Effortless With You (6 page)

“Hey.” He walks forward, extending his hand. “I’m Troy, project manager.” Got it. My boss. He points to each of the other guys. “That’s Luke, Emmanuel, Jake, and Alex.” Jake shoves Alex off balance. After the brief introduction, Troy tells them to get started. They all gather supplies from the truck and go separate ways. Troy walks right past me.

Am I supposed to grab stuff to start or wait for instruction?

“Um, Troy?” I ask, forcing myself to follow him like a helpless puppy.

“Right, sorry. You’re working with Alex.” He scans the yard. “I think he’s in the back. You’ll be his protégé.” A sigh of relief slips from my lips.
A protégé’.
I can handle that. I'll be like Alex’s assistant or something. Troy grabs a ladder from the truck bed and easily tosses it over his shoulder. “I’ll bring your ladder down for you.” I eye him as he tosses the clunky metal over his shoulder. Is he going to help me move it all summer?

When we reach the backyard, Troy drops my ladder, waving Alex down. Alex hops off his ladder from much too high, keeping his ear buds in as Troy gives an instruction in whispered tones. He nods, still bouncing to the music, until Troy leaves.

With Troy gone, he bounds over to me, taking out his ear buds. “I’m Alex. I’ve never gotten a protégé’ before.” He’s upbeat, holding up his hand for a high five. I give him a hesitant slap back. “I can’t believe they trust me with this.”

My confidence soars.

“Not that you should be worried … I’m awesome.” He smiles at me, and it is genuine. He can’t be over fifteen.

“Thanks. Where can I start? Near the ground?”

“Ha. No way, girl. If I start you there, you’ll never get up that ladder.” He nods to the humongous metal structure leaning against the house.

“I’ll be fine,” I lie. “It’ll be nice to just get the feel of the paintbrush before climbing up that thing, you know?”

“Nope. I watched Troy make that mistake with Luke. Look at him, always clinging to the ground.” Luke stands, grounded, painting the edge of a lower windowsill. “He only paints up high when he’s forced. He’s a slacker.” He puffs out his chest. “My protégé won’t be a slacker.” Tapping the ladder, he lifts his eyebrows. “You know you want to.”

I take a deep breath. I can already feel my feet flying through the air.

“Come on.” He motions with his hand.

I take a step back. Nope. I’m not getting up on that thing. It’s over fifteen feet tall.

Alex watches me, his fingers tapping his lips. “Okay. What if I can promise that the ladder won’t move and there’d be someone here to catch you if you fall?”

“Alex, there’s rarely anyone to catch you when you fall,” I say matter-of-factly.

He looks at me blankly, not quite understanding if I’m talking about falling or life. His face scrunches up. He’s thinking too hard. I can’t have that.

“That’s why they call it a fall. If people caught you, wouldn’t they call it a catch?” I try to lead him astray. He smiles. It works.

“Okay. Then, at worst, you’ll have a catch today.” He beams and holds out his hand. He has a little dimple in his right cheek. “Come on … please? The boss’ll be pissed if I don’t get you on that ladder.” Alex is so sweet and too young. I can’t make him suffer. I take a breath and walk up to the ladder. I can at least try.

I reach up, grabbing the middle of a rung. Alex moves my hands to the side rails. “It’s easier this way. Don’t worry. I’ll stand at the bottom all day if I have to.” His voice drops to a whisper. “Don’t tell anyone, but I hated the ladders in the beginning too.”

I like Alex. He is good people.

“Okay.” I clear my mind with the same deep breath I used to take before every free throw. “Here we go.” I start climbing. I don’t need to be told not to look down. Thankfully Alex knows better than that. But I can totally imagine him staring at my butt. Good kid, but still a guy.

“Great,” Alex says. “Now stop. You’re halfway. How does it feel?”

“Ugh, okay.”

“That’s as high as you have to go today.” My stomach relaxes. I can deal with this. “Tomorrow we’ll work higher up.” I let myself look down. At most, it’d be like an eight-foot fall. Not fatal, just a broken arm.

