Chapter 3
Lucas
I was caught in a conversation with Julia when I heard the front door open.
“It must be Anthony,” Veronica says and then quickly takes a silver plate from the kitchen counter and hands it to me.
She places a teacup and a plate of expensive-looking food on it.
“You have to bring this to Mr. Anthony, he must be in his office by now,” she tells me and I nod, standing up.
I exit the room and climb the stairs, heading to Mr. Anthony’s office when I remember about the outfit I’m wearing.
Shit. I can’t go like this. What will Mr. Anthony think? I probably look ridiculous. But at the same time, it is not my fault that I’m wearing this, I was forced to, I had to. And that’s because Mr. Anthony didn’t think and organize what he had to, he’s an unorganized and a mess. No wonder his office was messy and disgusting. Anger starts to build inside me but I push it down and come back to my insecure and shy me.
I knock on his office door with hesitation.
“Come in,” a strong voice says from behind the door. I take a deep breath and enter the room.
Mr. Anthony is sitting at his desk, leaning back in the leather chair. The sleeves of his white shirt are rolled up, and a few buttons are open, his hair looks messy but hot.
Shit. Did I just say ‘hot’? Well, he looks hot. I can’t deny that, but he’s also my boss and I shouldn’t think of him that way. He moves his eyes up and down my body and my eyes widen a little.
“I brought you food, sir” I quickly say to make him stop checking me out, fucking weirdo.
“Thanks. I see you cleaned the whole office” he says with a blank face and I look around awkwardly.
“Yeah...it was a whole mess,” I say. I think it sounded a little too rude but I couldn’t help it.
“That’s why I got a maid, obviously” he fires back while smirking and the polite smile disappears from my face. It is replaced with a frown.
“But you didn’t get a proper maid uniform for that maid, obviously.” I fire back, mocking the word ‘obviously’ with a deep voice like Mr. Anthony’s. He playfully arches a brow.
“Because I didn’t want to,” he says and I try to think about something that can end him but then I realize what he just said.
“What did you just say?” I ask with mouth wide open and Mr. Anthony chuckles.
“Didn’t I say it loud enough? You should get your ears checked.” he smugly says.
I’ve had enough. Who does he think he is?
I walk to his desk and put the plate with food down a little too hard. He looks at my body again.
“And you should get your attitude checked,” I say with a hand on my hip and look down at him with a bitch face. Then I turn my head in the other direction like a diva and walk away.
I swear I’ll spit in his precious tea next time.
Later that day
I regret my whole life.
I regret what I said to Mr. Anthony. He’s my goddamn boss and I literally told him to get his attitude checked. How could I be so stupid? What if he hates me now, what if he fires me?
I don’t know what has gotten into me. That sudden wave confidence that I felt when I was in his office scares me.
I’ve never stood up for myself, not in high school or life. I’ve always let people say mean things to me and hurt me.
I don’t know what has gotten into me today. I talk back and stand up for myself when I shouldn’t and I don’t when I should. That’s how fucked up that is.
In the last half an hour I kept thinking if I should go and apologize or do nothing.
And I decided that I should do nothing.
If he fires me, that’s it. I can’t do anything. My shift ends in another half an hour so I’ll just wait.
Or maybe I should clean something else too.
I don’t know what to do.
I think I’ll just go home and apologize tomorrow when I calm down a little and when I’ll be able to analyze the situation with a clear mind.
Veronica is somewhere in the house and the two other maids that I met today are probably home because their shift ends before mine. But they’re paid less so I’m not complaining.
“Lucas you can go home” Veronica enters the kitchen, making me jump.
“But my shift---”
“Go home. Anthony ordered that. You have to rest. Tomorrow is a big day.”
“Big day...?” I ask confused and tilt my head a little.
“Yeah, the whole staff will come back from Scotland,” she explains but I’m still confused. What staff? Scotland?
Veronica sees my scrunched face and talks” Anthony has a mansion in Scotland. And half of the year he is there, and the staff goes with him. Then he comes back in June but the staff stays there another week to clean everything up. Then they come back here. And tomorrow they’re supposed to be back home. It happens every year.“She finishes and I nod.
“Oh. Ok....”
Veronica sighs “Lucas, what I want to say is that tomorrow, you will get eaten alive. Most of them are not nice people. And in that uniform, sweetie...you’re dead.”
I’m left shocked. What is this? High school?
“They’ll like...bully me or something?” I ask and Veronica nods, her eyes point at my uniform and I sigh. So because of the uniform...Fucking Anthony.
Piece of shit, fuck face of a horse.
Why couldn’t he buy me a proper male uniform?
What am I going to do tomorrow? I’m really sensitive and I can’t stand up for myself. Exactly how it was in school. When I dropped out I thought that I’ll finally be left alone, no bullying, no insults, no pain. But I guess that life has other plans for me.
I feel tears in the back of my eyes. I don’t want to get bullied again, I don’t want to cry for hours straight, I don’t want suicidal thoughts again, I don’t want any of it again.
I need to speak to Anthony. He has to do something about the uniform, I can’t any more insults from anybody.
I exit the kitchen, leaving Veronica behind and go into the restroom. I find my backpack and open it, then change into my clothes that I came herein. I throw the maid uniform in the locker.
Then I head to Anthony’s office. I changed in my clothes because I can’t stay in that uniform another second and because I don’t want Anthony to see me in it.
I have to speak to him.
