Work Before Play

Housekeeping

It was the second week of the housekeeping job. I loved working for these guys, they were funny and very nice to me.

The work though, was a little more than expected. These men were complete slobs. I talked to Mark to let me work Saturday's as well. Saturday was solely going to be laundry day.

I was moping the kitchen floor when one of their dogs pushed his nose to my butt. I bent down and looked between my legs to see Lego's drooling face.

"Lego!" Ryan laughed at him, "You don't do that to girls!"

"Oh come here boy," I turned around to pet him. Lego happily shook his tail at the attention.

"Hey, Ryan, do you know if you guys need anything from the store?" I asked. I needed more cleaning stuff and Mark had got me a credit card that was attached to his account to pick up stuff I needed when I needed it.

Ryan tiptoed around the wet spots on the floor to glance at the frig. "Um, milk, cereal, eggs, and meat."

"Okay thanks, after I finish the kitchen, make sure the pets don't walk on it." I looked down at Lego between Ryan's legs. "I'm going on a grocery run then."

At the store I picked up everything they needed except meat. What kind of meat...?

I texted Mark, knowing he was the prominent cook out of the guys.

Mark's ringtone went off on my pants pocket.

"Hey, Lydia. Um, pork steak would be a nice meal for the weekend. And can you pick up some dog treats for Chica?"

"Of course, Boss."

"Don't call me that. Its weird. I'm not just a boss, I'd like to say we are friends." He said with a light chuckle.

"Awe, thanks Mark!"

"Bye byee, Lydia!"

"Bye, Mark!"

I snagged some big steaks and Chica's favorite treats.

I was taking groceries from my car to their house when I got a call.

"Hello, Lydia?"

"Yes?"

"This is Management of your apartment complex, your rent payment has not come through yet. For the past to months."

"What?!?" I said shocked. I never missed my rent payment. It is on an autopayment. "There must be a mistake Sir."

"I am sorry but we have to kick you out."

"Wait, pleas can we just sort this out?" I said quickly to fix the issue.

"You will have a week to move your stuff and vacate the apartment. Goodbye."

I stood there in the garage in shock. I felt tears begin to well in my eyes.

Mark walked out into the garage. "Hey what's the commotion out her-"

I turned away from Mark, hurrying to wipe my eyes so he couldn't see the mess I was.

"Lydia?" I felt a hand on my shoulder turn me to face him.

"What's wrong?"

"My autopayment for my apartment apparently hasn't been going through and they are kicking me out for not paying my rent for two months. I don't understand, I know I have the money for it. I just don't understand." My voice cracked slightly.

"How long did they give you to move out?" Mark asked, concern in his brown eyes.

"Only a damn week."

"Oh, that's horrible. Come on," He carried the bags in and sat me down with the other guys.

We sat and talked about it all, brainstorming ideas, to help me.

"I got it!" Matt shot up from the recliner.

"Why don't you live with us? We have a spare bedroom and we can cut the rent from your paycheck directly?"

Mark looked at Matt and seemed to be processing the idea more. "I like it, actually."

Matt and Mark looked at Ryan. "I think it is a great idea!"

Within five days, all my moving boxes were at Mark's place.

I called my bank. Turns out I had my identity stolen. Needless to say, for their crappy work and response to dealing with my issues, I changed banks.

I was in my new room unpacking boxes after boxes to get everything situated.

It sucked that I was farther from campus, but I was a good time manager so it should not be too much of an issue.

In fact, the move made cleaning a lot easier. I could keep the place spotless all the time rather than them waiting for me to clean on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Mark wandered in my room, "Hey, supper is ready, if you are hungry."

"Be down in a sec." I called back.

As I descended down the stairs, I smelled something absolutely mouthwatering.

"What is that!" I said in delight.

"Chicken and dumplings!" Mark said cheerily.

We all sat at the dining table and ate Mark's delicious cooking.

"I think this is one the first times we actually sat down and ate together at this table." Matt said with mouth stuffed full of dumplings.

"Yeah I guess it is," Mark replied back after taking a drink.

After supper, I cleaned the dishes and put them all away.

I went back to my room and pulled out my Agriculture Marketing spreadsheet.

I was working almost two hours when I heard a knock at my door. I looked up with a pencil in my mouth to see Mark at the door.

"Whatcha up to?"

"Just some Ag marketing files for my class."

"Ag what?"

"I am an Ag business major with a minor in Wildlife Studies. So I have a class for marketing Ag products."

Mark peered over to see my desk spilling over with spreadsheets that were highlighted and marked everywhere.

"Damn, that's a lot of number crunching." He looked deep in thought. "Why are you in LA for a Ag based field of study?"

"This college offered me a free ride scholarship, so I snagged it." I stated simply.

"Where are you from exactly?" Mark asked scratching the back of his head.

"Missouri, it was listed on my resume I sent you."

"Yeah, I didn't look at that too hard. I had that ad out for over three months, so I was willing to accept anyone." Mark admitted. "Well, I'll let you get back to that, then."

"Um, thanks. Anything I need to do tonight?"

"Nah, you're fine. Get back to your Ag thingy." Mark replied nicely, while closing my door.