Piece of Cake?

by AppleJTZ

Through the worst?

Gritting her teeth Sugarcoat pushed with all her strength against the refrigerator. Inside, she could feel the various cakes, tarts and other candies pushing back against the door, keeping her from closing it. Stemming her whole body against it the refrigerator finally fell shut, sealing all the sweet treats inside it. Exhausted Sugarcoat leaned back, deeply breathing in and out. She wiped her sleeve over her forehead, taking a glance around the kitchen. Her stoic face showed some slight signs of satisfaction as she stared at empty surfaces, all the baked goods resting inside the fridge. Only a jar with cookies was still standing around.

“Good” she said to herself, taking a step forward from the fridge. “It’s unlikely these squirts will crawl into the kitchen, climb up a table and take a piece of a cake or something, but after they snuck out of their rooms, I’m not taking any chances they could somehow snack on something, get hyperactive and turn into even more of a pain than they already are.”

With all the sweet stuff out of the way, she could finally start preparing something the two toddlers were actually allowed to eat. From the pocket of her dress she pulled out her smartphone, and looked at the email with the instructions from Mrs. Cake. “If hungry, give them some warm milk” she read out loud. “Doesn’t sound too complicated.” Putting the phone back she looked around the various cupboards and shelves in the kitchen. “So, where do they store their milk?”

Very slowly, her eyes darted towards the refrigerator.

“…Somehow I feel I should have predicted this” she grumbled. Carefully she grabbed the hilt of the fridge. Closing her eyes she pulled the door open, shielding her face with an arm while turning her head away. To her surprise though, no avalanche of confect was burying her in a sweet grave. Putting down her arm she looked into the fridge, finding that while it was completely cramped, all the cakes, tarts and everything else were safely residing at its place. She breathed a small sigh of relief, and began to search for the milk. Since the fridge was overflowing with bakery products it was quite hard to see anything behind all the frostings and cream toppings. After a while Sugarcoat was about to close the fridge and search the cabins and cupboards, when she spotted something: The teat of a feeding bottle, looking out behind a strawberry-cake.

Which was placed behind a staple of muffins.

Which were cramped between two three-story tall tarts.

Which couldn’t be moved without making half of the fridge’s contents fall out.

Which would probably cause the rest to fall out as well.

The teenager rolled her eyes. “And that was even more predictable.” Grunting, she began to one by one take out the various baked items she had carefully stuffed into the fridge earlier. She had to be very cautious when removing something from the wall of sweets, especially the larger stuff like cakes and tarts. Whenever something began to tumble even the slightest she paused, waiting until the towers of confect had calmed down again. Once she had put almost everything else out of the fridge again she grabbed the feeding bottle – conveniently for her, it was already filled with milk. After putting it to the side she began to refill the fridge again, cake by cake, muffin by muffin, until it was bursting with bakery products again. Again she leaned her whole body against the door, and with some effort, managed to close it. It took a moment for her to catch her breath again. She was about to step forward and grab the bottle, when suddenly, she remembered a small detail.

“Wait, I’m sitting two babies.”

Quickly she reopened the fridge. Looking through it again she found a second bottle, like the last one placed in the far back behind all the sweets.

Sugarcoat planted her palm against her face.

Another emptying and refilling of the fridge later, Sugarcoat carried the two feeding bottles towards the door. “They better be hungry” she murmured to herself, about to push the handle. Just then, she remembered she was supposed to warm the milk. “Hm… I think I’ve seen that in a sitcom before.” Turning on the spot she walked to the stove, and put the feeding bottles on a counter. After searching the cupboards for a while she found a pot large enough for both bottles, and filled it with water. She put the pot on a hotplate, activated it, waited until the water boiled, then turned the plate off and pulled the pot on a cold one. Putting the two bottles inside it she leaned against the counter, waiting with crossed arms for the milk to warm up. “Of course, in the sitcom the bottle exploded and the entire kitchen was covered in milk, but that won’t happen in reality.” She tapped her finger against her elbow, listening to the silence around her. “Who am I talking to?”

After a while she decided to check the temperature. She took both bottles out of the water and pulled up her sleeve slightly, holding one bottle above her uncovered wrist. She squeezed it lightly, squirting some drops of milk onto her wrist. Part of her had expected a burn that would sear her skin and cause her to scream in pain. Instead, the stain of milk felt a little warm, but not painful in the least. Uncertain Sugarcoat looked at her wrist. Could she give it to the babies like this? Or did she have to cool it some more? Did she actually heat it up enough or was it still too cold? She knew it wasn’t supposed to burn, but was it okay if she barely felt the temperature?

She pondered about this for a while, wondering if she should serve it like this, heat it up further or wait until it had cooled down some more. “It would have been nice if Mrs. Cake had been more precise in her instructions instead of just saying I need to warm it up.” She frowned. “Why do I keep talking to myself?”

