Vertigo

Ch. 5 “Hard Labor”

To Amber, it had seemed like she had been living with her mother for a month. But to her amazement it had only been a few days. Amber honestly tried to avoid her mother at all costs, not wanting to hear Julia’s oh-so witty remarks and chastising. It was hard at dinner though. Jason always insisted that everyone sat at the table for dinner.

In the last few days, Julia managed to get in her little comments though. Amber swore she heard something about ‘little delinquent’ and ‘spoiled brat’. One night at the dinner table, Julia had he nerve to ask Amber if she had gained weight then proceeded to converse with anyone who would listen about an article she read involving the ‘Obesity Epidemic in America’. Amber had to leave the table before she went to prison for murder.

Leo, Jason’s skeevy son was Amber’s age. Like his father, Leo was just creepy. He sat around the house literally doing nothing, then by nine at night he went out with his friends and didn’t come home until the morning, stoned out of his mind. Amber was jealous that he never got caught and it was obvious that Jason was in denial that his son was a fucking drug addict.

And then there was that issue of community service.

Since she got let out of school early -only having to take five classes her senior year- Amber was going to have to spend time at the homeless shelter for 3 ½ hours, three times a week. She really was not looking forward to her community service. She would have be around people who were a bunch of smelly drunks and couldn’t form a decent sentence. What could she possibly do in a homeless shelter?

And here she was: the homeless shelter. As always, Amber was dressed to impress with her designer jeans and fashionable top with corresponding accessories. A nice old woman lead her to a kitchen and smiled at her, leaving her alone. What am I suppose to do? Amber thought frantically.

“I don’t know where that boy is, but he sure better get his behind here before I…” Amber heard the old woman’s voice from the hallway. Amber rolled her eyes.

The kitchen was relatively clean; it could have been cleaner. Amber hoped they didn’t expect her to cook; she didn’t know how. The air was cold and Amber wished she didn’t wear heels, shifting from one foot to another she sighed heavily.

Just then, a tall guy walked into the kitchen. He had to be at least 6’3”. His golden blond hair was thick and messy but straight as a bone; it fell into his green eyes slightly. He wore simple and comfortable clothes, his body being obviously lean and toned; he was cute, his features were warm but somewhat angular.

Amber grinned to herself, if she played her cards right, she wouldn’t have to work at all these eight months.

“Amber, right?” he asked, looking at her questioningly. He grabbed two aprons off a wall hanger and tossed one to her.

“Yea” she replied coolly, catching the apron and copying his movements to put it on.

“I’m Tanner Reid” He held out his hand politely and grinned. Amber graciously
shook his hand, nodding. “You might want to consider wearing some old, comfortable clothes from now on” he added softly, pointing at her jeans and shoes.

“I’ll be fine”

“Okay then” Tanner shrugged. “I’m going to assume you don’t know how to cook so right now I just want you to put the plates, napkins, silverware and cups on those tables out there” he said absentmindedly, pulling out pots and pans and several large containers out of the fridge.

Amber glared at the back of his head. “Why would you assume I don’t know how to cook?” she asked, crossing her arms.

Tanner turned his head and grinned at her, “You’re here because you have eight months of parole in which you need community service. You got busted with drugs.”

“Your point?” Amber snapped, tilting her head to the side.

Tanner chuckled and went back to the containers, fixing some kind of food. “Normally, the penalty for being caught with drugs is something like a year in jail.” he explained. “That means that you obviously have the financial means to alter your charges and only get eight months parole”

Amber’s eyes narrowed as she clicked her tongue softly. “I’m still not seeing your point”

Tanner sighed and turned around, walking closer to her, he whispered “Rich Girls don’t make their own food. Rich Girls ask their daddy to make it or go out and buy it.”

Amber huffed at him, grabbing everything she needed and started setting the tables. Okay so maybe he was right, she didn’t care, that was rude of him. It wasn’t any of his business why she was here and if she was spoiled. She knew she was spoiled! Why hold that against her? Mainly, Amber was pissed off because she knew Tanner Reid was one of those people that could see right through you.

Something told her that the moment he saw her, he knew that she was going to try and get out of working as much as possible. She knew that there was no way she could flirt her way out of this one. She had to work. She had to do this and there was nothing she could do to get out of it.

Her feet were starting to hurt and there were more than five tables she had to set. It was a lot different for her; it was weird and she didn’t know if she was doing it right or if she should fold the napkins of leave them on the plates… Amber released a heavy sigh and finish off the last set.

Tanner was cooking in the kitchen, stirring a large pot full of something that smelled… really good. Slowly, she made her way over to the stove and peeked around his shoulder to look inside.

