10. THE BABYSITTER

I scarfed down cornflakes in my boring empty kitchen. My heart was pounding like crazy. I couldn't wait to get over to Timothy's house. Even though it looked dreadful and Timothy himself was a handful, I was dying to eat some more great meat tonight and tomorrow!

I grabbed the bag I left in the hallway.

"Where the hell are you going?" My dad asked, slurring his words. He was drunk as usual.

"Uh.. a friend's."

"Did you ask?"

"I thought you were sleeping."

"So? Never stopped you before." My dad's eyes were glazed over, cold, harsh. There was no love in his look. I tensed up.

"I'm sorry. Can I stay with a friend this weekend?" I tried to stop my voice from trembling. I hated when I sounded like this. Like a child.. Like back in the day.

Dad curled his lip. Then he scoffed. "Sure. Leave." He waved me away. "You all do."

Dad shuffled back up the stairs. I felt bad cause for a moment he seemed genuinely hurt. I considered staying. But then I reminded myself that staying with him when he was like this had never helped him.. or me.

I rushed out the door.

✪

I pulled up to the sunny, lively neighborhood. Just being here calmed me down and helped me forget my rocky start to the day.

I got out of the car and rang the doorbell. It was cold out so I hoped they'd open up quick.

"Tim? Get the door, will ya?" I heard Joe's voice from inside the house.

After a minute of waiting I rang again. I heard someone walk down the stairs.

Another thirty seconds later Timothy opened the door.

I bit my lip so my mouth wouldn't drop.

Maybe what he was wearing wasn't that spectacular... if he'd been a girl! It shocks me every time and somehow manages to piss me off.

Timothy sleepily rubbed his eyes as he adjusted to the bright daylight. He wore black shorts, bright yellow socks and a big bright yellow shirt with a broken heart on it.

I couldn't help but stare at his legs. They were honestly.. killer. They were soft-looking and thin but still had really nice shape to them. Goddamn, it was even worse than when he wore those fucking skinny jeans!

"Josh?"

I remembered to look at his face. "What?!" I snapped.

"Are you sick or something? Your whole face is red.."

Saying that didn't exactly help.

"None of your business, freak." I grumbled as I went inside.

When I was turned away from him I tried to collect myself. I took a few breaths and thought of how ugly the interior was instead of how stunning his legs were.

Timothy yawned. Guess he just got out of bed. "What are you doing here?" He asked.

Joe came down the stairs just that moment. "Josh is staying over this weekend. He needed a place to crash and I thought it'd be good company for you. Since I'm going on that fishing trip I told you about."

"But.. you said I'd be alone." Timothy looked seriously disappointed.

"Yes, well. Now you won't have to be!" Joe chuckled nervously.

Timothy crossed his arms. "I'm old enough to be home alone. I don't need a babysitter!"

He was no fool.

"Think of him as a friend. Just here to help."

"Help with what?"

"With whatever! Look, I gotta go." Joe pulled me aside. "Make sure he eats, don't lose sight of him especially if he gets sad, his pills are on the piano, he takes one every day, if he won't eat meat, a salad is fine, uh... Did I forget something?"

"Yes! Your trip! It'll be fine! Goodbye, Joe!" I practically pushed him out the door.

"My number's on the piano! Call me if anything happens! I'll call every hour-"

"Don't! Have fun! Bye!" I waved. I looked behind me and Timothy was still sulking. "Come say goodbye." I commanded.

Timothy sighed and joined me in the door opening. He waved as his dad drove off. I took this moment to smell him again. Today he smelled more powdery. Like an old doll.. Interesting.

Timothy went back inside. "I'm going back to bed."

"No, you're not." This was gonna be fun. One whole weekend of ordering someone around. And I even got free meat with it!

"First you're gonna take your pill, then eat some breakfast.. and then we'll figure out the rest."

"I'm not a kid. I can-"

"It's not about what you can. It's about what I want. For the rest of this weekend." I grinned.

"And what if I don't listen?"

"Well, you said it yourself, I'm a strong, football-playing, meat-loving guy." I got inch to inch with him. "I could always use force." I smirked.

"I never said strong."

"You thought it, though."

Timothy gave in walked into the kitchen.

He sat down at the island table and went on his phone.

"Texting Fangs again? Seriously, you saw him yesterday."

I grabbed a box of cereal.

"I don't eat that."

"Not my problem. I could always shove it down your throat. Remember the muesli bar?"

Timothy went to the fridge. He rummaged through and held up a cup of yogurt. "How about this instead?"

I rolled my eyes. "What, need to stay in shape for your little boyfriend? Fine. Whatever." I made my cereal and sat across Timothy.

He was so incredibly irritating. All he was doing was texting that Australian idiot. What about me? The whole point of this weekend was that I'd get to order him around. Not watch him have fun with someone else in front of my face!

"Give me that."

Timothy looked at me like I was crazy.

"I'm serious. This is a weekend of good old fashioned fun. No phones. Give that here."

"Why are you doing this? Do you like torturing me?"

I snatched the phone from his hand. Timothy didn't even fight. He honestly looked exhausted. Not a morning person, I gathered.

He sighed and laid his head on the table.

"Take your pill and eat. I'm not telling you again."

Timothy slowly shuffled over to the piano and took one pill from the jar. I made sure to watch him swallow. He joined me at the table and obediently ate his breakfast. He looked so miserable. You'd think he was eating poison.

