Chapter Nine

14th December 2015

“Can I take you order please?” I asked a couple of teenagers standing at the counter.

“Two big macs, two large fries, a coke and a sprite.” Came the response, “and make it quick we’re in a hurry.”

“Yes of course.” I called out the order to the kitchen staff. And started getting the drink ready.

“That’ll be 14 dollars.” I said as I handed them the bag of food. They paid and then went on their way.

I still don’t quite know how I ended up here. It all happened so fast. I know that Carla had already mentioned to Becky that she wanted me to get a job, but I hadn’t heard anymore about it until I was round at Carla’s one evening.

Carla and Ryan had finished eating the dinner I had prepared and were both studying in the living room. The table was covered in books; Carla’s books on Climate Change and Ryan’s on Law. I was available for any little bit of service they might like. For example I was intermittently sent to make cups of coffee (I knew exactly how they both took their coffee), I made sure the music was right for them, I fetched snacks as required. I gave Carla a foot massage when her stress levels started to rise. She tried to persuade Ryan to have one from me, but he thought it might be a bit weird, so he said no. I was pretty relieved about that. Having to massage a guy’s feet was not a pleasant one for me.

Then Carla put down her pen, turned to Ryan and said,

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“Do you think we could talk to John about the job thing now?”

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“Yeah, sounds good babe.” Ryan moved closer to Carla and put his arm round her. It still feels like a knife to the heart every time they use terms of endearment for each other and every time he puts his arm round her.

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“Okay wimp, me and Ryan have been talking and we feel that your life doesn’t have much direction since you dropped out of university. Sure you serve us pretty well. But the two of us are working hard with our studies and we think that if you’re not studying then you should at least be earning a bit of money….Did I tell you to stop rubbing my feet?”

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“Errr…no…I’m sorry Carla.” I had momentarily looked up to concentrate on what she was saying but this earned a sharp rebuke from Carla.

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“We don’t want you becoming lazy after all, we need to make sure you maintain a good work ethic.” Ryan said.

I couldn’t believe he’d said that to me. I had been working my ass off to do every little chore and errand for Carla and Ryan for what felt like ages. I was up early every day and often went to bed late. And it wasn’t uncommon for me to be working up in the middle of the night and to be told to come and pick them up from a club or a party somewhere. I felt like I was already working myself to the bone and he had the nerve to tell me I needed to maintain a good work ethic. The unfairness burned inside me but I bit my tongue and just nodded along to what I was being told.

“And also we want a bit of extra spending money.” Carla smirked.

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“What?” I asked, incredulously. I thought I must have misheard, they couldn’t possibly expect me to work and then hand the money over to them, that would be crazy.

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“Oh yeah!” Carla’s grin widened, “was that not obvious, you’ll do the work but we’ll keep the money. Don’t worry we’ll give you a nice little allowance so that you have enough to pay rent and to eat and stuff. But it will be our money…You got a problem with that wimp?” Her smile vanished and she brought her fact inches from mine. My heart quickened with arousal and fear. She was close enough that I could smell her floral perfume, I could gaze into her eyes and get lost in her powerful beauty. I knew there was no arguing with Carla. I knew that if she challenged me I would back down.

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“Ummm…no…I don’t have a problem.”

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“You’re damn right!” She sneered at me and then without warning she cocked her hand back and slapped me hard across the face. I was shocked, there was no warning. My face stung and a couple of tears came to my face, partly from the pain, partly from shock and partly from humiliation. “That’s for even thinking about questioning me.” She said, “Now, I’ve already arranged for you to have a try-out at the local Macdonalds. They don’t pay that well but it should be steady work.”

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With my face still smarting I didn’t dare raise any objections. I just said, “Yes Carla.” This drew a little chuckle from my two tormentors.

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“No spine whatsoever, you really are pathetic!” Ryan said as he leaned forward and handed me his empty glass. “Another soda wimp!”

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“Yes Ryan, can I get you anything Carla?”

