There were pillows on the floor and the sheets were hanging from the bed. “What the heck happened here?” she murmured to herself as she walked further into the room. She carefully picked her way through the room, her eyes widening when she spied a bra and some panties on one of the side lamps.
A blush made its way to her face as she thought about the woman she had met earlier. If these were her underwear it means she had been walking around without any! A groan escaped her as she took in the messy room. Sighing, she walked to the adjoining bathroom, searching for clean linen before she went through the process of striping the bed of the dirty ones.
“I hope this will not be a daily occurrence,” she said to herself as she struggled to remove the sheets on the huge bed. It took her exactly thirty minutes to change the linen on the bed and straighten up the room. Wiping her brow, she collected the dirty sheets, panties and all, and walked with them downstairs, to the laundry room she had seen earlier. Feeding the machine, she made a quick work of setting it up before walking back to the kitchen.
Checking her watch, Rebecca reckoned that she had about two more hours before she was able to head home. Opening the cabinets, she quickly collected all the ingredients she needed to make some ginger biscuits.
“I am home!” Rebecca called as she walked into the front door of her mother's house. She had waited until the sheets were dried before she folded them. Her ginger biscuits were done and placed in one of the glass jars on the kitchen table waiting for Jeremy. She was not even sure if Jeremy liked ginger biscuits! She had just done that to pass time.
“In the sitting room,” her mother called.
Rebecca deposited her car keys as well as her hand bag by the cabinet by the door before heading to where her mother was.
Emma was seated on her favourite armchair, her legs resting on a stool before her, “hey darling. How was your first day at work?”
Rebecca placed a kiss on her mother's cheek before she fell on the sofa, “it was alright.” She went on to tell her mother about the house, skipping the half naked woman as well as panties on the lamp.
“And what about the man himself?” Emma enquired. “From the little you told me he seems to be making a lot of money. Is he old? What about a wife?”
Rebecca bit her lip, “it's Jeremy Martenson, mom.”
“Jeremy Martenson?” Emma repeated, trying to place the name. “Jer-wait, you work for that boy who is always in the news?”
“Tabloids, mom,” Rebecca rubbed her eyes, thinking of the way she was going to break the news that she will be living in the same house. “Some of the things written on those things aren't even true.” Though she now knew he really was a ladies' man.
Emma waved away her statement, “nonetheless, he is always in the news. Tabloids are much worse.”
Rebecca had to agree with her mother, “true that. But I am going to be his employee, mom, not his girlfriend or whatnot.”'
Emma’s sharp eyes studied Rebecca, “Has he tried anything funny?”
Rebecca sighed, “no, mom. We only spent about fifteen minutes together before he left and he never showed any interest in me.” Not that any boy has ever shown any interest in her.
Her mother snorted, “that is what these rich people do. They make you feel so comfortable, and then without a warning they start making moves on you.”
“Mom! That is the most stereotypical thing to say,” Rebecca laughed. “These soap operas that you are watching are making you judgemental.”
Emma turned to her daughter and smiled, “maybe But promise me one thing.”
Rebecca nodded as she reached for her vibrating phone. “What's that?”
“That you'll come straight home after your work is done and that you will not accept anything he offers you. I'd rather go back to work, pain and all than seeing you be taken advantage of.”
Rebecca bit on her lip as she watched Lily's name flash on her mobile screen, “about coming back home from work…the job requires me to stay at his pplace. I have my own apartment and everything.” She did not wait for her mother to reply, as she accepted Lily's call. “What's up?” She turned her gaze to her mother, who was now sitting mouth opened and staring at her with a confused look.
“So, how was the first day?” Lily asked, excitement in her voice. Lily was a bubbly, lively girl, who knew all the people making headlines in the celebrity circles, always up to speed with the latest gossip, making their friendship seem weird to others as Rebecca was the direct opposite of her. But for them, their friendship worked like clockwork. Lily kept Rebecca up to speed on the gossip, while Rebecca kept Lily grounded to the real world.
Rebecca saw this as an opportunity to get out of the house before her mother suffered from a panic attack, “let's meet as Peter's for some milkshake and I'll tell you all about it.”
“I'm there in ten,” Lily said as she terminated the call.
Rebecca sighed and turned her whole body towards her mother, “mom, don't freak out. I'll have my own apartment!” She emphasised, but leaving the part that the apartment was inside the main house.
“I shouldn't freak out?” Emma repeated. “Becky, of course I am freaking out, it's what any mother would do! You are moving in with a well known player in the city and you expect me to just let you go? Why are you moving in anyway?”
“He wants me on call at all times. He said that he might need for me to do some cooking and stuff. Hopefully the money will be good due to the extra chores that I will be performing and it's just temporary, mom, until something better comes up. I'll be careful, stay away from his way at all times. Besides, he has a girlfriend and he thinks I am stiff and a child.”
