Manage Me

I heard the door close and stopped scrubbing. I knew Jack was upset, but he was the one who had wanted to play the stupid game in the first place. I didn’t even know why he was being so nice to me. He had barely even spoken to me at all until today. It just didn’t make any sense.

Maybe he knows it was you. Maybe he remembered and now he wants to get to know you.

I snorted at my own thoughts. If Jack did remember, I was betting on him not wanting anything to do with me. Jack was a player. I had been a quick fuck, nothing more. I sighed and got back to scrubbing the carpets. When I heard the buzzer for the dryer go off I stood, wiping my hands on my apron. Thank God that was finally done.

I surveyed the downstairs as soon as I was done folding. It actually looked pretty clean. The trash and massive piles of clothing were gone and the bathroom was sparkling clean. The dishes in the kitchen had been washed and put away. All that was really left was to finish scrubbing away the stains on the carpet and mop. Then I could move on to the upstairs, which I didn’t think would be as bad. I couldn’t believe how much I had gotten done in just four short days.

All of the stains had finally been washed away nearly two hours later. Jack was still gone. I stood and wiped the sweat off of my brow. The clock near the door told me it was just a little after 4:30. I still had two hours left, and I decided it was time to check out the backyard. I stepped out of the back door and into the warm Baltimore sun. I shielded my eyes and let my eyes adjust to the brightness before making my way to the pool.

It was fairly large, but I doubted it was ever used. There looked to be a thin film of slime on the sides and bottom. Leaves and bugs floated on the top. I hunted around and caught sight of a cleaning net. I plugged into my iPod and began skimming it along the surface, dumping the debris into the overgrown lawn every few seconds. Another one of my All Time Low songs came on and I couldn’t bring myself to change it. Instead, I started humming along, rocking my hips to the beat.



“This is the second time I’ve caught you singing one of our songs, you know. I’m starting to think you actually are a fangirl.”

I jumped at the voice, dropping the net and pulling the headphones out of my ears. Well it seemed that Jack was back. My cheeks turned a light pink color. He didn’t look upset anymore. He was back to acting the way he had this morning.

“I am not a fangirl.”

“Ouch, Katie, that hurt.” He placed a hand over his heart dramatically. I couldn’t help but laugh at his expression.

“Your music isn’t terrible, and I will admit to liking it, but I’m not going to rip off my clothes at the sight of you because of it.”

I blushed even darker as the words flooded out of my mouth. That was a terrible choice of words. And it was actually a lie, even if I hadn’t said it on purpose. True, I wasn’t about to seduce him because he played guitar for a popular band. But I would try it because he was hot and the sex had been pretty fantastic. He didn’t know that though, and now I was feeling awkward. He just laughed.

“Well that’s refreshing.”

I didn’t respond, opting to go back to cleaning the pool instead. After a moment I heard a chair scrape and looked over to see Jack resting on a lounge chair just a few feet away. I just continued cleaning.

“So I still have 15 questions left.” I eyed him. He was smiling innocently. I sighed. Puppy dog eyes got me every damn time.

“No, you have 14. I told you your questioning my age counted against you.”

“So you’ll play again?” His eyes lit up.

“Now you have 13 left.” I giggled. He pumped his fist in victory, not even seeming to care that I had fined him another question.

“What’s your full name?”

“Kathrine Rae Feist.” I was glad we were back to simple questions.

“Feist?”

“Yeah, as in feisty but without the y.”

“I like it.” He smiled. “It suits you.”

“That’s probably a good thing, seeing as it’s my name and all.” I teased. He laughed.

“What else do you do? Y’know, other than clean up after my grimy ass.”

“Nothing really.” I shrugged. “I hang out with Lily, go thrifting, spend time with my family.”

That last part wasn’t technically a lie, but it wasn’t really the truth either. But I wasn’t quite ready to share everything with Jack. After all, this was my first time even really talking to him.

“What’s your family like?”

“They’re family.” I said uncomfortably. “They’re not always great, but I love them.” He nodded. “Got any more questions?”

“Not right now.” He smiled. “But I still have nine left, and I intend to use them.” I laughed at his wink.

His phone went off and he left to answer it. I put the net away, seeing as I had cleaned up all of the stuff resting on the surface. I looked around some more and found a strange looking vacuum type thing. I studied it and saw Jack headed back towards me.

“That’s a pool vacuum.”

“A pool vacuum?”

“Yeah, my mom got it for me. She saw it in Sky Mall and decided I needed it.” He chuckled. I giggled with him and grabbed it.

“I’ve gotta leave, band stuff.” He held up his phone.

“Okay. I’ll be leaving at 6:30 and I’ll be back tomorrow at the same time as today.” He nodded. “Goodbye, Mr. Barakat”

“Bye, Katie.” He smiled and jogged out the door.

I grabbed the pool vacuum and got back to work, smiling to myself. I couldn’t deny it anymore. I liked Jack Barakat. I liked him a lot.