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“Yeah I’ll have a soda too.”

So that was that. My try-out at Mcdonalds went fine and I got the job. So here I am as a burger flipper, mostly serving rude and entitled teenagers. It is a rule that I have to call the customers “Sir” and “Ma’am”, it is a bit old fashioned but that’s what my boss demands. Feels kind of stupid calling a teenage boy “Sir” but whatever, who am I to complain.

None of this is great for my confidence though. I get talked down to by most people nowadays; whether its working at McDonalds or serving Carla and her friends. It’s difficult to feel good about yourself when you get so much disrespect all the time. Being called an idiot, pathetic, a joke etc…it’s tough not letting it get to you. But I know that the money is going to make Carla happy, she’s really excited about my first paycheck. She says she wants to use the money to throw a party as a “payday celebration.” If it makes her happy then it’s a good thing I guess.

But boy has it been tough keeping up with all my tasks. If I thought that getting a full time job would mean that Carla would go easy on me with chores, I was dead wrong. I am still sent around campus like the group’s errand boy. So my free time as dwindled to almost nothing. Last night I was round at Anna’s cleaning up after a party they’d had, obviously nobody had invited me. There were beer and wine bottles everywhere. A stain on the bedroom carpet that I spent ages scrubbing to get it out. A used condom in the bathroom that hadn’t quite made it to the bin. And where was Anna while I made her flat look good as new? She was sat on the sofa watching TV or gossiping on the phone with friends. And occasionally she’d demand that I top up her drink, or grab her a snack. Any pleases or thank yous? Nope, she didn’t waste time with that.

“Wimp, more water!”

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“Hurry up, I’m thirsty.”

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“Get some nachos out here pronto!”

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“Spillage on the table boy! Get your ass out here.”

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The only time she bothered to have a conversation with me was to mock me. I was on my hands and knees scrubbing at a particularly resistant wine stain on the carpet when Anna started talking to me, almost as if I was something more than just her designated cleaner.

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“So what were you up to last night while we were partying?”

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“Ummmm…I was doing some laundry for Carla.” My face went a little red, I didn’t enjoy telling people how I spent my free time.

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“Oh you are such a hard worker. Carla really found a gem when she got hold of you.”

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“Thank you.” I replied as the wine stain started to come up.

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“Its probably a good job you were doing laundry instead of being round here…I don’t think you would have enjoyed seeing some of the things that happened.” She winked at me, “Carla can be quite the slut you know.” My heart skipped a beat, I hoped that she would leave it there but this obviously wasn’t part of her plans. “I’m a sex-positive feminist so I have no problem with Carla enjoying herself, and Ryan is seriously hot. But she just couldn’t keep her hands off him.” Anna had such a wide, cruel grin on her face. I just tried to focus on scrubbing the carpet. “And after she dragged him to the bedroom for a bit of privacy you should have heard the noises the two of them made. It sounded wild, I can tell you…Did you pick up their condom by the way?” She asked me so innocently but I could see the sparkle in her eyes. I felt sick suddenly realising that the condom I’d thrown away belonged to Ryan.

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“Yes I put it in the bin.”

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“You’re a doll John you really are. Ryan fucks your ‘girlfriend’” she used airquotes “and you pick up the condom for him. I can’t wait to tell him.” Anna laughed. The stain had finally come off the carpet.

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“Anna do you mind if I start vacuuming in here?” I asked, desperate to end the conversation.

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“What? You don’t want to hear anymore about Carla’s sexcapades?” She smirked, “Okay then, I probably shouldn’t be distracting you from work anyway.”

By the time I left at half past midnight Anna was in bed and I was absolutely exhausted. I went back home and collapsed into my bed. Knowing I had to be awake in about six hours to get ready for work was not a nice thought. Just to make things even worse I received a text from Ryan just as I was trying to drift off to sleep. It read, “Anna told me you cleaned up my used condom from last night’s party. Thanks bud, you’re the best!”

Great, more humiliation for me.

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