Guess who finally got their license!!
It was the easiest test of my life; I don't know what I was so worried about. Because of this, I decided to post another one-shot!
These dates compared to some of the previous ones are funny. (This took two days versus months for others.)
Started: April 18, 2021
Finished: April 20, 2021
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"What!? You're joking, right?"
"Sorry, I-" His best friend stops to cough in the middle of his sentence. "I'm being serious."
The curly-haired one groans. "Dude, I can't go there by myself."
"What part of I feel like I'm dying don't you understand?"
"Fine," he grits, "but you owe me big time."
"I know. Thanks for this." They hang up, and he prepares for a dreadful afternoon.
"Hey, Ricky, when are you going?!" he hears his dad shout.
"30 minutes!" he responds.
Ricky and his best friend Big Red got summer odd jobs working for this filthy rich and snobby family. The family was difficult to work with sometimes (most times), but it paid well. The Salazar-Roberts clan was very well known, not for any particular reason per se; it was simply for their wealth.
Big Red had just called and said he's come down with something and can't help with the job today, which sucked for two reasons: one, Ricky would have to do everything by himself; two, it was pool day. (He would call one of his other friends to help, but everyone else was traveling for the majority of the summer.)
Anyhow, the Salazar-Roberts family had an uncharacteristically large pool for the small family. If Big Red had been sick for any other occasion, it would've been better; cleaning the garage, kitchen, or living room, aka the smaller jobs compared to the pool. But no, it had to be on the one that probably should be more than two people. Great, just fucking great.
Ricky grits his teeth, grabs his supplies, and forces himself to do this. It's just for money.
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He arrives at the mansion, partially wishing their gate hadn't opened. He takes his bucket of cleaning supplies up to the front door and rings the bell. It's only a few seconds before he hears heels clicking on the other side.
Dana Salazar-Roberts, probably the most insatiable of the two women, opens the door. "Hello, Mrs. Salazar-Roberts," Ricky greets with a fake smile.
The woman only glares at him. "My daughter is home from college, so you'll need to work much faster than normal."
Of course, don't want to upset the prissy princess. "Yes, ma'am." She allows him into the mansion, and he starts walking to the backyard.
"Hello, Ricky. Where is Big Red?" Carol asks him. She was the more understanding and reasonable one.
"He's come down with some sickness, so he won't be making it today," he explained. He could hear Dana scoff under her breath as Carol nodded.
"This way please," the brunette urges, motioning for Ricky to keep walking towards the back. Once out there, Ricky sets the bucket down in the normal spot and starts getting stuff out. "Please try a little harder this time." And she leaves him.
I might take a whack at cleaning that attitude while I'm at it. Normally, she would watch as he and Big Red got started and critique the small mistakes, but she was inside at the moment. Most likely stirring some cauldron.
As he started, he could already feel the sweat on the back of his neck flowing down and soaking into his shirt collar. He takes his shirt off without thinking and throws it with the pile of cleaning supplies. No shirt and swim trunks weren't the most common way to dress for their odd jobs, but this one was outside in the 90-degree heat, so it was acceptable.
As he's going around the edge of the pool, Ricky hears a noise. He assumes it must be Dana checking in on his progress (or as she calls it, lack thereof), but it was something else. He lifts his head a little and begins searching for the source of the sound, knowing it'll drive him crazy until he identifies it.
After ten seconds of looking around, he finally finds it: in one of the lounge chairs was a girl with a tall glass of some fruit drink; the ice cubes were hitting the sides of the glass, making the sound that had interrupted him. (It was usually quiet outside, so that's probably how he heard it.)
Her knees were up, so he couldn't see her face, but a maid came out shortly after to refill the glass. Ricky sees the girl nod at the maid via the top of her head, yet he still can't actually see her. How did I not notice her before?
She drops her legs, and her voice breaks him out of his distracted trance. "Are you gonna stare at me all day or get your job done?"
Like mother, like daughter I assume.
She was wearing a black bikini that did anything but cover her, and her skin was glistening in the sunlight; the lighting combined with the shade of her umbrella helped define her features. Ricky reluctantly approaches her and extends his hand. "Ricky."
"Nini," she says, looking up at him yet not returning the handshake. "Back to work if you don't mind."
Yup, just like her mother. Ricky does as told and tries to ignore her for the rest of the time; it's kinda hard to do that when she's watching him. Well, he assumed she was; he couldn't see her eyes because of the sunglasses, but her head was facing him, so it was his best guess.
"Nina," Dana says, coming outside, "I have some errands to run; it'll only take a few hours." She walks closer to her daughter until she's hovering over her. "Make sure he does his job correctly."
I'd like to see you do it.
"Don't worry, mother; I'll make sure he doesn't stop."
Mother. So formal and old-fashioned for no reason. Her daughter looked to be around his age, and for her to call her mom 'mother' was just... flat-out weird.