With a sigh, she put the bottle down. At least she had got a little break from these two toddlers pulling on her hair, she thought. Before she had started cleaning up the kitchen she had put them on the couch in the living room, and told them to stay quiet. She was pleasantly surprised they seemed to have listened to her this time, since she not heard a sound from them after leaving them alone.

She let the words roll around in her head again. She had left the babies alone in the living room.

“That… was probably a dumb thing to do.” Immediately the teenager rushed to the door. Before she swung it open however she paused. “Wait, what am I worrying about?” she asked herself, her panic dissolving into her usual bad-tempered monotony. “They are babies. It’s not like they could wreck the entire place.” A lot more composed she opened the door, and looked inside the living room.

The sight in front of her resembled a battlefield. Magazines, couch pillows and some other small or light objects were scattered over the floor. Additionally, there were toys lying around everywhere: On the couch table, around the TV, in the dining area - even on top of a shelf she could spot a stuffed plush pony. Several of the shelves had been emptied of some of their contents, books being piled loosely around them. Sugarcoat wasn’t sure, but believed the couch had been moved as well, standing a little more diagonal than before. The only thing left to make the scenery complete would have been flickering lamps and a fire.

Sugarcoat stared at the chaos in front of her, as if she wasn’t sure how to react to it. Suddenly, she could hear a giggle from below. Looking straight down she saw the twins sitting at her feet, innocently smiling at her while stretching out their baby hands for her face. Sugarcoat’s wide eyes then narrowed slightly, bearing a look of boredom. “Wrecking the room behind the babysitter’s back” she summarized the situation flatly. “You two really leave out no cliché, do you? And how did you do without making a sound? Are you secretly ninjas or something?”

High-pitched laughter and tiny hands grabbing the air were all the response she received. Reluctantly, Sugarcoat bent down to the ground. Sure enough the little baby fingers embraced the thick strands of hair the moment they were in their reach. With a dark look on her face Sugarcoat grabbed the toddlers under her arms, who kept giggling as they were lifted up from the ground. Turning on the spot she walked back into the kitchen, while Pumpkin and Pound kept pulling on her pigtails. “Maybe this will be a fashion trend someday…”

Inside the kitchen she put the little troublemakers on the table. “I’m giving you two your milk bottles now” she said sternly, at the same time pulling her hair out of their grip. “You will drink it, then you will get tired, I will bring you into bed, and you will sleep for the rest of the evening while I clean up the mess you created.” She gave them one more glare to tell them to stay where they were. The two toddlers actually sat still on the spot, their smiling faces becoming looks of curiosity. Turning around Sugarcoat walked over to the counter near the stove where she had left the bottles. When she was about to grab them she heard a giggle behind her. Immediately she turned her head. Pound and Pumpkin were still sitting on the table. Pumpkin was grinning and giggling as she watched Sugarcoat, while Pound sucked on his thumb. Squinting her eyes the teenager coldly stared at them. As if she expected them to do something the moment she wasn’t looking she didn’t let them out of her sight for a second, at the same reaching her arm out for the bottles of milk. Since she didn’t see where she was reaching exactly however her hand first fumbled around through the air for a moment, before it eventually landed on the stove. The moment she touched the smooth surface Sugarcoat felt a sudden warmth at her hand. Surprised she turned her head, seeing her palm was lying flat on a hotplate.

The one she had used to warm the milk earlier, to be precise.

Pulling her arm back Sugarcoat screamed loudly. The rather comical outburst was quite untypical for the stern teenager, even more when she jumped on the spot and started blowing air into her hand. Luckily, the plate had been cooling down for a while, so her skin wasn’t burned or hurt. Soon the pain had subsided, leaving her with no lasting damage but a small tingle in her hand. Glad nothing had happened Sugarcoat breathed a heavy sigh of relief. The noise of giggles, much louder than before however caused her to scowl. She threw another glare at the two babies on the table, both seeming very amused by Sugarcoat’s little accident, laughing and giggling happily.

Sugarcoat’s eyebrows furrowed, while her cheeks flushed red in anger. With grit teeth she grabbed the feeding bottles. With heavy steps she stomped back to the giggling babies, and shoved the teats right into their open mouths.

Immediately Pumpkin and Pound froze, their tiny eyes staring in shock at Sugarcoat. As she kept holding the bottles in their mouths under her stern glare however, they nervously embraced them with their little hands, and began to suck. Soon, the looks on their faces relaxed. Smirking with confidence Sugarcoat let go of the bottles, watching the babies greedily drink their milk. The white liquid steadily depleted, Pound and Pumpkin tilting their bottles further and further to keep the milk flowing. Once they had drunken every last drop they put the teats out of their mouths. Simultaneously they belched and dropped their empty bottles, Sugarcoat catching them before they rolled off the table. Both toddlers smiled in satisfaction, and, to Sugarcoat’s delight, seemed a little drowsy. “Good” she said, grinning a little. All that was left to do was to put them into their crib, clean up the living room, and then she could finally get her well-deserved-

Her train of thought was interrupted when something caught her nose. She sniffled the air, her smile dropping as her nostrils registered a rather foul stench. Sugarcoat looked at Pumpkin and Pound, who still seemed rather satisfied, and leaned a little closer to them. Carefully she took a smell from both them. Immediately she pulled back her head, frowning in disgust while pinching her nose. Reading the look on their faces again, Sugarcoat realized they didn’t really look satisfied, but more as if they were… relieved.

