The Shade's Of You. | ✓

24

Sophia.

Loud screams where heard, not from me, but from all these little kids running around my old house.

It's eleven thirty and I'm currently at my childhood home, babysitting while the elders and parents work the backyards to prepare for everything while having peace— peace meaning no loud and whiny kids around who cause mayhem and mischief for hours on end, that's my job.

“Auntie, S.” Nora, a stunning four year old toddler, reaches her tiny arms up, silently gesturing for me to pick her up and I do, lifting her up and cradling her in my arms.

Jacobi, the notorious little boy slowly strolls past me. His hands stuffed in his black trousers and his small feet moving way too slowly to not be suspicious.

My eyes playfully narrow at the seven year old as I watch him take a seat across from me, completely amused at his cute tactics on how to get onto the couch but yet, he still tried to portray that whole badboy vibes he has going on.

Jacobi Jenkins is this handsome little guy who has dark hair, that he loves to cover his eyes with and the prettiest set of blue eyes that has girls who are almost triple his age swooning for— basically that girl is always me.

He is going to be the biggest heart breaker in town.

I've already called it three years ago.

“What are you doing with her?” He fires a question at me, watching me curiously with his blue baby eyes before he flickers them down to the almost sleeping girl in my arms.

Oh yes.

Nora is beautiful, obviously.

She has brown ringlet curls which she swears she hates and hazel colored eyes and she's extremely feisty.

But my little guy over here has the absolute biggest crush on this little girl which is probably the biggest pickle ever since her brother is his bestfriend.

I could already see how that would turn out in the future for them— Nixon with bruises, Jacobi with a blue eye and sweet little Nora with a broken heart because she, too, has this huge crush on the charming man.

“She's tired, Jacobi.” I mumble, glancing down at her eyes closed and mouth slightly ajar. Oh good lord, that is utterly cute. “Why don't you go play with everyone else?” I ask, trying my hardest to suppress a smile at his expression.

His small arms cross on his chest and he leans back against the brown couch, shaking his head furiously no.

“No.”

“That is fine, you can just. . . sit there, looking all grumpy like a little bear while everyone has fun, if you want.”

“That is what I want, thank you.”

“You're welcome.”

“Okay.”

“Okay good.”

“Yes.”

I open my mouth to continue our playfull back and forth but knocking on the front door has me screaming out for all the children to hear. “Nobody answers the door!”

Jacobi raises an eyebrow up at me and I raise one back, silently asking him what he wants, but I fully understand when the babygirl is my arms start moving around and I internally curse myself for screaming now, but I had too.

I quickly stand and I immediately know that the little boy is behind me when I start walking toward the door with a wide eyed, confused Nora in my arms.

“Jake? He—” I go to greet the goofy man but I freeze.

The Rodriguez family walks in, the two parents quickly and kindly greet me with plates of food in their hands before apologizing for being late and then they are rushing back with their children didn't process in my mind fast enough.

A man, wearing full black and covered in tattoos is leaning against a familiar black car with a familiar smirk on his face and a phone against his ears as he speaks into it, all the while his eyes are focused on me.

I almost— almost go to shut the door when his phone call ends and he slips the device back in his pocket.

He starts strolling over, still smirking but stopping when his closer, a smile now adorns his face when his directly in front of me and a little gasp is heard, from Nora.

It's like I were in a long trance as I admired his beauty but when a tattooed hand reached up to me, I was forced back down to reality— a reality where our worlds were different, so different, and where he wasn't mine to own and I wasn't his. I move my gaze back down to the little girl and walk away, completely ignoring his now hardened expression.

“You bastard, that's my mother and my girlfriend!” I hear a familiar childish voice shout in anger and a continuous smacking sound resonates around the hallway.

I sigh and turn back around, focusing on the little man. “Jacobi,” I mutter under my breath. “Come here, son.” I call him over before walking back to the play room, scolding him for his rude behavior and for his bad word choices.

He sulks and pouts at the floor, nodding his head.

Nora watchs the whole scene with a small smile on her pinkish lips until she catches onto her crushs sadden look and orders for me to put her down— I obey, of course, and watch as she quickly stands next to him and grabs his hand, intertwining their tiny hands together.

“Jacobi, I will be your girlfriend.”

“You will?”

“Yes.”

“I love you, Nora baby.”

What the—? Oh no no no no no! I go to scold the loud mouth but when his girlfriend shyly says the words back, I'm left in shock and gaping at the fresh little couple.

“Woah,” Foster, Mr Mckenzie, smiles as he watchs the pair with teasing eyes. “What do we have here? A couple?” He jokes, making his son turn red and the little girl giggle.

His blue eyes connect with mine and I instantly know what it means, a silent thank you, and I nod back with a kind and polite, my silent way of saying that I don't need a thank you and that I love looking after all these kids.

At times like this, with alot of people around and with the children as a distraction, I almost forget that this is my childhood home— the place I grew up in, the place were my family was born and broken in, the place were everything started and ended— the key word being almost.

It isn't weird anymore, standing here and just. . . just living and breathing in everything new. It's not weird.

I've pretty much become custom to this, every third day since I've moved out off here and had this wonderful family move in, I've come here to babysit and sometimes housesit. And it's because of that, that I've learnt we can't have everything in life and at some point—

We need to let go and let live.