I own nothing but the story. I'm just borrowing Ryan and Rosa.
THE DEAL
The slamming door woke Ryan from a sound sleep. Grumbling, he turned over and pulled the pillow over his head. What the fuck? Why was Seth waking him so early? Ryan had difficulty sleeping recently and last night was no exception. He kept himself busy and finally fell asleep around 3:30 in the morning. It was winter break and his goal was to stay in bed as long as possible to make up for the sleep he had been loosing recently.
Obviously, he was not going to reach that goal today judging from the slamming door. Was it too much to ask for a little privacy - to be allowed to sleep-in every once in a while? He was on vacation god dammit and he wanted to sleep!
"Do you want to get me fired?" The pillow was ripped from his hands and Ryan looked up into the very angry face of Rosa. He didn't have time to react as the pillow descended, smacking him in the face.
Crying out in surprise, Ryan sat up and rolled away from the angry woman as the pillow descended again. He pulled the sheet up quickly hoping that Rosa didn't notice that he was only in his boxers. "What…What… uhm …Rosa! What are you doing?"
"I asked you a question. Do You Want To Get Me Fired?" She spoke the words slowly so Ryan would not miss one of them.
"No, of course not. I would never get you fired! What happened? What's wrong?" Ryan was completely confused. He glanced at the clock. It was only 7 AM.
"What's wrong? You want to ask me what's wrong? You are what's wrong, Ryan Atwood. You come to this house and you live here, but instead of making my job harder like any teenage boy would do, you start doing my work. All of it!" Ryan would have thought it was funny but there was fire in Rosa's eyes. And he'd seen that fire before in Theresa's mother's eyes. He had a feeling if he pissed Theresa off enough he'd see it in hers too. Ryan knew that if he laughed, Rosa would beat him to death with his pillow.
"But, I didn't do anything wrong! I just did a couple of things last night when I couldn't sleep."
"A couple of things? I leave the house on Friday fully expecting to do my normal Monday work. When it was three of them, Monday was my busiest day- dishes, laundry, vacuuming just to start. Seth is a very messy boy. He never even puts his dishes away."
"But today, I walk in, the house is spotless. No dust, the dishes are away, the laundry is clean and folded, the counters are spotless, the floor is mopped even the silverware is polished. What is left for me to do? Maybe a little vacuuming, and there's nothing to do in here. So I ask you again, why do you want me to get fired? Is this job so fantastic that you want it?"
"No, never Rosa. I just…I always did that stuff. And last night I couldn't sleep so I got a few things done."
"You made MUFFINS!"
"I like cooking and well, Kirsten said she liked them" He couldn't look her in the eye.
"I know you like cooking. If I come in early to make a nice breakfast, you're already there. If I get the chance to cook a meal, I turn around and you're cleaning up for me or making a salad. What is your problem, hijo?"
"I always helped Theresa's mom."
"Do I look like Theresa's mom and who is Theresa?" Rosa took a good look at Ryan. He looked a little scared and the way he was holding that sheet in front of his chest made her want to giggle. Maybe this was her chance to make a deal.
Not letting Ryan answer, she continued, "You know Ryan, just because you keep the pool house spotless, does not mean I don't try to find something to straighten up in here." She walked towards his closet.
"What do you mean?" Ryan's got a little worried. Holy shit, she better not be going in there.
"You are a teenager, a young man. I have sons myself, so I know what to look for." She opened the closet doors.
"Rosa, that's my stuff! I'll stop I promise!" Uh oh, he was dead. He could get out of bed to stop her, but why did he have to sleep in his underwear?
"Bahh, those are just words. And when you can't sleep again, what will you do, mess things up?" She bent down and reached deep into the closet.
"If you want me to, I'll be messy. Really I can do messy, Seth'll show me." Ryan wanted to crawl under his bed when she emerged triumphantly holding up his stash - a few well read Playboys, a couple of Penthouse magazines and his cigarettes.
"What would Mrs. Cohen say if she saw this? You know she does go in your closets to see what you need. These can easily find their way to a place she will see them." Rosa was very amused to see Ryan's face drain of color and then turn bright red. Damn that kid would never be able to keep a secret. His face was a dead give away.
"Uhm, well, jeez Rosa, I mean…you wouldn't would you?" Ryan could have sworn no one would ever find them. "How did you find them?" He tried to give her the patented Atwood scowl, which wasn't effective with a beet red face.
"Mrs. Cohen asked me to find your good shoes so they could get polished before one of those events. I lost my balance and these fell to the floor. It was a good spot, but not good enough. I'm glad you aren't smoking these. I count them every time I'm in here."
"Shit"
"Hijo! What is with your mouth? First you try to steal my job and now you disrespect me. Malo!"
"Sorry." Ryan buried his face in his hands. All he needed now was for Kirsten or Seth to walk in. Sandy would find it funny and he'd probably get a lecture but Sandy wouldn't dwell on it like Seth.
