Our Struggle

I is for Idiot

I woke up spluttering and coughing; my vision was blurry as shapes merged together to create ugly blobs. My eyebrows knitted together in a frown.

There he was: a tall giant hovering over me with what looked like a bottle of water.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I groaned, blinking rapidly as freezing water dribbled down my face.

I lightly touched my cheeks as if I was having an out of body experience. My body swayed slightly as I sat up, peeling a lock of hair away from my soaking face. I squinted my eyes at the figure above me.

Asher, being the stoic giant that he is, had an unreadable look on his face - one that mainly consisted of sheer annoyance and a hint of joy. "Hurry the f*** up. We leave in 10." He muttered, shaking his head, the simple action causing his dark hair to become slightly dishevelled, "next time, put your f****** alarm on." With those words, he was gone.

So many expletives, so early in the morning - dude, I'm only twenty.

I could hear the soft snores of Harper sleeping soundly upstairs.

Damn you, Harp.

Her words replayed in my mind. I was actually going to work for him. For free. Oh gosh.

Picking up my phone, I rubbed my arms soothingly as water dripped from my hair, "i-it's f-five f-fifteen a-am?" My teeth clattered together as I shivered uncontrollably.

Who in their right mind wakes up that early? And who the heck wakes someone up like that? He could have given me a heart attack.

"Here." Asher came back into the living room, chucking some overalls onto the couch. "You're gonna need these."

I stared down at the neatly folded pile of clothes, still shaking. My lips tugged downwards as I held up them up - they were a horrid dark blue-ish colour. The fabric was a strange, tough concoction - the type that was worn for work, not for pleasure.

"I can't wear that." My eyes fell down to the clothing pile once more, a frown graced Asher's face.

"I couldn't give two shits about what you wear. Hurry the f*** up." Ignoring my previous remark, Asher checked his phone before slinging on his jacket. "Now gremlin."

My mouth formed an 'o'. "What did you just call me—" I was interrupted by the closing of the front door.

I huffed loudly, squeezing some water out of my hair. The wretched clothes sat mockingly on the couch.

Gremlin.

Who the freak does he think he is? Gremlin? Freaking gremlin. His giant self needs to sit down and learn some manners.

I'll be happy to teach him with a damn cane.

My eyes flickered to the opposite mirror - crap, I really did look like a troll.

And my back ached from the damn couch.

————

"I'm ready." I announced, climbing into the van. Asher glanced down, his eyes scanning over my outfit with a clear look of disapproval.

I smiled softly, rubbing the expensive fabric of my Levi's, "a huge improvement, no?" I shut the door behind me, "and it's not as if we're gonna be doing anything too dirty." I tugged on the seat belt, clipping it in.

I had watched the cleaners at Noah's house for years - their work mostly consisted of taking out the trash, mopping and sweeping.

Nothing too dirty.