Room Service

by Summer Cooper

  Just what the fuck had I been doing in all those years we’d been apart? I should have used it to get over this bastard.

  Mood completely ruined, I turned back around. I didn’t want to head the direction he’d gone. The chances we’d bump into each other twice were low, but I didn’t want to risk it. Feeling incredibly stung, I headed back to my mom’s apartment in the servants’ wing.

  You shouldn’t still feel like this, I chided myself as I felt old wounds tearing open. What exactly did you expect, anyway? You knew it would be bad!

  And I had known. I’d had it in my mind to keep away from Trent as much as was humanly possible for the duration of his stay. It probably wouldn’t be long anyway; he’d always been itching to leave, so I doubted he’d come back to stay. As soon as Mr. Thompson was back on his feet and was able to do his work, Trent would probably leave.

  Good riddance, I thought, but it was weak.

  “Honey? You’re back already?”

  I looked up at my mom as I walked into the apartment. It was pretty spacious especially since it was part of the servant’s quarters, the place I’d grown up in. The Thompsons were nice enough to provide their servants with good living. Our family’s apartment consisted of a normal sized living room, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a cooking area. Not that we cooked much since there were always leftovers from Thompson’s meals to eat.

  It was like we had our own small house within the mansion. When I was younger, I still hadn't grasped the difference between our small space and most of the mansion that belonged to the Thompsons.

  “Hey, Mom,” I said, giving her a wan smile. “I’m back. Sorry to bother you again today.”

  I was trying my best to keep up appearances, but damn, was it hard. I wasn’t sure if it was something in my face or my voice that gave me away, but Mom looked slightly alarmed like she could tell I wasn’t really fine with just a glance.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Did something happen? You’ve barely been out of this room for five minutes…”

  It would be better if I didn’t mention to her that I’d met Trent at all. Let alone that the drop in my mood was because of him. I’d have to explain a bit more, and I was going to keep my crush on Trent a secret from my mother for as long as possible.

  “It’s nothing, really,” I said dismissively. “I just saw the sense in your words. I might as well stay a little longer, there’s nothing wrong with it after all.”

  She pursed her lips, but I knew she was pleased. “You know I can't stay here to look after you, right? I’m going to be heading to bed. We’ll have a very busy day tomorrow.”

  I shrugged. It wasn’t like I needed a babysitter. “I just thought I should get some sleep, Mom, you don’t have to worry so much. Work doesn’t start for a few more hours and I don’t need to go back to my place just to rest when I could stay right here.”

  Mom frowned at me. “You were in such a hurry to be on your way, though. Do you need me to get you something?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Mom, no need to worry. Just go to bed, okay? Aren’t you totally exhausted by now?”

  Her eyebrows shot up as she glanced at the watch around her wrist. It was one Dad had saved up to buy for her on their third anniversary. I was surprised the watch even still worked.

  “You’re right, I need to get going. My sleeping pill is already starting to work.” She walked over to me, caught me by the tops of the arms, and pecked a quick kiss on my cheek. “Get some good rest, all right? You look terrible, Jessi. Try not to overwork yourself, all right?”

  I just nodded and waited for her to leave the room, though I could have told her I loved my job, and it was more relaxing for me more than anything. I didn’t even mind the crazy hours I had to keep, some days getting up extra early, some days staying extra late.

  The moment she was out, I couldn’t keep up the façade. I’d been hiding my tears from her, but once I was alone, I could feel my eyes start to sting. I sniffled and tilted my head up as I blinked, refusing to let even a single tear fall.

  That bastard…

  He hadn't changed at all, had he? If anything, I’d have to say Trent had got worse since the time I’d known him. At least before, he wouldn’t have acted like that. Not that he would have been nicer, but some verbal acknowledgment was better than getting a frown, then him walking away from me.

  “What the fuck did I ever do to you, anyway?” I muttered to myself as I moved over to the couch and plopped down. “Besides making the stupid decision of loving you…”

  It had to be one of the dumbest things I’d ever done. Trent obviously still thought so. I could feel my old resentment rise the more I thought about it.

  Just… what the fuck? Because his father had money, did he have to be such an aloof asshole? It might have got a few girls to turn their heads back in high school, but it annoyed me now as it had then because now I wasn’t looking at him through rose-tinted glasses. Not entirely, anyway.

  I was no longer the naïve teenage girl with thoughts of healing the hurting bad boy. Because I could remember a time when he hadn't always been like that.

  I sighed to myself and grabbed one of the pillows on the couch and hugged it to my chest.

  How long has it been? I mused to myself. The time since he wasn’t like that…

  My parents had worked for his family long before I was born. I was pretty much raised in the mansion, just like all the Thompson kids, only in a different wing from it that they barely ever paid attention to, besides the ever-curious Emily.

  Trent and I had known each other from the time we were born. So I’d seen what he was like before he suddenly changed.

  Back when we were young, I’d attributed the change to the loss of his mother. He was such a happy child it was hard to think he’d grown up to be the asshole I knew today. Everything changed when he was around five and his mother passed away though. Since his dad was so busy, she was the person he’d spent most of his time around, and with her gone it was like he’d lost himself.

