Obsession

Lasagna

The next day, I was very hungover. I tried to sober up with a nice breakfast and coffee. I had one morning class to get to and then I had to go babysit all day. I took a quick shower and headed over to Mr. Richards's house. As I opened the door I noticed he was feeding Lily.

"Hey guys," I said. Lily reacting to my voice started to bounce up and down. I winked at her. Mr. RIchards handed me a green smoothie.

"It will help," he said.

"Do I look that bad," I asked.

"No, no I just assumed," he said sounding a bit concerned.

"Thanks," I said as I sipped the drink. It didn't taste that bad. It had celery and spinach but I could barely taste it as he had added green apple and pineapple.

"I will be in my office for most of the day," he said.

"Got it," I said as I picked up Lily and brought her to the living room. Since she was already fed I decided to give her a bath and get her dressed in a nice cute outfit and brush her little hair.

"All girls deserve to be pampered," I told her as I massaged her scalp. She giggled and smiled. I put on a cd of her favorite kiddy songs she danced too. I couldn't stand to listen to them so I would put on my headphones and listen to music I liked. We started to dance together. I knew she enjoyed this and smiled so much when we did. She would fall over a couple of times because she didn't walk well yet just stood up and bounced up and down to dance. I would sometimes grab her arms and try to spin her around or move her from side to side. I was so caught up with our dancing that I didn't know Mr. Richards had left his office. I turned around and noticed he had a glass of water in his hands and was actually smiling.

"Having fun Lily," he said. She just kept her big smile and kept bouncing. I took my headphones out of my ears.

"That's smart," he said.

"Yeah, I have been listening to her music for a while now and I can't do it anymore," I told him."And since kids pick up everything they listen to I figured this was the only way."

"Good job," he told me. "You're a good dancer." I just smiled because I knew he had to be joking. I was basically waving my arms around and moving from side to side like Lily minus the bouncing. He finally went back into his office and I knew Lily was a bit tired of dancing so I placed her in her playpen so she could play with her toys now. I then pulled out my laptop and worked on more schoolwork. Someone suddenly came knocking on the door so I went to go open the door.

"Hello, Ms. Winter," I said. She smiled gently and I noticed she was holding a glass dish covered in aluminum foil.

"Is Ben here," she asked.

"Yes, but he is in his office," I said. She looked disappointed and glaring at me as if I should interrupt him or at least let her in. I stayed there awkwardly waiting for her to say something or hand over the dish.

"Well, here I made him some lasagne," she said.

"Okay, thanks I'll let him know you stopped by," I said.

"Yes please do," she demanded. I gave her a thumbs up and then closed the door. I set the lasagna on the table as it was still hot. I found it cute but very desperate of all these single moms. I felt bad but I did think that if Mr. Richards were to pick one of them to date it should be Ms. Winters. She was nice and a lovely mom. Her sons Kevin and Mikey were so cute. Mikey was two and often played with Lily. Kevin was five and was such a sweet boy. Mr. Richards finally came out of his office looking exhausted. I told him about the lasagna and he said if I could heat it up while he showered. So I did and grabbed a few pieces and cut them up smaller to feed Lily. Mr. Richards then came out wearing black joggers and a white T-shirt. I hardly ever saw him dressed so casually. He was drying his hair with his towel when he asked me to stay for dinner. I didn't have anything else to do so I agreed. I sat down and put Lily in her highchair and started to feed her.

"You should eat between her bites so your food doesn't get cold," Mr. Richards said. I didn't notice I hadn't taken a bite of my food yet. So I started to eat my own food as Lily ate her small bites.

"It's good," I said.

"Yeah it is," he replied.

"So do you not know how to cook?" I asked.

"I do but not that well. Maybe just the basics," he said. "Do you?"

"Sort of but with school I basically eat out a lot," I answered. He looked concerned about my answer but didn't say anything.

"So are you going to Ms. Winters playgroup with all the neighboring kids," I asked.

"I wasn't sure but if you came along I might decide to go," he said. I thought about it. It was on a Sunday so I had no school.

"Okay, sure," I replied.

"Great," I said. "I know you look after Lily as much as I do.

"Well if I am there you and Meredith can talk for a bit," I said. "Alone." He stayed quiet but I hope he would consider giving her a chance. After dinner, I cleaned up Lily and put her to bed. I then helped Mr. Richards clean up and wash the dishes.

"See you tomorrow," I said as I gathered my stuff and walked out of the house.

I reached our apartment and just ran to my bed to get a good night's sleep. Two minutes into my sleep I hear my phone go off.

"See u tomorrow at the playdate" - Liam

"Oh great," I thought. "Sounds like fun."