Done Adulting Vol. 2 Ch. 26

“Well,” Jamie said as he stood in the living room and looked around, “it’s bigger than my last apartment.”

“Ha! I’m sure,” Amanda replied. “Do you like it?”

“I like it enough. You saw this one already?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you check it out?”

“Like how?”

“Check all the faucets, check all the light switches, check the cabinets and doors, listen for your neighbors.”

“Oh. Then, no.”

“Good thing you brought me then.” Jamie showed Manda all the things to check in an apartment before leasing it. It was, after all, her first, but not his. Outside the apartment, Amanda showed him the club house and the pool. He liked it, and they headed back to the leasing office.

“He approves,” Amanda told the woman behind the desk.

“Will he be staying with you,” she asked.

“Of course. I’m his guardian.”

“Oh. In that case, we have a little more paperwork for you to fill out, and there would of course be a little fee added to the monthly rent, plus a one-time little deposit.”

“Oh,” Amanda said while Jamie looked on, suppressing an offended expression. “I didn’t realize you charged for littles.”

“Just for the extra wear and tear on the unit,” the woman assured her. She wasn’t rude or condescending about it. “Most places charge it.”

“Um, why exactly?”

“Well, littles can be a little rough on the walls and carpet, plus when you move out we’d have to remediate for the smell.”

“Excuse me,” Jamie interjected. The woman glanced his way without taking her eyes off Amanda.

“How is it different than having an infant or toddler,” Amanda asked.

“Well,” the woman said, “a little isn’t an amazon.” The woman wasn’t embarrassed to say it, which told Jamie this was acceptable kind of discrimination against humans.

“Can we go back to the smell thing you just said,” Jamie asked indignantly. “What smell?” Amanda leaned over and whispered into his ear. “But my room doesn’t smell,” Jamie said when Amanda sat back. “Does it?”

“Of course not, honey.” Manda turned her attention back to the agent. “How much extra is it a month?”

“150, plus the additional deposit is 500”

“Oh. I guess we’ll need to think on it.” They took the paperwork and left.

In the car, Jamie asked, “You didn’t know there’s a little fee?”

“No. It never occurred to me there might be. I can see their point if the little was regressed, but it’s not like you’re gonna be drawing on the walls and spilling stuff on the carpet.”

“My room doesn’t smell. Does it? Were you just saying that?”

“It smells like a nursery.”

“What does that mean?”

“That it smells like little powder, mostly. Listen, I know plenty of people with littles who don’t empty the diaper pail twice a day like us, so that’s where that woman was coming from.”

“Ya know,” Jamie said, “it really doesn’t help me feel like an equal person when apartments wanna charge extra to let you live there.”

“I’m not sure she was a hundred percent correct when she said most every place charges that.”

“Could you afford that much extra?” Jamie had never bothered to learn the currency. The closest he ever came to paying for anything was when Becky gave him a little money to buy Christmas and birthday presents for others, or for when the ice cream man came through the neighborhood.

“Only if Mom pays it. She’s going to pay half already though. With my measly assistantship I can’t afford a two bedroom on my own.”

“So where to next?” They had the afternoon set aside to go look at other apartments.

“Home, I think. I think I should call these places and find out if they have a littles policy before we go to each one … Sorry. I knew they all allowed littles – every place does – I just didn’t realize some charge for it.”

“Maybe if we call and explain I’m not regressed.”

“That may help.”

“But if it doesn’t, then I’m just gonna take that to mean I can color on the wall. I mean, we’d be paying for it, right?”

“Right, no, you should totally trash the place when our lease is up.”

They got home and headed inside, where Becky was surprised to see them. “Why are you guys back? Did you sign a lease?” Amanda explained it to Becky. “Oh, well, yeah, call around, and we’ll see what we can figure out.”

“May I go see if Amy is home?”

“Just as soon as we get your pants changed,” Becky said as she picked him up. She took the opportunity to ask Jamie how he was feeling.

“About them charging extra for me? I see where they’re coming from, but … I like to think I’m more than just a nice-to-have.”

“What do you mean,” Becky said as she changed Jamie’s wet diaper.

