Chocolate

The Babysitter

Serena proceeded to go to school on Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and decided to sleep in on Friday, despite her mom scolding her to get up at 11, which was far past the time she was allowed to go, but she told her mom she was going, so she got dressed and did her hair and makeup to go take her car out to the mall and aimlessly wander around for a few hours. She ran into a few people she knew, who obviously had the same idea as she did. She had a fair amount of friends, but never really talked to them, not because people didn't like her, just because she preferred having only a few close people. Except, her former close friends became ghosts for non apparent reasons, so she mainly was friends with Maya and Ian from algebra.

She liked to keep to herself about everything, however. Like Gabriel. She could never tell even a closest friend and it was then that she wondered why she even cared about him so much. They hooked up several times and she was acting like they were in a serious relationship and maybe that's why she wouldn't tell anyone because it was pathetic.

"Excuse me!" a woman beckoned to Serena. She was thin and looked a little older with blonde hair pulled back into a bun. "Hi, you're Serena right?"

"Yeah," Serena looked around, looking for someone she knew other than the unfamiliar lady.

"Great, I'm Melody. I go to Charlotte's sometimes and my husband said you know Noelle, my daughter?"

Serena froze. Gabriel's wife.

"Uh, yeah," Serena mustered up, speaking after a small pause. "Yeah that's me," she said, forcing a smile.

"This might sound odd, but we're looking for a babysitter. We have two boys, 6 and 10, and we were wondering if you'd be interested in babysitting them?" Melody smiled with ease.

Thousands of questions ran like the wind in the Serena's mind, starting with how did Melody know who she was and what she looked like and why hadn't she mentioned their divorce yet? Were they not getting one?

"Um, yeah, can I get back to you on that? Sorry," Serena felt like a deer in the headlights, although Melody was interestingly sweet.

"No problem. I don't mean to ambush you. Wait, don't you have school?"

"Yeah, I was just feeling a little under the weather," Serena lied with a charming smile. "But you can just tell your husband to stop by the shop anytime to discuss this. Business is usually slow and he's kind of a regular there," she suppressed the look in her eyes that might show how she lit up when talking about him.

"Alright," Melody said. "Nice to meet you and funny to run into you here."

"You too," Serena smiled and waved, walking away as quick as she could without showing how eager she was to escape. The first thing that popped in her mind as she walked away was what the fuck was Gabriel thinking?