The Bet - Chapter 50 (Saturday – week 7 part 6 of 10)

The Bet
by Karen Singer

Chapter 50 (Saturday – week 7 part 6 of 10)
 
     Mel was just refreshing her lipstick when the knock came at her door.  She immediately recognized that the heavier than usual knock wasn’t anyone who usually came to her apartment.  Derek!  With one last glance in the mirror and a touch to her hair, she hurried out of her bathroom.  Taking a deep breath to steady and calm herself, she opened the door.  “Derek!” she greeting the handsome man happily.  He wasn’t wearing a suit this time, just a nice sport shirt and a nice pair of slacks – while she had dressed to the hilt!
     Derek’s eyes lit up at seeing her and a smile came to his face.  “Wow!  You really dressed up nice tonight.”
     Mel suddenly felt out of place, like she had done something wrong.  So far, this date wasn’t starting out well!  “Did I do wrong?” she asked uncertainly.   
      “No, no!” Derek reassured her.  “You look… great!”
      “Well, I didn’t know what you wanted to do tonight.  You never said… and it is a bit early.”
      “Oh,” Derek replied.  “Sorry.  I didn’t think, I guess.  I just thought we’d go to a movie first and then out to dinner.  There’s a movie that just started that I’ve been waiting to see.  If we go to the early showing, then diner still won’t be too late and we can see where we want to go from there.”
     A movie?  That’s why he wanted to go so early?  “Oh,” Mel said with a bit of disappointment.  “Do I have time to change into something…”
      “No, don’t change.  I’ve got a jacket in the car for afterwards.  We can go someplace later where you can show that dress off.”  He didn’t add that what he would really like to do was to explore a bit more of what the dress didn’t fully hide!
     Uncertainly, Mel grabbed her pursed from the table by the door.  With a slight shrug of her shoulders and a forced smile she replied brightly.  “Let’s go then.”  Just a movie!  And one that he had been waiting to see.  He hadn’t even asked for her opinion.  No, this date wasn’t starting out the best, but she would do her best to be nice and enjoy it.
     Derek’s SUV looked fairly new.  What she couldn’t miss about it though was the company logo on the side.  “Company car?” she asked, stating the obvious as she climbed up into it.  The dress she was wearing wasn’t the best for climbing!
      “They let me drive it,” Derek replied.  “My wife got our other car.  This is all I need.”
     Mel wasn’t used to sitting up so high in a vehicle.  She did like the view of the road she got though as Derek pulled out into traffic.  She could see a lot more than she usually could.  And for a truck, the thing certainly rode well, better than her car.  It was just a bit… bigger than she was used to… not to mention a bit more awkward to get into with a tight short dress on.
      “I usually like to go to the earlier shows,” Derek explained a few minutes later as he pulled into the movie parking lot.  “That way they’re not so crowded.  And I expect this one will be very crowded.”
     Mel didn’t even bother to ask what move he wanted to see.  She could just guess!  She was sure it wouldn’t be anything that really interested her. 
     Once parked, Mel experienced the same awkwardness getting out of his big vehicle that she had experienced getting in.  But at least the thing rode well – it was big inside and really very comfortable.  Just… awkward for her.  She waited silently next to him as he bought the tickets for the movie.  She still hadn’t even bothered to ask which movie he wanted to see since obviously her opinion wouldn’t make a difference.  She realized she had been right as she heard him asking for the tickets.  And the only thought running through her head afterwards was – Oh boy!  A shoot-em-up action movie with no real emotional content at all.  Typical guy film!  She just hoped it wouldn’t last too long or be too gory.

     Chad would have enjoyed his baby experience a lot more if Sandy would just stop pressing the baby bottles at him.  She also seemed to be overly worried about him meeting his leaking deadline.  Fortunately, his last diaper had been no problem, and it was looking like this diaper would be leaking before long too.  Of course, he had no idea what time it was since he couldn’t see any clocks from his position on her floor.  It was little things like that that frustrated him and made him feel so much more helpless – like a baby. 
     He didn’t know what time it was, but his stomach had been telling him he was hungry for a little while now.  The baby food he had eaten for lunch didn’t last very long.  He hoped that whenever Sandy did get around to feeding him his dinner, she wouldn’t make him use just his bare hands again.  He got even less to eat that way.  And now he could see her coming back again.  Was it finally dinner time?  He could only hope as he made some appropriate little baby noises – just for her amusement.
     Sandy looked down at him on the floor.  “Aw…” she said teasingly.  “Aren’t you just the cutest thing.”
     Yeah right!  Chad knew better.  He had to look absolutely ridiculous.
      “But you know what would help you look and act even more like a baby?”
     Chad instantly knew he didn’t want to hear what she was about to say.
      “I think you should drool all the time too, like your friend Robin had you do at work.  I saw the picture and heard all about it.  So let me see you drool just like the little baby that you are.”
     Drool?  Her too?  Ugh! 
      “Come on,” Sandy coaxed.  “I know you can do it.  Show me how you can drool like a good little baby.”
