Hello hello hello!
Introducing more side characters because I don't know how to stop making minor characters with huge, detailed, deep backstories!
I'm going to try and make a Valentine's chapter in (let me check the date) six days! And I have like three ideas! So help in the reviews would be greatly appreciated!
Speaking of reviews…
Sadfox729: Thank you, I shall try not to die. Also, loving your stories so far!
Also, happy 2,035 views! Thank you guys so much for the amazing support on this story!
Enjoy!
The ACTUAL Chapter 19
Ruby Gets A Babysitting Job
Ruby clicked on the next video in her playlist and yawned. It was the first day of school after winter break and she was tired. Ruby had gotten used to staying up all night and waking up in the afternoon, and the adjustment to waking up at 7:00 - or earlier - was not a very fun adjustment.
Ruby snuggled in further into her many, many animal pillows and held her phone up. It was some random YouTube playlist she'd found of goats screaming, perfect for a relaxing evening after an exhausting day of school.
"RUBYYYY! COME DOWNSTAIRS FOR A SEC, I'VE GOT A FAVOUR TO ASK!"
Ruby heard her mother's yell and groaned. There goes my afternoon of screaming goats. It was 5:15...maybe her mom wanted her to clean something for her? Or maybe make dinner? Ruby could make a mean box macaroni and cheese.
Ruby disconnected her headphones and placed her phone face down on her blanket. She jumped up off the bed and ran downstairs to her mother, who was busy... cleaning underneath the oven with a toothbrush? Ruby had noticed her mother cleaning things that didn't need to be cleaned a lot more recently, which was odd, because her mother hated cleaning. Ruby figured it was just some weird pregnancy thing.
"Ruby! Hi! So, about that favour…I want you to babysit." Her mother said hesitantly.
Ruby shrugged. That wasn't a very big deal. She'd babysat for Rylie lots of times, she was basically a pro. Her mom probably just wanted to go for a drive or something, and needed her to take care of Rylie for a bit. Then it struck her.
"Wait, isn't Rylie at daycare right now? Why do you want me to babysit her?" Ruby asked. Her mother looked slightly more nervous now.
"You know Adam, my co-worker at the office?" Her mother asked. Ruby nodded. Her mom worked as a secretary at a journalist office for the newspaper. Adam Carter had a desk right beside the secretary office, and they became good friends.
"Well, he called me a couple days ago, and he was talking about how he and his husband, Trent, never get a chance to go out on a date because they have six kids. Well, one of them is in college now, but still, five kids is a lot. Now, I was saying to him how good you are with Rylie, and then Adam thought that maybe you could…"
Ruby could see where this was going.
"But Moooom, I don't wanna babysit some random kids I don't know!" Ruby whined.
"C'mon, please? It's only from 5:30 to 8:30. And Adam really wanted you to do it because he has three daughters and they don't have a mom and he wants some female influence on them. And he said he'd pay you sixty dollars-"
"Sixty dollars?" Ruby's ears pricked up at that. That was a lot of money. And it could go with her night guard earnings...she'd have an awful lot of money then…
"Fine." Ruby grumbled. Her mother smiled and gave her a hug.
"Thank you so much, Ruby. Now, you'd better get going. And wear some deodorant, you-"
"Moooom." Ruby grumbled. "I get it."
Ruby went upstairs to go get ready for the job.
•••
The wind blew her hair out of her face, her striped blue-and-orange scarf flowing behind her. Ruby focused all her energy on pedaling with her black and white Vams - she had to change out of her boots for riding her bike. Ruby adjusted the chin buckle a bit higher, so her black spiked helmet didn't give her too much of a choking vibe. Ruby closed her eyes for a split second and smiled. Riding her new bike was pure bliss.
Ruby turned onto Pintail Road. Mom said it was to the left, 6120, and a big blue house. She scanned the houses. A big fancy gray mansion, an even bigger and fancier red mansion, and the biggest and fanciest white mansion Ruby had ever seen, with balconies and a rooftop pool.
Then the houses started to look more normal, but still quite large. A sage-green house with an impressive herb garden. A creamy butter-yellow house with an unkept lawn, giving off a sort of cottage-core aesthetic, with white roses climbing the trellis and a big thick oak tree with branches that looked like they were trying to grasp the sky in their gnarled fingers. A white house with green trim that had an old man mowing the oddly bright green lawn.
