Nanny Vanessa, Chapter One

Author’s Note: Commissioned by Rose. Thank you for your pledge, and for all the story ideas!

Chapter One

“Hey, Elliott? Come on downstairs. She’ll be here any minute.”

As in, his babysitter. It was more annoying than embarrassing. Elliott was twenty years old, and way too old to need supervision while his parents were away for the weekend. As they had explained to him, however, this was more about his grades than his ability to stay out of trouble. Though he had coasted through his first year of university, the same couldn’t be said about his time as a sophomore. Elliott had low Bs in half his classes and mid Cs in the others. And, since he was living at home to save on room and board, his parents were well aware that he had a habit of slacking off and choosing video games over studying.

He tried to assure them that he would be fine, just like he had been in December. Admittedly, he had crammed pretty hard in order to pass those exams, yet that also proved he was capable of doing the same this time around. His parents were less confident, especially since failing any of his classes meant that he would lose his scholarship. Which is why they hired Vanessa to make sure he studied properly over the weekend while they were on vacation.

Vanessa was a neighbor, a young adult who had moved in a few months ago and had quickly established herself as a competent nanny. Between her experience and her availability, which couldn’t always be said for younger babysitters, she had great reviews and barely needed to advertise her services any more. Elliott’s parents, for example, met her at a neighborhood event once, and later heard good things about her from a couple a few doors down. There was also the fact that they couldn’t hire a teenager to watch their college aged son, so it made way more sense to ask someone like Vanessa.

Elliott had never met her before, as he didn’t go to those events any more. He was too old to hang out with the neighborhood kids, and too young to have any interest in socializing with the adults. That, and he preferred gaming these days. It’s what he was doing when his mother called him from the main floor. Thankfully, he was playing a single player game with a pause function, or he would have to deal with the age-old explanation of how he couldn’t just drop everything when his teammates were relying on him and he had to finish the round before getting up.

He quietly groaned to himself and stood up, heading out of his room and down the stairs to be polite and greet Vanessa. Maybe she would stay out of his hair if he played nice from the beginning. After all, he was a young adult himself, even if being in university didn’t make him quite as grown up as the nanny who had her own house and was running her own business. Hopefully she would realize that Elliott was self-sufficient enough, and proceed to leave him alone and take the easy money.

The doorbell rang just as he reached the top step. Elliott only hesitated for a moment, before continuing the descent. He wasn’t sure what to expect, though there was really no reason to be nervous. This was all going to be more of an inconvenience than anything else.

He definitely hadn’t prepared himself for Vanessa to be hot. As his mother opened the door, the redhead on the other side came into view, wearing a red dress that was quite the contrast to the t-shirt/jeans combo his babysitters tended to wear back when he was young enough to actually need someone around when his parents went out.

“Good afternoon,” she smiled, “And thank you again for the opportunity. It’s always exciting to work with a new family.”

“I’m just glad you were free this weekend,” his mother said, “Come on in. I can give you a quick tour, and answer any questions you have before heading out. Elliott is upstairs, but should be down in a minute.”

The stairs led right down to the front door, so Vanessa could easily see him in the background. “That must be him,” she said, “Hey, Elliott. Ready for a productive weekend?”

“Something like that,” he muttered. Her attractiveness was a little disarming. Though she was being ever so slightly patronizing with her greeting, he couldn’t help but wonder if he had a chance with her. Maybe not, considering the 5-8 year age gap; it was tough to get an immediate read on how old she was.

Vanessa stepped inside, complete with her duffel bag slung over one shoulder, “A tour would be lovely. Elliott, do you mind gathering your academic materials for me in the meantime? I was given an overview of what you need to get done this weekend, but I’d love to go over the specifics with you.”

Short of being needlessly difficult, he didn’t have a reason to say ‘no.’ The good news was, it was university. His parents only knew what classes he was taking, as well as the broad strokes of his GPA. Unlike high school, they weren’t in communication with his professors or anything like that. Ideally, he could ensure that Vanessa was in a similar boat in terms of not knowing exactly what he had to get done by Monday.

He returned to his room, as there was no reason to tag along for a tour. Unlike babysitters from his childhood, Vanessa would be staying overnight, likely in the guest bedroom. Other than that, he assumed it would be the same. Ordering pizza with whatever money his parents were leaving with her, or perhaps cooking if she was into that; it really depended on the sitter. Of course, he preferred the former option.

As for the materials she requested, there wasn’t much for Elliott to show. The semester was nearly over, which meant he only had a few assignments left to deal with. Other than that, it was simply a matter of studying for his exams the following week, which he hadn’t planned on starting until Tuesday or Wednesday. Not wanting to look bad, he at least took the effort to pull out each syllabus and turn to the last page. Partly to show Vanessa that her services weren’t actually needed, and because looking disorganized would validate his parents’ decision to hire her in the first place.

