Picture of Cade up top
The room was dust free and every album alphabetized before Ms. Nancy comes to get me for lunch. Her frowning face is a welcome sight after being locked away in a room all morning. Her eyes sweeps over the room and her tight lip loosens just a little bit. I guess that's as good as a good job I'm going to get from her.
When she's done observing what I've done she silently motions for me to step out the room and I follow her quietly down the hall Cade and I walked down this morning and into the kitchen.
The smell of fried chicken hits me the second I walk into the room and my stomach growls in appreciation. Despite being hungry I'm still able to note what an impressive kitchen this is.
It's all stainless steel appliances and marble white counter-tops.
"Is this that young thang you were telling me about Nancy?" A brown, round lady asks in a high-pitched voice.
"It sure is." Ms. Nancy replies before she side-steps around me and walks on over to the counter to help herself to the food. "Fix yourself a plate. You must be hungry." She orders me.
"Poor thing looks like she hasn't eaten in days." Ms. Victoria comments. I don't bother responding as I head over to the stack of plates and help myself to the food cooked. It was fried chicken, mac and cheese, and mash potatoes.
"I saved you a seat." Cade smiles at me as he pulls out the stool next to him.
"Thanks." I return his smile as I take a seat.
I eat in silence while everyone else around me talks about what needs to be done before Mr. Lyons arrives and what meal they thought would be perfect for tomorrow tonight.
When lunch is over, I offer to clean the dishes and when I was done Ms. Nancy leads me to the living room. This time I'm able to focus on more than just the view of the beach.
I walk further into the room and wander over to the fireplace where several framed pictures line the wall. There are several of a little boy and the further down I walked the older he seems to get. His face is familiar. It's a face I've seen consistently on my TV screen and on the posters Layla has on her side of the room. He's pop sensation and teen heart throb Drew Lyons.
I turn to stare at Ms. Nancy, a curious knot between my brows.
"This is just one of his houses. He will be arriving here tomorrow with his manager. Can you handle this?" She asks and I mutely nod my head, unable to wrap my head around the fact that of all the rich people this house could've belonged to, it ended up belonging to my little sister's celebrity crush and one of the hottest names in the music industry. "He travels a lot and fell in love with this place. Not many people know about it. That's why we don't hire people your age. This is the only place where he can escape the limelight. There's still paparazzi and of course fans but there's a level of respect since we're a small town. Most of his crew spends a lot of time here too since it's like a home away from home to them. So you will be fired if any information about him or the people that comes through here leaks out into the media."
I nod my head, understanding. "No interviews with TMZ, got it." I joke, hoping she'd crack a smile.
It didn't work.
Straightening my shoulders and staring at her head on, I say, "Taking care of my family is the only thing that matters. Drew Lyons won't get in the way of that." I reassure her as best I can.
Ms. Nancy nods her head but doesn't look like she believes me.
***
For the rest of the day, I throw myself into my work. At the end, Ms. Nancy finds me and tells me that I'm a good worker and can actually be an asset here then she tells me to go home. She tells me what time to come back tomorrow and gives me my own uniform that I need to start wearing starting tomorrow. I thank her and wish her a good night before heading home.
Now that I'm away from Ms. Nancy's piercing stare I can admit that Drew is fun to look at.
God took his time creating that boy.
But it doesn't matter because anyone who looks as good as he does and have his level of success was sure to be arrogant. And looks like that means nothing to me if your personality is ugly.
Besides, it isn't like I'm his type anyway.
Based on everything Layla has told me about him, I'm the complete opposite of the girls my sister tells me he hangs out with. According to Layla, Drew has a thing for blondes. And not just any blonde, blondes who are Victoria Secret models. Even if Drew was remotely in my league, I don't care about guys right now. Boyfriends and dating are a foreign concept to me since I never experienced either. There was always something more important to focus on like making sure Layla was doing well in school or that our mom had enough money to pay bills and cover expenses.
But just because I'm not interested in guys didn't mean they aren't interested in me. Thanks to my high cheekbone, dimples, and plump lips I inherited from Celine, I have an exotic look about me that guys seem to find attractive.
But when it comes to personalities, Celine and I couldn't be anymore different. And instead of taking offense to that, I thanked my lucky stars that I'm nothing like my mom. According to her, I'm boring and if that means I won't be following in her footsteps, that's a title I'll gladly accept.
The apartment complex we live in is in a town over called Tempe, which lives up to it's not so great reputation. It's dark by the time I arrive home which puts me on alert until I'm safely tucked inside.
I lock the door behind me then shout for Celine.
"Mom!" With only a hallway and two bedrooms, I know she's here somewhere.
"In the living room child! No need for all that yelling." I hear her snap and I follow her voice into the living room. There I find her relaxing in the recliner the same way I found her in the morning, but at least this time she looks like she showered and changed.