“Where I’m from, you pay extra for pets, but no one charges for having a kid. Probably the same here, right? They wouldn’t charge extra for an infant or toddler; probably couldn’t, even, legally. So I hear the whole ‘Itali thinks littles are people’ thing, but we’re not in some ways, are we? Like when it comes to renting apartments, we’re no different from pets.”

Becky sighed. “At least to the company who owns that apartment complex, I guess not. I’m sorry, Jamie.”

“It doesn’t surprise me. I mean, look where the little food aisle is in the grocery store.” Becky thought on that: it was between the pet food aisle and the baby aisle.

“Yeah. I guess I never noticed before.” She taped a clean diaper on him. She picked Jamie up and wrapped her arms around him. “But you know you are a person to me, right? You’re one of my two favorite people in the whole wide world.”

“I know. I love you, too.” And Jamie knew that probably everybody who had a little felt that same way, but somehow that feeling that so many people held toward individuals didn’t carry over to how littles were treated by society. Jamie had known that pretty much since his arrival. He had quickly figured out that having the rights of a minor, as per the adoption contract and all the laws governing littles, didn’t really mean he was a minor in the eyes of the law. Having the rights of a minor protected him in a lot of ways but made him subject to the whims of amazons in many others. Becky set him down.

“Tell Amy hello for us.”

Jamie left and walked across the yard to Amy’s and knocked on their door. Amy’s mom answered.

“Hi, Andrea.”

“Hey, Jamie. Here to see Amy?”

“Yeah. Is she home?” Andrea had divorced her husband shortly after Amy started college, and now it was just the two of them in the house. The whole neighborhood was pleased with his departure, including Amy. Her father had never been a kind person.

“Sure. She’s upstairs. You want me to call her?”

“No, thank you. I’ll go up to her.” Jamie climbed the stairs to Amy’s room and knocked on the door. “It’s Jamie,” he said.

“Hey, buddy,” Amy said as she opened the door. “Coming over to hang out?”

“Yeah. I was out seeing apartments with Manda.” She picked him up and set him on the bed. He scooched over to the corner and reclined against the pillows. She sat down next to him.

“See any you liked?”

“Yeah, if she can afford it. What have you been up to all summer? I’ve only seen you once or twice.”

“I got a job nannying for the summer.”

“Kids or littles?”

“Kids. Boy and girl. Boy doesn’t really need much attention, but the girl is younger.”

“Do you like it?”

“Yeah, for the most part. Pays well.”

“So you’re not taking any classes this summer?”

“No. I decided I’m not in a rush. I have zero desire to graduate any earlier than I have to.”

“Sound idea,” Jamie replied. He told her that a year ago when she was getting ready for her first semester: nothing all that fun about adulthood, so take your time in the extended adolescence known as college.

“What about you,” she asked. “How are you doing?” Jamie didn’t think anyone had told her about Ella. Why would they? He didn’t mention it, either.

“I’m okay. Getting used to the idea of Amanda moving out.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I’m getting there.”

“Anything you need to talk about?”

“No. I’m good. Right now.”

“Wanna go kick the ball around?”

“Yeah.” They went downstairs and to the backyard, where Amy still had a net set up. Her football was much too large for Jamie, but Jamie kept one of his in her backyard. She enjoyed it much more than Manda did. Jamie wasn’t a big football fan, anyway, but he did like to just pass the ball back and forth and shoot on the goal.

“Do you miss this,” Jamie asked as he passed to her.

“Playing with you? Of course.”

“No, I mean playing on a team.” Amy had played organized football through her entire school career. Jamie, Manda, and Becky had all gone to see her last game in secondary school. Like all the seniors, Amy had cried after the game. It was the end of a major part of her life. It had been Jamie’s idea to put a bow on his football and walk over the next morning to ask if she wanted to play with him.

“I played on an intramural team this year. Not exactly the same, but I enjoy it more in some ways. Not so competitive. Kinda just get to have fun again.”

“That’s good.”

“You and Manda should come meet me with the kids one of these days. We’ll go get ice cream or something.”

“That’d be fun. Wanna try to stop some shots?” The bigger goal made it easier for Jamie, but the bigger goalie balanced it out. For her part, Amy had to get much lower to stop the ball. Exactly one try had been enough for them to realize that Jamie couldn’t play goalie against a big.

Jamie lined up and gave the ball his best kick, and Amy blocked it. He liked that she didn’t patronize him and let him score. She rolled it back to him. Becky stuck her head over the fence after a while.