Other than that, he wasn’t sure what to do while he waited. Deciding to avoid smalltalk and a drawn out departure where his parents were involved, he opted to stay in his room for the time being. It would be easier to figure out whatever his dynamic with Vanessa would be if he didn’t have to do so in front of his family.

It didn’t take long for the tour to bring Vanessa to his bedroom; Elliott hadn’t considered that when returning to his desk and looking up potential builds for one of his mains in the MOBA he and his friends were into. There was no point in resuming what he was playing earlier, as he’d have to deal with Vanessa sooner rather than later anyway.

“Hmm. It’s pretty messy in here,” Vanessa said. Barely one step into the room, and clearly in babysitter mode. “Maybe we should tackle this first? I bet you’ll be more productive in a cleaner space.”

Hopefully she was just putting on a show for his mother, who was standing right there. Elliott did regret not tidying a bit before the tour led them upstairs. In his defense, this had been his bedroom for his whole life, and his habits hadn’t changed much since starting university. And, since he lived with his parents, there weren’t many opportunities for him to have a girl over. Though Vanessa was attractive, it wasn’t as if she was an instant crush or anything like that. At the same time, first impressions were still important.

“Couldn’t hurt,” his mother agreed, “Although, good luck. I’ve mentioned the clutter for years. Anyway, are you all set here, Vanessa?”

“Of course,” she nodded, “I’ve got both your numbers on speed dial for the weekend, as well as Leslie’s next door in case of emergency. Plus Elliott is older than my usual charges, so I’m sure he won’t be a problem. Isn’t that right, Elliott?”

He was definitely old enough to understand a lose/lose question like that. Disagreeing would make him sound immature and needlessly difficult, yet he couldn’t think of a way to answer in the affirmative that wouldn’t sound almost as immature as doing the opposite. “We can still let Vanessa go home,” he pointed out, aiming to make it sound nonchalant. For whatever reason, he didn’t want to potentially hurt her, “Save a little money, and let me worry about school by myself?”

“Vanessa is here because I’m worried about school,” she said, “Besides, she probably turned down another job or two after committing to this; it wouldn’t be fair to fire her at the last minute.”

“You’re too kind,” Vanessa said, “And don’t worry, Elliott. I’m just here to supervise you. As long as you behave and get all your work done, we’ll get along just fine!”

Uh huh. Except it still sounded like she was talking down to him. Probably a habit from being a nanny for said younger charges. “Great. Class information is right here.” He tapped the side of the desk that wasn’t occupied by all of his gaming stuff.

“Thank you for putting that together for me,” she replied, with that same smile, “Why don’t you start by cleaning your room while I get settled? We can get started once your parents are on the road. Sound good?”

Not really. But Vanessa turned and left the room without waiting for an answer.

Elliott wasn’t sure where to start. He still had the teenage mentality that a pristine bedroom was idiotic when it made just as much sense knowing where everything was amidst a bit of organized chaos. His room also wasn’t that bad, especially compared to a number of his friends. Even so, he at least made the effort to pick up a few things off the floor and dealt with some of the more obvious corners that Vanessa might get on his case about. He was assuming she wasn’t expecting perfection, considering the main reason she was hired was for the sake of keeping him on task where his studying was involved.

He only had a few minutes before he was being called down to the main floor again. The goodbye ritual with his parents was fairly quick. After living at home for his whole life, it wasn’t that unusual for them to be gone for a weekend. Normally he would either enjoy the place to himself the entire time, or host a LAN party with his friends that still lived in town. Obviously, either of those options were preferable to studying on someone else’s schedule besides his own.

Once it was just the two of them, Vanessa got right to it. “Okay! Let’s go check on the progress you’ve made with your room, and then we can take a look at your classes.”

“Umm, sure,” he said. Now he could attempt to set up some dynamic with her where she didn’t feel the need to pressure him to study, let alone do something like clean his bedroom. Thanks to the dress she had on, casual as it was, he felt several underdressed by comparison. “I really can deal with the school stuff myself, by the way. My parents are a bit paranoid about me failing, that’s all.”

“Hmm, I guess there’s only one way to find out if I really need to be here or not,” she shrugged. She gestured towards the stairs, “Lead the way. Oh, and is ‘not failing’ really the best goal? I think you could pull a B in every class if you put your mind to it. It might even help to have someone around to keep you on task!”

