Done Adulting Vol. 1 Ch. 99 (Patreon)

“What’s the matter, Jamie? You bored?” He couldn’t stop fidgeting and audibly sighing in the stroller. It was starting to irritate Rebecca and Jane.

He looked apologetically at Becky. “Sorry.”

“We got probably two more hours of shopping to do. The offer is still on the table.”

“Rosie enjoys it. The two of you will have fun. Promise,” Jane said.

“Fine, alright, I’ll go to the little care.” As if he didn’t spend enough time in daycare, now he’d be sitting in some strange daycare at the mall while his mom and Jane shopped.

As they approached the entrance, Becky leaned down over the stroller so she could privately say, “You might try cheering up. You could actually enjoy yourself.” She didn’t know what had him in a bad mood these past several days, but he’d been such a grump Amanda had even declined to come with them and not offered to take him to go see Mel. Jamie didn’t know that, else he’d have been very hurt.

“Hi,” Rebecca said to the receptionist.

“Welcome to Tot Care,” the cheerful girl said.

“I want to check my little boy in.”

“Okay. Have you been here before?”

“First time.”

“In that case, if you can fill this out ...” She handed Becky a clipboard and pen. The other receptionist had already found Rosie in the system and had taken Rosie and the stroller from Jane. She was inside by the time Becky was done signing. She made sure to check the box for “unregressed.”

Leaning across the counter, Becky whispered, “He’s not regressed, just FYI, and he’s in a bit of a mood. He’s also got a bottle in his diaper bag under the stroller.”

“I’ll be sure to pass that along; we’ll see if we can’t get him smiling.”

Becky kneeled down in front of the stroller. “You behave yourself, buster.” She kissed him. “And try to have fun.” She kissed him again. “I’ll see you in a couple hours.”

“Bye, Mom. Have fun shopping.” It wasn’t that he begrudged her recreation, just that if he had to sit there with nothing to do while she and Jane took turns asking “What about this one” for two more hours, he’d give up on life. He cursed himself for forgetting his headphones.

Rosie wasn’t much help. She was never not little to some degree around bigs, and she wasn’t very fun to talk to when she was like that, which was hard to do anyway since they were in their separate strollers. They didn’t even have a pile of sand to talk over.

“He’s in good hands, Ms. Webb.” The young woman wheeled Jamie into the play space through big double doors. Thankfully it wasn’t crowded. She parked his stroller along a wall. “Not buckled in? That’s not very safe,” she said as she took Jamie out, Jamie patiently letting her carry him on her hip to a woman maybe a year older,. “Hey, Kim. I want you to meet Jamie.”

“Hi, Jamie,” Kim said in a sing-song voice. “I’m so happy I get to play with you today.” Jamie took an instant dislike to her over the way she was talking to him and chose not to respond.

“His mommy said he’s not regressed, and he’s been a bit of a Grumpy McGrumperson today.”

“Is that so? Well, I bet he can find something fun to do here.” She held out her arms, and the receptionist handed him over. “How about you start over here?” Kim carried Jamie to a play mat with some very simple toys spread out on it. What was he supposed to do with stacking rings? He looked around and saw Rosie engrossed in scribbling with a crayon, furiously running it back and forth over construction paper as if she were trying to color in every bit of it. Kim watching him for a second and walked back to the table she’d been sitting at.

Jamie stood up and headed toward a bookshelf, hoping there was something on it to entertain him. He sorted through them one by one, nearly all of them board books, until he found something with more words than pictures. Not caring what reading level it was, he started reading through it. He was ten pages into it when Kim came back.

“Can’t find anything to do, huh? Maybe you just wanna hang out with me.” She picked him up and left the book behind.

“I was reading that.” Kim knew littles couldn’t read books without pictures, though they sometimes emulated amazons reading, staring at books and turning the pages just like they would flip plastic burgers in their play kitchens and push their corn poppers like they were vacuuming the carpet. It was cute.

“It’s okay; I won’t bite”

It wasn’t okay. “I was reading.” She didn’t seem to hear him. “Put me down, please.”

“You don’t want to hang out with me? Now you’re hurting my feelings.” Kim sat down with Jamie in her lap and talked to one of the other attendants. Jamie slumped over and wished he was back with Becky and Jane.

“What’s this little guy’s story,” the other woman asked.

