The Lifeguard Hates You (Completed)

August Chapter 11

Lacey came down as soon as all the paperwork was done, by someone else that is.

This was not surprising because Lacey never came down right when the incidents happened. She came down after and pretended that she either hadn't heard our whistle blasts or any calls for her over the PA, or like she had been busy doing something more important for this situation.

It was annoying but we were used to it.

We also had Jay, and he was basically doing her job anyway and we preferred having him around to help out because Lacey never got anything right.

When she finally came down, she acted surprised by all that was before her, like she hadn't been aware anything had happened. Especially since we had sent someone up to notify her when she hadn't picked up her extension.

So that was what they were doing today.

"Rory!" she cried. "What happened? I've been waiting for you to come see me."

Wow she was going to pretend that she had no idea there was a whole situation? That was dense even for her.

"We had a double clutch," I tell her. "I jumped in to get the other person."

She lets out a squawk of: "Double clutch?!" that none of us believe is real shock. None of us say anything though. We all just exchanged glances.

One between me and Candy that almost has us snorting, and we both do when we see Jay roll his eyes.

"Are we talking today or not?" Lacey asks, clearly not amused with us. "Or do I need to figure out why our off guard jumped in instead of the one who was on."

"I was closest," I say which is true. I sort of beat our summer guard to the punch, or jump in this case. "And I do want to talk to you Lacey but I had paperwork to finish and I'm soaking wet so I probably shouldn't go into your office."

Mostly because in the last reno she had redone her whole office. Hard wood floors, expensive shag carpet she freaked out over if it even got a speck of dirt on it, and expensive posh looking white leather chairs you weren't allowed to put food anywhere near.

She looks me up and down realizing that I'm right, she doesn't want me in her office like this.

"Well... I cleared my calendar for this, Rory, it's very rude to reschedule so last minute..."

Yes, because I should have told the person who was drowning to wait for me to rescue them, you know... until I finished with my meeting. It wasn't time sensitive at all.

I don't want to argue though so I turn to Jay. "Are you going to be swimming for much longer?"

"I mean... yeah... I was going to..." he says.

"Oh great. Me and Lacey will have the meeting at our place, you keep swimming, I'll bring you back a dry towel."

"Oh... uh... sure," he says.

I then turn back to Lacey. "Is that okay? We can walk and talk and we won't have to worry about destroying your office or rescheduling."

"Yes, I suppose that's fine," she says though I know it's not because she's in her high heels again which means walking to our cottage is going to be a problem for her.

She just can't say any of that without looking bad.

Together we make the walk back to the cabin I share with Jay. We make small talk, ask how each other's days were, how my time off was, I offer her my arm early on because she's unstable on the dirt path.

To anyone watching we might have looked like friends on a stroll.

When we got back to the cabin, I threw the towel in the washroom, told Lacey to get comfortable and changed as quickly as I could.

Originally, I had dressed up for our meeting. I figured it would be best to have a more mature and professional outfit on, especially to start getting myself ready to be that person again. I was out of practice and I needed all the practice I could get.

My dad likes to say that people don't forget where they came from, but I liked to think that I had forgotten how to be that horrible person I used to be. All the way down to the way she dressed.

When I come back into the kitchen I see that Lacey has helped herself to one of Jay's sports drinks. Normally Jay doesn't share, but considering how big a crush he has on Lacey I figure her drinking one won't be that big of a deal.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about that was so urgent?" Lacey asks.

"I've been thinking a lot about my future and uhm... I haven't decided yet but one of the options is go back to school to finish up my degree."

"Okay, so?"

"Well, there's a pretty good chance, Lacey, that if I go back for my degree, I'll get the job I was lined up for which means I won't be coming back."

Lacey is just staring at me and I can tell right away that it's not really computing with her. And I mean, she's dense but not this dense.

"I'm the only reason Fablehaven is staying with Earth and Body. And the Fablehaven permit is the only thing keeping this Spa afloat... remember?"

"Yes, no, I remember, this just isn't my problem."

And now I'm staring at her confused and honestly a little bit frustrated. I... just... what?

Lacey freaks out over everything, why isn't she freaking out? Was she in shock?

"Uh..."

"Yeah, I got my dream job, I'm moving to a corporate office. Customer Service Manager," she says. "I'm going to be gone before the end of the summer. So you do whatever you want, I'm not going to be here, so I don't care."

I should have probably said something like congratulations, but I don't, because I can't get it out of my face. I can't. I'm just staring at her in utter shock because what the actual hell just happened?

Lacey got a job and she's leaving? So she doesn't care what happens here? What about all of us? Doesn't she care that our jobs are probably in jeopardy? Except maybe mine cause I'll be moving too.

Why was I the only one that cared about this? She was our manager of operations, why didn't she care?

"Okay... but shouldn't you talk to your replacement about it?"

"They haven't hired a replacement yet," Lacey says heading for the door. "Besides, you can tell them when they come in. Well thanks for the chat and the drink and don't forget to have that paperwork on my desk before the end of your shift."

"I'm not working right now," I remind her but she just shrugs, throws me a whatever and then walks out of the cabin.

Jesus.

What am I going to do now?