"Babe?"
"Hmm?" Adi asked, raising an eyebrow. She knew what Toni was referring to, though.
"You took what I said yesterday seriously?"
"What was that, dear?" She was looking in the mirror, fixing her hair. That wasn't like her really, she didn't bother so much what she looked like, or what anybody else thought of her. But she wanted to look good today, her last day as a minor. Tomorrow, she'd be able to ask Toni to introduce her to a whole host of activities that she was embarrassed to admit she knew only the euphemisms for. The law said she could, anyway. Her own embarrassment would probably still be as big a hurdle as ever.
But today, she was determined to prove that she wasn't a freeloader in the Walker house. She was going to be useful to the family who'd been so kind to her the last few weeks.
"You listened when I said you were a good little housewife? Because you seem to be wearing a maid outfit."
"It's not a... Okay, maybe it is kinda. I just wanted to look smart, and maybe your words kind of stuck, you know? I want to be useful, and if I can get you a little excited while I'm doing it..." she ended the sentence with a half-shrug, which she hoped would hint at a whole host of ideas that she didn't really know the shape of.
"So, you're really helping with the spring cleaning? I can't argue with that. I don't like leaving you here on your own when I'm having fun, feels like I'm neglecting you. But you know..." Adi nodded at that. She knew that Toni would be going over the arrangements for her surprise party tomorrow, even if she didn't say that. But Toni rallied confidently: "Too many things I've been putting off. You're really up for cleaning?"
"Don't worry, Babe," Adi gave her brightest smile. "I wanted to see if the maid outfit would get you all flustered, but I really do mean it about doing some of my chores. I've been here for over three weeks now, and I haven't done anything useful in all that time. Is there something I can be doing while you're away?"
"If you're up to it you could dust, vacuum, and tidy my laundry pile. I kinda let it pile up, you know? I don't want to put too much on you, though. You only need to do as much as you're comfortable with. And if you feel like going out, you could get something for dinner from the shops. Do you cook? I don't think I asked. But whatever you feel like, I'm sure we'll be able to work out how to do it between us."
Adi nodded, and tried to remember everything she'd have to do. She was determined that if she was going back home after her birthday, she would leave Toni's who family with a good impression of her. And if she wanted to stay here longer, it was even more important that she'd give them a reason to like her. It didn't matter that none of them were here right now; she would at least know that she had made some gesture of thanks.
She started the day by tidying the lounge. The times she and Toni had crashed out in front of the TV there, the room had more than a few good memories already. But there were food wrappers balled up in the corners where someone had thrown them at the bin with insufficient accuracy, and crumbs trodden into the carpet, and discarded clothes lying around the room. It still looked tidy, but Adi could see when she paid attention that it wasn't quite as immaculate as it had been when she first arrived.
She started at one side of the room, moving the furniture to the middle one piece at a time, and picking up every little object she could find. Rubbish went into a black bag, which she was sure would be full by the time she'd finished. Remote controls, magazines, discarded clothes, and other ephemera went into a pile on the couch, to be sorted and put back where they belonged. And once everything was back where it belonged, she could clean the inside of the windows, dust every obvious surface, and then push a terrifyingly complex vacuum cleaner across the carpet.
It seemed like a massive task at the start, but before she'd had time to get bored the room was clean, and about as tidy as she'd ever seen it. Next she took on the hallway, and found that even the staircase had slowly been accumulating clutter. An item placed at the side of a step ready to be taken upstairs or downstairs, and one object seemed to attract more, making it less and less likely that someone would actually take things to where they were supposed to be.
Adi picked up things and took them to the room where they belonged, running up and down the stairs over and over. Half the detritus of a busy life had been tidied when she realised just how much this house was feeling like a home. She knew where things belonged, that was what made the difference really. It felt like she'd been here a lot longer than a couple of weeks.
She finished tidying the hall and landing, and then took a little break. The skirt that had looked so good this morning was a little rumpled now, and had picked up more dust than she had expected the house to contain. After looking at herself in the mirror, Adi decided that she didn't have the body for a french maid outfit, or possibly that the costume wasn't well suited to actually cleaning the house. So she carefully stripped off, just keeping the frilly underwear that she'd included more as a boost to her confidence than out of any expectation Toni would get to see it today. Her clothes went into the laundry hamper in Toni's room, where she was sure they would quickly be joined by the garments lying disorganised in piles all around the room. After a little thought, she put on a plain white T-shirt and the jeans she'd worn the day before. They had gold-coloured stitching forming the shape of butterflies at the bottom of one leg, and on the back pocket and thigh. She hadn't really paid attention before, but now Toni had complimented her fashion sense she felt she could make a little more effort to work out what her girlfriend liked.
With a more presentable outfit, she decided that she could run and get herself something for lunch. She hesitated for a long while wondering if she should wear a diaper while she was out, just in case she ran into someone she knew. But then she looked at herself in the mirror, and how much more confident she seemed now she didn't have to worry about clothes that could conceal it. There weren't many people around here who would know her name, and even fewer who would care. And if she started butting the burden of safety on her subconscious mind, maybe she would find the suggestions fading away more quickly.
She would take the risk today. What could possibly go wrong?
Author's Note: I've not written much today and yesterday, as I've been focusing on getting books published. But if you've been looking forward to «A Little Break», you'll be glad to know that the paperback and Kindle versions are now awaiting review by Amazon's censors. Fingers crossed, and hoping they're not too disturbed by a little age regression.
Would you be interested in seeing this book in print too? Let me know!