Teenage Baby

Chapter 19

Chapter 19:

"Don't you find this disgusting?" Aaron asked. Squatted in front of him, Lou was spreading the lotion across his legs and feet after he'd finished his upper body. "I mean, don't you ever feel, like, ew no I don't want to touch his feet?"

Lou stopped and straightened and looked at Aaron through sorrowful concern. It hurt his heart that his baby thought of himself that way: insignificant and repulsive. The impacts of awful parenting.

But Lou said, brow raised, "No, baby. Of course not. Plus, you had a bath. Thank God for that." There was a tinge of playful mockery in his voice. "Kidding. I actually don't mind. I love taking care of you." Just like your parents should've, Lou wanted to add, but he decided against it.

Aaron forced a laugh and watched as Lou hunkered down again and continued lathering the sunscreen. "You seem like a cool guy." Lou didn't react save for a hint of a smile. Aaron continued, "You must've been one of these super cool and popular kids back in school."

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Lou looked at Aaron. "I don't wanna brag, but yeah, I was. And I like to think that I still am."

Aaron hummed. His purpose was to evaluate how gullible Lou was. "Too bad you can't be cool anymore. All you can be is my servant, if you think about it." The words tasted bitter in his mouth. Too weirdly pretentious. "I mean, you can't go out and have fun. Because you have to look after me all the time."

The arch to Lou's brown brow seemed both challenging and knowing. "Really?" He leant forwards, pressing a palm flat on the table beside Aaron, the edge of his lip tugging upwards. "I think I can be cool while taking care of you, don't you?"

Aaron didn't want to trigger Lou, so he quickly said, "I do. I was joking. You're the coolest," and leant in for a brief deceitful hug. When he lifted his chin over Lou's shoulder, he noticed Mommy passing by the room—but slowly enough for him to catch her expression: she looked at them, frowned, then forcefully smiled again.

Lou chuckled at Aaron's response. Almost instinctively, he reached his palm out and was about to clap Aaron hard on the back. But then he stopped. Frowned. Mused. Then he quickly swapped the clap with a gentle stroke.

Lou left to change into trunks of his own, then went back to his baby and carried him outside, to the back yard. Much to Aaron's pleasure, it was circled all around with the iron fencing exactly like the front yard, except that a large rectangular pool occupied the middle and a couple of chairs and a small table lined the edges.

Leo was there, strolling around the pool, his feet lined at the very edge as he easily balanced his way along. Aaron's heart dropped when Leo wavered a little, his upper body leaning towards the vast space of water as his feet tumbled, and then after a short battle for balance, he crashed entirely into the pool. The water cracked around his body and droplets sprinkled everywhere.

For a second, Aaron's body took position with tense fear: his shoulders stiffened, his grey eyes widened and his heart leapt out of his chest, crashing against his ribs. Surely Leo couldn't swim. Surely he'd drown now.

But then to Aaron's surprise, Leo's head broke from beneath the clear water, droplets splashing around as he skillfully resurfaced. The dampness brought to his light hair a darker shade as it lay against his forehead, but that was until Leo brought his hand up and flicked the obscuring strands away from his eyes. His eyes were revealed, and the water around him bowed in shame at their outshining vibrancy, jealous that their blueness was a natural bliss while all it did was reflect the color of the sky.

Leo swam closer until he was floating by the edge beside Lou and Aaron. "Come swim, Aar," he said, stretching his arm out towards Aaron. But Aaron didn't respond. He stared at his lap. "Aar?"