“Now come back down and I’ll set your supplies up nice.”

I take extra caution stepping back down the ladder. I can hear Alex behind me, taking supplies out of a huge bucket and moving around the base of my ladder. When I get down, the ground has transformed. Large drop cloths cover the grass. A variety of brushes and rollers are arranged on the ground. He grabs one and hands it to me. He shakes his head and grabs another. I hold it and he nods. Alex assesses the remaining supplies. He knows his stuff.

“How old are you?” I have to know.

“Fourteen. Almost fifteen.”

Younger than I thought.

“You look older than that,” I offer. He straightens his shoulders, making them broader. He’s kind of adorable. “You know a lot about this painting stuff, huh?” I give him a little ego boost. I need an ally.

“Of course I do.” He hands me a small bucket of paint while he climbs up my ladder. He holds out his hand, and I hand up the bucket. “I’ve been with the company since it started.”

“When was that?”

“Two summers ago.” I must look confused because he continues to explain, “Family connection. At first I just hung around watching. Then I got so annoying they had to give me a brush … and then a paycheck.” He laughs as he hooks the paint holder to the underside of the ladder. “Not many thirteen-year-olds can purchase their own HD flat-screen TV.” He tightens the paint holder. “Now I’m saving for a car. I’m technically only allowed to work five hours a day so I help out the other three.”

“You want to work full time?” I blurt. My cheeks burn. This is my first job and I already dread every hour.

“Absolutely. An outdoor gig, hanging out with friends, listening to music, building muscle without thinking about it, and getting paid? Sweet deal.” He climbs back down the ladder, switching places with me. I climb back up. He hands me the brush. “Dip the bristles in only a third of the way.” I do. “Yup. Now gently wipe the excess off on the inside lip of the bucket. Now brush with the grain of the siding. Not up and down, but side-to-side.” I do. The grey paint goes on smoothly. I smush the paint into a crack in the board, covering up all traces of the ugly yellow. Perfect.

This isn’t as bad as I thought. It's kind of hypnotizing. Alex shuffles his feet at the base of my ladder. I bet holding my ladder all day is probably as miserable for him as me being on one.

“Alex, you can let go.”

“Really? Are you sure?”

“Yup.” I nod to the ladder set up a few yards away from mine. “You won’t be far. I’ll holler when I need help with a refill.”

“Awesome. You’re already doing great. A natural. But don’t tell anyone that. Tell them I taught you everything there is to know, okay?”

I laugh, gripping the ladder. “As long as you keep me alive, consider it a deal.”

“Can do.” He winks playfully and bounds away. The kid has energy. He scales his ladder to the top, with supplies in hand. He steadies himself, plays with his iPhone, and puts in his ear buds. Mental note: bring music tomorrow. He bobs his head in rhythm. A smile seems permanently glued to his face. He really does love this job.

Assessing the siding in front of me, I carefully re-dip my brush while clutching the ladder. I reposition my grip and begin to cover the wood. Back and forth. I let my mind slip into blankness. It feels nice.

Back and forth.

Progressing down toward the ground isn’t so scary. I manage to unhook the paint bucket and move it with me. This isn’t too horrible.

The sun gets hotter and the air stickier. Alex takes more frequent water breaks and eventually takes off his shirt. My tank top glues itself to me. I want to just wear my sports bra but there’s no way I’d put myself on display here. And, worse, they’d probably think I thought I was super hot or something. I’d just be embarrassing myself.

The heat gets more suffocating with each stroke of my brush. We’re on the sunny side of the house. My only solace comes from knowing that eventually the sun will pass over and our sunny side will turn to shade.

 Like Alex, I start taking sips of water between each board I paint. I don’t know what causes me to sweat more, the sun or climbing up and down because of my thirst. Staying hydrated is a work out in itself. My progress slows.

I sigh as I take my last sip of water. Dehydration, not a fall, would kill me.

Just as I debate asking Alex for a sip, Troy comes around the corner. “Break time, take twenty,” he shouts. There is a gas station a few streets away. I can run there, buy more water, and be back in time. I nearly jump off my ladder, surprising both myself and Alex.

