ALL HUMAN! NOT THE SAME UNIVERSE AS MY OTHER AH'S
Waterworks Part 1:
Sydney lay still, awake not because of noise from the next room, but for lack of it. There was no cautious fumbling, no squeaky window pane as her younger sister crept out. Why would she? For the whole summer, they were right where Zoe wanted to be. With their Father.
That was the court ruling. Mom got them during school, and they were their Father's during breaks (save for Saturdays).
And even though it drove her crazy and worried her like nothing else, she was discomforted not to hear the sounds of sneaking from the next room. For this reason alone, Sydney was already looking forward to summer's end.
-0-
It wasn't that she didn't trust her Father. She respected him and listened attentively to what wisdom he had to impart. She just didn't like him.
Hence, the summer job search.
She'd needed something with long hours. She'd needed something that didn't confine her to the playlist of a copy machine all day. She'd needed to work somewhere there were no preconceived notions of her-where there was no one to disappoint. She didn't want her father's reputation weighing down on her shoulders, she didn't want the internships he could score for her, she didn't want any of that.
It was either here or the Burger King down the street.
Sydney adjusted the strap of her one piece, shifting uncomfortably in front of the mirror, and fighting the urge to quit then and there. You can't quit before you start! Suck it up.
"Believe me, I know. Either the straps are too loose, or the bottom is digging into your crotch. There's no middle ground." That was Julia, a fellow lifeguard here at Adventure Oasis.
"Yeah, tell me about it." Sydney forced a small laugh and stepped away from the mirror.
"What's your station?" Julia cracked open a bottle of sunscreen."Want some?"
Sydney had applied some before leaving the house, but who was she to refuse another layer of protection? "I'm at the lazy river until 10:00, and then the waterslides until 12:00."
"The lazy river? You new kids always have it easy," Julia worked the sunscreen into her shoulders, which already held a slight burn. "I've got the kiddie pool until lunch."
With that, they headed out of the locker room and into the workday.
-0-
Julia had said the lazy river was easy, but she could have mentioned it was killer boring as well. All anyone ever did was drift on the slight current, and more than one person had fallen asleep on their floatie. Sydney just stood in the heat and watched.
She had maintained sanity, but only barely. It was a relief when she found herself with some company on her next shift.
Even if that company was... odd.
"Hi, I'm Sydney." She introduced herself.
"Christian." Her partner nodded.
"Is it your first day as well?" Sydney asked.
"No." His tone was unconversational, but his lips twitched. He knew she was thinking about his skin-so pale it was almost translucent. He leaned back on the rail and looked over the side of the tower, into the water below. Finally, he added, "It's my second."
"Can we go now?" Asked two fourteen year olds with a double-seater inner tube.
Christian peered down once more, and waved them through. Sydney did the same and watched as they raced neck and neck with Christian's.
"Mine won." Christian narrated as they splashed into the pool first.
"It's a competition?" Sydney asked.
"What else is there to do all day? I bet you five dollars my next 40 year old will beat your next grandpa." He smiled a little, and Sydney smiled back.
"You're on."
Things after that made up for her mind-numbing lazy-river stint. Although Christian's slide was longer, somehow Sydney was the one who ended up in debt.
The only awkward moment came when two girls their age stepped up, and the blonde one said, "Hello, Christian."
Christian glanced at her briefly, then nodded her through. Sydney let the other one onto her slide and watched as they spiraled down to the water.
"Who were they?" Because, it was clear he knew.
"Lissa Dragomir." Christian said. "Sweetheart extraordinaire, apple of everyone's eye. Outshined only by Miss Rosemarie Hathaway, the resident demon."
"Is she really that bad?"
"Worse. So much worse." There was a note in his voice that made it personal.
"How do you know them?" She asked, somewhat hesitantly.
"We go to the same school." Christian shrugged. "Lissa and I got on okay, or at least I thought we did. Rose set things straight. We haven't talked since."
Sydney knew he wasn't going to say any more than that, so she moved on. "Well, Rose won, so that's a point for me."
-0-
"A water park."
"Yes."
"You applied for a job at a water park?"
"I did."
"If I'd known you were so desperate for a job, I could've found you some opportunities."
"I didn't want 'opportunities'." Silence. "Most teenagers take jobs in customer service and such. I know what it takes to be qualified, and I thought it would be interesting."
"Interesting." A pause. Then, a repeated, "interesting."
"Did you never have a job like this? Even for one summer?"
"No I didn't." More silence. "Very well, you can go to bed."
Creaking stairs.
Sydney went to bed.
-0-
They varied in membership, but she came to recognize faces of the 'clique'. The boy called Jesse who always had a different girl on his arm. Mia, the baby-doll who was close to having a clique of her own. Mason, the redhead who took every risk that presented itself. Jill, a younger girl who sometimes tagged along, and the only person of that elite group Christian looked on kindly. And, of course, Rose and Lissa.
"I don't get it." She said one day over lunch.
"Get what?" Eddie, a fellow lifeguard bit into the appalling corndog he'd purchased via snack stand. Sydney reached into her lunch box for a fruit cup.
