It was now 9pm and all the guests had already left the party. Rhonda had just bid farewell to the last of her guest not even a minute ago when she suddenly heard her door knocking again. She sighed and went to the door for the millionth time and opened it.
"Good evening, Ms. Lloyd." The tall, rather round man in a white uniform greeted Rhonda. "We're here for the after-party clean up."
"Yes, it's the usual area." Rhonda said as she moved away to let the clean up crew come in "You know the drill."
The clean up knew very well the intricacy of the Lloyd house and without saying any further, walked right in and headed to the living room. This was not their time the Lloyds had hired them for either a good spring cleaning, or to clean up after one of Rhonda's famous parties.
The living room that once housed dozens of kids was now utterly silent and still. And yet, there were clear signs that the room was once occupied by the city's rapidly growing and mature crowd. Plastic cups, plates, half eaten food and napkins littered the ground and tables. Some of the decorations were even falling down, either due to some of the kids pulling them down or never have been properly attached. Either way, they were going to be taken down.
Rhonda did not mind the mess. For her it was an indication that her guests had a great time and besides, she had no intention of cleaning the mess up. The cleaning crew she had hired entered the room immediately began got work. Apart from the fact that such tasks was well below her station, Rhonda Lloyd was exhausted from the amount of planning that had to be done for the party. Being the most popular girl came with a lot of benefits, but they also came with some responsibilities. To maintain her status, she felt she had to constantly up her game by throwing more and more lavish parties at her house for her peers. Not that she minded it. She liked doing it, but it was sometimes tiresome.
Knowing the cleaning crew had everything under control, Rhonda went over to the couch and laid on it, putting her hurting feet up and began to text away. The cleaning crew began to immediately take down the decorations and began to vacuum, throw any remaining half eaten snacks in the garbage. They brought with them multiple big black bags to put all the garbage they will eventually pick up.
Rhonda paid no such attention to the cleaning up and just busied herself away to responding to the many texts she was already receiving from her peers, thanking her for one one of the best parties she has so far thrown. As tired as she was, she couldn't go to bed yet until the cleaning crew finished their job. Hence, she had to stay there and 'supervise' for the time being. As she continued to lay there, she noticed out of the corner of her eye another person who was also busy cleaning up. Unlike the cleaning crew, this one stood out, or rather, stood down, considering his short stature. It surprised her what he was doing and wondered why he was cleaning up.
"You're still here?" She asked him, looking a bit surprised. "I thought you'd left already."
"Nope." He said to her. "I wasn't going to leave until I said goodbye and help you clean up. That would have been rude of me." He said with a smirk.
Surprised and intrigued by Rodrigo opting to stay behind and help clean up, especially after the way she treated him, Rhonda just silently glanced at him for a bit as he continued to sweep and/or pick up some of the garbage.
"You don't need to clean up, Rodrigo." Rhonda as to him as he was slowly bypassing her while sweeping some of the emptied plastic cups and paper plates from under the couch. " I have the cleaning crew for that. You're just making it easier for them."
Some of the cleaning crews heard that comment and just rolled their eyes as they continued cleaning.
"It's not a problem, Rhonda." Rodrigo just said to her while continuing to clean up. "I don't mind helping."
Helping? For Rhonda that was a foreign concept she had trouble understanding. It just didn't make sense to her. Helping? Helping with what exactly? The cleaning crew were getting paid to clean her house.
"But why are you doing it though?" She asked him as she sat up.
Rodrigo stopped what he was doing and turned to look at her.
"You asked me to show you just who I am exactly." He said to her. "Well, that's what I'm doing. This is what I do."
And with that, Rodrigo went back to help clean up her house.
Taken back by such a considerate, but highly strange behaviour, Rhonda just silently continued to sit on the couch and watched Rodrigo continue to do what he was doing. Giving him her full attention, she watched as he continued to bent down to pick up empty cups or dirty napkins with his hands. She would have cringed at such a spectacle, but luckily he was wearing cleaning gloves.