“Hi, Amy. Jamie behaving himself?”

“Of course not,” Amy answered.

“I’m a born troublemaker,” Jamie replied, never quite sure why Becky always asked that when he spent time with Amy or when someone other than Amanda or Stacy looked after him. He supposed it was just instinct, like part of being a good big is making sure your little behaves for other bigs.

“You and your mom are welcome to come over for dinner tonight. We’re going to grill and probably eat outside if it stays nice out.”

“Thanks, but I think we both have plans tonight.”

“Really? Your mom had plans the last weekend too.”

“Yeah,” Amy replied.

“We’ll just have to plan a little farther in advance then. Jamie,” Becky said, “a half hour more, and then come home, okay?”

“I’ll make sure he gets there.”

She did, and an hour after, when Jamie woke up from his nap, he reflected that he wasn’t so much tired of nap time as he was tired of nap time being necessary. He wished he could reset his internal clock to not need any more sleep than a big, but that would never happen. The door cracked, and it was, as it almost always was, Manda. He pretended to be asleep and listened carefully for her to walk across the room. When he heard her palms touch the crib rail, he jumped up with a loud, “BOO!”

“Ahh!” Amanda jumped back. “Jamie!”

“Hehehehehe!”

“You little stinker,” Amanda said as she took her hand away from her chest. “What’d you do that for?”

“Sorry,” he said while still chuckling, “just gotta find ways to keep life interesting. Consider it payback for the hundreds of times you tickled me.”

“Oh yeah?” Cornered in his crib, Jamie had nowhere to run or hide. All he could do was use his bear as a teddy shield. Amanda went around the bear, grabbing both of his ankles in one hand and yanking them out from under him, leaving Jamie on his back.

“No!”

“Yes,” Amanda countered as she started at his toes and worked her way upwards one tickle spot at a time, leaving no spot less than thoroughly assaulted by her fingertips. There was no place for Jamie to squirm away to, and neither his laughter nor tears nor squeals provoked any sympathy.

“Say it,” she demanded.

“Never!”

So she redoubled her efforts. “Say it! Whose bear are you?”

“Hehehehe! I’m yours! Hehehe!”

“My what?”

“I’m your bear!”

“Darn right you’re my bear.” She plucked him from crib, tossed him over her shoulder like a sack and swatted his butt twice on the way to the changing table. Jamie had come to like being across her shoulder and the firm pats to his rump, a reminder that he was her bear and always would be. She laid him on the table.

“Did you find anything out,” he asked.

“I was partly right. Not all places charge extra for littles. Or at least monthly. A deposit is common, but that’s not very much.”

“Any of the places you like not charge it?”

“A few. One of them was my third choice, so I guess now that’s my first choice.”

“Why was it your third choice?”

“A lot of undergrads live there, and it’s one of the pricier ones. Still less expensive than the ones that add on for littles.”

“Don’t want to live with undergrads?”

“I’m not sure. I’m a bit worried about the noise.”

“We should go look tomorrow night.”

“The office isn’t open in the evenings.”

“I know. I mean we should go at night and see if there’s a loud party or something.”

“Oh. That’s a smart idea.”

“And if there is, we should stay and play beer pong.”

“What’s beer pong?”

“Oh, we should definitely stay.”

“All clean,” Amanda announced as she threw the used diaper away. “Do you want your bath before dinner or after?”

“After.” Amanda got him into a clean diaper and left him pantsless, carrying him into the kitchen.

“Baby Bear,” Becky said as she reached out and took him from Manda. “Did you get enough sleep?”

“Mhmm.”

“Tell her what you did,” Manda said.

“I didn’t do anything,” Jamie insisted. “All I did, see, was say, ‘Amanda, I love you so, so much,’ and she started violently tickling me. I was defenseless. I’m just a little, after all. We’re at the mercy of your good intentions.”

“Hold him still, Mom. I’m not done with him.”

“Oh, yes, you are. Mama’s not gonna let anything happen to her Baby Bear.”

“Fine,” Amanda said, “I’ll just have to ambush him again later.”

“See?!? She admits it!”

“You’re a little wound up,” Becky said and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek.

“Well, I had a good day,” Jamie replied.