The Babysitter, Part 55

The girls decided that Violet and I would play together, so she could keep teaching me along the way. As we loaded in and I was given the healing character from a few minutes ago, the dark haired girl informed me that she had set it up so I wouldn’t have to worry about anything but moving about and using my abilities. Great. Honestly, I wasn’t concerned about it either way. All I needed to do was exist through the game, and use some of that play time to think about how I was going to say everything I needed to say to Paige in the limited window I’d have to speak to her between games.

I followed Violet into her lane, where I was promptly hit by yet another complication.

My abdomen growled slightly, followed by the sudden feeling of my bowels clenching. Could the timing have been any worse?! It wasn’t so bad that I needed to rush to the bathroom or anything, but we had also just started a game. I didn’t relish the thought of putting something like this off. Also, I was almost certain Paige wouldn’t wait for me to relieve myself after the game; I would have to have that chat first.

“Hungry again, Miley?” Annika teased, glancing over her shoulder for a moment, “We basically just had lunch!”

“She’s a growing girl,” Paige replied, “Good thing we have snacks.”

“Fuck, no,” Violet said, “That’s my controller. No snacking mid-game.”

Correcting Annika’s false assumption wasn’t worth the embarrassment. “I’m fine,” I said. It wasn’t hunger. And the fact that I was wearing pull-ups would almost certainly lead to comments that may or may not be subtle depending on whether the real Miley knew. I was tempted to ask how long these games typically took, except anything that implied I wasn’t interested in any of this could potentially be grounds for Paige to bullshit her way out of our terms. Even though we both knew I was only doing this for one reason.

As the game progressed, I didn’t get any better. All I really did was stick with Violet’s character. We were at a severe disadvantage against the duo opposite of us, as they both seemed to be good at the game; I was basically dead weight, even if Violet thanked me for the occasional heal along the way and praised me for how well I was doing for my first time.

All the while, I had to deal with a slowly increasing pressure where my backside was concerned. I was so confused. My body was generally good at informing me about this kind of need well before it became a problem. This was so much so quickly, and not at all what I was used to dealing with. Aside from a slightly unhealthy lunch, I couldn’t think of anything that would have caused this.

The game we were playing had a clock that counted up from zero, and I could see that we were about fifteen minutes in. I was torn. Bailing now would mean giving up Paige’s offer, and there were no guarantees she would extend the same exchange a second time; but also, I wasn’t going to stay so long that it became an emergency.

Two minutes later, I was hit with a cramp that made my whole body tense up for a moment. Okay, maybe waiting wasn’t actually the right call. “How close are we to the end?” I asked. So much for avoiding a question like that. All I knew was that pausing wasn’t an option. The other team was ‘winning,’ except Violet had mentioned to me recently that it wasn’t all about the score in these kinds of games.

“Had enough already?” Annika teased, “Don’t be so closed-minded, Miley. This can be really fun if you commit to learning the ropes!”

“She only commits to ballet,” Paige said, “And it’s over when it’s over, sis. Relax.”

I hated being told to relax. Especially when I hadn’t said or done anything to warrant such a directive. Also, there really wasn’t a good way to counter it without sounding defensive. Or overly sensitive, depending on the way Paige spun things. She had a talent for getting under my skin when life was normal; naturally, all this was easier for her when she had so much new and ongoing ammo to use.

For the time being, I decided to stick it out. The bathroom was right down the hall. Just the rest of this game, and the limited time Paige was gracing me with. I could wait that long.

It took another ten minutes for us to lose. Thankfully, I was terrible, and only died more frequently as the game progressed. Violet was patient enough about it; the rest of the girls complained along the way. Apparently we could have had a fighting chance if I was a little more careful. Which meant the game would have dragged on if I had managed to do better; I was fine taking the blame, considering I had known from the start that I would be the weak link.

By the time we had officially lost, I had suffered through a few more telling cramps, a number of which included an abdomen gurgle that was always commented on by one or more of the girls. Standing up didn’t help. Staying in the same position throughout the game had been useful in keeping the uncomfortable urges at bay; it was starting to feel closer to emergency territory now that the delicate balance I had found was disrupted.

Doing my best not to sound rushed, I said, “Paige. You said-”

“I know what I said.” She was looking away from me and towards the screen; I couldn’t actually see the eye roll, yet I could practically hear it in her voice. “Give me a second. I want to check my stats.”

Hopefully it would just take a second. I used the time to make my way towards the door, as I didn’t want anyone to see the collective awkwardness of how I moved in both the pull-ups as well as how I tried to keep every step small and controlled to not risk the growing pressure between my cheeks getting worse.

Paige didn’t make me wait for too long. After briefly reviewing the game, she told the others to queue up a 3v3. Clearly there were no hopes or expectations for me to play another round with them. It wasn’t lost on me that Paige could easily rotate out for a longer conversation with me, as there were three girls in her room that could play the coming game while she and I talked.

“Okay, Miley. Let’s go see what you think is so important.” She walked over to me and took my wrist, barely breaking her stride on her way out the door.

Quietly gasping in surprise, as my body being jerked forward was yet another element that worked against my efforts to do the opposite with my movements, I did my best to keep up with Paige’s brisk pace. It wasn’t as if I could complain. Technically, she was taking me somewhere private to speak, which is what I wanted.

Paige pulled me down the hall and into my own bedroom. I was surprised to see that the bed was made, rather than the bare mattress that had been there since Noelle had stripped the sheets. Did she take care of that some time in the last thirty minutes? Aside from the park, there hadn’t been many moments where I had been trusted out of her sight. Maybe Paige or one of the other girls had done the chore, to further show my babysitter that they were the helpful and responsible ones.

Letting go of my wrist, Paige strutted over to the bed and sat down, then pointed to a spot on the floor right in front of her. “Squat, Miley.”

“What . . . ?” That was- Why would I do that?

Noticing my obvious confusion and hesitation, Paige said, “That’s the deal. If you want to talk, do it. Otherwise, I’m going back to my room.”