrow, and a smirk.

"Dude, you're engaged." Ashton elbowed his friend, who's famous hair was dyed a dark blue.

"I'm not hitting on her, I'm referring to our single friend over here." Michael nodded to Calum.

"This is Ellie. We aren't dating." Calum told him, "She is babysitting, Daniel." He clarified.

"Speaking of Daniel, where is that little guy?" Luke asked.

On cue, the little boy jumped out from behind the guys, "ROAR! I'm a lion!" He squished up his face, trying to look menacing.

"Ahh!" Ashton faked a scream of fear.

"Uh oh! Not a lion! Please don't eat us! We don't taste good." Michael pleaded, entertaining the child.

Daniel laughed in glee, "I'm not a real lion."

"Oh phew, it's just Daniel." Luke sighed in relief. It was cute to watch the boys interact with the little boy.

"Okay, we better get going." Calum started walking towards the door, the other guys following his lead, "Love you, Daniel." He called, waving goodbye to his son.

"Bye daddy!" Daniel waved back, before turning to me, his eyes sparkling with excitement, "Come on Ellie, let's play!"