Friday Night Dinner

Dresses and Babysitting

"Have you got it?" Jackie said as she opened the door.

"What, the drugs?" Jonny said. Jackie hit him.

"No, you idiot, the dress!" Jackie squealed.

"It's in the car." I smiled as we walked in.

"Oh hello, bambino. Esme, you better have brought that bloody dress. Jackie won't shut up about it." Martin came up to me rather aggressively and desperate.

"Dad, chill. It's in the car." Jonny pulled Martin off me. We laughed as we walked into the living room.

"Hello, Pusface!" Jonny said, scaring Adam.

"Bloody hell, I didn't know you were there!" Adam yelled.

"What, you didn't hear your father come up to me and beg me to show Jackie the dress?" I said.

"What dress? Oh, the dress my mother won't stop talking about?" Adam joked.

"Haha. Adam I'm going to need you to keep Jonny and Martin in the kitchen." I sat down next to Jonny on the sofa.

"What?" Adam said.

"Yeah, you're not seeing it. Only Jackie. Obviously Jonny can't see it. It's bad luck and I want it to be a surprise." I smiled.

"Fine. I swear though, if dad asks me about females one more time, I'm going to put the attention on you guys." Adam groaned.

"Seriously? I can't be bothered to deal with mom fangirling over a wedding." Jonny moaned. Jackie walked into the room shyly.

"So, uh, your Auntie Val has just dropped something off for us." Jackie said.

"What? What's she dropped off?" Adam asked.

"Her baby nephew." Jackie said, annoyed.

"Baby nephew? How old is he?" I asked. I was sort of excited. If he was a couple of months old, it will be adorable.

"He's 3 months old." Jackie said, once again annoyed.

"Can I- can I see him?" I asked.

"Yeah. I just put him in the kitchen, in the car seat she left him here in." As Jackie reopened the door, I heard his cries. "Not again!" Jackie complained. I jumped up and ran into the kitchen. He was adorable. I got him out the car seat, and started cradling him in my arms. He immediately grew quiet, and started to close his eyes.

"How the bloody hell-" Jonny started, but didn't know how to finish.

"Why did she leave him here?" I asked Jackie.

"She had a date, and forget she agreed to babysit him." Jackie explained. The oven started beeping, and his eyes opened again, but he didn't cry.

"What's his name?" I asked.

"Oscar." Jackie replied as she got the food out the oven. I noticed a bag on the table, and saw a bunch of baby stuff in there. I got out a bottle and all three of them watched me. "He needs to be feed in twenty minutes, diapers and toys have all been left in there." I got out a little elephant, and gave it to Oscar. He started smiling, and took it off me. He threw it at Adam.

"Good shot, Oscar!" Jonny laughed and walked over to me. He got one of Oscar's hands and gave it a little high-five. "How are you so good with babies?" Jonny asked.

"I was my road's favourite babysitter." I explained. "I'd better get the dress out the car. Jonny, hold Oscar." I gave Jonny Oscar and ran out the room. I got the dress that was covered up and quickly came back in time to see Adam and Jonny struggling to hold the child whilst Jackie instructed them as she finished up dinner. I put the dress on the table, and quickly rescued the child from the two idiots.

"Seriously? It's not that hard." I laughed and so did Oscar. "See, even Oscar agrees." I calmed Oscar down and we put him back in the car seat to go to sleep. I gave him his bottle as we walked into the dining room to eat. Oscar was placed on the floor next to the chairs.

*** dinner ***

"Lovely bit of squirrel, Jackie." Martin said.

"I can't wait to see your wedding dress, Esme!" Jackie got excited. Oscar started crying again. I put down my knife and fork and picked him up.

"I thought you said you haven't had kids yet?" Martin asked.

"It's not theirs, dad, it's Auntie Val's nephew." Adam explained. I calmed Oscar back down quite quickly, and got him to go to sleep. I continued to cradle him as I slowly ate my food.

"Esme, do you want me to take Oscar so you can finish your food?" Jackie asked.

"Are you sure? It would be helpful." I asked Jackie. Jackie took him off me and walked into the kitchen. I started stuffing my mouth full of food so that it wouldn't go cold.

"Calm down." Jonny laughed. Jackie screamed from the other room and caused Oscar to cry again. I got up and ran into the kitchen. I saw Jackie standing over my dress, which had been thrown up all over. I threw Jonny out and gave him Oscar, and started googling how to get baby sick out of a wedding dress.

"How did the sick get on the dress?" I asked Jackie.

"I opened it to get a quick glance but Oscar decided to throw up all over it! I'm so sorry, Esme." I grabbed the dress and started following the instructions I had found.

*** in the living room ***

After managing to get the baby sick off, I calmly walked into the living room and saw Jonny playing with Oscar on the floor. I smiled and sighed with relief as I sat down.

"Everything alright?" Jonny asked me.

"Sorted." The doorbell rang, and after a couple of minutes I saw Jim walk in.

"Hello, everyone. What-what is that?" Jim said, pointing at Oscar.

"A baby, Jim." Martin said. Jim looked at me and Jonny.

"No, Jim. It's not." I said.

"Can I?" Jim asked, without waiting for an answer. We all started to panic, but surprisingly Jim handled him quite well. Until Oscar threw up all over him. Jim pushed Oscar onto me, and ran out screaming.

"Oscar, you need to stop throwing up everything." Martin told him, as if he could hear or understand.

I kissed Oscar's forehead, and started blowing raspberries at him. He copied me, and we started playing a little game.

"I can't wait for that to be our kid." Jonny whispered to me.