"Here's his check. Only give it to him when he's completely done."
I am... with you at least. Nini takes the check and puts it under the coaster on the table next to her. Dana nods at her and walks back into the mansion. After a little while, Ricky sees her car leave through the open gate at the bottom of the hill and away from the mansion.
"Finally," he hears. Ricky's head whips around and sees Nini setting her drink down and taking off her sunglasses as she stands up from her chair. Now that he could see her whole face, she was rather beautiful despite her rotten attitude.
Instead of 'staring at her' as she had claimed before (just a quick head-to-toe glance), he goes back to his job but is greatly surprised when she jumps in the pool. He's splashed in the process, and when she comes up, he's incredibly confused. "Um... what was that?"
She pushes the hair away from her face and says, "What?"
"Uh, the pool's not clean yet." Well, it is, but I'm technically not done for the day yet.
"Can you not feel the heat? It has to be at least 100 by now." She was right, but that doesn't explain her behavior.
"I'm sorry, but what are you doing?"
"What does it look like?"
"It looks like you're interrupting my work."
She waves him off. "I'm the only one that ever uses the pool. It doesn't need to be cleaned nearly as much as my mom thinks, but she does it anyway. By the way, your check is under that coaster. Take it, don't take it; I don't really care."
Ricky sits down near the edge and crosses his legs. "I'm a little lost. Aren't you supposed to be making sure I do my job?"
Nini chuckles. "Oh, you thought I was serious? I'll take that as a compliment to know my acting skills still hold up." She walks over to the steps and hops out of the pool, Ricky standing up to face her. This has to be some sort of trick. His eyes accidentally follow drops of water that flow down and over her body.
She goes over to her chair and grabs the towel that had been sitting in the chair next to it, wrapping it around her waist. "My mom tells me that you and that redhead have been here quite often since summer started. You're Ricky, and he's, uh... Big Red was it?"
"Uh, yeah. I- I'm sorry; what's happening?"
Nini laughs at his confusion. "Don't worry; I'm not as bad as you think."
He raises a brow. "And how do I know that?"
"Well for starters, I'm not gonna actually make you work. Like I said before, I'm the only one that uses the pool, and it doesn't need to meet my mom's expectations of cleanliness. If I tell her it's clean, then she'll go with it."
Ricky couldn't comprehend what was happening. "Why are you being nice to me?"
She laughs at his perplexed face again. "That whole snobbish, prissy, bitchy character is for my mom. Thank you for believing it though; reassures me that it still works." Nini walks back over to her lounge chair and table and bends down to grab her drink.
Ricky follows her, still kinda lost with this complete mood change. "If that's not who you are, then why pretend?"
Nini sighs and turns to face him, playing with the straw sticking out of her glass. "Please, if I didn't, she'd think I want to go back to our old life. We used to be a lot alike, but that started diminishing when she got married. See her?"
Ricky looks through the large walls of windows and sees Carol hovering over a pan on the stove. "Yeah."
"Mama C is the only reason we live like this, and Mama D knows it; without her, we wouldn't have such a quote, unquote 'luxurious' life. I'm only ever my true self at school or parties. Otherwise, I'm considered 'ungrateful' for not taking full advantage of our new... resources and assets."
Ricky was a little shocked by this new information. "Does your other mom know about this character you put on? Or the maids?"
Nini shakes her head. "If they do, they haven't said anything."
"So you're not a spawn of Satan?"
Nini laughs and shakes her head. "No, I am not. Well, I'd like to think not." She takes another sip of her drink before adding, "Also, if you could please just get rid of the dead bugs floating in that corner, I'd say a job well done. No need to sweat the small stuff."
That was when Ricky was stunned the most; the word please just came out of a Salazar-Roberts mouth.
He started clearing the bugs from the pool and grabbed a few fallen leaves and sticks as well. "Once you're done with that, you can take your check and leave or stay for a little while longer; I really don't care." She drops her towel and goes to sit on the edge of the pool, dangling her legs in.
Ricky starts gathering up his supplies, and once he's done with that, he walks over to the table where his check was waiting. He's about to grab it, but something in him stops. "Y'know," he says, spinning on his heel and catching Nini's attention, "a dip in the pool doesn't sound so bad."
Nini smiles at him and says, "Glad to hear that." She jumps in, and Ricky follows shortly after. "Now... let's try this again, shall we?" she says when they surface. She extends her hand to him. "Nini."
"Ricky," he says, despite her already knowing his name and returning the handshake. "What should we do in the meantime?"
"I don't know," she shrugged. "Tell me something about yourself." Suddenly, working at the mansion didn't seem so bad.
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Inspired by Catiebuggggy's "The Pool Boy" from For You, I'd Do Anything- Rini One Shots.
Always want to give credit where credit is due!