Then, finally, a big blue house with white accents came into view. It was up on a hill, with a winding cobblestone driveway and pine trees surrounding it. There was, in fact, a convenient bike rack by the mailbox across the street, which Ruby promptly parked at locked her bike in.
Ruby jogged up the high driveway, which felt increasingly steeper as she walked. How do people live with these?! She wondered. Finally she reached the door, a bright, sunny shade of Robin's egg blue. She walked up the ramp and pressed the doorbell, and a cheerful ring echoed through the house. Ruby paused, and waited for someone to answer the door. She craned her neck to the side to peer through the brown picket fence.
What she spotted was a beautiful handcrafted playhouse made of painted wood, and a gorgeous yellow swing set. Wow, those look amazing! Ruby thought to herself in wonder.
Suddenly, there was a loud mrrrow.
Ruby looked around to try and spot the meower. She didn't see anything till she looked down and spotted a chonky orange tabby with luminous yellow eyes and pinprick black pupils. The cat had a bright red collar that looked chewed in some places, due to the scruffy look.
Ruby and the cat stared at each other for a minute in awkward silence, neither of them saying a word. Finally, the cat yawned and plopped down on the ground, tucking it's paws underneath it like a potato or a cat loaf.
Suddenly, she heard voices.
"I am a fon-cay, fon-cay lay-day!" Sang a little girl's voice. There was some thumping, and then vicious barking came from the house. Then the wailing of a baby, and an adult man's voice came, along with more thumping.
"Hazel, please don't get in the way! Lily, grab the dog! Why have none of you got the door yet?!"
Then the door swung open, and there was a face, flushed and sweaty, at the door. Ruby recognized Adam, with his flat-top and lime green glasses. His light brown eyes were striking against his dark skin and curly black hair.
"Hey, Ruby! Sorry for the chaos, the kids are a bit rambunctious today. Come on in, and I'll give you a few instructions."
Hesitantly, Ruby stepped inside. The fat tabby, seeing that the door was open, strutted inside.
There were multicoloured Lega pieces scattered across the floor. Dinosaurs and headless Barbys lay slumped next to each other. Moon Wars action figures were frozen in place, engaged in an epic lightsaber fight.
Adam noticed Ruby staring at the toys and blushed in embarrassment.
"I do apologize for the mess. I wish I could say the house isn't like this all the time, but unfortunately, it is."
"That's okay. My house is usually pretty messy too." Ruby replied. She could see some cute family photos in oak wood frames hanging on the wall. Most of them were Adam or Trent holding a baby, or posing with a small toddler.
Adam smiled at Ruby.
"Here, I've got to go help Trent for a sec. Why don't you take the time to explore and meet the kids?"
"Sure!" Ruby agreed. Adam strutted down the hall, leaving Ruby alone with the cat.
Not for long, however. Because soon after, a small girl with honey-coloured skin and walnut-brown hair came dancing into the room. She was wearing a white shirt with a cat wearing sunglasses displayed on it. She had a denim jean skirt on with gray leggings dotted with tiny glossy golden crowns, just like the Burger Queen cardboard crown on her head.
But the most odd accessory on her, was the two orange snakes draped around her neck. They were very pretty snakes. One was white with an amber diamond on its back, the other was a carrot-orange with scarlet patches on its back. The white one flicked it's tongue out at Ruby curiously.
The girl spun around, singing merrily.
"I am a fon-cay, fon-cay lay-day! With my fon-cay, fon-cay boa sneklace! Fon-cay, fancy, fon-cay, fancy!"
"Um. Hi!" Ruby said. The little girl stopped and walked up to her with her hands on her hips.
"Who 'r you?" She asked suspiciously. Ruby smiled.
"I'm your babysitter."
The girl peered at her with her topaz eyes. She frowned.
"Okaaaay. Well, I'm Hazel." Hazel informed her. Ruby smiled at her and stuck out her hand.
"Hi, Hazel. What are your snake's names?"
Hazel seemed to debate it, but finally decided Ruby was worthy of the knowledge. She shook Ruby's hand and pointed to the white snake.
