A Little Bit Harder Now

I wanted this day to be over with already. I was sick of cleaning houses and I barely did two. It wasn’t as easy as people thought to clean houses. It meant going to a stranger’s home and having to clean up after them, obviously, but some clients were so damn picky. It seemed Teresa gave me all the picky clients today and I was so close to saying I didn’t feel well and I wasn’t going to do the last home. I worked with my mother and some would think it would be nice, but it has its ups and downs… mostly downs. My mother loves to do details to the houses and I just want to finish as fast as possible. It was Friday and I wanted to go home to get ready to go out with my friends without being tired. It seemed that wasn’t going to happen because the next home was going to be a huge house.

We had four hours to get it done. Another team was going to help us because apparently it’s a big home in Huntington Beach. Luckily we weren’t that far off. The house we just finished was in Seal Beach so all we had to do was take the PCH to Huntington Beach. I loved taking the PCH because it ran along the coast and it was beautiful to drive by.

“Do we have enough towels?” my mom asked me as I was putting away the vacuums.

I checked. “I think so. The other team should have more, right?”

“They better or Mateo is going to have to come and bring us more. Apparently this client is a big deal,” my mom said and then we put the rest of the things inside of my Highlander. Teresa had texted me the address on my phone. She only gave me the address but that was enough for me. I got it into the Navigation I had in my GPS. It said it was only a fifteen minute drive from where I was.

It wasn’t long before I was driving on PCH passing the beach and got close to Huntington Beach Pier. I cringed when I saw Jimmy’s place. I could never really look at that place the same way since I learned it was where he lived and where he was found. My mom gave me a look. She thought I shouldn’t mourn over someone I never met, but she will never understand, not until her hero dies.

The house we had was huge. It looked sort of like a castle, but a miniature castle. It was really amazing. The other team arrived just shortly after we did. I knew the women in the other team, but I wasn’t best friends with them. I was 21 and they were around my mom’s age so we had nothing in common besides the work uniform we had on. The driver of the other team said she was going to see if the client was there before we took out all of the supplies. I leaned against my car and drummed my fingers on it.

“Hey,” my mom called me, “get us some water.”

I opened the passenger door and took out the cooler we had. I took out the water and my red bull. My mom already had hers. I knew this house was going to drain me. Angelica, the driver of the team, came back and said the client was there.

I took the vacuums because I knew my mom couldn’t get those on her own. I crossed the lawn to the porch and then stepped inside of the home. The first thing that caught my attention was the high ceiling and then I saw the chandelier and I hoped the client didn’t want us to clean that. I’ve had clients who wanted those things done and I had to call my boss and tell him I wasn’t going to do it. I put the vacuums down and I turned to leave when I saw a leather jacket hanging on the hook next to the front door. My body tensed and I felt panic go through me.

“No way,” I murmured as I saw the familiar death bat logo on the back of the leather jacket. My mom and the others came in with the things.

“Hi,” a voice said from the right and I turned and saw Zacky Vengeance with a polite smile.

“Ay no,” I whimpered, so sure my face gave me away. What the fuck was going on? Was this some kind of sick joke? The others introduced themselves and shook their hands. My mom told him my name and I didn’t make a move to shake his hand, but he seemed to notice my uneasiness.

We had to take the tour of the house and I was the very last one because I wouldn’t be able to handle eye contact. He explained what he wanted done in each room. It wasn’t anything new to what I was used to. I was having a mini heart attack.

When the tour was done, we split up. My mom and I were going to do the first floor and Angelia and her partner were going do the second floor. Thank God I was not going to do the bedrooms because I wouldn’t feel right to be all up in Zacky’s business. I could handle cleaning the kitchen and living room. My mom put me in the kitchen because she was going to do the two bathrooms downstairs. I didn’t want to tell her that I knew who the client was and how nervous I was.

Good thing my lanyard was inside of my pocket so Zacky didn’t know I was a fan. I heard barking when I was putting on my apron and I smiled when I saw Ichabod and Majesty outside clawing at the glass sliding door. Majesty was so big already. I remembered seeing the picture when she was a pup. Ichabod was adorable in real life.

With shaky hands I got the gloves on. I was going to clean Zacky Vengeance’s kitchen. This scenario had gone through my head many times in my head. I felt a little sick because it was real now. I didn’t think it would ever happen. Was I allowed to freak out? Probably not because then Zacky would think I was one of those crazy fans. Hell, I respected their privacy.

“Hi,” Zacky walked into the kitchen and I nearly jumped.

