Oh my god, why does it sound so loud?
I hear Serena chuckle and I swear she starts singing “Let it go” softly. Bitch.
After a brief argument with myself whether it’d be better to just not wipe or risk a rash from one of these leaves, I decide a drip dry is in order. I can’t wait to get home and take a shower. “This is not how I saw my night going,” I say, crawling back under the bush between Serena and Remee.
“You’re having fun,” Serena accuses with a smile.
“I didn’t say I wasn’t.”
Remee shakes her head at our giggles. “You two are insane.”
A few minutes later, Trey’s car pulls up at the corner and his head cranes, looking around. “There he is. Let’s go.”
Running after being crammed under bushes for almost an hour isn’t easy and they look as clumsy and uncoordinated as I feel, but we make it to the car. I can only imagine what Trey is thinking when we all jump in and duck down.
“Just go,” I order. Serena passes me a towel from the back seat, and I wrap it around myself.
“What the hell did you do?” he demands, turning the car around.
“Nothing!”
“Nothing doesn’t make you end up naked on the other side of town hiding from cops!?”
Fair point.
“We aren’t naked! We just…went for a little swim and the cops showed up so we had to run without grabbing our clothes.”
“And why would cops be after you for swimming?” Despite trying to sound stern, I can hear the amusement in his voice. It’s not like he hasn’t done a ton of crazy stuff with his friends. The story of him and the Frat Hell guys who lived in our apartment before us are legendary on Violent Circle.
“The pool may have been closed. And locked up. But we totally didn’t damage anything.”
He shakes his head, repressing a grin.
I have a feeling I won’t live this one down for a long time.
Chapter Five
Layton
All the students who attended the introductory meeting show up at the fixer upper house for our first lesson in home maintenance and safety. Laughing at the wind whipping at their hair and clothes, they rush through the door when I unlock it. The weather has cooled, and rain is supposed to be blowing in.
“Hey, this place is nice,” Owen says. “Great place for a party.” He glances around at the others. “What do you think? Kegger on Friday?”
“Mr. Wright—”
“No worries, Mr. A, you can come too. Even old dudes have to have fun.”
Nila Higgins, another student who attends my economics class, speaks up. “He’s not old. What are you, like thirty-five?”
Ouch.
Harriet whispers something to her and they both give me a look that I should not be seeing on two eighteen-year-old girls’ faces. I’m not a stranger to being flirted with by students. Hell, I’m not that much older than them, but I could never date or let anything happen with a student. Not only would it cost me my job, but I’m aware that I have a position of power over them. Even if it was completely consensual on both sides, bad shit could come of it, the least of all being a job loss.
“Mr. Wright, since you’re so eager to participate, you can show us how to turn the power on.”
“Turning on is one of my specialties,” he says, bouncing his eyebrows at Nila and Harriet. When he gets matching scoffs, he turns to me. “No problem, where’s the breaker box?”
I shrug, and a grin appears on his face. “Oh, it’s like that. Well, the one at my parents’ house was in the basement.”
He wanders around until he locates the basement door. There’s a moment’s hesitation when he looks down the dim stairs that disappear into the dark. “Mr. A putting me in a horror movie scenario and shit,” he grumbles, turning on the flashlight on his phone. “How do I know you don’t have some cannibals tied up down here just waiting to snack on my bone marrow?”
He grins at Kelly through the laughter. “Come with me. You’re pretty and you smell good. They’ll eat you first.”
Rolling her eyes, she turns her phone flashlight on as well and accompanies him downstairs. Before I show him and the rest the breakers, I want to see if he knows what he’s doing. It’s a fairly simple task and if he knew where to search for the box, he probably knows to throw the main switch.
They disappear down the stairs, and he calls, “No cannibals but it smells like damp ass down here!”
A few moments later, the lights come on and the rest of the group follow me downstairs. Owen stands in front of the breaker box and takes a deep bow. “No applause needed. It was nothing, really. You can show your appreciation with gift cards and cash.”
“How about you just show them what you did?”
He demonstrates the switch that he flipped, then steps back beside Kelly as I explain that the main breaker controls everything, and how you can shut off electricity to different areas of the house with the other breakers.
“Okay, we’ve got the electric on. Depending on where you live, your house could be all electric, or you could also have gas—shut up, Mr. Wright.” I point at him when he opens his mouth, no doubt with some fart joke. “If the house has natural gas service, you may have a gas water heater, stove, dryer, or all three.”
Everyone follows me back to the first floor, and down the hall to the utility room. “This is a gas water heater. If you notice you have no hot water, chances are the pilot light has gone out and needs to be relit. We’re going to learn how to do that safely. I need a volunteer.”
Kelly steps forward with an audible swallow when no one else does, and one of the other guys, Patton, chuckles. “Didn’t you say you’ve already started one fire?”
“As long as there’s no cooking involved, I’m good,” she says, but her voice lacks any sign of confidence. She’s nervous.
“Anyone can do this. You just follow the steps,” I assure her.
She kneels beside me, pushing her hair back over her shoulder, and I call for the others to get closer so they can see. “If you notice you don’t have hot water and your pilot is out, you may smell gas. This may seem obvious, but I’m going to say it anyway. Never strike a flame if you can smell gas. First, you turn the gas off using the gas shut off valve here. Go ahead, Ms. Bryant.”
She reaches out and turns the knob to off.
“If you smell gas, give the area time to vent before you go any further. If you continue to smell gas once it’s off, get out of the house and call your gas company. If you can’t reach them, call the fire department. Once the air has cleared, pop off the access door and use a flashlight to see the burner inside.”
Kelly has no problem following the directions while the others watch.
“Now, we’re going to light it. There are two ways to do so. This heater has an ignition button, but some older models need to be lit with an actual flame.” I look into anxious blue eyes. “You’re going to push down on the red pilot mode switch and hold it down. That lets the gas flow. Then push the ignition button here which should light the flame. You may have to push it more than once, but keep holding down the pilot switch, understand? Even after it lights.”