     Chad felt even more embarrassed.  And he really didn’t want to do it, but in his situation he didn’t have much choice in the matter.  So just as he had learned to do with Robin, he pushed some of the spit out of his mouth around his pacifier.  Yuck!  But for Sandy, he didn’t spit out nearly as much as Robin required.  Only enough so that he could feel a little of it running down his chin.
     Sandy giggled.  “Oh that’s so good!  What a good little baby!  Now you just keep doing that all the time now.”  She giggled again.  “Oh, we’re going to have so much fun tonight!”  She noticed then that his bottle was empty again.  She reached down and picked it up.  “I’ll have a nice fresh bottle for you in just a minute.” 
     Chad watched her walk off again.  He didn’t want a fresh bottle.  He wanted dinner!  And what he really wanted was something other than baby food to eat.  Something he could chew!  And she had said they were going to have fun tonight?  Lying around on her blanket was fun for him – to a point, but the truth was, with nothing else to do or to stimulate his mind, it got rather old after a while.  Not really much fun, especially when he had to be concerned with doing nothing but drinking bottle after bottle and keep wetting his diapers constantly so he didn’t get punished.  Fun?  He’d really like to do something different for a change.
     Sandy brought him his bottle, but he was quick to note that as soon as she walked off, she and Cassie went back to the kitchen – where it sounded like they were eating dinner.  Despite all the liquids in his stomach, he was hungry.  But if they were eating, then they would be feeding him very shortly.  He couldn’t wait!  Unfortunately, when they finished eating, all he got was another bottle to drink.  Then they seemed to ignore him for a while.  What about is dinner?
     He didn’t know how long he had been there now.  But eventually,  Sandy came back again.  Dinner time?  But Sandy was carrying his pink baby dress in her hands.
      “Okay kiddo,” Sandy said.  “Time to get you dressed.”
     Dressed?  He hadn’t eaten yet!  Why dress him before he made a mess with his food – which he knew he was bound to do – especially when Sandy was babysitting.
      “Now you just sit there and I’ll do the rest,” Sandy said as she knelt down next to him.  She took his bottle from him and stuck his pacifier back into his mouth.  “You’re not drooling…”  She waited a moment till she saw a bit of slobber working its way down his chin.  “That’s better.  Don’t forget to keep doing that tonight.”
     She pulled the dress over his head and Chad started to stick his arm up through the sleeve.  “Don’t help,” she said kindly.  “I’ll take care of it for you.”  Chad felt even more helpless as she fished his arms through the sleeves without letting him even try to do any of the work.  All it took then was to zip up the back and to straighten it a bit.  “Hmmm,” she mused as she looked him over.  I’ll be right back.”
     Chad was trying to figure out why she had put the dress on him before feeding him dinner.  And now he was also trying to figure out why she had bothered to dress him without changing his diaper first.  It had to be close to his leaking deadline.  He could feel how soggy his diaper was and he was sure it would only be a few more minutes till it started leaking.  And then Sandy came back again – and tied a bib around his neck.  Dinner time!  Finally!
      “I think we’re going to need this,” Sandy said as she tied his bib.  “With all the drooling you’re doing, we don’t want your dress to get ruined.”
     She was worried about his drooling?  How about his dinner?  Unfortunately, she walked off again – not in the direction of the kitchen.  He heard her asking Cassie if she would kindly fix his hair for her.  His hair?  Why would she be worried about his hair?  He was hungry.  Did he need to start crying to get any dinner?  He didn’t want to do it, but if she didn’t feed him something soon – he just might – just to spite her and get some attention!
     He expected Cassie to come by with her brush and who knew what else to do his hair.  But Sandy walked past him first on her way to the kitchen.  It was time to get a bit more forceful!  “Ah ru ba ba eba!” he said as forcefully as his tiny baby voice would allow – the only voice he was allowed to use.  He was rewarded though when he saw that he got her attention.
      “Awww.  What’s the matter baby?” Sandy said as she knelt down next to him.  “How’s your diaper?”  Without expecting any kind of an answer, she immediately stuck her finger into the leg-band and felt around a bit.  “My but you’re wet!  But you’re not leaking yet.  Keep working on it though,” she coaxed kindly. 
      “Ah boo boo,” Chad said angrily, trying desperately to tell her what he really wanted.
     Sandy looked a bit confused, then she smiled.  “Oh my, I set your bottle down way over here.  You could have reached it yourself, but here it is.  Now drink it all up so you can grow big and strong.”  She stuck the nipple in his mouth. 
     Chad had no choice but to take the bottle and start drinking from it again.  And when Sandy got back to her feet and left him, he knew he had failed.  How was he supposed to tell her he was hungry?  The bottle wasn’t what he needed.  He was tired of just drinking.  He needed food!
     Ten seconds later, Cassie was kneeling down next to him with a bag full of things.  She pulled a hairbrush out of the bag and went to work on his hair while he continued to drink his bottle.  A minute later, she stopped to look critically at him.  Then she pulled something out of her bag and he felt her doing something at the top of his head.  He was guessing a bow of some sort.  She stood back to look him over critically again.  “Your hair has grown quite a bit in the last two months,” she noted.  “It’s looking better and better.”  Chad then had to endure her spraying his entire head with some very smelly hairspray.  Yuck!  “I think that should do just fine!” she declared. 