"This one's Mozzarella, or Ella. An' this orange one's Feldspar. They're both girls. And they're married, but Papa says we can't make 'em have baby snakes cos they'd make waaaay too many."
Hazel sure talks a lot. Ruby noted, but kept an open mind.
"I'm this many years old." Hazel said, holding out her palm with all five fingers outstretched. Ruby smiled.
"Wow, you're pretty old! I'm sixteen." Ruby said. Hazel's golden eyes opened wide in astonishment.
"Wooooooah! You'd need both your hands plus your foot and your toe!" Hazel counted, using her fingers and feet. Ruby laughed and nodded.
"Wheeeeeeee!"
Ruby turned her attention to the cheering voice and the patter of small feet. She spotted a small boy with the same colour skin, hair, and eyes as Hazel, and a tall girl with straight shiny black hair and warm ivory skin. Her bright deep blue eyes sparkled and shone behind her turquoise-framed glasses as she pushed her younger brother in his lightning-yellow wheelchair at quick lightning-fast speeds.
Suddenly, the girl abruptly halted when she spotted Ruby. With a whimper, she let go of the handlebars and ran back down the hallway. After a short moment, Ruby could hear whispering and then saw the young girl's face peering out from behind the corner, observing.
"Lucas!" Hazel cheered, running over to her brother. Lucas grinned, revealing a missing bottom front tooth.
"Hi Hazel!" He turned his gaze over to Ruby, and then back to Hazel. "Who's that?"
"She's our babysitter." Hazel whisper-yelled behind her hand, as if Ruby couldn't hear her from two feet away. Lucas's eyes grew wide in wonder.
"B-but we're not babies…" he mused, his voice wobbly. Hazel shook her head.
"No, we're not. But I think that Lily will have a plan." At that, both her and Lucas burst into giggles. Ruby was unsure whether to laugh with them or be nervous, or be maybe a little creeped out.
Suddenly, Ruby heard two sets of heavy footsteps, most likely Adam and Trent. Her theory was confirmed when she heard a male voice say,
"Almond, why are you hiding? It's just Ruby. You too, Lily, come say hi. Adam, can you show Ruby where Birch's room is?"
A big brown dog shot down the hallway, barking the whole way. It screeched to a halt when it spotted Ruby, and practically tackled her with licks.
Trent ran over to drag the big dog off of her. "Back, Wet! Back!" He yelled at the dog.
Ruby managed to sit up, which caused the dog to slide off of her. The dog barked at his master, Trent.
Hazel ran up to the dog and gave him a big hug.
"Good boy, Wet! Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?"
"The dog's name is Wet?!" Ruby asked incredulously. Wet gave a jovial bark, as if to confirm it.
Hazel nodded. "Yup. We call him Wet 'cos when we found him in our backyard, he was wet. An' then we tried to find the owners, but nobody claimed him, so Daddy said we could keep him!"
Trent grinned. "Yup. And I think he's adjusted pretty well!"
There was a whimpering sound, and then the girl with glasses whom Ruby had seen pushing Lucas, crept out from behind the corner. She was clutching a small purple unicorn stuffie. Trent turned to her and smiled.
"This is Almond. She's seven." Then, in a whispering voice meant only for Ruby, "She's very shy. Almond has been carrying that unicorn with her her whole life, so please do not try and take it away from her."
Ruby nodded. The purple unicorn stuffie was definitely not a problem. And she'd dealt with shy kids before. You just had to be very, very patient.
Unfortunately, Ruby was very much not the patient type.
"And this is Lucas. He and Hazel are twins, they are both five going on six. He needs a wheelchair, and he can move on his own a bit, but he prefers being pushed." Trent informed her. Ruby nodded. Can do.
The silence was broken by a loud meow, and Trent scooped the fat orange tabby into his arms. The cat screeched in protest and tried to wiggle out, but Trent held it tight.
"This is Hydrangea. He's five years old and thinks that makes him the boss of this house. We got him from my parents when their cat had him, he was the only one in his litter of three who survived, unfortunately."
"He's very grumpy. He hates people, especially strangers." A young girl with coffee-coloured skin and gorgeous black multicoloured beaded hair stepped out from the hallway. She was wearing a soft fleece red sweater underneath a blue jean overall skirt and black leggings with red stripes on them. On her feet, she was wearing white light-up sneakers and pale turquoise socks with cute bunny ears on the top.