"What's the appeal? I mean, I'm not claiming to know how other teenagers work, but why do the same ones keep coming here? It's gross and it smells bad. It's not like they're being paid to be here."
Eddie chuckled. "It's a hot summer, and they're a big group of friends. This place meets both needs very conveniently, even if it does smell weird."
Sydney nodded. "I guess that could be it."
Eddie took another bite of his lunch, and Sydney repressed another shiver. Her eyes wandered lazily around the park and caught on the lounge chairs in the shade. More specifically, they caught on someone she'd been wondering about all day. Among the group of regulars, at the center, was someone new. "Who's the outlier?"
"Adrian Ivashkov." Eddie said, looking up. "He graduated a few years ago, but he's got a thing for Rose, so he puts up with her friends."
"You don't like him, do you?" Sydney said, trying to puzzle out what she'd heard in his voice. There was a sharp edge to it, but what did it mean?
"I like him alright. I just don't think he's a good influence." Eddie finished off the corndog and started in on the sack of potato chips.
"On Jill." Sydney said carefully.
Eddie shrugged. "On anyone. But... yes, especially Jill."
"You like her." Sydney said, voicing what she'd been watching the past two weeks. Jill had only showed a few times, but that was all Sydney needed.
"Who doesn't?" Eddie munched on a potato chip.
The problem became increasingly obvious as she watched the cluster. "Jill likes Adrian."
"Exactly." Eddie gave up denying it and sighed.
"But... he's so much older than her." What was Jill-15?-and Adrian was holding a beer can.
"I think that's part of his appeal." Eddie said hopelessly and tossed a round of chips into his mouth. "It doesn't matter. I don't think I could work up the courage to ask her out, anyway."
"Why not?" Sydney wondered.
"Jill's just... you know... unattainable." Eddie shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "She's sweet and smart and adorable. And, on top of all that, she's the Queen Bee's sister."
"Lissa?" Sydney's eyebrows shot up. She'd seen them interact, and she detected no trace of sisterly love. Or any love at all. It was really rather brutal, and Sydney made it a point to look away when they spoke, because it made her feel that awkward.
"Well, half-sister." Eddie said. "They only worked it out a couple months ago, but it doesn't matter. Jill is still a princess."
-0-
Sydney took that Saturday off to spend with her mother, but honestly it was like she was still on the job. Sydney's mother had grilled her on everything.
Was she drinking enough water? Did she like her coworkers? Who was Christian? Who was Eddie? Was it anything romantic? Well, how were the swimmers? Did she like them?
Zoe was somewhat less enthusiastic. She hadn't voiced disagreement until now, so Sydney was surprised at the venom in her sister's words.
"Why did you take that job? Why did you even apply?" Zoe scrunched her nose. "You always smell like sunscreen, and you're starting to burn."
Sydney gathered her wits and shrugged. "It was something new. And, I'm actually starting to like it. I've made some friends."
Their mother smiled. "That's good. I was worried your father would try and sic some internship on you."
He had-still was, honestly-but that wasn't the point.
"Actually," Sydney said after a sip of tea, "I haven't seen much of him so far. He's had a lot of meetings."
"It's you who's been gone." Zoe put in.
-0-
Sydney could feel her flip-flops melting. She could feel herself developing skin cancer. She could hear her heart beating slower in her chest with every moment that passed.
The lazy river shift had officially become hell, and she still had 20 minutes left.
"Is it wrong that I wish someone would drown already?" She mumbled to herself while watching a preteen boy spin in his inner tube.
"Definitely wrong." Came her answer. "You know, I don't think I feel safe with you on duty."
She looked down and right into the teasing eyes of Adrian Ivashkov. "You should report me." Maybe then they'd move her somewhere that made her less violently inclined. Now that she was alert, she could see a few of his friends several feet ahead, throwing questioning glances at the two of them.
She raised an eyebrow and nodded at them.
Adrian just chuckled. He'd anchored his feet to the ground, he was more than tall enough, and wasn't going anywhere. His friends disappeared around the bend. "And have you put away? Where no one can see you? I'm not that kind of guy."
"Right." Usually, Sydney would have made it clear she was uninterested in conversation. However, seeing as she'd almost fallen asleep twice in the past hour, maybe conversation wasn't such a bad idea.
"So, you look miserable." Adrian leaned forward, directing a sympathetic smirk at her.
He had to be kidding her. This was what he chose to talk about? "Pretty much."
"So, you wouldn't get angry if I did this?" He flicked some water at her, still smirking.
"No." Honestly, her sun-baked foot hadn't felt it.
"How about this," The next round was slightly larger. So was the one after that, and the one after that. Sydney didn't do a thing to stop him until she was soaking and he was threatening to pull her in.
She laughed, shaking her head. "Alright, thank you. I'm officially cooled off."
"No more morbid urges? Are you sure?" He wasn't smirking anymore. Somewhere along the way it had turned into a real smile.
Sydney nodded, her laughter fading. "Positive."
"Well then, my job is done." He pushed off from the wall, waving. "See you around, Sage."
Sooo...I finally posted something. It's still a little rough, and I'll probably go back to it, but for now this is how it will stay.
Please review?