Feeling almost, somewhat mesmerized, she continued to watch him, only for her to then look at the cleaning crew who were all busy vacuuming, pulling decorations down, etc. After watching them for a bit, she then turned to refocus her attention on Rodrigo who just silently continued to collect some garbage into a big pile and pick them up
Intrigued at such a strange, foreign behaviur, she couldn't bear to look away. Somehow, him picking up garbage was having this overbearing hypnotic trance. Rhonda had seen such behaviour before, but never this consciously, never this personally.
Then, she got up from the couch, but remained fixated on watching Rodrigo. By now, she had seen the same process over and over that she practically memorized it; he would collect, bent down, picked up an item and put it inside one of the black garbage bags. And yet, that same automatic process continued to elude her. It was so simple, yet so out of tune for her, so out of this world.
Wanting to experience this new phenomenon, she then went over to one of the cleaning sections, picked up a pair of plastic cleaning gloves and a black garbage bag. She then turned around to look at Rodrigo once again to see just how he was doing it. It was the same process; collect, bent over, pick it up and put it in the garbage bag. Rhonda remained where she was for a few moments and just watched attentively at Rodrigo before then moving to the nearest garbage. She went over to it and grabbed the empty plastic cup that was on the floor. She looked at it, trying to decipher the meaning behind her picking such a dirty item. Wanting to find out what she had to do with it, she looked over at Rodrigo one more time. After witnessing for the 100th time where he was putting such items, she looked at the black garbage bag that was in her hand, looked at the plastic cup, only to glance back at the garbage bag. Then, as if a light bulb had finally lit in her mind, she moved her arm and put the plastic cup into the garbage bag.
She glanced back at Rodrigo to confirm if she did the process right. Once she was sure, she bent over again and picked up another dirty item from the floor. This time without much thorough thought and analysis, she put the item into the garbage bag. Again, she bent over and redid the process again. Every time she did it, the whole thing became much more self evident. She couldn't put it into words, but she began to feel what it was about and why it had to be done. Not only that, but each time she picked an item from the floor, it made her, quite strangely, feel more empowered, more independent. With each garbage she picked up she felt her own house becoming cleaner, which that in itself felt strangely satisfying. She felt she was contributing to something more than herself.
Now without any further thought or hesitation, Rhonda continued picking up items from the floor and putting them into the garbage bag. Pretty soon, it all started to feel natural to her. Neither Rodrigo, nor the cleaning crew initially noticed her. But as Rhonda continued to collect and pick up more garbage, she soon drew their attention and were shocked to see her getting all grim and dirty.
Even Rodrigo was surprised and stopped what he was doing just to glance at her. He was a bit amazed that somehow, Rhonda had managed to find the will to get up and do something that was so contrary to her. Indeed, he was almost as mesmerized as Rhonda was with him a moment ago. Rhonda continued to clean up without notice, but when she glanced at Rodrigo, she noticed him staring at her, and not working.
"Um, excuse me," she said to him, getting his attention, "there's still a lot to clean up here. It would be nice if you can help us."
"Oh, right." He said, but then smiled and began to work again.
Rhonda also smiled and went back to cleaning along with the rest of the cleaning crew.
Everyone continued to collect, vacuum and clean until the entire room was once again spotless and clean. Rhonda grabbed the last of the decorations she helped take down and put it into the garbage bag.
"There." She proudly said as she dusted her hands off. She then looked around with pride at how clean and tidy the living room was.
"Looks good as new." Rodrigo remarked.
"Actually," Rhonda said, "it looks even better."
Rodrigo smiled and looked at her and noticed that she had taken the whole cleaning thing pretty seriously. Her hair had become a bit messy, her hands were also bit dirty now, having ripped through the thinly plastic gloves. She and everyone else didn't just clean the room, they did a whole spring cleaning session of it.
"But I have to take a shower now." She continued at she looked at her hands. "And redo my nails." She grumbled a bit.
"But wasn't it better cleaning your own house by yourself?" Rodrigo asked.
"I have to admit," Rhonda replied back, "At the beginning I found the whole thing disgusting and bizarre, but after watching you and everyone else, and then trying it out for myself, it wasn't bad at all. Actually, it felt empowering."
"Well, I'm glad I instilled a little humility in you." He said with a smile. Rodrigo then looked at the big block and saw the time. "Anyways, it's getting late for me, so I'd better be going."
"Oh, sure." Rhonda said, sounding she disappointed that he was departing. "I'll walk you to the door."