Trent smiled. "Ah, my oldest-"
"I am not the oldest. Have you forgotten about Oakley that quickly?" The girl snapped. Trent sighed and rubbed his forehead.
"I was going to say, my oldest daughter, Lily. She's nine years old." Trent finished.
"Turning ten in April." Lily muttered.
Ruby could cut the tension in the air with a knife. It was obvious that something was bothering Lily to make her this cold, and Ruby knew that she would have to get to the bottom of it eventually.
Hydrangea, with one last desperate yowl, leaped from Trent's clutches, leaving thin white scratch marks on his bare arms. Trent winced and touched them gingerly.
"The cat was Adam's idea. I am not a cat person." Ruby could hear him mutter under his breath.
Speaking of Adam, Ruby thought. She could hear Adam calling her from some room down the hall. Trent stuck his arm out to lead her down the hall.
As Ruby walked, she admired the cute personalized doors. A door split down the middle hamburger-way turquoise and yellow, with a wooden carving reading, Hazel and Lucas's Room.
Then a white door with posters of cats, dogs, birds, guinea pigs, and other pets were plastered onto the door with colourful washi tape. A wooden carving read Lily and Almond's Room.
Then a boring bathroom with a door decorated with goldfish wall stickers. A door that read Adam and Trent's Room. Underneath their names were Papa and Daddy written in hot pink Sharpy. Ruby smiled at the customized doors, it was a really good idea.
Finally, she reached the end of the hallway. It had a single door painted lime green with photos of cars and baby animals, with a wooden Birch's Room written on it. The door was slightly ajar, so she pushed it open.
Ruby had to blink from the sudden burst of colours. The walls were painted a bright yellow with a gorgeous mural of planets and stars. There were stacks and stacks of fluffy stuffed animals in pastel colours on gorgeous shelves that also contained bright thick baby books for Birch. Adam was standing next to a beautifully crafted white crib with golden trim.
Adam grinned.
"Like it? Trent did it. He made the crib, these shelves, the playhouse, the wood nametags, the ramp for Lucas - everything. He's a carpenter. He's amazing with wood."
"Did he really do all that?" Ruby asked wondrously. Adam nodded. "Yes. He's a great dad to the kids." He smiled proudly. Ruby was amazed. How did he even do that? She wondered.
Adam beckoned for Ruby to come closer.
"Here, come see Birch. But be quiet, we finally got him asleep." He laughed.
Ruby crept closer, as silent as she could be. She peered into the crib.
An infant, swaddled in pale turquoise and baby blue blankets, lay there. He had pale skin and a few tufts of blonde hair on his mostly bald head. His eyes were closed and he had long, light brown eyelashes protruding from them. His cheeks were chubby, and his brown bear suit reminded Ruby of Freddy.
"He's so small," Ruby marvelled. "Like a little tiny person." She turned to Adam.
"How old is he?" She asked. He smiled.
"Six months. We adopted him when he was a newborn." Adam replied.
"So, for Birch, just try and keep the kids quiet and away from his room - I know it'll be hard to keep 'em quiet, but maybe take them out to the backyard or something. Bedtimes are 7:30 for Hazel and Lucas, they like a story before bed. Almond's bedtime is 8:30, and we let Lily read or draw on the couch in the living room until 9:30, but we should be back before then. We have three bathrooms, all with toilets, baths, and showers. We've bathed everyone and had dinner already, so you shouldn't have to worry about that, although the kids might want a small treat, which is fine, help yourself to anything in the cupboards or fridge. If Birchie wakes up, he likes to be held and rocked. Diapers are over on the side there, and he's got baby formula in the fridge. We let Hydrangea out during the day, but just keep him in for now. Wet's had his walk already, so he should be fine. The snakes and the fish don't need anything, the kids will take care of them. Emergency numbers are by the phone, as well as their grandparent's numbers. We know the neighbors well, and if you need anything, ask the ones across the street in the navy blue house. They have two kids, Buddy and Gracie, and the kids are pretty good friends with them. Any questions?"
Holy crap. I regret not taking notes.
