Babysat by One Direction

Gone Again

"Octavia pause the movie please!" I reach for the remote and pause my all time favorite chick flick, P.S. I Love You. My mom and I watch it when she's home, which isn't often. She comes back in with two plates balanced on her arms with two cups in her hands. She was a waitress when she was 16, just like me now.

"Alright, here are your three slices of Hawaiian pizza and your coca cola." (I would say coke but I don't want people to think I'm a druggie or something like that.) "Now on with the movie!"

I laugh at her and realize where I get all of my weird dorkiness. I resume the movie and we sit staring intently at the screen, even though we know the whole movie by heart. I groan annoyance when the door bell ring but I run to the door through our large front entrance anyway.

When I open the door my best friend Erica rushes past me and drops her bags at the base of our grand staircase on her way to the living room. P.S. I Love You is also one of her favorite movies. I run after her and sit in my spot. In my haste to get back to the movie I tripped over a chair. So my mother made me go put it back.

"Come on! The movie is almost done! Don't make me miss the end." She gives me that look that's half glare and half 'do what I say so I don't have to yell at you in front of your friend'. So I stand back up and stomp over to the chair and prop it back up.

After twenty more minutes the movie ends and we start cleaning up. Erica and I put away the extra food while my mother washes dishes.

"So Octavia I have to go on another business trip tomorrow. The problem is I'll be gone for two months soIgotyouababysitter." I look at her confused for a moment and once she repeats herself my jaw hangs slightly.

"A BABYSITTER?! That's so not cool mother! I've stayed home by myself before why do I need a babysitter?!" She sighs and turns to me. "I don't want you staying here by yourself for two months. I've never been gone this long before. I would feel more comfortable with someone watching you." I huff but don't argue because I know I'll never win.

We'll be upstairs. Goodnight mother." I turn and walk out of the kitchen into the front entrance and up the stairs. I pick up Erica's bag on my way. I hear our feet quietly stepping up the marble stairs to the third level. I walk down the hall to my mint green and gray room.

Once I hear the door shut I drop her bag and faceplant onto my bed. "Uuuuugggggghhhhhhhh." Erica faceplant beside me but she's laughing into the comforter. "This is not funny! She thinks I'm a two year old instead of a sixteen year old. Not that she can tell the difference because the last time she was here for more than a week was when I was two."

"It won't be that bad." When she bursts into laughter my reassured feeling vanishes. "I'm sorry! This is just too funny! I mean first she comes back for one night just to tell you she's leaving again, that's not funny though, but the part where you have to be babysat is hysterical!" Her quiet laughter fills the room and soon my loud laughter mixes in the air.

"Oh my god. I guess I'll just have to go with it." Erica nods and goes over to her bag to get her sweatpants and a t shirt on for bed. Of course, we won't actually go to sleep until like two in the morning, but whatever. I also change and we brush our teeth.

She plugs her phone into the dock and turns up the volume when I Miss You by Blink 182 comes on. We both dance around like fools for a while to the random songs that come on from Spotify.

____________________________________________

I woke up to sunshine barely peeking through my blinds...right onto my face. Sunlight has deadly accuracy. I sit up and stretch, then I walk over to my en suite and get ready. I walk back out and see that Erica is just getting up. In my closet I find a pair of high waisted black shorts and a floral crop top. Shoes? Who needs shoes? I'm staying inside anyway.

Erica meets me downstairs in the kitchen a few minutes later wearing white washed jean shorts and a black t shirt with bright tribal patterns on it.

We eat in silence without my mother because she was at the store buying food to make sure my babysitter and I have enough to eat for two months, but knowing how much I eat it will probably all be gone in two weeks.

As I wash our dishes Erica and I talk about what we think my babysitter will be like.

"I bet it'll be some old lady with ten cats and five grandchildren that never come to see her." She laughs at my image of the babysitter and thinks about what she will be like. "What if it's a guy?! Like a really cute guy! Oooh." I shake my head a little and smile. My mother would never let a guy be my babysitter for two months.

I wish but no. She wouldn't. Would she?

Picture of Octavia above (phone, ipad, whatever.) Or it should appear as a sidebar on a computer. If not comment and if you really want to see it I can idk message you or something?