  Abruptly, his attitude started to change. Once upon a time, he was happy and friendly, but then he grew gloomy and started to isolate himself. His attitude grew worse. When he interacted with others, even with me, he acted more snobbish than he had before, and it only got even worse as he aged.

  When I first realized I had a crush on him, I was in my pre-teens. I’d had fantasies back then, that maybe there was a hole in his life, which was why he was acting as he did, and I could be the one to fill that hole his mother had left. I would be the one to soothe the anger he felt toward his step-mother, who ended up replacing his mom in his small family. I saw how he distanced himself from his family after that. He wouldn’t let his step-mom anywhere near him after she had her first child with his dad—a son at that.

  I imagine Trent probably felt like he was being replaced. He’d isolated himself from his family, and from her most of all.

  I winced just thinking about it. I couldn’t comprehend just what he felt because it was foreign to me. I’d only ever had my parents growing up, and no siblings. My parents had been kept by their duties a lot of the time, and I’d come to know pretty early on that they couldn’t look after me all the time.

  The thought had pushed me to gain some independence. I didn’t want to depend so much on them because it felt like I was just a burden to them.

  Still, there was never a time when I thought that I wasn’t loved equally by both of my parents, even when we didn’t get to see a lot of each other.

  I let out an explosive sigh, coming to a decision.

  “I’ll have to keep helping Mom when she needs me,” I muttered. “I can't exactly get out of that. I just have to stay out of his way.”

  I wasn’t a servant at the Thompson mansion, but I knew where all the servant entrances were and I could go back to using them like I had when I was a kid. Emily would notice, but I could always just give her some excuse.

  I decided to completely work Trent out of my system. There
was nothing else I could do, was there?

  Childish fantasies and whims aside, even if I could somehow get him to let me in, there was no way I’d be able to heal a man who was so full of himself and his anger that he forgot the rules of common courtesy.

  It was probably pointless, and more importantly, I couldn’t do that to myself. I drifted into sleep, the quiet of the house a balm to my aching soul.

  5

  Trent

  Fuck. That was a bad move, Trent.

  I knew what I was doing, even as I did it. But somehow, watching Jessi trying to pick herself up after she’d just given me a look like she was horrified was something I’d wanted to walk away from. There were better ways I could have done it—less harsh ways.

  Why had I even said that? As if ignoring her wasn’t bad enough! I’d wanted to bang my head against the nearest wall because I knew there was no way she wouldn’t have heard me. And I’d hurt her deliberately.

  But I couldn’t stop myself. Old habits die hard and all that bullshit.

  I could remember what our teen years were like. Even though I hadn't thought of her in a long while, the memories came to me with such clarity. I could even remember the last time I’d talked to her. I remembered down to the last detail of what she’d been wearing and how she’d done up her hair.

  And afterward, her broken-hearted expression after I’d left her.

  Fuck, but I’d been an asshole back then. I haven’t changed much from that, have I?

  I’d wanted to turn back as soon as I’d said those harsh words, but I’d forced myself to keep walking. Because I wasn’t sure what I would have told her anyway.

  Plus, there was the fact she’d changed. And not just a little bit, but a lot! That she was suddenly so breath-taking didn’t help, and I wasn’t sure I could talk to her without staring at her body, and that would be inappropriate. She’d offered me her heart on a platter, and I’d tossed it back in her face. There was no need to confuse the poor girl by suddenly acting all interested.

  Besides, she was beautiful now; so what? I’d had my pick of the most beautiful women in the world, there was no reason why Jessi of all people should have my mind all muddled just from one look at her. I didn’t need a pastry chef to fulfill my sexual needs. And the only reason I even knew her current occupation was because Dad had brought her name up a couple of times and mentioned it. I wasn’t sure when it happened but for some reason, it had stuck with me.

  Or maybe it was just because this was Jessie. Besides Dad and the older servants who’d stayed at the mansion forever, she was the only other person who remembered my mother had existed. My step-mom and half-siblings… I wasn’t sure if they’d ever seen her in pictures. Dad hadn't got rid of them, but he’d moved all of the pictures of Mom we had hanging around, insisting instead that they be locked up somewhere he wouldn’t have to see them unless he went looking for them.

  I would visit that room sometime during my stay. I’d taken some pictures of Mom when I’d left but I didn’t have nearly enough.

  I planned to put Jessi out of my mind very quickly. Even though when I first saw her after so long, I’d felt a twinge of desire, unlike anything I’d ever felt before with any other woman.

  Maybe it had been too long since I’d been with someone, I rationalized to myself. I’d been working for months on end now, using my hand for relief. After the whole deal with Dad was done, I promised myself I’d go looking for someone. It wouldn’t take me long to find the companionship I needed.

  Besides all that, I needed to focus on the current problem I found myself in. Because for all I knew, my dad could be dying somewhere, and my nitwit of a sister wasn't very forthcoming with information. I wanted to know which hospital he’d been taken to. There were quite a few within the area, but I could always go to the nearest and start asking from there. I would ask the staff, but if Emily was keeping quiet on it, they probably didn’t know.

