She lay back legs up against the wall, texting and looking every bit the distracted teenager before her mother came into the living room.
“Ashleigh Simone Williams! ...If you do not get them feet off my damn wall …,” Dee fussed as she made her way to the front door with a couple overnight bags.
Ashleigh groaned, but complied, not daring to glare at her mother for fear she might get smacked. She sighed and looked out the window wondering when Mercy was going to get there and wondering if she would make spanish food. Yes, dinner was going to be amazing!
“Mom,” she said rolling and leaning over to look at her mother, “what time is Mercy coming?”
“Girl, get out of the window … she should be hear in a few minutes.”
Ashleigh pursed her lips but rolled out the window and just sat on floor. She heard her mother muttering something about moody teenagers when she walked off.
Mercy was running a bit late, but she was sure Ashleign and Dae would forgive her once she brought them the enchiladas she made just before packing up and getting ready to go. The drive was short, but still a bit annoying considering all the red lights she hit along the way. She parked in front of the house, collecting her duffle bag along with what would be tonight’s dinner, ringing the doorbell. Out of all the kids she babysits, Ash and Dae were the most well behaved, and she's had tons of experience with other children.
Did she have everything? She went over the mental list in her head, nodding when she went over it twice and finding nothing missing. Maybe they could go to the movies tomorrow to go see that new Sing movie? That seemed like one part of her plan...Maybe some ice cream could be factored in provided they didn't go buck wild with all the sugar?
Dae looked up from his game and over to his sister and grinned, “so glad we can skip out on mommy’s stress fest.”
Leah rolled her eyes at her brother, “you don’t even know what your talking about … stress fest … where’d you even get that … you’re 11.”
Dae shrugged and turned back to him game, “I dont know probably snap chat or youtube or something. Still though … ugh number 23 seriously dude catch the ball … she all crazy because the college thing … so I’m glad we get to have fun with Mercy.”
Leah nodded, “okay … point taken little bro.” She grinned as she turned to see Mercy’s car outside and jumped up. “She’s here, yessss.” She ran to the front door and threw it open, phone in hand grabbing Mercy in a hug and grinning as she quickly snapped a selfie for her instagram, #weekendwithMercy.
“You haven’t been over in forever,” Leah said quickly. She understood why though, they were at that age where a babysitter was necessary unless it was overnight. “I haven’t even seen you at the salon.” Leah pouted at the girl slightly.
Dae rolled his eyes behind his sister, “geez Leah, you’d think she was your bestie for life or something.” He laughed lightly and took his turn to hug Mercy and then drag her into the house. “MOM MERCY IS HERE! YOU CAN LEAVE NOW!”
Leah rolled her eyes and gave her a look, “mom’s going to smack you.”
“David Ethan Williams, did I raise you in a barn,” came the voice of their mother descending the steps and Leah laughed as Dae mumbled no. “Good, then don’t act like it ….” She stopped in front of Mercy and smiled, “sorry, thanks for coming.”
Mercy wasn't exactly ready for a selfie, but she managed to give a cute face anyway for Leah and her instagram, giving the girl a hug. "Well, you are getting older and the hospital isn't trying to let me go as often." She placed a kiss to Leah's forehead, stepping through the door just as Dae moved in to hug her after Leah, being dragged into the house with a laugh, only to thump the smaller boy behind the head. "Really Dae? That is no way to talk to your mom..." She rolled her eyes and gave their mom a hug. "Anytime, you know I love your kids more than anything. No need to apologize for your son, he should be apologizing to you shouldn't he?" She narrowed her eyes at Dae, with the promise of a lecture before the day was over.
If he kept acting up, they might have to stay home instead of doing the fun things she had planned for these couple of days she was with them. "Enjoy your vacation hun, I know you needed it yesterday~"
Leah nodded and sighed, but smiled because she thought Mercy was going to be the best nurse in the hospital ever. “You didn’t say who you work with in the hospital Mercy … is it kids because I bet they definitely don’t want you to not work …. Or oooooooo do you get to work with mommies and new babies … oh that would be fun.”
She grinned at her brother when Mercy scolded him and shook her head at him, though she knew if Mercy saw, she probably be on the receiving end of a glare too. Still it was amusing to see him pout at Mercy before nodding at Mercy and apologizing to their mom. She’d had to do it before because she was toooo ‘sassy’.
She looked to her brother, “put youtube on the tv day, we can show Mercy the Juju challenge. You have to see it Mercy … Dae and I practiced and we are going to get the whole football team and cheer squad to do it and the mannequin challenge. It's going to be so fun … oh actually.” She looked to her mother.
Dee looked to Mercy, “thanks, it's going to be an interesting weekend visiting this colleges, but three days no laundry … I'll take it … oh and yes about that … they are doing the challenges on Sunday. Everyone is getting together for that around 2 I think it was … no practice or anything, the season hasn't started, but they need to wear their uniforms.”