“Whoa. Careful!” Alex calls as he climbs down his ladder. “Overconfidence can destroy you.” I think of Justin. Yes, that sounds about right.

I don’t waste any time. “Right; I’ll remember that.” I pick up my water bottle and jog past Alex. “I didn’t bring enough water. I’ve got to run to the gas station.”

“But you won’t have time to eat something.” He has run to reach my side. He motions to the other guys, all sitting on the lawn eating out of their lunchboxes. I look down at my watch.

“It’s ten. When do we eat lunch?”

“One.”

“I can make it. I’ll be fine.” My stomach growls in protest.

“Lucy, you should eat. You’ll get hungry.”

“I can last three more hours. Water is way more important.”

Alex motions toward the house’s hose. “Use that, water’s in our contract.” I scrunch my nose. “Come on, like when you were a kid, remember?”

The thought of the metallic taste grosses me out. Plus, a trip to the gas station helps me avoid Justin. “No thanks. I’ll just make a quick run. I’ll be back.” Alex doesn’t say anything. He stops running, shaking his head. Troy approaches him. Alex explains, “She wants to go to the gas station. I can’t stop her.”

“Well, she better come back.”

“She will.” Alex says confidently.

Wow. The idea hadn’t occurred to me to just leave. Why not? I hold the answer to that question in my hand: my phone. GPS. I’ll be back because I have to be. I bet Mom is watching where I am right now and wondering where I'm going, about to jump out of her computer chair and get in the car and chase me down. I start to jog. Mom now has total control, everything she wanted.

I arrive back as Troy shouts, “Back at it, men!” He looks at me as I pass him. “And Lucy.”

How nice to be included.

I drink half of one of the water bottles on the way into the backyard. I’ll definitely be using that hose in the next couple of hours. I climb up my ladder where Alex has already prepped my supplies. My stomach growls again. Ugh, this will be a long three hours.

I brush back and forth, grey over yellow. My stomach growls just enough to distract me from hitting a rhythm. I climb up and down the ladder to grab sips of water. Alex has somehow clipped his water to his ladder, saving him from going up and down. I’ll have to ask him about that during lunch. The sun is right over us now. In only an hour or so it will move to the other side of the house. Shade. The front and back of my tank top are soaking wet. It is unusual for me to sweat so much. I’ll bring two tops tomorrow.

The water finally settles my stomach. I fall back into my painting rhythm and my mind drifts to Zach. Should I call and apologize for my mom at the party and explain her crazy need for control? He’d agree and comfort me. Maybe he’d even stop over to sit with me outside and talk? I can already smell his cologne.

The back of my throat burns; I’m thirsty again. I climb down the ladder. My head feels a bit fuzzy. I take a long sip, feeling sleepy and unusually relaxed. I take another sip, closing my eyes for a bit. My stomach seems to turn over. I drank too much. My hands start shaking.

I bend over, my hands on my knees.
Collect yourself, Lucy.
Too late. The water comes back up. My eyes go fuzzy.

“Lucy?”

The ringing in my ears drowns Alex’s voice.

CHAPTER SIX

Water. Water everywhere. Wet. My eyes jolt open.

Justin stands over me, spraying me with a hose. “She’s awake.” Justin leans down. He puts one arm around my shoulder and the other under my knees and swiftly picks me up.

“Put me down.” I push away from him but he holds on. The world turns. “Now,” I insist.

Justin refuses. He throws me in the front seat of the truck, reaching over and buckling me in. The truck lurches as something lands in back. Alex. My whole body trembles. A Pixy Stick is dangled in front of my face. “Eat this.”

“No.” I move Justin’s arm away. “I’m not hungry.” My stomach stings. Who can eat when they feel like this?

He pushes the Pixy Stick back in my face. I snatch it and throw it out the window. There. My head pounds, I bury it in my knees. My stomach heaves and yellow liquid follows.

Justin groans.

The stinging in my stomach ends. I lean back to rest my eyes. Better. I don’t want to deal with Justin anymore. I’d rather sleep.