Sway

Uncontrollable

You never really notice how many young people wander the streets of New York until it's the only thing you're thinking about.

Babies. Kids. Teens. Young adults.

I, myself am probably still considered a 'young adult' to some. Which, is fine with me. I know when to be mature and when to loosen up and have a good time. What I didn't know how to do, was be a parent. You know, changing diapers and dealing with teething toddlers. I don't hate babies, I just haven't really had to be around them besides occasionally babysitting. Therefore, I honestly don't know what to expect.

These were my thoughts as I marched down the steps of the subway and boarded the train towards Washington Square park. A plush the Elmo doll underneath my arm and headphones inside of my ears. I listened to NF's Outcast as the train screeched through the subway. Charlotte and I were supposed to meet by the fountain in twenty minutes, I was extremely nervous. Even though Phineous made sure to give me one of his best friend pep talks before I left earlier. He told me that I didn't have a reason to feel guilty, and that Charlotte was the one who needed to explain herself.

As much as I wanted to embrace his speech, I couldn't help but feel slightly bad for the blonde woman. I knew from experience what it felt like to be confused about your sexuality, and to feel as if you have to hide yourself from the world. She probably went through a number of different phases, one of which involved sleeping with men and ultimately getting pregnant. Obviously that was just my theory, but I could be totally wrong.

When I got off of the train and walked up the 8 avenue express subway station, I felt the warm breeze flutter against my makeup free skin. I'd gone with a simple pair of black yoga pants and a fitted short sleeved NY Yankees tee. On my feet were some comfortable black Adidas, which really helped with times like this, where I had to walk a decent distance through a bunch of people in Manhattan.

As I trudged towards the giant unmissable fountain, I placed a pair of sunglasses onto my face to guard my eyes from the dangerous sun rays. My long hair was flowing down my back and blew against the wind as I picked up the speed. Considering it was 1PM on a Saturday in the middle of NY, people were everywhere. Like individual rats, or mice, or... some other rapidly multiplying species.

Once I reached the overly crowded fountain, I found a spot on the ledge and lifted my sunglasses to the top of my head. Charlotte had texted me a few moments ago saying that she was on the way, walking with Evan.

For some reason I felt the need to try and mentally prepare myself to meet her five month old. I subconsciously picked at the fluffy red fur on baby Elmo. Rethinking the gift entirely. Mainly because I had no idea if five month old babies even played with stuffed animals, or did they mostly sleep?

I didn't have anymore time to re-think the Elmo, or to toss him into the fountain behind me, because the chirpy sound of Charlotte's voice caught my attention. I lifted myself from the concrete edge and my eyes instantly landed on the smallish baby that was hanging from a kangaroo type pouch on her chest. He had very shiny strawberry blonde hair and the biggest blue eyes. His legs were dangling from the carrier like chunky sausages, and he looked to be enjoying the taste of his fingers.

"Hi," she said with an innocent smile, "thanks for coming."

I nodded, finally breaking my eyes away from the cute baby that looked just like his mother. There were still so many questions that I had for her, but I didn't want to come across as insensitive or judgmental. The fact that she came clean was enough for me to move on, and if that didn't tell how much I liked her... I wasn't sure what would. My hope was that she'd explain herself without me having to ask. Even just a simple explanation of why she thought hiding Evan from me was necessary.