“Hi,” I managed to say evenly.

“I hope the kids aren’t bothering you,” he pointed to Majesty and Ichabod.

“Oh no, they’re being really good,” I told him.

“You speak English well,” he said.

I was always told that. “That’s because I’m born here.”

“Oh shit, sorry… I just assumed… because the others don’t speak it so well.”

“My mom does, she’s the one cleaning the bathrooms down here,” I said.

“Right, Lupe does speak it better than the ones upstairs,” he nodded his head. “Your name again?”

“Karina,” I smiled.

“I knew it started with a C.”

“It’s a K, but it’s okay. People always think it’s with a C or think I say Korina,” I rambled and the pressed my lips tightly from keeping from talking. I always thought I wouldn’t be able to mutter a sound around them, but I was just saying anything that came to mind.

He gave me that smile just made my insides feel funny. Well everything felt funny at the moment. I was in his home and it was so damn amazing. I let out a deep breath when he left. I didn’t know I had been holding it in. I started to clean the kitchen. I was tempted the entire time to text my friends, but I knew it would be lame of me. The friends I had I could trust with telling, but it would have to be after work. My phone started to vibrate in my pocket, and I took it out to check if it was my boss. It was my friend, one of the fans I knew wasn’t crazy at all.

I answered only because I was alone in the kitchen.

“Hey,” I answered in a soft voice.

“KARI!!!! Are we going out, are we going out?!”

I laughed lightly at my friend’s enthusiasm. “I think so. I’ll be done around four so I’ll be at your place by six.” I wanted to tell her I really did but it seemed disrespectful. But I trusted her, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. “I’ll see you at six then. I’m working.”

“Oh right, silly me. Love you best friend!”

“Love you too you whore,” I said and ended the call.

I took out my headphones and connected them to my phone. I went to my Spotify and played the playlist that I had for cleaning. Emarosa’s “Broken vs the way we were born” started to play. Johnny Craig’s voice was almost as dreamy as Matt’s. Obviously no one could beat Matt’s gravel voice that just gave me chills whenever I heard. A thought went through my head, what if he came to visit Zacky? Then I definitely wouldn’t be able to function.

The music helped me get away. It helped me get through work all of the time. When I didn’t have my music, a lot of thoughts consumed me and made me want to claw my eyes out. Good thing this playlist didn’t have Avenged Sevenfold.

“Karina,” my mother walked in and asked if I was done. I told her just the floor needed to be done.

After four hours, we were done. I loaded everything back in the car. It was the last house of the day so I could finally have the rest of the day off. The other team already left, so I had to tell Zacky we were done. I went to his office and found him on the computer on his twitter account. I cleared my throat and he turned around in his chair.

“We’re done,” I said.

“Oh okay, cool.”

“Do-do you want to see if we did a good job?” I asked like I did with the other clients. Truth be told, I was very careful cleaning his house.

“Nah I’m sure you guys did well,” he wrote the check and gave it to me. “Have a good weekend, Karina.”

I let out a nervous giggle. “You too… good weekend,” my words scrambled and I wanted to smack myself for that. “Bye.”

**

“NO FUCKING WAY!” Rae screamed at me. “You were in the house of Zacky Vengeance?!”

“I was. I was inside when you called me about going out,” I told her as I fixed the curls on my hair. I was using her hair curler.

“Why didn’t you say anything?!” she smacked my arm.

“Because I didn’t want to be a bad fan. I wanted until I saw you.”

“Then how do I know you’re telling the truth?” she raised an eyebrow.

“Why would I lie about it? Oh, I do have his check in my binder that’s in my car! Oh yeah! I have his real signature!” I laughed at how my ghetto accent came towards the end of that sentence.

“You’re right. You’d never lie to me about that. How was it?”

I explained to her the amazingness of his place and how it hurt to see Jimmy’s jacket. I knew Jimmy had been Rae’s favorite even before he passed away. Last year we went to the second memorial held for Jimmy at central park. It had been fun to be around fans.

“Fucking great. We always talked about how it could happen to you what happened today,” she laughed. “I’m so jelly right now.”

“You shouldn’t. It wasn’t like he and I had a heart to heart. I was just another girl there to clean his home.”

“Aww it’s okay friend. Let’s get our drink on. I made our sister drive us. She’s gonna have to the sober one this time,” Rae and I laughed evilly. Her sister was pretty fun and she and I got along fine.

On our way to the bar, Johnny’s Saloon, we were singing along to Pierce the Veil and Sleeping with Sirens. But our ultimate favorite was Avenged Sevenfold but we both agreed to do it after we got a little drunk. We talked about going out for weeks and we finally had the time to do it.