"Er, no." Ruby stammered. She was surprised Adam wasn't gasping for breath like a fish out of water right then.
"Okay, well, we'll be on our way then!" He said jovially. He walked out of the room, simultaneously fiddling with his tie. Ruby took one last look and the snoozing Birch, then silently followed Adam out of Birch's room, quietly closing the door, but leaving a crack open just in case.
Trent was grabbing coat off the hook and Adam was pulling on his shiny black loafers. Hazel was sprawled on the carpet, playing with Ella and Feldspar. Lucas was petting Hydrangea, who was asleep on his lap. Almond was reading a big thick book about fairies on the couch. And Lily was in the corner, typing furiously on a silver laptop and petting Wet, who sat loyally at her side.
Trent grinned and wrapped his scarf around his neck.
"Well, we'll be off then!" He called. Almond looked up.
"N-now? B-b-but…" She stammered weakly. Trent walked over to his daughter and gave her a hug.
"It's okay, sweetie. Ruby's the babysitter-"
"BIG-KID-SITTER." Hazel yelled, her face stormy. Ruby spotted Lily smirking out of the corner of her eye.
"Sorry, Hazel. Ruby's the big-kid-sitter, and she's in charge. She'll protect all of you." Trent reassured her, hugging Almond. Almond nodded, not looking very satisfied.
Adam held the door open for his husband.
"Bye everyone! Have fun!" Adam called.
"Love you!" Trent added.
"Bye! Love you!" The kids chorused unhappily.
The second that Adam and Trent shut the door, every single child's face snapped towards Ruby. And the second the car had pulled out of the driveway, every child except for Lily, simultaneously began to cry.
•••
Noses wiped. Tears dried. Worries soothed. Ruby wiped her face. Phew. Glad it's over.
A crash sounded from the kitchen. Ruby rolled her eyes. What now? She sighed and trudged into the kitchen.
Porcelain, a bright shade of royal blue, was shattered in seven pieces on the floor, along with a Nature Hill granola bar. Hazel and Lucas were both looking up at Ruby with identical mournful golden eyes. From the corner, Lily was watching them with silent interest.
Ruby sighed again and rubbed her forehead.
"Alright, what happened."
"Well, I was racing around with Lucas-" Hazel began.
"Then we decided to spin around really fast-" Lucas butted in.
"And then Lily threw something in the air-"
"So then I tried to catch it-"
"But then he knocked over the bowl-"
"Alright, alright!" Ruby held up her hands for quiet. "Lucas, it was an accident that you knocked over the bowl, yes, but both you and Hazel shouldn't be racing around the kitchen. And Lily, same with you, don't be throwing things in the kitchen that could break something."
Hazel and Lucas nodded politely. "Yes, Ruby."
But Lily just stared.
Hazel leaned down, probably to help clean up the porcelain shards, but Ruby quickly stopped her by grabbing her hand before she could cut herself.
"Thanks, but I can clean it. Don't want you hurting yourself." Ruby told her, in a stern yet kind tone. Hazel shrugged.
"Okie dokie." She began skipping around in a circle. Ruby smiled at her energy.
Suddenly, an idea struck her. She quickly checked her watch. 6 already? But it was a good time for her plan.
She headed over to their big silver KitchenAid fridge and crouched down to open up the freezer. To her luck, she found a big carton of vanilla bean ice cream.
"Hey, Lily. Can you go get Almond? I have a treat for you guys." Ruby asked whilst grabbing a big shiny ice cream scoop. Lily rolled her eyes but obliged, tapping a few keys on her keyboard, closing the top and heading for the living room.
"Treat?" Hazel and Lucas's ears perked up at the word treat. They quickly flocked to the counter island. Hazel rested her chin on the granite countertop. Lucas strained in his wheelchair to see. Hazel gasped when she saw the carton of ice cream and the five matching bowls set down.
"ICE CREAM! Ice cream, ice cream, icy icy ice cream! Creamy creamy icy icy ICE CREAM!" Hazel sang, spinning around in circles. Lucas cheered in happiness and joined his sister, spinning his wheels as best he could.
Lily stepped back into the room, followed by a tentative Almond. She glanced around nervously and whimpered when she spotted Ruby. She clutched her purple unicorn tighter.
Ruby smiled gently at Almond.
