Ellie || z.m. short story

Chapter 4

“You’re throwing your life away El.” Ellie’s friend Madison said over the phone.

“No, I’m not.” Ellie had now been babysitting Emily for two months. Emily had gotten pretty close with Ellie. Ellie would come to the apartment at eight, sleep on the sofa at night, and then leave in the morning.

“You’re always so busy. You work, babysit and nothing else!”

“But I enjoy it Maddy! And Zayn’s my friend. I’m only doing a small favour for him. Poor guy has such a tough life. And Emily is the cutest thing ever.”

“So this Zayn guy, is he hot?”

Ellie paused for a moment and pictured Zayn’s face in her head. “He isn’t bad looking.”

“El, what’re you not telling me?”

“Nothing. Look, stop it. He’s a friend and I’m not gonna be drooling over him.”

“So you admit he’s hot?”

Ellie rolled her eyes. “Ok, he’s quite good looking. I mean there are times where I kinda end up smiling like an idiot just ‘cause he smiled or did something. He can cook, he’s really sweet, and c’mon he’s a single father for crying out loud! But, I can control myself. So thank the Lord for that.”

“Oh wow, he’s everything you look for in a guy. And a free baby comes along with the deal.”

“Oh my God stop!” Ellie laughed.

“Listen, I gotta go. Talk to you later, kay?”

“Yeah ok. Bye.”

“Bye and keep those hormones under control.”

“Go!” Ellie disconnected the call shaking her head.

Emily was busy watching TV while sucking on her bottle of milk. Ellie sat on the sofa watching the baby program that was playing. Her glance fell on a DVD that lay beside the TV. She got up to see what it was. The DVD had “Allison’s 9 Month Video Diaries” written on it in Zayn’s handwriting. Ellie took the DVD and decided to watch it on her laptop.

Ellie put the DVD on and it began to play. On the screen, was a beautiful girl with blonde hair and big grey eyes. She looked like she was twenty years old. She had the biggest smile on her face. It was Allison.

“So babe,” Ellie heard Zayn’s voice behind the camera. “What did we recently find out?”

“I’m pregnant!” her sweet voice announced.

“Do you want a boy or a girl?”

“How about both? Twins?” her eyes widened.

Zayn was now on the screen. “Today, we’re gonna find out the gender of our baby.”

“Still rooting for twins!” Allison’s voice came from behind.

The next scene was a screen, displaying Emily’s ultrasound image.

“It’s a girl.” The doctor said.

“Oh my God. That’s her?” Allison gasped.

The next few clips were of them attending a class for first-time parents. In one clip, Allison was filming Zayn trying to wrap a diaper on a baby dummy.

“Zayn, you have the diaper upside down.” Allison giggled.

“You’re doing diaper duty.” he looked up laughing.

There were clips of them shopping for Emily’s room and other baby items.

“This crib would be perfect!” Allison, who had a bump now, ran over to a crib identical to Emily’s. “And this matching rocking chair and cabinet.”