  I suddenly just wanted to get out of the house. I didn’t want another chance encounter with Jessi.

  I might as well unpack. I went back for the suitcase I’d left in the trunk of my car. Ted, who was still waiting at the door, held his hand out in silent offering to carry my bag for me. I just shook my head and walked past him. Like I’d let an old man carry my luggage for me when I could do it just fine.

  I wasn’t sure which room I was supposed to take, but my feet moved on their own. I went up the stairs to the second floor and strode down the hallway until I stopped at a specific door. I stared at it for a moment, before reaching out and pushing it open. It was unlocked. When I looked inside, nothing had changed.

  Seriously.

  There was no thick smell of dust in the room, so someone must have at least cleaned it. But they could have made some changes. The room looked exactly as I’d left it when I went off to college. Shit, that was more than a decade ago.

  Was this supposed to make me feel guilty?

  I walked into the room feeling suspicious. I set my suitcase down, then walked around the room just a little. It should be impossible that no one had touched or moved anything in there. My memory wasn’t so impeccable that I would remember every detail, but as far as I could tell, nothing had moved. It was bringing back some memories for me that I would have rather remained buried.

  After the quick tour around my room, I dragged the suitcase over to the bed. At least the bed was made, something I didn’t remember from when I’d left the room for the last time. This was worse, though, as if whoever left it like this had been waiting for me to come home.

  I opened my suitcase and started pulling out clothes an item at a time. It was a pretty big suitcase with quite a few outfits, but for an impromptu trip of an unknown length of time, I’d packed lightly.

  Once I had everything arranged on the bed I started moving them over to the closet, trying not to wrinkle anything. I hurried and was done in a matter of minutes. It was calming for my mind as well, and I didn’t feel quite so unsettled afterward.

  I left my room, feeling like I could go start looking for my dad now. I wasn’t sure yet if I was going to go to the closer hospitals in the area or just track their numbers down before leaving. There was impatience growing in my chest because I still didn’t know the state my father was in. A large part of me was still greatly worried.

  I was headed for my car the moment I got outside but I never made it. Instead, I heard a car approaching and looked up in surprise.

  What the hell…?

  It was a private ambulance coming up the drive. There was only one reason I could think of for it to be here. Either it was coming to take my father or bringing him back. Whichever one, I didn’t know why the vehicle had to be there. If Dad was feeling unwell, he should have been at the hospital already, and if he was there then he should stay there, not come back home.

  I was holding my car door open when the ambulance stopped several feet away, closer to the door. I walked over, my fists clenching at my sides.

  Damn it, Dad! Why aren’t you in the hospital?

  The back of the ambulance opened up, and I went over to greet my dad. A couple of people in white hospital outfits jumped out, and I could feel my fingers clench a little tighter. No one had told me what exactly had happened to him anyway, and my mind was to the point of making things up on its own.

  It had to be bad, right? Or someone would have just told me. I slowed to a stop beside the ambulance. I wanted to move closer and assess the situation, but I also didn’t want to get too close. I didn’t want to see Dad lying down looking helpless if that was the extent of it. I wasn’t sure what I would do if I saw him like that. I thought of all the times I could have come home and refused his invitations.

  As much as I didn’t want to be back here, or be part of the new family he’d made, he was still my dad. He was still my family. I might resent his choices, but that wasn’t a good enough excuse to not see my old man when he’d requested it of me. Even if it was more of a demand than a request.

 
But I couldn’t picture Matthew Thompson lying down looking all helpless, and I didn’t think I could remove the picture from my mind if I did see it.

  I didn’t get to because as the two paramedics exited the ambulance, my step-mother, Alice came after them. I was surprised to see her there, though why should I? She was the man’s wife. My nose scrunched up as I stepped back.

  She was the one person I didn’t want to see the most. I’d been avoiding thinking about her at all, but with her now in front of me, I couldn’t help myself going on the defensive. My back straightened and I forced my face to be expressionless. If there were one person I would never willingly show any emotion to, it was this woman, because if I did it would be intense dislike.

  That would just be rude, wouldn’t it?

  “Hello, Trent,” she said, smiling at me. “I’m surprised to see you here. Emily said you were coming back home, but…”

  I just stood there, trying very hard not to scowl down at her. She was a small woman, and with my six-foot-five height, I pretty much dwarfed her.

  “How’ve you been?” she asked, and I wondered why she was even trying to strike up a conversation.

  She and I had barely talked in all the years we’d lived in the same house. When I couldn’t avoid her, she’d start talking to me, and I would either stare at her until she stopped, or I would walk away. There was nothing I had to say to her, anyway. Well, besides one thing.

  You stole everything from me.

  They were words I’d thought about her since the moment she came into our family. I was sad after my mom’s death, but eventually, I would have been fine. Maybe not got over it, but got used to the heartbreak enough that it didn’t hurt quite as badly every day.