Emma shook her head as she closed her eyes and sighed. She could have stopped Rebecca from going to work, God knows they do not desperately need the money, but Rebecca would not be happy. Her daughter was as stubborn as she was, and she would not take lightly the refusal to work. Besides, how many young girls can boast working for the rich and famous, work not sell their souls and bodies?
Turning to her daughter, Emma reached for her hand,”'promise me that you will be careful, that if he tries anything crazy you tell me about it. I might not be able to do much, but I swing a mean baseball bat.”
Rebecca stood up and kissed her mother's cheek. “I will. Where is Nathan?”
“At Max's house,” her mother replied. “Max got a new game so they are breaking it in today.”
“Ok. Heading to Peter's to meet up with Lily. Be back soon to make dinner.”
“Well, spill!” Lily greeted her as she scooted into the seat opposite Rebecca. “How did it go? Did you meet him? Is he as cute in real life as on the mags?”
“One question at a time, Lily!” Rebecca laughed. “It went fine, and yes I met him. As for him being cuter in person,” Rebecca shrugged, “I don't know. I have only seen him about once or twice on those mags you cannot live without.”
Lily threw her a napkin, “you are such a bore, Becky! Only you would not be interested in a hot celeb!”
Rebecca laughed, “what can I say, I am a sane person who will not be pulled into the world you crazy people live in. He is a dude, and that's all I know. Has a nice chest though.” Rebecca cracked up even harder when she saw Lily's eyes rounding like saucers.
“You saw his chest?” Lily fanned herself with her hand. “Why is it you of all people get to work for someone like Jeremy Martenson and you are not even batting an eye when you said you saw his chest?” She moved forward, placing her arms on the table, “Was it hard?”
“I saw it, not touch it,” Rebecca rolled her eyes. She was about to say something else when her phone started to vibrate. Frowning at the unknown number, she quickly answered. “Hello?”
“Rebecca, hi.”
Rebecca's eyes widened, “Mr. Martenso-I mean, Jeremy. Hi, what can I do for you?” She pushed Lily's hand away as her friend tried to reach for her phone.
'Loudspeaker!' Lily demanded.
'No!' Rebecca hissed, narrowing her eyes on her friend before breaking into a smile at the devastated look on Lily's face.
“I have an early meeting tomorrow, so I expect you to come over early so you can sign some papers for me.”
“Of course, si-Jeremy. What time is early?” She leaned backward, away from Lily’s outstretched hand.
“How does six sound to you? You have your keys, so if you come and I am not down yet, just let yourself in.”
“Six is fine.”
“Do you need help moving your things? I can send my driver to help you.”
“No, it's just my clothes and a few stuff,” Rebecca declined. “I am sure Old Betty can handle it.”
“Old Betty?” There was confusion in Jeremy’s voice.
“My car,” Rebecca groaned as she felt colour rising on her cheeks. Now why would she go around letting her potential employer know that she has named her car? “I-uhm-named my car Old Betty.”
Jeremy gave a slow laugh, “I am sure you did. Alright then, see you tomorrow.”
“Yes, see you tomorrow.”
“Oh, and thanks for the cookies.”
The phone was dead before she could reply to the gratitude.
“You are such a spoilsport!” Lily pouted, hands crossing on her chest. “I just needed to hear his voice, well his telephone voice, that is.” When Rebecca did not say anything, Lily sighed and rolled her eyes. “You do know that I am waiting for you to tell me what the convo was all about, right?”
Raising an eyebrow to Lily, she saved her friend from curiosity by saying, “he just wanted to thank me for the cookies that I had made for him.”
Lily placed a hand over her heart, rolling her eyes with such exaggeration. “Oh, you baked him cookies! And he ate them. I wonder what he was thinking about when he ate theme?”
“How nice the cookies were?” Rebecca shrugged.
“Or,” Lily smiled. “The woman who made them.”
Rebecca rolled her eyes, “hardly. He thought I was sixteen!”
Lily coud not stop the laughter that escaped her. She laughed so hard that tears were streaming down her cheeks. “Well, at least he thought you younger than older.”
Rebecca rolled her eyes. She changed the subject for the next hour before she left to go back home as dinner was not going to make itself.
The next morning found Rebecca knocking at the front door and waiting for a minute before reaching for her keys and letting herself into the Martenson house. She had spent the previous night between packing a few belongings that she wanted to take with her and appeasing her mother's worry.
Getting up earlier than usual, she had made sure that she made breakfast for her mother and brother before heading over to Jeremy's house. She had arrived at exactly six o'clock that morning, the neighbourhood was still asleep. Driving her beat up car, she had hoped that it was not going to die on her in the middle of the road.
”'Hello?” she called from the door she had just opened before she pressed the code on the alarm, disarming it. She placed her car keys and handbag on the nearest table before heading to the sitting room. When she did not find Jeremy there, she moved to the kitchen. Groaning at the mess, she shook her head before heading back out to get her stuff from the car.