“He’s having a grumpy day and can’t find anything to do.”

“Is that so? Huh? Is you having a grumpy day, Mister? Is that it?” Kim sat there as this woman reached over and stared tickling Jamie. At first, he giggled – he couldn’t help himself – and she was as good at it as Amanda was, but she didn’t stop when it became too much. With effort, he got control of himself and grabbed her fingers, pulling them away and shouting, “Stop!”

“O my, someone is in a mood,” Kim commented. Jamie wondered if she was for real. He got more acknowledgment out of Donna.

“It’s okay, buddy. You didn’t hurt me. I’m not mad,” the other attendant said.

“Put me down!” He’d had enough. It wasn’t the tickling but the ignoring him that set him off. He was mad! What did her feelings have to do with that when she was the one who started it? They were entirely ignoring him and dismissing his feelings. They were acting like his body was there and his mind was not, always sure to bring Jamie to a boil, but it hadn’t happened in a while. Jamie didn’t deal with many people who didn’t know him, and when he did, one of his bigs was always there to help him.

“No need for ...”

“Put me down! I’m not regressed, and I want you to put me down! Just let go of me!” He looked at Rosie for support, but she was off in her own headspace.

“Shhh. You’re okay,” Kim cooed.

“I’m sorry,” the other one said. They were about sixty seconds behind. He was over that and didn’t care if she was sorry now. Now he was angry Kim was still holding him. She started to babble in baby talk trying to get him to laugh as he sat there fuming.

“Let. Me. Go!” He thrashed around until Kim started to lose her grip and let him slide to the floor.

“I think you need some quiet time,” she said, picking him back up. He thrashed again, and she adjusted him so she was carrying him under one arm.

“Dammit,” he shouted. “Just let me go back to what I was doing!”

She carried him to a playpen, deposited him in it, and zipped the top closed. Jamie let loose a stream of invective that made even Rosie turn around. “I think you can stay in there until you mommy comes back. Maybe a nap will do your grumpy butt good.”

Jamie looked up at the canopy and saw the zipper was on the outside only. He was stuck. He was angry to the point of shaking.

“Hi, Ms. Webb. Have a fun shopping,” the receptionist asked upon seeing her return. Kim had already talked to her so she could let their customer know.

“Yeah, we did. How was he?”

“Jamie had a bit of a tantrum.”

“O, no. I’m sorry. What happened?”

“He just ... didn’t like getting so much attention, I guess. Not really sure what set him off.”

He was stewing in the playpen still when Rebecca came in. She didn’t look happy.

“C’mon, Jamie, let’s go home.” She had planned on going to lunch after the mall, but the scowl on Jamie’s face told her that was a bad idea. She unzipped the canopy with some annoyance. Whatever he had done, surely zipping him in wasn’t necessary. She picked him up and started to carry him out. Kim stopped her.

“Hi, Ms. Webb. I just wanted to say I hope I get to play with Jamie again.” Whether it was the smug, self-congratulatory way she said it or that she was still focused on how she felt and hadn’t once paused to consider Jamie’s feelings, his mouth was moving before he could stop himself.

“Okay, what the fuck?!? I told you to put me the fuck down! Why the fuck did you think it was okay to touch me in the first place without even fucking asking? Do you even fucking know what ‘not regressed’ means? Fuck you and fuck the fuck off already!”

The young woman was wide eyed, never having heard a little – or anyone else – drop so many angry F-bombs all at once; she didn’t think most littles even knew the word, and this one was clearly fluent in it.

Becky’s jaw dropped, and she lifted Jamie away from herself and looked at him, stunned. Her expression snapped Jamie out of his tantrum. Jamie, who never had such an outburst even as an adult back home on Earth, knew he’d crossed a line.

“James Patrick, you apologize right this instant,” she ordered him. Jamie looked around for any kind of support and saw Rosie in lala land and Jane, embarrassed, focusing on getting her into their stroller.

Jamie’s pride wouldn’t allow him to take it back, and in any case, he was positive he was in the right … overall … mostly … he thought. “No,” he said calmly.

Becky breathed out a thick sigh, shaking her head and apologizing on his behalf. She took him straight to the car, buckled him in, closed the door, and apologized to Jane.

“Go easy on him,” Jane said, though she knew if he were her little, she would do no such thing.

They drove home in silence.