“Mashed potatoes” Tanner said softly.

“They smell really good” Amber grinned. “Listen, Tanner… I guess we got started off on the wrong foot” she sighed, leaning against the counter, making herself look appealing.

Tanner shifted his eyes in her direction and smirked at her. “I shouldn’t have been so blunt” his voice was a little rough, Amber noticed. It was actually kinda sexy.

“Do you need help?” she asked, licking her lips. Tanner slightly narrowed his eyes at her before going back to adding something to the mashed potatoes, grinning to himself.

“There’s an aluminum bin in there full of green beans” he pointed to the fridge. “Set the oven to 250 and put them in there for about fifteen minutes.”

Amber’s face fell. Tanner Reid was going to need some working on, but she did what he told her and put the stupid green beans in the oven to heat up. Over the past 45 minutes, Amber helped Tanner as much as she could, mixing and stirring, and adding some ingredients here and there. It was awful.

But the dinner was worse. Men and women dined separately and Amber found herself serving about thirty-something gross, homeless men. She tried to be polite, faking a smile when they thanked her as she scooped some food onto their plates. She was convinced that they were checking her out and perving at her. She was grossed out.

Tanner gave her a few odd looks when she sighed heavily or mumbled to herself about something. Amber couldn’t believe he actually worked here. Somehow she couldn’t understand why people would choose this as a job. Amber was even more surprised when she watched Tanner walk around the dining hall, talking and laughing with the homeless.

“Okay, now we clean up” Tanner sighed as he walked back into the kitchen, grabbing a towel and hanging it over his shoulder.

Amber rose her brows at him “Excuse me?” she watched him taking the pots and pans to a huge industrial sized metal sink.

“Dishes” his tone stated the obvious. “Or did you just get your nails done?” he sounded sincere but Amber knew otherwise.

She glared at him, advancing to the sink and held out her hand for rubber gloves. Tanner arched a brow at her. “Gloves” she stated, opening and closing her hand.

Tanner sighed heavily and looked around the kitchen “I know it’s a little chilly in here but-”

“Not funny.” Amber snapped “Rubber gloves.”

It was obvious that Tanner was trying to be as patient as he could. “Listen, we’re not in your little fantasy world anymore” he said slowly, beginning to wash the pot the mashed potatoes were in. “You work for me, got it. That means you don’t bitch at me and parade around here like you’re the boss. I’m not going to put up with your attention-driven Teen Angst for eight months.”

Amber took the pot away from him, beginning to dry it and shot him a nasty look “You don’t know me” she said quietly.

“And you obviously don’t know me either.” Tanner replied calmly. He began washing another pot, quickly glancing to Amber who was narrowing her eyes at the water, obviously thinking about something. He saw her mouth open to say something then close. She did this a few times before sighing heavily.

“I’ve been through hell these past few days.” Her voice was surprisingly small as she gently took the pot away from Tanner to dry it.

Tanner nodded, washing some large metal spoons and knives “I bet”. He sighed lightly and finished up the last pan, handing that to Amber as well. Looking at the clock, he smirked at her “You can go now, if you want. I’ll finish up”

Amber nodded her head and grinned “Okay, thank you. I will see you on Tuesday.” she waved.

When Amber got back to her mother’s house, she was greeted by Leo sitting on the kitchen counter, reading some magazine. Amber passed him, arching an eyebrow at him, looking him over. His brown hair was cut into small mohawk that was always gelled to perfection; he wore punk style clothes and had a couple ear piercing, and an eyebrow ring. Amber always thought that hi might have been gay, not that it would bother her anyways. Leo was… decent, in terms of looks. He was lean and kind of lanky but somehow strong. His nose was a little big but fit his face. His eyes were a little far apart and slightly small… he was odd.

“So what’s it like?” Leo asked right before she went out the door. He flipped a page of the magazine and cleared his throat.

“What is what like?” Amber sighed, too irritated to deal with him.

Leo looked up at her and grinned slowly “What’s it like to have your whole world crash down on you in one night?”

Amber set her purse down on the kitchen table and strolled over to Leo, tipping her head to one side. “Want to find out?” she sneered, giving her best menacing look.

Leo rolled his eyes “You really are an immature brat” he mumbled then tilted his head to the side to match hers. “Just like your mother said”

“Fuck you” Amber spat, grabbing her purse and heading out to her pool house.


A/N: Any descriptions/opinions of homeless people are not my opinions. I actually use to work in a homeless shelter… they are people to. Any opinions written in this story are the character’s. Not mine.
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