"Hey, Almond! Do you want to help me make sundaes? You can choose your toppings."
Almond, to Ruby's surprise, actually started to walk slowly towards her, her gaze searching the different toppings - sprinkles, yogurt, glazed pitted cherries, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, chopped strawberries, blueberries.
Almond set her unicorn down far, far away from harm's reach on the couch, and selected the lavender bowl. She sprinkled a couple rainbow sprinkles on top, and Ruby watched as Almond's smile grew wider and wider with all of the toppings she put on. Sprinkles, blueberries, strawberries, and cherries.
"I'm done." Almond announced, holding up her bowl. Ruby nodded at the proficient amount of toppings.
"Okay. You can eat at the table. Who's next?"
Everyone's hands shot up.
•••
Ruby spooned the last scoop of cold Greek yogurt into Birch's little mouth. It wasn't ice cream, but it was close enough. Ruby sure hoped Birch wasn't lactose intolerant.
Hazel, who'd piled her bowl sky high with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and other sugary delights, was bouncing off the walls on a sugar high.
Lily, who'd barely touched her bowl of plain ice cream, tapped a couple keys and all of a sudden, loud electronic dance music blasted out of a pair of speakers in the living room. Ruby got the feeling this wasn't by accident.
"Wheeeeeeee!" Hazel latched onto Lucas's handlebars and spun him around. Lucas screeched with happiness and waved his hands in the air. Wet ran joyously into the room, thinking that it was some kind of party, and started to bark. Hydrangea, who was peacefully lapping water, didn't notice a thing.
"Hey!" Ruby yelled. Everyone ignored her. The music got louder. Hazel and Lucas spun faster. Birch began to wail. Wet's barks grew quicker.
Fweeeeet!
The loud, high-pitched, blaring sound of a whistle rang throughout the house. Everyone turned their attention to the whistle-blower, which turned out to be Ruby, no surprises there.
"EVERYBODY QUIET!" She yelled. The room went silent. Ruby was breathing heavily.
"Hazel and Lucas. What did I literally just say an hour ago."
"Um...don't run around in the kitchen." Lucas said, a guilty look on his and Hazel's face.
"Exactly."
"We're sorry, Ruby." Hazel told her, her golden eyes glittering. Ruby sighed.
"I should hope so. And Lily, why did you blast dubstep at full volume? That's not only annoying, it's mean to the animals, especially Hydrangea. They have sensitive ears, you know."
Lily glared at her. "I know that. Does it look like Hydrangea cares?"
Hydrangea, who was lazily flopped on the ground, yawned and stretched out an orange paw towards Lily. Lily walked forward, crouched down, and began to stroke him, all the while glaring at Ruby.
Dang, this kid can really glare. Ruby was impressed.
"Okay, well, it's still really hard to be heard over music that's that loud. If you're going to play music, play it quietly, please." Ruby suggested.
Lily crossed her arms. "Or what? You'll give me a time out? You can't tell me what to do, you're not my dad."
Ruby groaned. "Don't use that line on me!"
Lily just stuck out her tongue, triumphant. She obviously thought she'd won.
Ruby put her hands on her hips. "I may not be your dad, but I am the baby-sitter-"
"BIG-KID-SITTER!" Hazel screeched.
"I am the big-kid-sitter, and your dads left me in charge. So I am in charge here, and I say you and Hazel and Lucas need to go clean the living room for misbehaving."
"What?!" The three named kids yelled.
"That's not fair!" Hazel shouted.
"Yeah, and I can't pick things up!" Lucas said incredulously.
"Maybe not, but you can still help." Ruby said. "You can bring things to their proper places."
They groaned.
"Why should we have to do what you say?" Lily asked defiantly. Ruby put her hands on her hips.
"Because I'm in charge."
"So what?" Lily asked, a challenge in her bright green eyes. Ruby snorted.
"Why, planning a mutiny? Listen, Almond and Birch have been great, Hazel and Lucas have been okay, but you are being a real pain in the butt. What's up?" Ruby asked gently.
Lily just glared at her and stomped away to go help Hazel and Lucas, her emerald green eyes glassy.
Ruby put her hands on her hips. She'd definitely have to find some way to find out what was up with Lily.
