The Babysitter

Eighth Grade

Chapter 10: (Aubrey's POV)- Eighth Grade

After he gave me that answer, things got awkward, really awkward. So as expected, we disbanded the game. 

"Kids, I'm home!" Catherine's voice brought us out of our miserable silence. 

I looked up at Xavier in confusion only to see the same expression gracing his face. We got off the bed and went downstairs, him following me closely. "Mom, you're home early," Xavier stated in confusion. 

"My shift happened to end early today, Natalie's is delayed," she informed me. Natalie being my mother. So this meant I'd be home alone, again. 

"Oh," I spoke dumbfounded. 

"I told her I'd take care of you, hence, you'll be having dinner with us and if necessary, you can stay the night. My words, not hers. Do not attack your mother." She gave me a pointed look. 

I looked down, slightly embarrassed but not so much since every teenager does that. 

"Where were you two? You guys weren't down here when I came in," she glanced at Xavier before getting back and swiftly making dinner. 

"We were up in my room. We cleaned my desk," Xaver informed his mom. 

"Finally! I've been trying to get him to clean that for ages." She let out an exasperated sigh. 

I bit back a laugh and shifted my gaze to him while raising my eyebrows in amusement. He rolled his eyes at me, smiling right after. 

"So, what do we get for dinner?" he asked his mom as he sat down on the barstool, and patted the one beside his, gesturing for me to take a seat beside him. 

"Don't expect much kids, I'm not a chef. Good old spaghetti." She gave us a cheesy smile. "You two can go and watch something on TV if you'd like," she suggested. 

Before I knew what was happening, Xavier's hand grabbed mine, pulling me into the living room with him. 

"What are we watching?" I sighed while plopping down on the couch beside him. "Spongebob! Let's watch Spongebob! Please?" I pleaded at seeing it on TV. I heard Catherine laughing from the kitchen. "Are you judging me, Mrs. Parker?" I screamed out. 

She laughed before replying, "It's Catherine to you, young lady. And no, absolutely not." She laughed again. 

I turned to see Xavier looking utterly amused before shrugging and playing Spongebob anyway. I haven't seen SpongeBob in so long and watching it was truly making me feel like a kid again. 

Nostalgia. That's the only word to describe it. At least in my mental vocabulary. After a few episodes and some small talk between Xavier and me, his mom called us over for dinner. 

We were sitting and eating in a comfortable silence until Catherine broke it. "Aubrey," she began, catching my attention. "Thank you for doing this. I really cannot begin to tell you how glad I am that you took the job. You're a good influence on him. Teach him something. Something other than getting in trouble." she gave him a pointed look. 

I smiled at her before saying what I wanted to last night but couldn't. "Mrs. P- Catherine," I started, correcting myself. "I would like to do this job for free," I confessed. Hanging out with Xavier is fun, a lot more than I expected, I was dreading this but he's a nice guy and I want to be able to help Catherine without charging her money for it. 

"Oh dear, no! I should have seen this coming. I can't make you do that," she tried to explain to me. 

"But you're not. I'm doing this myself. Please? I want to help without making you pay me for this. It's not like I do anything here. We just hang out like friends." I shrugged, ignoring the way Xavier stiffened beside me.