East West Sunset - A Darry Curtis Fanfiction

Chapter Twenty-Three

I was sure I had a dopey smile on my face as I walked into the storefront, because I saw Holly give me a smirk around the cigarette in her mouth. "How's Prince Charming?" she asked me slyly.

"He's not Prince Charming," I said, shaking my head and laughing. "He's just a... just a friend."

"Ah, a Clark Kent then." Cheryl sat on the table across the room and swiped on a heavy layer of bright red lipstick. She glanced at me and wiggled her eyebrows. I stuck my tongue out at her playfully as I grabbed my cleanly pressed uniform from the back of the armchair.

"We need to leave in ten minutes. We're going to the Jean house again, since she has that party tonight," Holly told me. She stood up from her desk. "Change quickly and then meet me outside, okay? I'll grab the cleaning supplies."

"Okay," I said. I stepped into the bathroom and put the apron and skirt on. I straightened it carefully, smoothed the apron over the skirt so it would lay flat, and then folded my clothes. I had to say, the uniform was definitely a downgrade from the cute shorts and blouse I had been wearing, but it wasn't my place to complain. 

"Bye, Cheryl," I said to her as I ducked down the hallway out to the alley, my clothes tucked under my arm. Holly was waiting in her old car; I could see bags of cleaning supplies filling the whole backseat. I slipped into the passenger side, and Holly hurtled down the alley the second the door shut behind me.

"Oops," she said apologetically. "I pressed the accelerator a little hard there." She quickly got the speed back under control, but I was still a little shook.

We arrived at the Jean estate about ten minutes later, and it didn't fail to amaze me again. Today, I noticed that there was a small pond in the backyard, with two swans floating demurely on its glassy blue-perfect surface. It looked like a professionally upkept golf course back there; the pond was surrounded by crisply striped green grass and pristine bird baths and statuettes. I spent a minute too long staring at the yard, and by the time I looked up, Holly was halfway up the path to the front door. I had to jog to catch up with her, leaving my clothes in the car.

The butler opened the door again and waved us into the parlor, where Mrs. Jean was waiting for us. She was elegantly draped across the chaise lounge, wearing a chiffon robe with curlers in her hair. 

"Hello, ladies. I need the dining room thoroughly cleaned today, along with the powder room and upstairs bathroom. The party guests will have access to that bathroom since-" she gave a snooty shrug- "There will be so many of them. It needs to be spotless." She looked directly at me when she said this, for some reason, and for a heartstopping moment I thought she had discovered that I had taken something from her basement yesterday. But I rationalized that her pointed look was probably based on the fact that I was new "help."

"Of course," Holly said politely. "Would you like us to start with the dining room or the bathroom?"

"You can split up," Mrs. Jean said. 

"Oh. Well then, why don't you head on upstairs, Diana Jean," Holly instructed me, handing me a bag of cleaning supplies labelled "Bathroom."

"Okay," I said. I didn't know if I would be able to find any more clues about my mother, and I certainly didn't want to push my snooping. It would be too much of a risk if I snuck around upstairs, with the sheer amount of servants crawling around doing Mrs. Jean's bidding and ready to report me at the slightest suspicious movement.

I took the bag from Holly and walked out of the fancy room, checking my pace so that it wasn't too fast or too slow. I could feel Mrs. Jean's piercing grey eyes bore into my back as I went, full of something I couldn't read. I felt the area around the center of her gaze freeze over like blood congealing around a bullet hole; it made me nervous. I didn't know what it meant.