"What about me?" Almond asked nervously. "What do I have to do?" She'd been hiding in the bathroom with her small bowl of ice cream ever since the loud noises started.
Ruby smiled warmly at her.
"You get to do whatever you want, because you were actually being polite."
Almond shuffled her feet from side to side, looking awkwardly at Ruby.
"Well, is there any way I can help you?" She asked. Ruby grinned. She liked this one.
"As a matter of fact, there is. You can help me put Birch to bed."
•••
Ruby lowered Birch into the crib. Almond watched her silently as she did so.
"There we go. You're much easier to put to bed then Rylaina was." Ruby noted as she covered the now-asleep Birch with a pastel yellow blanket.
"Who's Rylaina?" Almond asked curiously.
"She's my little sister. Rylie's three going on four." Ruby told the small girl. Almond tilted her head to the side, clearly thinking something over.
"How many siblings do you have?" She asked Ruby.
"Well, there's my older sister Raven. She's seventeen. And then there's Rylie, who's three."
Almond mulled over this new information for a bit.
"So you have two siblings." Almond mused thoughtfully. "That's a lot."
"Well, you have four siblings." Ruby said, adding a baby-blue spotted blanket to the mix. Almond shook her head.
"No, I have five siblings. Oakley's eighteen, he left for college last year. He's going to be a family doctor." Almond told Ruby proudly. "Like Doctor Miller."
"Who's that?" Ruby asked, searching through the large Tubberware bin of stuffies to find a good, soft, comfy, safe teddy for Birch to snuggle with.
"He's our doctor. We go to him sometimes. Lucas goes to him more though. I like him because he gives us animal stickers after every check-up."
"You like animals, I see." Ruby noted. She'd selected a fuzzy white bunny stuffie with absolutely no buttons or long string that Birch could choke on.
Almond nodded enthusiastically. "Yep. I wanna be a vet when I grow up. My favourite animals are horses, dogs, and my favouritest animal ever is a unicorn! But I hate hate hate scorpions."
Ruby nodded to the purple unicorn Almond was clutching tightly like her life depended on it. "Like your stuffie. What's its name?" She asked, expecting something like Uni or Corny (maybe not the latter necessarily).
"Dreamdust Violetshimmer Starlight Moonbeam Purplica Oceanmane Carter." Almond listed. "But you can call her Dreamdust for short."
"Wow. Nice name. Hey, what time is it?" Ruby asked, tucking Birch in with the cozy fleece bunny. She had also noticed that Almond could talk a lot when she was alone or not with many people. Ruby's guess is that she was always drowned out by her noisier, more energetic siblings, plus she was already shy by nature.
Almond ran out to go check. While she did that, Ruby watched Birch yawn sleepily and snuggle further into the blanket.
"You are a very, very sleepy baby. Very quiet." Ruby said softly, watching Birch as he slept.
Almond ran back in. "It's 8:12 pm." She told Ruby importantly, as if she was telling Ruby the enemy's battle plans or something. Ruby slapped her forehead and groaned.
"Really? Cra - bapples. Hazel and Lucas are supposed to be in bed by now. Can you please go tell them to go brush their teeth and get changed into their pajamas? I'll meet them in bed."
"Okay!" Almond scurried off to go find them.
When Ruby was absolutely sure that Birch was asleep, she left the room, flicking off the light and leaving the door slightly ajar. She could hear the sounds of teeth being brushed when she passed the bathroom.
When she got to the living room, she could see Lily typing on her laptop gain, and Almond calmly reading. Almond was in her pajamas, a creamy butter-yellow colour and black zebra stripes. Lily was still in her day clothes. Ruby was aware that Lily probably wasn't supposed to be on her laptop at eight, but she definitely didn't want to fight her on it.
What was even more satisfying than the kids being ready for bed by her command, was the spotless living room. All of the action figures, building blocks, dolls and stuffed animals had been picked up off the floor and put in their proper places.
Ruby smiled smugly, allowing herself a pat on the back and a can of root beer from the freezer as a job well done.
After she'd finished her drink, she headed to Hazel and Lucas's room to go read them a story.
"I want the one about the kitty-cat that wears a purple dress and goes to school." Hazel said promptly.
"Nooo! I want the one about the kid who makes a huge sand castle and enters it in a contest." Lucas said.
