Vertigo

Ch.4 “Mr. Jones”

-Friday-

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[[“This is the Police department, how may I help you?” a gruff sounding voice answered.

“Hello. I would like to inform someone about some… drug activity that will be going on later tonight.” a cool voice replied, then cleared their throat.

“Okay miss, just some questions”

“Certainly” the officer could practically hear the smirk on the other end.]]

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What Amber had planned on, and wanted to do was go home and sleep. However, her father obviously had other plans involving her sitting at the kitchen table while he continued to lecture her.

“No more phone! No more internet! No more television! No more credit card! No more Luke Johnson and Brandon!” Her father yelled, pacing the kitchen and counted off with his fingers “I cant trust you anymore!”

“But dad!” Amber whined, “I said I was sorry!”

“My daughter is on PAROLE! You have one foot in the door to Yale! You could have ruined everything!”

“What do you want me to do now, huh?” Amber yelled back, throwing her hands in the air. “I screwed up. I know. I messed up and now I’m paying for it.”

“Its not that simple, Amber” her father spat, “you need to understand that life is not a fucking party! You’re lucky we have enough money to get you only eight months parole with some community service”

“I understand” Amber ground out.

“Obviously you don’t!”

Amber sighed heavily, pushing her hair out of her face.

“How long has this shit been going on?” Amber’s father -Tom- demanded. His blue eyes flashed with annoyance and disappointment. Tom had always been that ’hot dad’ and it always kind of bothered Amber that her friends thought of him that way. He really was an attractive man though, his features were strong and masculine, but friendly all the same and for a man in his late thirties, his body was in great shape as well. Sighing, he leaned back on the kitchen counter and ran a hand through his dark blond hair.

“I don’t know” Amber groaned, laying her head on the table. She was so tired.

“You realize how serious this is, right?” Tom raised his voice “what am I suppose to do? I work Amber! I have a job! I cant stay here and baby-sit you for eight months!”

“It wont happen again!” Amber yelled back, getting up from the chair now. “I’m sorry okay! I’m sorry!” tears were streaming down her face by now.

“You’re going to have to move in with your mother until your parole is finished.” Tom said quietly after a few moments of silence. “I have seven different lectures back to back and I cant let you stay here by yourself anymore”

“No!” Amber cried, “Please daddy! I don’t want to go live with her!” Amber hugged onto her father tightly, crying into his shoulder.

Tom sighed heavily and held onto his daughter. “I don’t have any other choice”


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The sun was too bright. It was hurting Amber’s sensitive eyes; she didn’t want this. Amber had always been a daddy’s girl and when her parents divorced when she was twelve because her mother was sleeping around, Amber demanded to live with her father. Because of Tom Michaels work schedule, Amber had a live-in nanny until the age of sixteen, when she could drive herself places and manage to take care of herself for weeks at a time.

Julia Michaels-Smith was a harsh, crude mother. Amber couldn’t stand her. She only saw her on special occasions -or when she needed to go shopping. Her mother remarried right after her parents divorce to a big league CEO of some kind of stuffy company… Jason Smith. He was a creep.

And there she was, Julia Michaels-Smith. Standing on her front porch in a silky bathrobe, her dark hair pulled up in some kind of twist and a cigarette in her hand. Her green eyes flashed at Amber, who was getting out of her car. She drove separately from her father, needing to have her car at her mother’s house anyways.

“Hello Tom” Julia quipped, ashing her cigarette in the flower bed. One of her brows rose at her daughter, who was lugging a couple suitcases up to the front door. “Leave your things there, I’ll have Jason bring everything to the pool house.”

Amber nodded and brought the rest of her things to the front door. She sighed heavily, forcing the angry tears back. “Okay”

“Julia” Tom regarded his ex-wife, giving her a dull look. He had once loved that woman with all his heart.

Amber looked pleadingly at her father, hoping that he would suddenly change his mind and tell her to put everything back into her car and go home. He didn’t. While Amber’s parents talked, she made her way inside the house, looking around the kitchen for something to eat.

Finally she found a large container of fruit salad and dished some out for herself. I hate this place, Amber thought, rolling her eyes.

“Okay, I have to go honey” she heard her father’s voice; he was walking into the kitchen.

Amber gave her father a sad look and nodded. “Okay.” she hugged her father tightly and sniffed, a small tear rolling down her cheek and onto her father’s expensive suit.

“Mr. Jones, your P.O. will come by around seven” Tom said quietly and kissed Amber’s forehead. Amber nodded and sniffed again. “Love you, baby girl”

“Love you too”

Tom took his daughter’s face in his hands and smiled warmly, “Be good”

“I will if she will” Amber responded, angrily. Tom made an amused face and kissed her forehead once more before heading out the front door.

This had to be hell, Amber knew it. A thousand ‘what-if’s’ ran through her mind as she made her way to the pool house and laid down on the bed. She had to start her community service tomorrow night at the homeless shelter, that she was not looking forward to at all.

