Bottle Caps, Pop Tabs, & Other Unmentionables

If it were socially acceptable, at this current moment Magnolia would be drinking a Diet Coke. Instead she currently held a strawberry banana smoothie, as she made her way to the library to meet Charlotte as planned.

She wasn’t one hundred percent sure why they agreed to meet so early when neither of them had classes that day, but she had been up late the night before, cramming out words to finish off a paper that was due Thursday. Searching the library, Magnolia found Charlotte sitting alone at a table looking down at her phone.

“Who are you texting?” Magnolia whispered into Charlotte’s ear as she snuck up behind her.

She jumped slightly at the sound of Magnolia’s voice and placed a hand over her heart.

“Don’t do that,” Charlotte scolded, as if she were her mother. Noticing that Charlotte had quickly locked her phone and shoved it inside her pants pocket, probably hoping that she didn’t have to answer Magnolia’s question made her pester Charlotte even more.

“So…” Magnolia smiled and awaited her answer, knowing that Charlotte had to have been texting a boy.
“Rick,” she mumbled and opened her books.

The smile dropped from Magnolia’s face as she nodded and didn’t push the subject of Rick any further. All Magnolia knew about Rick was what Charlotte was willing to share. Rick was forty-three years old, lived in a fancy neighbourhood, drove a BMW, apparently had a job that paid the bills, his wife’s shopping habits, and his kids private school tuition.

When Magnolia heard of the last few details, she fought Charlotte tooth and nail, telling her to end things. They had only been seeing each other for a few weeks, since the night they had met at The Goat, but Magnolia’s words were useless and convincing Charlotte was like talking to a wall, so she stopped fighting her on the issue all together. Instead Magnolia listened if Charlotte had something to share, but continued to keep her mouth shut.

//\\

It was the first time on a Wednesday that Magnolia was on her own cleaning the big house. It ended up working out better for Magnolia in the long run as that meant someone else took over two of the other houses that were usually on her list. May had sent her a text that morning saying that she was sick, but what their boss didn’t realize was that it wasn’t the flu; it was due to the fact that May had been drinking the night before.

There were no cars in the driveway and as always the front door was locked, which meant no one was home. After unloading the supplies right inside the door, she pulled out a pair of headphones and iPod and got down to business. Beginning with the main floor Magnolia started dusting tables and stands, windexing mirrors and counter tops, and finished off with the vacuum. The guest bedrooms were finished quickly and unlike the previous bedrooms, the master took some time. Clothes were strewn on the floor and the bed, a suitcase lay opened on the floor near the closet door, and the bathroom sink filled with hair. The room felt a bit hot and the top of the mirror was slightly fogged over, but Magnolia paid little attention to that as she started on the mess she had to deal with, grumbling to herself that this guy needed to learn to clean up after himself.
Magnolia was a little sweaty by the time she finished the house, still leaving her with twenty minutes to spare, so like any other time, she grabbed her book from her bag, took a seat at the kitchen island, and began reading. For what felt like the hundredth time Magnolia was reading The Handmaid’s Tale. It was one of her favourite books and was the one she had chosen to read for her assignment that was due in two days. And this would be the first time looking at the assignment. Magnolia was on the third chapter when she popped open the tab on her can of Diet Coke and took a few sips and lowered the volume on her iPod to a minimum while she was reading and set a different playlist. The pages flew by quickly as she re-read every line that was already ingrained into her brain and soon enough Magnolia was already halfway through the middle of the book. She took notice of the time, seeing that she only had five minutes to spare before she needed to leave, when a hand knocked on the countertop of the island.

“Fucking Christ!” Magnolia gasped, dropping her page and sliding from her stool.

A hand was placed on her beating heart and took a breath to calm herself, hoping her heart rate would slow down. After pulling the headphones from her ears is when her heart rate was at a normal pace once again.

The man from the photos stood across from her on the other side of the island, wearing nothing but a towel. His arms were covered in tattoos and it was in that moment that Magnolia recognized him, or at least the tattoos on his arms. Of course he was the guy in the photos that were hung up around the house, but he was also the guy from The Goat, the one she had danced with, the one she had kissed.

“Uh hi?” Tyler said as if it were a question.
“Hi,” Magnolia gulped, still not moving from when she had slid off the barstool.

Just like her interaction before a few weeks prior with the girl, Magnolia was afraid he was going to yell at her and then she would no loner have a job, but he didn’t. He just stood there and stared at her.

“I was just on my way out,” she mumbled unconvincingly, packing up her book, and taking a handle on the bucket of cleaning supplies.
“Here, let me,” Tyler spoke as he reached for the bucket.

Magnolia pulled away slightly and waved off his offer, wondering if this guy would really walk out of his house wearing only a towel.

“You should go put some clothes on,” Magnolia let slip as she headed out into the foyer and just as she reached for the door handle he called out to her.
“Do I know you from somewhere?”
“Not sure,” she replied looking back and sneaking a quick look at his defined body.
“Seriously though?” Tyler asked.

Magnolia hesitated before answering, fighting between telling the truth or a lie.

“We met at The Goat a couple weeks ago. We danced, maybe kissed,” she mumbled the last part, hoping he wouldn’t read too much into it.

“That’s right,” he nodded with a slight smirk “short shorts and vans.”
“Sure, I guess,” Magnolia said, wondering if she could leave now that he had figured out this great mystery.
“See you around,” Tyler called which led Magnolia to respond with a half-hearted wave and opened the door.

