31 Days of December

December 31st

"Is that my hoodie?" Ethan asked when I answered his FaceTime.

"Well, hello to you too," I said as I munched on a slice of pizza. I looked over at the five demons I was babysitting to ensure they were eating. My aunt set out applesauce and veggies for the kids to eat. Like they would willingly. I considered it an accomplishment when I got all of them to eat a slice of pizza. "It was the first thing I grabbed, and I do believe that you were the one that gave it to me."

"It looks good on you."

"Suck up," I said. The kids were starting to get antsy, so I let them go to the basement to play. It was five kids vs. me. As long as there wasn't any fighting, I considered it a win. "Shouldn't you be bonding with your family?"

"I'm hiding at the moment. Liam's family is coming over soon, and I don't want to face his younger sister. She has the biggest crush on me, and I think everyone, except Liam, is waiting for us to get together."

"What's so bad about that?"

"She is like my little sister and is only a high school senior. Also, I have my eyes on another girl," Ethan said with a grin.

I rolled my eyes before saying, "So you are just going to hide all of your New Year's Eve?" I started cleaning up the kids' mess. If they had food left on their plate, I left it because they often come back to eat it later.

"Liam and Elizabeth will come and join me at some point." Just as Ethan said, Liam burst into the room in which Ethan was hiding. He didn't notice Ethan was FaceTiming me. I also saw Elizabeth following behind Liam.

"Dude, my sister wouldn't shut up about you the whole way here. She went on and on about wanting you to kiss her when the ball dropped at midnight. I tried to tell her about...," Liam paused when he saw Ethan was FaceTiming me. "Oh hey, Hailey."

"Liam, my love, I haven't talked to you in a while. Hey, Elizabeth.," I said with a smile.

He laughed, "I know, but something tells me that you were a little busy talking to a certain someone."

"Um, can we talk about how you called Liam, my love?" Ethan asked, butting into the conversation. Rude much?

"Don't worry about it," Liam said. It was an inside joke that started a few weeks ago when Liam accidentally called me instead of Elizabeth. "You are currently number one in Hailey's heart."

Suddenly, I heard one of the kids crying, so I said, "I have to go." I hung up without an explanation. I went downstairs to see one of the boys putting on his coat and shoes. "What are you doing, Buddy?"

"I'm walking home," He said through his cries. A fun fact about this was he was only five years old. Another fun fact was he lived in another state, so that was a long walk home. Also, his parents wouldn't like me if I let him walk home.

"Why are you walking home?"

"Because they are being mean to me," He pouted.

I sighed, "How about we go upstairs and watch TV for a little bit? I'll talk to your parents if you want to go home after that." He nodded, and we went upstairs. I turned on Disney Junior for him. He didn't even last five minutes before going back downstairs to the other kids. I followed after him.

When I got downstairs, I plopped down on a bean bag chair. The older three kids were taking turns playing Minecraft on the Xbox. The younger two were playing some weird version of house. I didn't understand it. With the kids content, I pulled out my phone to see Ethan trying to FaceTime me again.

"Hey," I said as I answered.

"What happened?" Ethan asked. He was clearly panicking. "Are you okay?"

I laughed, "I'm perfectly fine. I had a minor babysitting crisis to deal with. It is taken care of for now."