Her eyes traveled around the pool house. It was almost like a small apartment. It was just a bit larger than the size of her room at her father’s house. It was decorated in a Mediterranean theme, the warm colors inviting and cozy. There was a small kitchenette and table, along with a dresser, small closet and of course a queen sized, four poster bed.

She needed to talk to someone, looking through her cell phone -she had finally convinced her father to let her keep her phone- Amber shifted onto her side. There was no way Rae was going to be able to talk, or Luke. She already missed Brandon -they had been friends since seventh grade. He wasn’t as financially secure as she, Rae and Luke were and had was put in jail for a year for possession; Amber felt awful.

As Amber was looking through her phone, it rang and made her jump. Peering at the name, she saw that it was Leigh.

“Hey” Amber answered, her voice a little groggy.

“Hey girl… I heard. You doing okay?” Leigh sighed.

“No” Amber grunted, sitting up “I have to live with my mom until my parole is over”

There was a silence before “Oh my God. I’m so sorry, Amber”

Amber continued with the story of what she remembered. It was nice to have someone to talk to; she could always count on Leigh anyways. The girl might have been a little promiscuous, bus she was a damn good friend. “Good thing you had that date” Amber chuckled.

“Yea” Leigh responded half-heartedly. Amber could hear the guilt in her voice.

“Hey listen, I’m waiting for my P.O. to come soon, but do you want to hang out or something tomorrow? We can go grab lunch or something”

“Uh… sure. Can you do that?” Leigh asked.

“Uhm…” Amber sighed, “that’s a good question”

“Call me tomorrow” Leigh decided.

“Okay bye” Amber smiled, then hung up her phone.

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“Amber… Mr. Jones is here to see you” Amber heard her mother’s voice call out from the back patio as she was putting away her clothes.

Somewhere in between when Amber hung up the phone with Leigh and taken a long shower, Jason moved all of her things into the pool house for her. She had two large suitcases full of clothes, another for her shoes, a large makeup case, yet another suitcase for toiletries and finally, a cardboard box full of odds and ends that she would need… or just want.

“Coming!” Amber called back, shutting the dresser drawer. Butterflies were swarming in the pit of her stomach. She was embarrassed and angry that she had to meet her Parole Officer at the house of a woman she didn’t even like and who was never there for her.

There was a guy sitting on the back patio furniture, he had a briefcase with him and looked friendly… not to mention very young. Amber approached him, drawing her brows together, and looking at him questioningly. Surly this was not ‘Mr. Jones’. His skin was a dark caramel color, features giving away his ethnicity of ‘mixed’ between African American and either White or Spanish. Amber couldn’t really tell. He was a good looking guy who wore comfortable looking clothes that reminded her of 50 Cent in a way. Wow I’m white, Amber silently poked fun at herself.

“Mr. Jones?” Amber asked.

“Hey, you must be Amber Michaels, right?” he grinned.

Amber nodded and sat down across from him, the butterflies swarming around again. She wished the ground would swallow her up. This was so embarrassing.

“Okay, lets cut to the chase since… I’m going to be honest with you, I’ve got a date and she is fine as hell so, I cant stand her up” he grinned again. Amber laughed quietly. He was nice.

“Okay then” she sighed heavily.

“Here’s what’s up… you absolutely have to be at your house between the times 7:00pm and 8:00am. No exceptions. Instead of having a steady employment, like a legal adults, you will be expected to do 10 hours of community service each week.” he sighed, handing her some papers full of Do’s and Don’ts along with some flyers that she didn’t pay attention to.

“I can and will drop by any time after 7:00pm and if you are not here, I have an obligation to report you. You don’t want that, don’t do it.” he sounded very business-like and Amber just nodded along, listening to his every word. “There are random drug tests so… again, don’t do it. If you behave yourself, you can get out of parole early.”

“Okay” Amber said politely. She looked him over once again then bit her bottom lip “This is really off topic…and I’m sorry but… how old are you? I was expecting someone-”

“With gray hair?” Mr. Jones finished for her, smirking. “I’m thirty three, actually. Got a baby-face, you see” he grinned, wiping his hand down his cheek.

Amber nodded and grinned. “Okay well, I don’t want you keeping your date waiting so… thank you very much”

“No problem. Here’s my card with my numbers on it, if you ever need anything or need to talk, call me” He smiled, handing her a small card. “Seriously, I like to have a good relationship with my people so don’t hesitate to call. If for some reason you are in a bad situation that you know could hurt you in the end, call me. I’ll come get you or talk to you… whatever you need.”

Amber smiled. A real smile and sighed heavily, letting out a large breath she wasn’t aware she was holding; not being able to hold back a tear form sliding down her face, she pushed her hair out of her face and nodded. It was such a relief. For some reason, his words made everything a lot better. She felt like she could trust him.


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