Managing Boys

Managing Boys (10)

“Don’t say that, Aria!” Zoey practically screeched, nearly falling right off the couch. “Why would you get fired over something like this?”

I just stared at her. “They went off and got drunk when I was supposed to be watching them!”

Zoey sunk back down into the couch. “You’re right. You’re getting fired.”

Letting out a frustrated breath, I found myself running my hands through my hair. I was about to get in so much trouble and I hadn't even been the one to go out and get completely wasted when I was underage.

“Aria, calm down,” Parker tried to calm me, standing up from his spot next to Zoey and placing a hand on my shoulder gently. “Just breathe, alright? Everything’s going to be okay. You don't have to freak out.”

I tried to breath regularly, but it wasn't working. Annabelle was going to fire me the second she got the chance, and I was out of the best (and worst) job I had ever gotten.

“Breathe, Aria,” Parker repeated, and I continued to try. “Damn. You haven't reacted to anything like this since—”

“Don’t bring that up!”

Parker did as I asked, shutting his mouth and taking a step away from me. I sat down on the couch, refusing to look at the now muted television that continued to show drunken pictures and videos of the boys.

This was so bad. It would have been funny, if I hadn’t ever met them before and I was just some random girl watching the news, but now it wasn’t like that. I had lost my job because these boys decided to act like idiots the one day I wasn’t with them.

When my phone rang, I nearly jumped twenty feet into the air. I leaned forward and picked it up from the coffee table, only to throw it back when I saw that it was Annabelle that was calling me.

“Aria, you have to answer it!” Zoey shouted, lunging for my phone before I could throw it out the window.

As much as I didn't want to, I took the phone from her and answered it. There was no way I’d be able to avoid Annabelle for that long, so I might have as well just faced what I knew was going to come.

“Hello?” I gulped, afraid of being yelled at.

“Aria!” she cried, sounding breathless and frustrated. “Would you mind coming over, sweetheart?”

Okay, she didn’t sound angry. Frustrated and tired, yes, but not angry, and that was good. At least she wasn’t yelling and screaming about how I was a horrible babysitter and it was a huge mistake hiring me…

“Um… okay,” I answered, even though I had no idea where exactly she was talking about.

She then rattled off the address, which I was luckily able to get after I lunged for a piece of paper and a pen on Zoey’s coffee table. She was giving me the address to her house. Her and Grim's house.

After saying a quick goodbye to my two best friends, I hopped into my car and made my way to their house. I got there in fifteen minutes, and I couldn’t help but feel a little bit nervous during my drive. Annabelle didn’t sound angry over the phone, but what if she wanted to yell at me in person? She could have been coaxing me over by sounding nice just so she could get me to her house.

Annabelle let me in three seconds after I had rang the doorbell, and it made me jump because I didn’t expect the door to open so quickly. I stepped inside, trying to act as calmly as possible.

“Hi, Aria,” she greeted me with a tired smile, leading me into another room quickly. I soon realized it was the living room, where all the boys were sitting on the floor around the coffee table, swatting a plastic solo cup around to each other.