Leah grinned at her mom and ran into the living room with her brother, “come on Mercy, come see … bye mom, see you sunday.”
"I'm a nurse honey, so I work with everyone. I want to be a pediatric nurse so I can work with babies all the time, but that might have to wait a bit." She smiled at Leah, tilting her head slightly at the talk of the Juju challenge. Most of these challenges were something else, she wasn't sure why people liked to do them, but she supposed it would be something to entertain the younger generation. Sides, Leah and Dae were adorable when they danced.
Mercy nodded at Dee, noting the time in the back of her head. "Mkay, I'll make sure they wear their uniforms and I'll be there to watch and do some recording." She laughed and placed dinner down on the counter before following Leah into the livingroom. "I'll see you Sunday Dee~" She made a mental note to make sure the kids got their laundry together on Saturday so she could have it washed. "Alright Lea, show me what you guys are talking about~"
Leah nodded at Mercy answer to the nurse question, “..... mmmmhhh I didn’t know … the lady that comes to the salon said she was a geriatric nurse and she works with old people … she even wipes their butt … thats so gross.” She shuddered and turned to Dae only giving her brother’s a wave as they thundered down the steps and out the door Tyler shouted loudly, saying bye cuzzo, at Mercy and making Dee roll her eyes. Some days her mom swore she was raising a zoo. She smiled giving her Dad a hug as he kissed her forehead and hugged Dae too.
“Bye guys … byeeeeeee,” she giggled, “... okay Dae it play.”
She looked to Mercy and moved into position in front of the coffee table with her brother and grinned. When the music started her and her brother started to do the dance challenge, looking cute as ever, but also pretty decent doing the moves well. Ashleigh was use to picking up new moves because cheerleading and honestly Dae was the same because oddly enough of football.
They couldn’t keep the laughter away as the did the running man around each other almost messing up, but managed to keep to it until the end before laughing heartily and grinning at Mercy. “You should do it with us … we could put it on youtube …,” Leah said excitedly.
Mercy covered her mouth to keep from laughing out loud at Leah's comment "Well, sometimes Nurses have to wipe old people butts because they can't do it themselves hun. Its just like your mom having to change you when you were babies, because you couldn't do it yourself. So it might be gross to you, but wait till your older with kids of your own." The whistle caught her off guard and she whipped her head around to glare at Tyler just as Dee popped him upside the head. Honestly, she understood she was good looking but there had to be other girls their age that looked just as nice as her. Mercy waved good bye to their mom and brothers, almost missing the start of their little dance.
The whole affair was just too cute and she couldn't help the awwww at the end of it, tilting her head when they asked if she would do it with them and they wanted to put it on youtube. Ordinarily, she would have declined, but she always had trouble denying Leah and Dae anything really. "Well....I guess I could do it...Let's try it a couple of times before we record though okay?" It was a good thing she was wearing her joggers and a t-shirt today.
Leah shook her head curls bouncing when Mercy awed at them. She knew it was cute, but the teenager in her was like realllllyyyyy. She grinned when Mercy agreed to do the challenge with them, “okay yeah, let’s make sure we got it right. Then we can record it in the kitchen or something because there's more space … I think dad has a like tripod for phones in the office.”
For the moment she forgot all about dinner, which she had been super excited for and still was, in favor of showing Mercy the moves to the dance and playing the video for her again. It was simple enough, so she doubted Mercy needed much to get it, she was a good dancer after.
“Oh I like your pant’s Mercy, they are sooooo cute, do you think I could get a pair.” She gave the woman, her cousin a curious glance and grinned. She hoped that she could, because they were awesome and she would totally wear them all the time.
Mercy quirked an eyebrow at her younger cousin but grinned. “Mmmmmmn….Maybe for your birthday? Or I guess we could go to the mall and I can buy you a pair if you want.” Really now she should stop spoiling them but she couldn't help it since she never really had a younger sibling to spoil when she was growing up. The dance was simple enough and Mercy had it down after a couple of tries. She looked to Dae and Leah with a grin, “Are you ready?” She was excited to do something that would be put up on Youtube since she never really thought about putting up any videos on the platform.
Ashleigh nodded and grinned at her cousin, “yessssss I can wait til my birthday it you want, but shopping with you is the best.” Dae groaned beside her sister and she rolled her eyes, “I can wait though,” she said frowning at her brother.
She looked to the television and pursing her lips momentarily irritated with her brother, but it wasn’t like she didn’t know her brother didn’t like shopping. When Mercy asked if they were ready, they both nodded and she pushed aside her irritation. “Let’s do it,” she said with a laugh.
Viva Viola