Her eyes land on me and she grins. "Hey baby! How was it? Did that bitch Ms. Nancy give you a hard time? She did, didn't she? And you probably took it like a little punk." I listen to her insult me with a grain of salt. I want to say something to her but she's my mom at the end of the day.
"Nancy was fine and I got the job so you're off the hook."
"That's wonderful baby. You really helping out your mama doing this." She tells me. Of course I'm going to do all I can to make sure Layla and I survive and she knows that too. It's almost as if she planned this whole thing.
"It's no problem, but you have to stop doing this mom. You have a problem." I motion to the half empty bottle of Vodka on the table.
"I don't have a problem okay? It's just a few drinks here and there. I can stop whenever I want to." Says every addict in the world. "Now if you're done being all up in my business... why don't you go fix us something to eat? I'm starving." She tells me.
I already know what I'm going to cook for dinner. Before things got to where they are now, mom had actually been a great cook and taught me everything I know. I started helping out when I was six and by the time I was twelve I was the one making sure there was dinner on the table.
With the macaroni boiling and the tomato sauce simmering, I head to my room to change.
I strip out of the jeans and graphic tee I wore and traded it for a pair of black sweatpants and a loose fitting grey t-shirt.
The noodles are sticking to the bottom of the pot when I return and the meat sauce was nice and brown. I turn off the heat under the both of them before fixing both myself and Celine a plate.
"Is the food ready yet?" Celine shouts.
"Yes! I'm fixing us plates right now!" I call back out to her.
"Well hurry up!"
"I'm coming!" I place a fork in both of the plates then carry Celine's plate over to her. She thanks me and jumps right in. I go back to the kitchen and take my own plate of food into my room. I pull out my laptop and pull up Netflix while I wait for my food to cool down. The theme song for "Friends" start playing and I sit back on my bed with my legs crossed and dig into my pasta while watching my new favorite show.
It's been a long day and there was no better way to end it then with food and Joey Tribbiani.
***
The next day I don't have to be searched when I get to the house and I'm given my own I.D card to use from here on out. Cade is more chatty today and Ms. Nancy even gives me a small smile. After lunch everyone seems to run around with their heads cut off once they get the call that Drew boarded his plane and will arrive in a few hours. I'm sent to do a last minute check up on all the rooms and bathrooms, making sure that Drew and his guest have everything they needed while they are here.
So far so good.
I just have one more room to go.
It was the only room on the third floor.
It has to be Drew's bedroom.
I expect animal print carpets, a water bed, and a mirror on the ceiling when I open the door, but I get the complete opposite.
The walls are a painted a smoky gray color which compliments the black king sized upholstered bed that sits in the center of the room and faces a modern fireplace. They're black nightstand tables on each side of the bed with a small lamp on one of them. There's a double door that I assume is the closet. The room is spacious but scarcely furnished beside the black dresser that faced the bed. Framed pictures decorate the top of the dresser and line up on the top and just like the pictures on the fireplace, I can't help but gravitate towards them. There's one picture in particular that stands out among the rest of them. It's a picture of Drew with another guy who shares a lot of the same features, only the other guy appears to be a few years younger. The two of them stand side by side, their hands clasped in front of them and they are dressed in suits. The both of them fill out a suit nicely but the other guy doesn't look half as good as Drew does.
He's all dimples, showing that damn near perfect smile of his.
I roll my eyes and scoff.
"That's not usually the reaction I'm used to getting." A smooth, raspy voice reaches my ear and I nearly freeze in place. Startled, I turn around slowly and suddenly I'm faced with Mr. Dimples and Perfect Smile himself.
Sweet. Baby. Jesus.
He's gorgeous. Gorgeous in a way that I'd pay money just to be able to watch him breathe. He's tall, a whole foot taller than I am with broad shoulders and biceps the size of boulders. Tuffs of his dark brown hair spills out from the dark basketball cap he has turned backwards on his head. Five o'clock shadow, sculpted jaw, lush lips completed the package of every teenage girl's dream. And his eyes... they were a deep shade of brown framed by long, dark lashes.
I stand there frozen, unsure of what to do since I think Ms. Nancy wanted to warn him about my presence first. He doesn't seem angry that someone close to his age is in his home which makes me relax a little bit.
"I was just leaving." I duck my head and hurry past him and out the door. At least that was the goal until I bumped into it instead. Pain surges through my shoulder and I want to cry out. Instead, I bite my lip and glance back at Drew hoping that by some miracle he didn't see that. He's laughing, clearly amused and it just makes his already ridiculously beautiful face even more attractive when the crinkles by his eyes appear.
I can feel the heat rising in my cheeks and I stare down at the carpet and this time I actually make it out of the room.