Elliott didn’t dignify that with a response. It was clear what she was getting at, and he was stuck in an equally impossible position of validating her supervision no matter what he did. Procrastinating would prove her point, while starting immediately would be as if it was happening because she told him to. He simply began walking, weighing other options along the way.

As they stepped into the room together, Vanessa was once again quick to comment. “There’s still so much to do!” Giving the space a more thorough look, she clasped her hands together. “Okay. Why don’t you keep cleaning, and I’ll take a look at all your school stuff. Teamwork, yeah? Then we can make a plan afterwards.”

“Why don’t we just work downstairs? That’s where I usually do my homework, anyway.” A total lie; Elliott was banking on the assumption that his parents wouldn’t have mentioned something like that to Vanessa. He wasn’t necessarily opposed to cleaning his room, though he also didn’t enjoy a nanny telling his young adult self to do so.

“You should still have a tidy room,” she insisted, “Trust me, it will put you in a better headspace for studying. Speaking of your bedroom, it kind of smells like boy in here. Have you showered today?”

He definitely didn’t see that coming. “Umm, yeah,” he said. Most mornings, as he had class every day. Not always on the weekend, as there were some days he would just be lounging in his room without any plans.

“Huh. Well, maybe apply a bit more deodorant, just in case? It also couldn’t hurt to vacuum and do laundry. Don’t worry, I can help with some of that. Your main focus this weekend should be on your studies!”

Well, so much for Vanessa treating him like an adult. She was making it sound like he was a teenager, especially in the way she mentioned his hygiene. “Everything’s on the desk,” he reminded her. The sooner she checked out the syllabi for his classes, the sooner they could move past what was turning into an awkward introduction.

In the meantime, Elliott picked up where he left off in terms of tidying his room. Mostly since he wasn’t sure what else to do. Since Vanessa was at his normal spot, seated in his gaming chair and getting acquainted with what he needed to know for the upcoming exams, that really only left the bed. Plus his phone was still on the edge of the desk, and he was also trying to balance making a good first impression with not letting her treat him too much like a kid.

A few minutes later, she glanced over her shoulder. “Elliott? Deodorant, remember?”

Wait, that wasn’t a suggestion? He honestly didn’t know how to respond to something like that. “I already did,” he said. It had to be a joke. He was way too old to need that kind of oversight. “After my shower.”

“It can’t hurt to apply a little more,” she said, “You don’t mind, do you?”

He frowned slightly in frustration. “I guess not.” It was as if everything she said was a perfectly designed trap, yet always subtle enough that he couldn’t call her out on what she was doing. Such a simple request wasn’t worth arguing over, but being sent to the bathroom as a twenty year old for the sake of hygiene? That, and the fact that an attractive girl was implying that he smelled bad. Or, in her words, ‘like boy.’ Either way, it was tough to avoid feeling self conscious about it, even if he was convinced he had been thorough enough that morning.

One perk of being an only child was that he had his own bathroom upstairs, rather than one he would otherwise have to share with a sibling. It only took a minute to head in and do a quick pass with the stick of deodorant. He was tempted to do nothing and see if she noticed, but decided against it. For all he knew, she could be right, though he was still convinced she was just making a bad assumption. More likely, the problem was his full hamper of dirty laundry, or maybe something else.

When he returned, Vanessa greeted him with a smile. “Thanks, Elliott. Your room is looking better, too. If it’s not too imposing, I’d be happy to take over while you work. I think I have a general sense of your classes, though I’ll definitely look more in depth at all the ones you’re not currently studying in a few minutes. From what I can tell, Sociology looks like one of the more difficult courses. What’s your grade in that one currently, if I may ask?”

Elliott considered lying. That was the thing about his parents hiring someone like Vanessa; she didn’t know anything about his classes or his GPA, nor was she a tutor. It was simply a matter of supervision. “A high C, I think,” he said, only slightly stretching the truth. Last he checked, it was closer to a C- than a C+, which meant it was one of the classes he would be cramming for more than the rest.

“Well, then we have some work to do,” she said, “If you ace your exam, you can for sure bump that to a B. Maybe even a B+, based on the grading percentages I’m seeing here. Want to start with Sociology, then?”

“Sure,” he replied. It didn’t really matter to him. Anything to remind Vanessa that he was a college student, and she was only here to worry about his studies.

“Sounds like a plan,” she nodded, “Okay, get all your things for Sociology and meet me downstairs wherever you like to study. Kitchen? Living room?”

Bedroom. Except he was committed to his recent lie. “Living room,” he said. More comfortable.

“Got it. I can trust you up here alone for a minute or two, right?” she asked, “I’ll be downstairs.”

The moment she turned the corner, Elliott sighed. It was going to be a long weekend.