//\\

It seemed that the week had flown by without any notice and so when Sunday rolled around, Magnolia was exhausted. The past couple days she had been finishing up assignments, writing papers, and studying for quizzes that she hadn’t bothered doing beforehand and decided to leave them to the last minute. She told herself the only way she was waking up Sunday morning was by her own accord; there wasn’t going to be an alarm, a car horn from outside was not going to wake her up. Instead, her phone did.
After seeing that no, it was not an alarm going off that she hadn’t set, but Angelica calling. Begrudgingly Magnolia answered and internally groaned as Angelica asked her to work a “small” shift that day. Apparently it was no big deal because it was just one house, and at least she wouldn’t be by herself, May would be there to help.

Magnolia didn’t understand why the two girls had to go back and clean this place, as Magnolia had just cleaned it a few days prior, but once May unlocked the front door, she understood.

Closing the front door was a mistake, as the house needed fresh air badly. It smelt as if an animal had died and it’s body was currently decaying. There were cups covering the floor, the living room had toilet paper hanging from the chandeliers and the beams that spanned across the ceiling.

“This. Is. Disgusting.” May spoke up, sneering.

She was moving further into the house, seeing what they had to work with, when Magnolia yelled for her.

“STOP!” at Magnolia’s voice May stopped in her place and turned towards her.
“Vomit,” Magnolia pointed and gagged slightly after seeing the puddle on the floor.

Her hand remained covering her mouth and nose for the most part, until she couldn’t take it any longer. After stepping out into the backyard, inhaling the fresh air, Magnolia until she took an unwilling step back into the house.

“I can’t do this,” Magnolia complained to May, who was busy chucking red solo cups into a trash bag.
“Why don’t you see if there’s anything that needs to be done upstairs?” May offered, sending her on her way.

Magnolia hesitantly began peeking inside rooms until she reached the master. It was a disaster. The sheets on the bed were everywhere, looking as if they had been thrown off, tugged, and pulled at in every direction. And from where she stood, Magnolia could see the black G-string that sat in the middle of the bed, which she knew wasn’t Tyler’s. As she walked in further to assess the room Magnolia felt something squish underneath her shoe. Looking down was a mistake as she let out the loudest squeal of disgust and began kicking her leg out to try and get the used condom off her shoe.

“What? What? Everything okay?” May panted after running up the stairs when she heard Magnolia’s scream.
“Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!” Magnolia screamed and aimed her foot at May.
“Eww get it away from me!” May screamed back “just give me a minute.”

May ran out of the room and after rummaging through drawers in the kitchen, returned shortly with a pair of tongs in her hand.

“Got it!” she cheered and started waving the tongs around.

Magnolia ducked out of the way, not wanting to see what the contents of the condom actually looked like and kept her eyes on the floor as she moved further into the room.

“Does he know he owns a garbage?” Magnolia asked May, noticing two more used condoms lying on the floor.
“Well at least one of us had a good time last night,” she grinned.
“Give me the tongs,” Magnolia said, reaching her hand out for the kitchen utensil that if she were Tyler, she would throw that thing out.

The tongs still held tight to the first condom May had picked off Magnolia’s shoe and gathered the rest and headed into the bathroom. Instead of placing them in the garbage pail, she brought the pail downstairs to the kitchen and placed it on the island countertop, with the condoms alongside it. Magnolia met May back up stairs and together they clean each room, not wanting to deal with another surprise alone.
It took the two girls two and a half hours to clean and disinfect the house and Magnolia wasn’t going to leave until she saw the owner walk through his front door.

“You coming?” May asked as she grabbed her bucket and headed for the door.
“Not yet, I need to have a chat with this guy,” Magnolia replied and sat herself in her usual spot at the island, the garbage pail, tongs, and condoms in front of her.
“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” she questioned, coming back over to where Magnolia sat.
“I-”

But before Magnolia could finish her sentence the door opened and more than one voice could be heard from the entryway.

“Looks like the maid was here,” the girls heard one of the voices say.
“Good thing too, Jimmy’s vomit was starting to stink up the place,” another spoke.

The voices stopped as soon as they noticed Magnolia and May in the kitchen. With one last warning glare May begged her not to say a word, but Magnolia ignored her pleads with a wave of her hand.

“Boys! Great you’re here!” Magnolia exclaimed as she got off the stool and walked around the island.
“So I know that maid’s are usually supposed to get the tips and not the homeowners, or at least that’s what happens in the movies,” she began “but I thought why not, right?”

Turning around, Magnolia grabbed the garbage pail along with the tongs, which were currently holding the condoms and turned back to face the men in front of her.

“Here’s your tip: when you finish, this is where they go,” she said dropping the condoms in the garbage “got it? I mean, I think it’s pretty simple; obviously some people have some trouble with it. But I think you of all people would understand practice makes perfect.”

She looked directly at Tyler glaring into his eyes and handed him the pail and tongs, and nodded to May that she was ready to leave. Tyler’s friends stood around him snickering as the two walked out the door, hoping that he got the message.

//\\

It felt totally unnecessary that Magnolia and May had to return to Tyler’s house on Wednesday after just having been there Sunday. But there they were scrubbing sinks and toilets, vacuuming the floors and dusting the photos that hung on his walls.

Magnolia noticed the envelope once she sat down with her books; as it was addressed to herself and May.

“Look May, we got mail,” she laughed, curious as to what could possibly be in the envelope.
After ripping open the envelope Magnolia pulled out a pair of lanyards that held cards on the bottom, which made them look pretty important. Along with the lanyards was a note. Once reading it, Magnolia realized it was more like an apology from Tyler and an explanation about the passes. They were an apology gift, something he felt he needed to make up to the girls for the way he had left his house this past weekend.

“We going to a hockey game May!” Magnolia cheered, waving the passes in her face
laughing.

Tickets to a hockey game did not make what they had to endure okay, but it was a start.

Notes

Hey guys, hope you enjoyed the chapter!! Let me know what ya think xx

Chapter Outfit