The Lifeguard Hates You (Completed)

August Chapter 1

I made Rory call her parents as soon as possible to ask if her house was free for a bunch of twenty-somethings to crash at so they could run around Toronto and found that that is was available. Her parents were still in Toronto, so they would be around but for the most part we'd have the house to ourselves.

None of us had ever met Rory's parents so we were all excited for the prospect of meeting the people Rory came from. We wondered who she would look like more, who she took after more, or maybe it was just me wondering, but still I was excited.

I could tell, as we got closer to the day we were leaving, that Rory was not as happy or excited as the rest of us to be going on this long-weekend adventure. But she couldn't deny her own personality because Rory was the organization queen and she couldn't just sit by and let this trip go by without having an itinerary.

She did say that she'd find us a party to attend, as it was the long weekend and there was bound to be a soirée amongst her parents' friends that she could get us into. She said that she knew all the good places for good shopping, and that she knew of exclusive joints for the boys to go golfing. And for all else there would be things to do at the house, like movies and dinner and a pool in the backyard where we could swim and tan.

It ticked all our boxes and we were all officially excited. Except for Rory who, even though she had an itinerary made up for us, was facing this trip like it was an execution date.

The day we left, Jay was driving, Shawn was in the passenger seat in charge of the tunes and Rory and I got to sit in the back with our pillows and girly magazines and snacks.

Jay had cleaned out his car specifically for this trip and we were all amazed by how clean it was. I wasn't certain it had ever been that clean since he bought it. And as per usual, Shawn only wanted to listen to heavy metal or country, both of with Jay hated, and Rory fell asleep ten minutes in because she always fell asleep on long car rides.

But I had to wake her up two hours later once we got to Toronto. Rory refused to flat out give us her address which was something that made us nervous, because she kept saying if she told us the address everything would change and she didn't want that yet.

None of us knew what that meant and now she was directing us closer and closer to downtown. Where the hell did her parents live?

Rory was more and more subdued the closer we seemed to be getting and I was getting worried. But at least she was giving good directions.

"Turn left here," she said pointing to a street that everyone in Ontario knew about.

"Oh, Bridle Path, I love going down Bridle Path," I cry because what girl wouldn't like going down a street filled with beautiful expensive houses, she could only dream of owning one day? Was she taking us down the scenic route?

Jay turned as directed and we were on the street for a few minutes before Rory sat forward in her seat, a hand to Jay's shoulder.

"You see those hedges down there?" Rory asks, pointing off into the distance where we can all see a line of hedges acting as a fence.

"Yeah? What about them?" Shawn shoots back thinking she probably has some trivia fact about the house. As cool as that was we didn't need that right now, we needed proper directions.

"That's it. You're gonna turn there."

For a moment all of us a speechless. We were all starting to think that Rory had more money then she let on but this this was insane.

"Wait a second," Shawn cries turning in his seat to glare at Rory. "Your house in on the Bridle Path?"

"It's not my house. It belongs to my parents."

Yeah, but still her parents owned a house on the Bridle Path and that was a big fucking deal.

"Why didn't you tell us that it was on Bridle Path?" I ask her, my voice low but the accusation clear. I was supposed to be her best friend, why didn't she mention any of this to me?

"Because telling people changes how they look at me and honestly it was none of your business."

The fact that she just said that to me hurts. It hurts and I'm absolutely shocked it came out of her mouth. The girl will literally talk about book plots and annoying patrons all fucking day, but at no point could she have mentioned that her family was rich enough to own a house on the most expensive Street in Toronto?

She glances to me and winces.

"Sorry..." she starts but Jay has turned into what should be a driveway but a giant ivy covered old-looking wooden fence stands in our way. She leans forward to Jay and says: "Okay you're gonna type in pound-one-eight-four-seven. It's the year the castle was built."

Yeah like any of us needed to know that. But Jay rolls down his window to do as asked and when he's done the gate begins to creak open to a goddamn fairy tale.

Rory takes in all the stunned silence and says: "Welcome to Balfour house."

This wasn't a house it was a mansion.

There were impossibly tall Greco-Roman columns for the front entrance, the house was made entirely of grey stone, the wings that connected to that main arch were covered in Ivy and there was an actual round tower jutting out to the side. The driveway was round, meant for easy drop off and pick ups and in the middle of it was a this obviously custom-made fountain of two children, a boy and a girl at a pond.

We were all in awe, all of us, completely and utterly shocked by this.

Rory, however, is most likely used to all of this because she's lived there her whole life. She isn't even thrown by our shocked response. She just gets out of the car the second it's stopped by the front door.

"Wait is that... is that you?" Jay asks pointing at the fountain. He ignores that looks of confusion he gets from me and Shawn because... why is that what's bugging him? Why was that the first question that came to his mind?

Rory lives on the bridal path, Rory's probably rich as shit. Rory was probably a fucking PEG, why the hell was she slumming with us?

Rory turns around to see what he's pointing at and something in her gaze changes when she looks at the fountain. It's like she flinches.

"Yep, that's me. Do you guys wanna get unpacked? I'll see which wing my parents opened up for us."

"Wait, who's the boy?" Jay asks but Rory is always walking away. As soon as she's gone, we turn to one another but it's Shawn who hisses: "She's fucking rich, did you know that?"

The question is directed at both me and Jay. Jay because she usually talked to him a lot and me because I'm supposed to be her best friend. But she never told me anything about this, and Jay never listened to her.

"How the hell did she not tell at least you?" Shawn asks, this time the question is directed only at me. And I don't have an answer.

Rory comes back out of the house, this time with several men in penguin suits following her.

"Okay you guys, they opened up my wing, so we're gonna be in there, that would be up the staircase and to the left and past the tower. All the rooms are turned down, and each of you have one of our staff waiting for you by the door to help get you guys settled in and unpacked, but if you don't want them just tell them you're good and they'll leave you alone. Pierre and the rest of the team are here to help with the bags if you want them to."

We all just stand there and stare at her. She takes in our stares and just sighs. "I have a meeting with my mother, I'll see you guys soon."

As soon as she leaves Shawn turns to us and practically shouts: "They have fucking servants!"

Jesus, Rory may try to get out of this but we were not letting this go. I was going to get to the bottom of this is was the last thing I did.