"Hm...what kind of story do you guys both want?" Ruby asked, sorting through the colourful picture books on their big wooden bookshelf.
"Something good!" Hazel and Lucas chorused.
Well, that's not really helpful…
"Aha!" Ruby pulled out a thin book with a cover of a frustrated-looking dad dragging his song by the back of his shirt, and a jumping girl holding two boxes of candy cereal. The background was a grocery store.
"Something Good, by Robert Munsch. There. Let's read." Ruby said, squeezing in between the two kids. They both craned their necks to look at the colourful drawings. The story followed Tyya and her siblings Julie and Andrew, and they were trying to get their dad to buy 'something good', like ice cream or chips.
Right in the middle of a scene where Tyya had a price sticker on her face and was mistaken for a doll, Ruby heard the front door cream open. Hazel and Lucas gasped.
"Daddy and Papa are home!" They both screeched in unison. Ruby nodded.
"Yep, they are! Here, you two stay in bed, and I'll go talk to them." Ruby instructed. Lucas and Hazel nodded seriously, and wriggled under the covers.
"Hey, Ruby! How'd it go?" Adam asked, helping Trent take off his coat.
"It went pretty good! The kids got a little rowdy after dessert, but nothing too bad. Uh, Hazel and Lucas are still awake, I know their bedtime was an hour ago…"
"Don't worry about it." Trent reassured her. "It's fine for them to have a late night once in a while. How was Birch?"
"Eerily calm."
"Sounds like him. He's a very easy baby." Adam laughed.
"And I'm assuming Almond wasn't any trouble?" Trent asked.
"Nope. She's a great kid. She helped me with Birch and was very polite."
From across the living room, Almond beamed. Ruby gave her a thumbs up and a smile.
"Uh, how was Lily and the animals? No escaped pets?"
"The animals were fine. The snakes mostly stayed in their terrarium and Hazel took good care of them. Hydrangea mostly slept. And Wet was pretty noisy, but not really too much of an issue."
Ruby hesitated. She was aware of the fact that she was dancing around the Lily situation.
"Ah, Lily was pretty quiet. She was a little rebellious near the end, but she was mostly okay."
Adam and Trent nodded.
"Cool! So it wasn't too difficult?" Trent asked.
Ruby considered it. It was a little crazy with the messy house, noisy animals, and hyper kids, but she handled it pretty dang well. It wasn't too much of a challenge, not like when she was eleven and worked at the daycare and four of the kids went glitter-crazy. The whole building was absolutely covered in glitter, and some very stubborn mothers got mad at Ruby for losing her temper at the terrible demonic seven-year-olds and made Ruby clean up the mess all by herself.
"No, no. It was even fun at times! You've definitely raised your kids well." Ruby said with a fleeting grin. She knew that compliment would get them.
Adam and Trent shared a happy and proud look.
"Well, we try." Adam said modestly.
"Just wondering, would you ever sit for us again?" Trent asked hopefully.
Ruby considered it, then nodded. "Yep! I am busy 12-6 am on weekdays, I have the night shift at Freddy's, but I'm mainly free most of the time, just give me a call on our home phone."
Adam grinned. "Thanks Ruby! We love our kids, but they can be a lot."
Ruby laughed. "Tell me about it."
"And here's your pay of sixty dollars!" Trent said, digging around in his wallet. Ruby grinned as he pulled out three thin twenty dollar bills and handed them to Ruby. She took them happily and stuffed them into her checkered white-and-black backpack. She nodded to Adam and Trent.
"Thanks! Well, I'll be on my way now. Bye everyone!" She called into the house. She could hear a faint "Bye, Ruby!" from Hazel and Lucas. Wet barked, and Almond said her goodbyes as well. Nada from Lily, but that was to be expected.
Ruby checked both ways and speedwalked across the road. She grabbed her red bike from the bike rack and pedaled away across the asphalt road, pedaling into the sunset.
I seriously need to stop making these chapters so long, this one's like 6000 words-
Anyways, this chapter was super fun to write, I've been planning this one for forever. I love all the kids, and maybe there's more to Lily than meets the eye…?
Random question: Who's your favourite out of the kids (or pets)?
Bye for now!
~LittleGhostRat