One Hot Summer

Chapter 5: Three Under Five

Babysitting. That's what it had come down to for Cami and Melissa.

They sat on the couch of Elaine and Brooke's summer home in the flats of Beverly Hills. Elaine and Brooke were  romantic partners and friends of Mrs. Martinez. Mrs. Martinez and Brooke were sorority sisters at University of Arizona in Tucson where Mrs. Martinez is from.

Brooke and Elaine came to Beverly Hills every summer to escape the Arizona heat. They had three children under five, who are biologically Elaine's, but adopted by Brooke.

"We left our cell phone numbers on the counter," Elaine said.

"We have your numbers saved in our cell phones," Melissa reminded her.

"Oh, that's right. You kids and your technology."

"We should be home no later than midnight," Brooke said. "The kids start to get tired by eight, but we're not strict with bedtimes. They like watching YouTube in their beds and they usually fall asleep to it."

"Got it," Cami said. Cami's mom wasn't all in on the babysitting job at first, mostly because it involved Melissa, who she insisted was a bad influence. But Mr. Clark convinced her it would be a good thing for Cami, it would teach her responsibility and blah, blah, blah. Either way, so far, Melissa and Cami's plan was a go.

Cami lied and told her parents that she and Melissa were sleeping at Elaine and Brooke's overnight while they were away on a weekend trip, but the truth was, the two girls had plans to go out after babysitting and were going to sleep at Melissa's. Mr. and Mrs. Martinez were already back to not caring, especially since Melissa agreed to get a summer job. Brett was working at Mr. Martinez's office, doing receptionist work like filing, answering phones, and helping patients sign in. He wasn't complaining about his summer job, especially with all of the Playmates coming in and out of the office on a daily. He never realized what a baller his dad was. In fact, he was so impressed by his father's line of work, he decided he wanted to pursue a career in the medical field as well.

Elaine and Brooke left for the night, Melissa and Cami were now faced with the three children alone. The oldest was Emily, she was four. The twin boys, Matthew and Aaron, were two. They sat in front of the TV, mesmerized by the talking cartoon pig on the screen. Melissa and Cami were delighted to see how well behaved the three kids were, it was too good to be true.

Within an hour of Elaine and Brooke departing for the evening, the home looked like a tornado had zipped through it—toys scattered all over the ground, food smeared on the Z Gallery furniture, and screaming echoed through the halls.

"I don't think kids are for me," Cami said, her shoulders up to her ears and mashed banana stuck in her hair.

"Ditto," Melissa agreed. Her eyes widened in terror as she looked around her; Matthew and Aaron were jumping on the couch and Emily was sitting between them, crying about nothing.

"What do we do?" Cami asked Melissa and looked at her. "The place is a mess."

Melissa observed the scene in front of her and shook her head.

"I have no clue. I'd say we should call a babysitter, but we are the babysitters."

"Fuck."

Then Cami had an idea, "What if we bribe them with candy?"

"Jesus Christ. That's a terrible idea. Let's do it."

"Who wants ice cream?"

The kids all shouted "me" in excitement and jumped off the couch. Suddenly all of Melissa's and Cami's problems were fixed—or so they thought.