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Babysitter or Roommate 003.
The page read 911, that sent Leo into some kind of state, until he walked into the waiting room and found Parker, Abby and Zeppelin. He should have known better; it was Wednesday Poppy’s baby shower was in a few hours. He shook his head, “911 Parker? Shouldn’t you two be in class or something?”
“We ditched after lunch.” Abby answered as she bent over to pick up Zeppelin, “With parental consent of course.” Leo looked between the two of them, it wasn’t lost on him that the fourteen-year-olds looked like they belonged together, two years ago he had been giving Parker half assed dating advice, now they were in a well relationship that was mor stable than most of the ones people Leo’s age were in.
“I highly doubt your parents gave you any permission to do anything Abby. I met your parents, remember.” She shot him a smile; ah he knew that look. “And as for you, your mother will kill you if she finds out you are here.” He pointed to Zeppelin, and “Breaking your baby sister out of daycare.”
“She’s in surgery, some mom needed a c-section.” The kid shrugged, “As for this little one,” Parker ruffled her hair and Zeppelin giggled, “I thought of everything, Oz called and told them I was coming to get her, the people who run that place love me, besides I told them you were going to come sign her out, you know since you can do that.”
“And what’s with the 911, you could have texted?” Leo loved the Hawkins kids, but he felt like he was getting played, like he was sitting at the card table and he was playing go fish and they were playing old maid. “What am I missing here Parker? I’ve got to get back to work.”
“You aren’t planning on coming tonight, are you?” It wasn’t a question more like a statement. He was getting stared down by both of them and a three-year-old. And this was why he had gotten his sister first. Parker knew Leo was a sucker for the little Hawkins, she was his goddaughter, and his kryptonite. Damn teenager.
“I was planning on it, I was going to pick up Lexi after my shift and…”
“You gotta come tonight, mom and Oz got into it again and..” Abby hit his arm as if to say not in front of his sister, “Plus, I have to talk to you it’s important.”
“Parker…”
“It’s real important Leo, real important.” Parker looked down at his shoes, “I checked you don’t have anything you have to do today, can you just come get pizza with us?”
Leo raised an eyebrow, “You know how to get into the system?”
“I have been around this hospital since I was four, I know all the nurses and I’ve seen more interns come and go then you have hooked up with them.” Well, that stung. “I asked, they told me you were wide open pending an emergency. We’ve been here almost an hour no emergency, yet.”
“One you little jerk, that isn’t fair and two…”
“Call this an emergency Leo! A family emergency.”
***
“You are going to get me in trouble with someone.” Leo was walking up the stairs with Parker, Abby and Zeppelin were riding the elevator, it was a game Zeppelin loved it. “You are going to have me killed. Your mother is going to kill me.”
They were almost to his apartment, the apartment that once had been Poppy and Parker’s for a dozen years. “I’m going to be fifteen by then, you’ll barely see me, I grew up a doctor’s son, I know the works you gotta work, just fill the freezer with frozen pizzas and I’ll be the best roommate you could ask for. I’ve got after school stuff and I am going to look for an after school job.”
“You want to move in with me while your mom is in…”
“I love my mom, but I don’t want move, I’ve got a plan to graduate early.”
“Be real kid you don’t want to move because of Abby. Which I can see where…”
“You were me, you moved in with Elle and Oz and their parents at my age.”
“My mom kicked me out of the house, your mom is moving for a job… and what about your sisters don’t you want to see them grow up?”
“You mean do I want to watch Oz and my mom pretend to be this happy new family? No, I will miss my sisters and god will I miss Zep but I watched my mom and Davidson implode, I like Oz I don’t want to have to hate him too.”
“And that’s another thing Davidson…”
“I’m not moving to moving to Malibu with the ex-con and his ex-actress sex buddy.” Leo shot him a sideways look, “Yeah I said it, one I hate him two Malibu is too far away, its nice to visit but I don’t want live there.” Leo watched him tick off the reasons on his fingers, “And three its not in my school district, I don’t want to change schools. Abby’s there and I only have so much time with her before her parents...” He stopped, “I can’t move in with Libby because they are moving to a farm a billion lightyears away and I don’t know her boyfriend so that’s out. I would move in with Della and Nick because they are cool but that’s just mean. But you… you are never here and anyway; Lexi has her own place.”
He watched Parker lean on the wall next to the door, the kid put so much thought into this wild ass plan, more plan than Leo had when his mom picked her second husband over him. He had no plan. Elle had been the planner. She took charge, made sure he wasn’t living on the street.
“You can say no I guess, I just thought you could help me out I basically just need an address for school.”
“What I just heard you say was I am the last one on the list and Della and her husband are cooler than me. That’s some bullsh*t. I was in a damn band in college. I was always cool.”
“Wasn’t it really Jamie and Ashton’s band?” Parker looked at him, “And Lexi is cooler than you, too.”
“Ashton didn’t even want to be in the band and just because she named it and Jamie was…” Leo stopped, Parker was grinning, little a**hole was winding him up, just for the hell of it. He opened the front door, “Get in there you a**hole, I should have left you at the hospital and just taken Abby and Zeppi to pizza they are nicer.” Parker laughed and tossed himself on the couch, the xbox controller already in his hand.
And this was what it would be like if Leo said yes, he would have an instant teenager. He wasn’t sure that was a great idea. He wasn’t even really a parent. The door opened and Zeppelin ran in with Abby chasing her, this wasn’t uncommon he babysat all the time when Poppy was working late but babysit permanently?
About an hour later he walked out of his apartment, he was going to go see if Lexi still wanted to go to this baby shower madness, it was fixing to be entertaining, Remy and Oz in the same room. He walked past the baby bottle balloons and just knew once he walked in the apartment across the hall it was going to look like a pink nightmare, triplets, he could not believe Poppy and Oz were having triplets. It was one thing to know two of his friends had twins in the last couple of years but triplets and without meaning to. Talk about a babysitter’s nightmare.
First things first celebrate the triplets and then worry about the teenager, he was already sure tonight’s baby shower was going to be a disaster, now he had to worry about telling Parker no? He had been the cool adult once, right? He couldn’t just let Parker move in, that seemed like a bad idea, but he wasn’t sure he had ever told Parker no. He needed a drink, was there drinks at a baby shower? He didn’t know because no one he knew who had kids had baby showers. But he was guessing not because one should drink while pregnant.
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