     And then Chad was left alone again with just his baby toys and his bottle.  His stomach growled.  What about his dinner?
     From his spot on his blanket, he had no idea what Sandy and Cassie were doing, but they seemed to be awfully busy.  For what?  Were they expecting company?  He hoped not!  Especially if it might be Jillian and Stacy.  He didn’t ever want to see those two again!  But one thing was for sure, something was going on!
     He was nearly done with his bottle when he felt the faint signs that he was leaking.  He tried to shout some baby gibberish to get their attention, but the only response was from Sandy who called from the other side of the room.  “Oh how nice, baby is playing and having fun.”  Fun?  She had to be kidding.  Finally, since he was worried about his deadline which had to be awfully close by now, he tried crying.  And when that didn’t bring an immediate response, he cried louder and harder!  Which finally brought Sandy at a run.
      “What’s the matter baby?” she asked full of concern.  She quickly knelt down and checked his diaper.  “Oh good!” she exclaimed.  Baby is leaking!  And you’re so early too!”
     Early?  How could he be early?  Of course, he had no idea what time it really was. 
      “You just lay there and finish your bottle and I’ll be right back to change you,” she said as she got to her feet.  “What a good little baby you are, crying to get your diaper changed.”
     Chad had no choice but to do as she said and keep drinking his bottle.  At least he got the point across that he was leaking.  And at least he was going to get changed.  But what about his dinner?  He knew it was awfully weird to be wanting baby food to eat.  But damn it, he was hungry!  Anything would help!
     His bottle had been finished for a few minutes and he was back to drooling around his pacifier by the time Sandy returned with the whole unopened package of diapers.  She ripped the top open right there and fished one out.  As she was removing his overly soaked one, she said, “I guess we need to switch these things out as fast as possible now.  I understand that you can make a mess before anybody knows it!”
     Her statement was more than a bit embarrassing.  Especially since he knew it was all too true.  In short order he was wearing a fresh dry diaper… and Sandy had left him alone again.  How about dinner?
     As he sat on his blanket, he noticed that both Sandy and Cassie seemed to be bringing things over and setting them down by the door.  The big package of diapers Sandy had just opened went over there as did his diaper bag.  And then Cassie came over with a big plastic trash bag and started picking up all his baby toys and putting them in it.  “Crawl off your blanket,” she told him.  “I have to fold it up.”
     Fold it up?  As Chad crawled off of his blanket, he became much more nervous.  It looked like they were going somewhere again.  And he had no doubt where that someplace would be – Jillian’s and Stacy’s apartment.  He suddenly wasn’t nearly as hungry as fear gripped his stomach instead.  He realized he was peeing fairly heavily in his diaper again, but was it out of fear, or just because he had been wetting so much lately?  Not that it mattered.
      “Okay,” Sandy finally said, “I think we’re ready!”
     Chad’s fear instantly increased.  This wasn’t going to be good!
      “Let’s go baby.  Crawl over here to the door.”
     Chad hesitated a moment, but delaying very long would be pointless.  So reluctantly, he crawled toward her as he saw Cassie picking up some things to carry them down to the car.
     Sandy watched Sissy crawling over to her.  He wasn’t exactly moving very fast, but she didn’t care.  She was fairly sure he had no idea what was going on tonight so this was going to be a big surprise for him.  Once he had reached her and sat down on his wet bottom to look up at her, she put a very serious look on her face.  “We’re going out tonight,” she said in a no-nonsense tone of voice, “and I’m afraid I’m going to have to let you get up and walk to get down to the car and then to get where we’re going.  But as soon as we get there, you’ll be crawling again.” 
     She paused because she wanted him to know how serious she was about what she was going to say next.  “Tonight… I expect you to be a complete baby in every way possible.  You don’t make any sound except baby sounds, you don’t do anything except what a baby would do – nothing!  All night!  No matter what!  You’re a baby!  Nothing but a baby!  All you can do is act like one.  Remember that!”  She paused again.  “Because if you don’t… Well, this is important to me, and I’m going to make sure you regret it for the rest of your life!”
     The way she had said that last statement scared him enough to send chills down his spine.  He simply looked up at her in horror – and felt himself peeing helplessly yet again.
     Sandy could see that he realized how serious she was.  “Okay, since I think you understand me now, crawl out the door and stand up.  You can walk down to the car.”
     Chad actually crawled out the door before he dared to stand up.  And like a child, Sandy took his hand and held it all the way down to Cassie’s car.  Cassie opened the back door for him and let him get in.  Then Sandy reached across and buckled him in securely.  Before she closed the car door, she handed him another baby bottle.  “Don’t forget,” she said, “you still have a deadline to meet.”
     Chad was getting awfully used to drinking baby bottles as he was driven around town.  He was horribly embarrassed about it, but if he didn’t keep drinking, then he couldn’t meet his never ending deadlines.  But as Cassie pulled the car out of the parking lot, his big question was, where were they going?  He prayed it wouldn’t be to Jillian and Stacy’s apartment.  He peed again at the thought of that!