My cereal was good. Very sugary, nice full milk. Good stuff.

"You must feel like shit after yesterday. That was one hell of a high."

Timothy only shortly looked up into my eyes before looking at the table.

"Was that your first time smoking weed?" I asked.

Timothy paused in deliberation, then nodded.

"Because of Charlie, right? It was his idea?"

Timothy refused to answer. He just covered his face.

"He's not coming over this weekend, I can tell you that much."

"That's not fair."

"Oh, now you have something to say. Damn! Why is it only when talking about that guy that you finally speak up?!"

"Because I care about him, okay?" His voice was very soft.

"He seems to be the only thing you care about." I accused.

Timothy couldn't deny it. He just stared at the table.

"Unbelievable." I threw our dishes in the sink and saw Timothy leave from the corner of my eye.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"It's the weekend and I'm exhausted."

"We have things to do today." I insisted.

"What things?"

"There's a match on TV. We're gonna catch it. I'm supposed to keep and eye on you so you're gonna have to watch too."

With slumped shoulders Timothy went to the living room and dropped down on the couch. He pulled his knees close to him. I sat next to him and turned on the TV.

I wasn't watching the game that much even though I loved football more than anything. I found myself observing Timothy. How blankly he watched the screen. I noticed and loved how soft his hair looked without all the hair spray. How gentle his eyes were without the war-paint.

That strange urge to touch him took over again. And where I normally had to worry about someone seeing me now I knew it was just us here and Timothy wouldn't tell a soul.

...And if he got any ideas I could always threaten his life, so..

I plopped my hand on his head. Timothy watched me with big eyes of surprise.

I didn't say anything. I just kept my eyes on the game and eventually so did Timothy. I ran my fingers through his hair, now that I could. Very, very soft indeed.

I glanced to my side and found T was staring out the window.

"You're not watching." I noted.

"I don't get it. What's so fun about a bunch of guys running after a ball?"

"Well, that sounds exactly like the kind of thing you'd enjoy. Those are some big, tough guys. Right up your alley."

Timothy shook his head.

"What? Not your type?"

"Not really." Timothy leaned on his elbow.

"Right, you like Mr. Twiggy. How could you date such an emasculated dude? Might as well date a girl at that point."

Timothy lay on his back and peered up at me. "Right. Girls. Do you have a girlfriend?"

He wasn't judgmental or mocking in any way. He seemed sort of interested.

"Kind of."

"Who?"

"Jennifer, who else? She totally wants me."

"But you don't want her?"

"Yes, I do. Who else could I want? She's hot as fuck, she's smart-"

"So how come she isn't your girlfriend?"

"Because..." I was racking my brain trying to think of a good reason. I hadn't called her back since Friday and I didn't want to. What the fuck was going on?

"Do you like someone else?" Timothy smirked.

"Shut up!" I smacked his feet. "No. No, I like Jennifer. No one else."

"Then call her."

"You don't tell me what to do, freak." I stared at the TV screen. "I'm watching you all weekend so I can't hang out now anyway."

"I'll be good. You can leave for a few hours."

"Oh, so that's what this is about. You're just trying to get me out of the house so you can be with that skeleton." Of course he wouldn't really be interested in my love life. That sneaky fuck.

"Nice try but I'm staying. And it seems you need to be disciplined a bit more, so prepare for this weekend to be hell."

Timothy sighed and closed his eyes. "This is so unfair.." He whined.

"Not my problem." I smirked. I loved dominating him. It was easy and it showed me how powerful I was. I shook my head in awe of myself and began thinking of ways to torture him enough to piss him off but not enough to make him try to kill himself or whatever.

The doorbell surprised us both. Timothy went to get up but I pushed him back down and went to the door. I was sure it'd be Fangs. I was ready to tell him to get lost.

When I opened the door it was indeed Charlie but he wasn't alone. The red head emo girl was there now too. Her eyes were deep brown and her skin, of course, white as a dead body. She looked surprised to see me. Fangs just looked pissed.

"Hey.. What are you doing here?" The girl asked.

"I'm baby-sitting." I glanced at Fangs who rolled his eyes.

"Well, we were supposed to go to the skate park today." The girl said.

"Too bad. That's not happening. T is not supposed to leave the house."

"T? Dude-" Fangs stepped forward, ready for some sort of attack but Scarlet stopped him.

"Are you really gonna spend all weekend cooped up inside with him? I doubt that's what Joe would want."

"He said I couldn't let him out of my sight."

"Then come with us." The red head shrugged.

"Allie-" Charlie protested.

"Be quiet." She sighed. She was like a tired mom that had been bugged by her annoying kid all day.

I looked back into the house. What I wanted was to be alone with Timothy, know more about him. I realized that the way I felt about him was kind of like.... A scientist discovering a new specimen. He was something to investigate, to pass the time. But.. if I really wanted to investigate him I'd have to see him alone with his friends. In his natural habitat, if you will. I wasn't going to get a chance like this again.

"Fine." I agreed.

I went into the living room to call T but he was gone. "..What?"

"I'm ready." He walked down the stairs, fully dressed, and darted out the door.

"How the...?" I followed after him. "How did you.."

Immediately he was in Charlie's arms sucking his face off.

I took a deep breath and made sure not to punch the wall.