Piece of Cake?

by AppleJTZ

All for Nothing?

“Okay, at three!” Indigo called out. “One… two… THREE!”

From its bottom, the two teenagers simultaneously lifted the couch, each holding it at one end. Slowly its feet rose from the carpet, a little higher on Indigo’s side. With some effort they managed to move it a few steps to the sides, back to its original position. “You got it?” Indigo asked over the couch.

Feeling her fingers growing numb from the weight Sugarcoat leaned slightly backwards, peeking under the couch. She could see the dents in the carpet where the feet had originally been standing, and tried to hold her end of the couch so they would roughly be above it. “Okay!” she eventually responded. Carefully the two girls lowered the couch again, trying to hit the “markings” as precisely as possible. When the couch was back on the ground it had slightly shifted its position, but on a superficial glance, seemed like it hadn’t moved.

“Phew!” Stemming one hand against her hip Indigo wiped her arm over her forehead. “Looks like we’re finally done – or what do you think?”

While she rubbed off the sweat from her own face Sugarcoat looked around the living room. The furniture was all back on its original place, just like it was in every other room. The lamps were standing again, the books and other objects put back into the shelves, and there were no toys lying around. “Maybe one or two things are still a little off” Sugarcoat remarked flatly. “But by the time they notice, I’m hopefully back at home with their money already.”

Indigo snickered. “Speaking off home, I better get lost before the parents come back” she suggested, pointing with her thumb towards the door. “You know, they could think you invited a friend over to party or something.”

Sugarcoat glanced towards the children’s bed room. The door was closed, but as silent as it was, she could hear the twins lying in their beds, snoring peacefully. “Are you sure they’re gonna sleep through?” she asked a little nervously.

Indigo nodded. “Don’t worry” she assured her. “After such a sugar rush, kids usually are totally burned out.”

Again Sugarcoat ran her palm over her sweaty face. “They’re not the only ones.”

A bit embarrassed, Indigo rubbed the back of her head. “Yeah, I guess I should have told you twins aren’t the best choice for a first time babysitter job – sorry I let you jump into the cold water.”

“It’s okay” Sugarcoat told her “I probably wouldn’t have listened to you anyway.”

Indigo showed another smile at her. Raising one arm to wave at her, she headed for the door. “Well, I’m out. Good night!”

“Good night” Sugarcoat replied. When Indigo was almost outside, she called after her: “And… thank you.”

Indigo stopped at the door. Again she smiled at Sugarcoat, before closing the door behind her.

Sugarcoat looked after her for a moment, waiting until she couldn’t hear her footsteps on the stairs anymore. After a while, she turned to the door with the smiling cupcake. On her tiptoes she walked over to it, opening it by a notch. She was careful not to open it so far the light streaming in would hit the crib, just so much she could poke her head inside.

Inside the crib, the little toddlers were lying next to each other, Pumpkin on the back and Pound on the side. A blanket covered them up to their chests, though Pound had pulled his half a little lower. One of his arms was lying on top his sister’s chest, who was holding a teddy underneath one of her arms. Both were snoring softly, in a steady, calm rhythm.

A slight smile flashed over Sugarcoat’s face. Pulling back her head she closed the door again, careful not to make any noise.

Feeling rather stiff Sugarcoat stretched herself, letting out a small yawn. “All right” she said to herself, walking back to the couch. She let herself fall on the soft cushion, sighing as she leaned back. The stress in her muscles slowly dissolved, the teenager still smiling slightly as her whole body was relaxing. “Now, it’s finally time to sit back and kill the rest of the evening.”

Her moment of peace was short-lived however as the doorbell rang a few moments later.

The corners of her mouth fell down. “Well, so much for the rest of the evening.” She forced her tired limbs up from the couch, and moved over to the door. She could already hear footsteps going up the stairs outside, meaning whoever had rung the bell probably had keys. She looked over herself, checking if there were any apparent signs of the chaos from earlier on her. Once she had confirmed her clothes were in an okay she opened the door. Mrs. Cake was just coming up the last stair, with her husband following behind. “Welcome back” the teenager greeted them unenthusiastically, making way for them. “I hope you had fun.”

Mrs. Cake smiled at her. “Oh, thank you Sugarcoat!” she said as she and Mr. Cake entered the apartment. “And yes, it was a very nice evening. Thank you so much for making it possible!” She took a small look around the living room. “I guess Pound and Pumpkin are already in bed?”

Sugarcoat nodded. “Sleeping peacefully side by side, fed and changed.”

The smile of the middle-aged woman grew even brighter. “That’s good to hear” she praised her, patting the teenager’s shoulder. “Well done.”

“I hope our little sweethearts didn’t cause you too much trouble?” Mr. Cake asked.