The babysitter scolded them with a stare. “You two really leave out no cliché.” One hand keeping her nose shut she pulled out her smartphone, again checking the email for instructions. Once she had read what she wanted she put it back, and began searching the cabins of the kitchen. It didn’t take long before she found the package with what she needed, and hefted it over to the kitchen table. She looked at the two toddlers, noticing the stench was getting more pungent, and took in a deep breath through her mouth.

Changing diapers. It was the most over-used situation to get a laugh out of any baby-sitting scenario. Sitcoms, cartoons and any other media portrayed it as a terrifyingly disgusting task with plenty of opportunities for gross accidents. The stench alone would leave the poor sitters barely conscious, and usually the scene would end with the contents of the diapers spilled all over the place. Sugarcoat, of course, didn’t believe any of this. She was certain that the design of modern diapers would not only absorb most of the bad smell once it had been taken off, but also make sure changing them was a comfortable experience with practically no room for possible mishaps.

Ten minutes of changing diapers and cleaning every surface in the kitchen later, she had gained a newfound respect for the realism depicted in cartoons and sitcoms.

Throwing the last cleaning cloth into the (well-filled) garbage can, she leaned against the nearby fridge. Behind her glasses, her eye-lids were having trouble staying open, almost falling down several times. A wave of tiredness was washing over the teenage girl, settling into all her limbs. Part of her wanted to just lie down on the kitchen floor, roll into a ball and sleep for the next two weeks. Quickly she shook her head, suppressing a yawn. “It’s almost over” she told herself, not even questioning anymore why she was talking to herself. “Just put those two into bed, and you can get all the rest you-”

Suddenly she froze. Her eyes were set on the table where she had changed the two babies. The surface of the table was sparkling brightly since she had at least cleaned it three times, leaving no trace of any dirt behind. Also, the babies were gone.

Frustrated Sugarcoat clenched her hands against her face. “Not again!” she groaned, pulling on her cheeks. Hastily she looked around the kitchen, checking for any signs of the toddlers. She couldn’t spot them anywhere though, not on top the shelves, not near the stove, not under the table, not around the open cookie jar, not-

Wait, wasn’t the cookie jar supposed to be closed?

And why were there crumbles lying all around it?

Sugarcoat gulped. Slowly she walked over to the open cookie jar. The lid was lying next to it, not looking like someone had lifted it, but rather pushed it off. With an uneasy feeling in her stomach she leaned forward, peeking inside it.

It was empty.

In that very instance, a loud noise suddenly sounded from the living room. Startled Sugarcoat turned her head to the door. From the other side, she could hear how things were getting thrown around and falling down, amongst various other sounds of destruction. And in the middle of all, she could hear the high-pitched laughter of two individuals – not little giggles, but full-blown laughter, chortling in a maniacal pace as if it was coming out way too fast.

For a second, a look of horror was on crossed the teenager’s face. It only remained shortly however before it fell back into its stoic façade. Slumping her shoulders, Sugarcoat massaged her temples. “I should have mowed a dozen lawns...”

Comments

[Jlargent]

She tapped her finger against her elbow, listening to the silence around her. “Who am I talking to?”

Congrats Sugarcoat you've just broken the fourth wall! Please report to Pinkie Pie for advanced lessons and seminars on breaking physics for fun and profit.

[AppleJTZ]

7787247 Broken may be a bit much - let's say she cracked it a little

[ImRaidAccount]

7787263 if anything she's leaning on it. An amateurish desplay at best.

[MorgothII]

[Regreme]

lol Now, she's learning why her friends looked at her with expressions of horror. XD

[BenRG]

Cake Twins + large amounts of sugar from cookies = chaos.

[ShadowLDrago]

“…Somehow I feel I should have predicted this”

That is correct.

“That… was probably a dumb thing to do.” Immediately the teenager rushed to the door. Before she swung it open however she paused. “Wait, what am I worrying about?” she asked herself, her panic dissolving into her usual bad-tempered monotony. “They are babies. It’s not like they could wreck the entire place.” A lot more composed she opened the door, and looked inside the living room.

And 3, 2, 1...

Surprised she turned her head, seeing her palm was lying flat on a hotplate.

Should have turned it off. Also, this is why I will NEVER babysit. I do NOT have the patience to put up with this shit.