We went inside of Johnny’s and because it was a Friday it was full, but not too much. I always loved coming here because of the decorations. It took Rae and I about a month or two after our 21st birthday to come here because we were too damn busy. It finally happened and now we were making it a thing.

“Two bud lights,” I said to the bartender.

“Hey, Kari, Rae you guys haven’t been in here in a while,” Johnny said. We smiled at him.

“We finally had time,” Rae said. “This bitch convinced her parents to let her out,” she pointed at me.

“I’m moving out soon! Just a few more weeks until Kayla and I move into our place.”

“So you’ve said for the longest time,” Rae rolled her eyes.

“Ho,” I told her and paid for our drinks.

Our table was next to the pool table. I was so happy to be out with my friend. It was never a dull moment with her or with any of my other friends. It was a relief to be with friends who understood me and we had things enough in common that we were best friends.

“So you were in the same room as Zacky Vengeance?” Rae’s sister asked.

“Yup, and I only messed up once,” I lifted my finger.

**

After a few drinks, I was laughing along with some guy. He was cute and he was a bit chubby. Not chubby but he had a bit of a belly. I didn’t know how I started talking to him, but we were talking about music and then we talked about movies. I was sure I was slurring and Rae was next to me just as drunk. Her sister had gone off somewhere to get some water or something to eat.

“Oh let’s get some food,” I told the handsome stranger holding me close. “I just cleaned the biggest house today and I really want some food and drinks with a handsome man like you.”

“You’re pretty fine to be cleaning houses,” the man said with familiar green eyes.

“I know! I mean… I’m not model hot or… skinny but I got it in the right places, right?” I gestured to myself.

“You sure do. You actually do look familiar… Kari,” he murmured.

“I must say… you do too,” he said.

“Well… it’s meant to be then,” I leaned in and brushed my lips against his. I saw no wedding ring and no one had attacked me yet for being with their boyfriend or fiancé… yet. Our lips connected and we started very slowly. His lips were a little bigger than mine and wow he really went into it. It felt so odd to kiss someone I barely met, but after a couple of drinks and half a shitty day, this seemed like a good idea. The only good thing that happened was being in Zacky’s home and meeting him.

We danced for a bit to the music of She Wants Revenge and to me it seemed sexual, but we were just really close and kissing. I had my arms around his neck and I pulled on his hair and we just got really into it.

Somehow, the stranger and I ended up outside. I think I said I wanted some privacy.

“I love your lips,” I told him as he kissed my neck and had me pressed against the wall.

“I love your skin, very soft,” he said.

“I swear I know you from somewhere,” I laughed as my hands went through his hair and I pulled him back and I gasped when I saw him. “Oh… shit.”

Zacky smiled at me. He was clearly drunk too.

“You don’t remember me?” I wondered and then he squeezed my ass. I yelped. How in the world did this happen? It had to be a dream, right? Or possibly some guy who just looked like Zacky, like a twin. Zacky was left handed so there was a possibility he had a twin… but he didn’t.

“The girl with the amazing legs,” he chuckled. “And… you cleaned my home today.”

“Ah… wait… so you are… Zacky Vengeance then. I’m sorry… I’ve had a lot to drink.”

“So you are a fan,” he chuckled. “I wasn’t sure, but you were so nervous. I just thought it was because you thought I was cute.”

“You are cute… and handsome… and talented,” I grinned. “I’m only speaking to you so calmly because of the drinks, you know.”

“And you get a bit of a British accent,” he laughed.

“Ah… I had a Harry Potter marathon not too long ago, so it’s not surprising, really,” I giggled. “Oh, I can’t bloody stop. I swear I’m trying but it’s not stopping.”

“Wow, you really have had too much to drink,” he laughed along too.

“I’m pretty sure you did too,” I pointed out. “You drank those beers pretty easily like they were water rough night?”

“You could say that,” he sighed.

“Problems with the… girlfriend? Wife? Fiancée?”

He chuckled. “Um she was fiancée, but not since last week.”

“Aww, do you want to talk about it? I’m a very good listener, so I’ve been told… and the accent continues,” I dropped my head and touched his forehead. “Honestly… we can stop whatever we were doing and talk. I mean… I can brag about making out with a rockstar… if I remember it the next morning.”

He laughed a bit harder. “You’re funny… all right… let’s talk… let’s get some tacos from across the street?”

“AH! That sounds brilliant!”