Rodrigo took his gloves off and after putting them into the one of the garbage bags, Rhonda escorted him to the door.
"By the way, thanks for what you did back at the dance floor." A grateful Rhonda said. "You saved my party."
"You're welcome." He said to her.
"How did you convince the DJ to play a different music?" Rhonda asked.
Rodrigo explained. "It wasn't hard. At first he refused to play the song I asked him to play, on grounds that it wasn't his 'style'. But when I told him that you are very popular person with a large following online and was planning on making a big stink out of it, he saw the 'light' and relented."
"But I said the exact thing to him and he didn't budge." Rhonda said. "Why did he listen to you?"
"Really?" Rodrigo rhetorically asked. "Well, I'm not sure what exactly you said to him. All I did was reason with him and laid out the facts. A) He was at a party with a bunch of kids who are literate in the art of social media. The person who hired him is the queen of social media who can easily spread news, both good and bad, like lightening. B) He was getting paid in helping make the party one to remember, C) One of the greatest features of a music artist is to always explore uncharted territory. So, I kind of challenged him by asking him if he really is an artist."
"Hm, not really the words I used." Rhonda said. "I used a more direct approach with him, but I guess that's why it didn't work with me."
"I guess." Was all Rodrigo said.
"I was also not aware that Peapod Kid knew Spanish." Rhonda then commented. "That surprised me."
"He doesn't." Rodrigo confirmed. "He knew the lyrics by heart because he is addicted to that music."
"Really?" Rhonda asked, to which Rodrigo nodded.
"When I introduced him to that song," the Latino kid explained, "he would listen to it every single day without end. He even searched the lyrics online just so he can 'read' and memorize it. But he doesn't understand what he's singing."
"I see. Hmm, interesting." Rhonda remarked.
Then, both pre-teens arrived at the door.
"Anyways, thank you for doing what you did." She said to him.
"And…" She then continued, this time with a more guilty look, "sorry for giving you such a hard time tonight."
"And?" He said.
Rhonda just sighed.
"And for misjudging you." She softly answered him.
Rodrigo wasn't particularly ready to forgive Rhonda. He was still mad over this whole fiasco. However, considering that she was genuinely apologizing, and that it was now or never, it was best to just bury hatchet...for now.
"It's okay, Rhonda." He said to her. "So, we're good?"
"Yes, we're good now." She responded.
"Thank you for coming." She said to him somewhat shyly. "This maybe hard for you to believe, but I'm you same and I enjoyed our time tonight."
"Really?" A surprised Rodrigo asked, to which Rhonda simply nodded. "Well, thanks." He said. "I had a good time as well. You know, despite everything."
The two said nothing and just awkwardly smiled at each other.
"Well," Rodrigo then said, "good night, Rhonda."
"Good night." She said back. "Or should I say, bon nuit." She smiled.
Rodrigo was surprised at her remark, but nevertheless smiled back and a bit shyly, gestured to her if he could have her hand.
Rhonda smiled and without hesitation, gave him her hand. He gently took hold of it, bowed down and placed a soft kiss on a section that was close to the wrist and away from her dirty fingers.
"Bon nuit mademoiselle." He said to her. "Tes yeux brillant comme les étoiles dans le ciel sombre."
Rhonda just tensed up when she heard him speak French again. Despite not understanding what he said, she felt confident that this time he was being genuine.
"I uh," Rhonda nervously tried to talk, "I don't know what you just said, but thanks."
"I said 'Good night, fair lady. Your eyes glow like stars in the night sky.'"
Rhonda said nothing and just began to blush, hard.
"Thank you." She nervously said
Rodrigo said nothing other than continuing to smile at her before then making his way out the door, waved at her, and stepped out.
Rhonda waved back as he left the building, waited for a few seconds and then closed the door. As soon as she did so, she locked the door and leaned against the door for a bit and soothingly exhaled out. After that, an almost goofy smile appeared on her faced before she headed back to the living room.
Maybe, just maybe… She thought.
The End
Alright, well that takes care of this chapter. I know this was a rather short story, but I hoped everyone still enjoyed it. What did everythink think? Let me know in the comments/review! Thanks again to everyone for reading it.