Nothing's Fine

Chapter 3

“What are you still doing here?”

“Watching you dust. It’s fascinating.” Sarcasm dripped off every word.

“You are horrible at flirting. Absolutely horrible.”

“Lies! They’re all lies!” He screamed.

He was such an idiot.

“I’m not here for a relationship.”

“I believe you’ve already said that.”

“Just making my point.”

“I bet in a week, you’re here for a relationship.”  He proposed.

“If it is, it won’t be with you.” I shot back.

“You’re right. I forgot. You’re Liam’s girl.”

I threw the duster at him, hoping to hit him in the head. When it felt to the ground at his feet, he laughed at my desperation. He threw his hand up to his heart and acted as if he was truly gutted that I would throw something at him.

Before I could come up with a witty response, I heard laughter coming through the hallway. I froze in my place. It’s been three years. I knew I would end up facing him sometime but not this soon. Maybe I’ve changed. He won’t recognize me. I’ve got a lot of make-up on. I’ve got to look different.

Mrs. Payne shot through the door first. She laid eyes on Carter and gave him a polite smile before plopping down on the couch. Carter excused himself before there was a moment of awkwardness. I stood there not knowing what to do.

Mrs. Payne’s eyes were closed, so she couldn’t see me. As I heard the laughter grow closer, I spun around and began dusting spots that had already been dusted.  No sooner than three seconds later, the boys which the sounds were coming from burst through the door.

“Mum! We’re hungry!”

“Ask Mrs. Shay to fix you something then. We hired help so that we could vacation.”

“But I want you to fix me it!” Liam whined like a child. I smiled at the thought that he hadn’t changed. Much.

There was a silence as I heard the room shift a little. I didn’t dare turn around though. I didn’t know if they were trying to figure out who I was, or not, but I wasn’t going to make this easy on them. I was a professional and I wasn’t about to turn around and fan girl.

“Sarah?” My hands stopped moving and I shut my eyes. Him, saying my voice, made my mind go through a thousand memories.

I slowly turned around and when I meet six pairs of eyes looking back at me, I gave a weak smile.

“Hi.” Was all I could basically squeak.

“Hey.” Liam’s eyes were staring back at me.

“Um, sorry. I can’t, I can’t really talk, and I have to finish my chores then get back to my house. Sorry.”

I started walking towards the door, but was caught in Liam’s embrace.

“God I’ve missed you so much!” He whispered into my ear.

I wanted to say it back to him. I wanted everything to be the same, but it wasn’t. What he just said pissed me off extremely. If he flipping missed me so much, why did he stop calling or texting? Why did he stop making the effort to stay in touch? I get that he had his career to run, but if he missed me, you would’ve thought he would’ve let me know before this.

I pushed him away before giving him a weak smile. I wanted to give him a piece of my mind. I wanted to call his bull shit right there in front of his mom and friends, but I didn’t have the guts to do that. I needed this job and couldn’t risk losing it.

I put away the duster and grabbed the vacuum. I had the upstairs vacuumed before the guys made their way up the stairs. I stood to the side as they passed. I stared intently at the ground, making sure to make no eye contact. I felt their stares and the fact that they got real quiet when they spotted me let me know that this summer was about to be really interesting.

I made it down the stairs before running into Carter.

“How’s the boyfriend?”

“Shut up.”

“I’m serious! I want to know!” He whined.

“Then ask in a more accurate way.” I said, referring to the boyfriend comment.

“Fine. How’s Mr. Payne.”

“Oh, he’s just wonderful. He told me that he was in love with me and that we should forever be in love.”

He shook his head.

“What really happened?”

“He said he missed me and I ran out.”

“Aw. Did someone not expect him to say that?” He cooed.

“You know, for somebody wanting me to fall in love with him, you’re off to a bad start.”

“You’re in love with Liam anyway. I don’t really have a chance.”

“Oh my God! If you don’t stop! Where’s your list of chores anyway?”

“Probably on your list.”

I stopped mid-tracks.

“Excuse me?”

“First days for newbies are always hard because Mrs. Shay doesn’t want pussys. Therefore, she basically rids us of chores for a day and gives them all to the newbie.”

“You’re kidding right? If this is everyone’s chores combined, why the hell are there so many workers?”

“Think about this for a moment. There are five teenage guys in this house. They all have friends. Once this house is actually lived in, one of those things is gunna take about three hours minimum.”

I laughed. I thought back to my earlier thought about how cleaning this house could be much worse. Cleaning this house just got much worse.