"So, Ryan. Maybe we can make a deal, what do you think?" Rosa smiled; this was going to work out just perfectly.
"A deal? Fine what do you want?" Ryan was resigned to his fate. He didn't see any way out of this.
"First, put on your clothing. What if Mrs. Cohen walked in here and saw you in your underwear?" She threw a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt at him and turned her back. When Ryan indicated he was done she turned around and waved him over to the counter by the kitchenette. He sat up on the stool as she poured him a glass of juice from the refrigerator and sat down next to him.
"Okay, first off you have to stop cleaning the entire house. It is my job and it may not be the best one in the world but it is mine and I like. And I'm good at it. You are a boy, you need to do other things, you can be messy. This," she waived her hand around, "is too neat, it is not right, but if you're happy, fine."
"So I have to stop everything?" Ryan actually felt disappointed.
"No, I know you like to help, so we will make a list."
"Okay," Ryan thought, "this could work." The two started bargaining.
"Now, you can do your own laundry, but if I come in here and find a big pile that needs to be clean, I will do it."
"I can fold my own," Ryan turned a little red, embarrassed at the thought of Rosa folding his underpants.
"Alright. If I find your laundry in the dryer, I will bring it here for you to fold. And, if you need the dryer, and there is something in there, you can fold them and put it away."
"What if it's Kirsten's?" There was no way Ryan was going to touch her stuff.
"Well, then why not, if its sheets and towels, you fold, if it is anyone else's leave it for me in the basket in the laundry room. I will do the ironing – I find it relaxing and you leave wrinkles. Now, I will mop and vacuum the floors in the house and the pool house." She raised her hand in to keep Ryan from interrupting. "You can keep the pool house clean but the floors are mine."
"But I like mopping." Ryan always liked to mop, maybe because the floor always looked so shiny when he was done. "It relaxes me." He looked at Rosa defiantly.
"Fine, you mop the pool house, there is not much to do anyway. But you return the mop and bucket to the house. I don't want to find it out here again. Now, windows, I'll take care of those, but I could use your help with this place. Why anyone would want 3 walls of windows…. But if you are not around to help that is okay. You can keep the pool area clean and make sure that there are no dishes left in the living room."
"Okay."
"Now the dishes. I know you like to do them, but enough. You can put them in the dishwasher. But I will take them out. However, if the dishes are clean and you have dirty dishes to put in the machine, then you can put them away. But not if it is only one dish, that would be cheating."
"Fine. You put the dishes away. But I don't want to stop cooking. How about, if I'm already cooking you help me and if you are I'll help you?"
"Good, but you don't have to help if you are busy. And we have to tell the other if we have plans to cook, so you don't interfere with what I have planned."
"Hey, you might interfere with me!"
"Which is why we tell the other when we might be cooking" Rosa swatted him in the side of the head. The two talked for a few more minutes, discussing the detail, so Ryan would have a few things to do without monopolizing Rosa's work. Rosa made sure that Ryan had some things to do in the main house, but more importantly, she wanted to make sure she would have things to do in the pool house. After all, she really wanted to do things for this boy and if vacuuming the pool house was it, than that was fine with her.
"Come here," she gave Ryan a nudge and lead him one of the kitchenette's lower cabinets. Opening one, she pushed on a piece of wood at the base, which then separated from the cabinet leaving a space between it and the floor.
"You see here? You can put your dirty magazines under here." Ryan turned red again, remembering how this bargaining session had started. "I found this one day when cleaning. Bad job if you ask me. But the wood pops right back in and it does not come loose. You just push down on it a little. No one knows about it, so you can hide your things here. Safe from Mrs. Cohen's eyes and you know if Seth finds them, you might as well hand them to his mother. But no more cigarettes." She shook her finger at him.
"Well," Rosa stood up and closed the cabinet door. "one more thing. If we are alone, you will speak Spanish with me. I know you speak it. I've heard you on the phone and you speak it well. I don't understand why that expensive school of yours insists on having you learn French? Who speaks French in Southern California? Now Spanish, that is a language you can use."
Ryan shook his head in agreement. What a weird morning. But now he had a secret place for his magazines even though Rosa knew about it. And as long as he did what they agreed, Rosa wouldn't be pissed at him.
Rosa opened the refrigerator and the cabinet where he kept some food. "I will make sure you have some of your favorite foods in here in case Seth eats what is in the house. I doubt he thought to look in here. And Ryan," She turned to him, "just because we came to an agreement does not mean you have to do all that work. If you don't than I will. Okay?"
"Sure Rosa."
"Now go back to bed." She walked towards the door. As an afterthought, she turned to look at Ryan as he dropped onto the bed. "And Ryan, I'm telling the Cohen's I made the muffins."
Without waiting for an answer, she left him alone in the pool house.