Deep inside her, Sugarcoat felt an urge to tell them that their children were a pair of badly educated brats and had wrecked the entire apartment after accidentally eating some cookies. Despite her blunt nature however, Sugarcoat suppressed that urge and simply said: “They left me in one piece.”

The Cakes laughed, even though Sugarcoat said it with a straight face. “Well, I could keep on thanking you for babysitting” Mrs. Cake said, putting a hand into her bag. Sugarcoat perked up slightly when she pulled out her purse from it. “But I guess there is a far better way to express our gratitude.” With a content look on her face, Mrs. Cake opened her purse. Her expression then turned into one of confusion however, followed by one of panic as she rummaged through her purse. “Oh dear” she whispered, turning the purse upside down. Not a single cent fell out. “Um, looks like we were a little too generous with the tip” she stated, smiling nervously at Sugarcoat. “Whoops.”

Behind her glasses Sugarcoat’s eyes widened, before they squinted them with furrowed brows. “You mean you can’t pay me?” she asked, a hint of anger ringing in her voice.

Mrs. Cake just kept smiling awkwardly at her, while throwing a glance to the side at her husband. He was rummaging through his own purse, also growing panicked as he found it just as empty. “Darling, I thought you wanted to make sure there was enough money left for the restaurant AND the babysitter when you brought today’s profit to the bank?” she whispered to him.

Putting his purse away Mr. Cake blushed. “I… kind of forgot” he whispered back. “The twins were keeping me busy, so… I was a bit in a rush to get everything done in town.”

Mrs. Cake gulped. “Please tell me we have something here to pay her!” she pleaded him. Scratching his head Mr. Cake began to think, the boring glare of Sugarcoat making him noticeably nervous.

“Um… oh wait, I’ve got an idea!” Quickly he dashed off towards the bedroom, vanishing inside. After a moment of Mrs. Cake awkwardly smiling at Sugarcoat who in return kept staring daggers at her he returned, carrying something under his arms. “I-I’m afraid we don’t have much money in the apartment right now, but maybe you can accept this as payment?” he offered, holding out his hands.

Sugarcoat looked at the object he carried. It was a laptop.

Blinking, the teenager stared in disbelief at the small computer. “I recently got a new one, and haven’t gotten around to tossing this one out yet” Mr. Cake explained. His voice was reaching her ears like a distant echo, as all of her attention was on the laptop. “I deleted all my personal files, and the standard programs are still installed. Of course, it’s a rather old model, but maybe you can sell it for a little cash on the internet? “

Mrs. Cake put a finger on her chin. “We could also go down and see if there is some money left in the register of the bakery” she suggested. “I think there was a larger group of costumers just before we clo-”

“That won’t be necessary!” Sugarcoat hastily assured them, snatching the computer from Mr. Cake and clutching it against her chest. “I’ll take the laptop.”

The Cakes looked at her in surprise. “Well… if it is okay with you” Mr. Cake muttered.

Silently Sugarcoat hugged her new laptop. With a sigh of satisfaction, she then took out her smartphone. “My bus will arrive shortly” Sugarcoat told the Cakes. “I think it’s best if I get going now.”

Mrs. Cake nodded. “But of course - we don’t want to hold you off” she said, making way for her. “Thank you again for looking after our kids.” As she reached out her arm Sugarcoat shook her hand, then that of Mr. Cake.

“Good night!” he wished her with a smile. “And have a good trip home.”

“Thanks, and good night to you, too” Sugarcoat told them. The laptop under her arm she stepped out of the door. In her mind, she quickly let the events of the evening go by: She had touched a diaper that might have been peed into, stuffed a ton of bakery products into a fridge three times, changed diapers, cleaned a kitchen, chased a duo of hyperactive toddlers through an apartment and got pulled so many times on her hair she would probably have a headache for the rest of the weekend. More than once she had doubted if it was all worth it. Yet, in the end she thought, feeling the laptop in her arm, everything had somehow turned out in the best way possible for her.

She was about to go down the stairs, when Mr. Cake called after her: “Oh, one more thing: Would you be interested in looking after Pound and Pumpkin more often in case our regular sitter has no time?”

Sugarcoat leaned her head into the door, looking blandly at the Cakes. “No.” She then vanished out from the door frame, walking down the stairs and leaving the building.

The Cakes stared after her for a moment, rather irritated. Looking at each other, Mr. Cake shrugged his shoulders. “Well, at least she is straight to the point.”

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading the story! Be sure to check out the epilogue here.

Comments

[Regreme]

lol Loved the end there. XD

[BenRG]

Well, Sugarcoat, I think that we can safely say you learned that sometimes good things happen even to cynics like you!

[Tennis Match Fan]

7895624 Ye, I suppose you're right.

[AppleJTZ]

8038802 No, I just thought it'd be funny.