The sitter

As a babysitter, I can vouch that nobody ever said, "Thank God my baby is crying." Until now. I heard the high pitched whine, and then i'm sure people in India heard what came after. It gave me an excuse to walk past Jon, head low, and pick up Jaxon. He was only hungry, so as soon as he got his bottle, he stopped crying.

I looked at Patrick, who was looking at Jon, who was looking at me.

"I should go." I said, standing up. But as soon as I got to my feet, Jon snapped, "Maybe you should stay, and hear this."

I wondered what "this" is. Maybe Jon shot somebody and needed Patrick to help with the body.

Maybe Patrick isn't investing his money wisely and Jon wants to help him. Maybe this is about Brooke. No, it's definitely about Brooke.

"Mhm. So, it been, what, two months? You move on pretty quick." Jon said. This gave me something about Brooke, that she was two months in his past. Which was good, right?"

"Jon, it's not like that-" Patrick began, but was interrupted by Jon.

"Really? Because this looks bad, Kaner."

"She's not like that-"

"You thought the same thing about Brooke."

"Yeah, well-"

This time, I interrupted Patrick.

"Who is Brooke."

"Nobody." Patrick said, the same time Jon said, "His ex."

"She's nobody." Patrick said, his lips a straight line.

"Don't act like what she did was nothing." Jon spat.

"It got taken care of!" Patrick yelled.

"Not by you!" Jon yelled back.

"What happened? What did she do?" I asked. I hated feeling out of the loop in a conversation, and now was no exception.

"She got pregnant and said the baby was Kaner's. So when-" Jon began.

"Wait, what?!" I exclaimed. Who even does that?

"When they went in for a paternity test, and it turned out as not his, she stole his credit card."

I couldn't say anything. I wouldn't even know what to say if I could think. After about thirty seconds, I realized what Jon was getting at.

"You think I'm gunna do that?" Jon said nothing. "What the hell is your problem?"

"I don't want that to happen to him!" Jon said, with an angry shrug.

"I don't need anything from him." I stated. It was true. I didn't like to say it, but I knew my parents had more money than everybody else I knew. None of my friends got to go to Disney, go on a cruise, and go to a beach house in mexico in one year. Nobody in my neighbor hood had three cars, let alone the six that sat in my dad's garage. Even when my parents divorced, I still got at least thirty christmas presents a year, not including the ones I received from aunts, uncles, and cousins. I don't think it made me a bad person, in fact, I think it made me realize how lucky I was and how important it was for me to get a job and invest my money wisely.

Jon looked confused, so I enlightened him. "I got a fucking Ferrari for my sweet 16, I don't need his money. And babysitting this kid for two days has made me not want kids for, like, ten years. So can we be done here?" Patrick cracked a smile, so I knew I had done well.

****

Thankfully, the situation diffused, and I found myself sitting on a couch between Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. The only way to make this situation better would be to not have a baby in my lap. Jaxon was awake but all he was doing was pulling on my shirt and occasionally cooing at the TV screen playing wipeout, which was honestly one of the funniest shows I had never heard about.

"So," Jon began, using a much more relaxed tone. "Grand Forks, eh? What brought you there?"

"My dad owns an oil mining company, and they were doing something there, so I followed." I answered honestly.

"I'm so sorry for your loss." Jon said with a laugh. I laughed back, understanding. Grand Forks was not exactly the most top notch town in the world, in fact, the mall only had about twelve stores, but it was home for a chapter of my life.

Patrick looked out of it. Lucky him, he had never been to North Dakota.

"Hey," I said, weaning off my giggles. "I have been to Buffalo."

"You have?" Patrick's face lifted up. "Did you go in downtown North Buffalo? Because that's, like, where everybody goes. One time I was up there with my mom and-"

I should have interrupted him before he started, but hearing him speak literally made my chest hurt, so I leaned back as he told me about his childhood. About halfway through his third or fourth story, Jon made some excuse about "Laundry", but I didn't even notice. I was more absorbed in the way Patrick waved his arms around when he spoke, or his to die for goofy grin, with the dimples.

I had definitely caught feelings.

Notes

Another Shortie.. :/
BTW I have never been to North Dakota, so I know nothing about Grand Forks... sorry!
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