The Unpredictability of You and Me

six - babysitting

The rest of the week, Adrian doesn't talk to me, look at me, or even acknowledge me. In the car, he'd put headphones. During the classes we had together, he sat as far away from me as possible. After school, he'd lock himself in his room and come out for dinner. At dinner, he only spoke whenever my parents asked him a question. Rinse and repeat.

The girls at school stopped bothering me about him, and so did Lesly, Liam, and Tyler. On Friday at Levy's, I told them how I had yelled at Adrian and they all agreed that he was being an asshole.

Now, Saturday morning, I'm sitting in the kitchen, eating cheerios. Outside, it's gray and pouring rain. We were going to go to the park, but that was before the weather dropped twenty degrees. So now, I'm stuck at home on a Saturday with no plans.

"Morning, babe," Mom greets, coming into the kitchen. "Is Adrian awake?"

I take a bite of my cereal. "I wouldn't know."

Her cheerful tone fades. "I really wish you two tried to get along more. You could be good friends."

I almost choke on my cereal. "I do try. He doesn't even talk to me!"

As if on que, Adrian shuffles into the kitchen, still in a hoodie and sweats, his eyes puffy. Mom smiles warmly, "Good morning!"

"Morning," he mumbles, walking over to grab some cereal.

"So," Mom says brightly. "I have something to tell you guys."

We both look at her skeptically at the same time.

She laughs. "Stop looking so scared. I was going to make sure Alex was here for this, but he got called into work early today. Anyways, Mariah, my friend at the adoption agency, called last night. There's this beautiful baby girl, she's about three months old, and she's getting adopted by a family in Vermont. Her name is Aliyah."

"That's great," I say slowly, waiting for her to get to the point.

"Their plane got delayed because of the snow, and the orphanage doesn't have any space for Aliyah, because they already scheduled for a new baby. So, she called me asking if she could stay with us for the night. Mariah is dropping her off at 6 tonight. Her new parents agreed and said they'll pick her up tomorrow afternoon, as soon as their plane gets in."

I raise my eyebrows. Is she serious? "There's no space for a baby here, Mom."

She waves off my concerns. "It's just for one night, Jade. We'll make it work. Anyway, I said yes, but Carter got sick. So, I need to take him to the doctor's today but the only time Dr. Smith was free was at 6 tonight."

"But Aliyah-"

"I was hoping you and Adrian could watch her for a few hours."

Now, it's Adrian's turn to almost choke on his cereal out of surprise. "You want us to watch a three-month-old baby?"

"Only for two hours, at the most," she pleads. "We were going to take Carter to the doctor tomorrow after Aliyah was gone, but his cough isn't going away."

"It's a Saturday night, Mom," I complain.

"You were saying last night how your plans got canceled because the rain," she argues.

Dammit. I did say that. I groan. "Fine."

She smiles widely and gives me a kiss on top of the forehead. "Thank you, baby. Adrian, could you help her tonight?"

I think he's going to say no, but when he looks at my mom, his expression softens. He gives me a reluctant look and says slowly, "Yeah, sure."

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