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“We’re closed.”
The man rolls his eyes at me and my firm statement, but at least he then turns around and leaves the restroom when informed.
God, I’ve had it with everyone deciding they can’t read when they walk past a sign.
Another day, another male restroom to scrub clean. This one is somehow even dirtier than the one I had to do the other day. I definitely hung a sign on the door warning people about the cleaning before we started but, like usual, we’ve had to contend with so many men walking in and not giving a shit. And yes, I can see the irony in that statement.
I’m back on my hands and knees again when I hear someone new enter. I call back angrily over my shoulder, tired of this crap.
“We. Are. Closed.”
There’s a pause. No movement from our new visitor.
And then...
“Hello, Emma.”
I turn around. I can recognize that voice even when I’m on my hands and knees scrubbing tiles.
“August?”
“I thought I’d find you here,” the doctor says, standing in the doorway. “I came in here yesterday and I found it disgusting...everywhere. I thought it’d be only a matter of time until they forced you to come in and work your magic.”
It’s weird to see the genius and rich Penmayne in a place like this.
“Here I am,” I reply, gesturing around me as I kneel. “Working my magic.”
“How are you, Emma?”
“Is that what you came in here for?” I ask him with bitterness plaguing my voice. “To ask me how I am?”
“Yes.”
I sigh.
“I read all about your date with that glamorous Octavia woman the other night,” I say.
August sighs as well and bows his head.
“Oh, you did?”
“It’s hard not to when it’s plastered all over social media and your dad’s newspapers,” I reply.
“You know all...that...is not real, right?”
“Well, it certainly looked real when you’re holding her hand in front of a camera,” I retort.
Why am I so damn jealous?
“It was a thing I had to do,” August says. “Penmaynes have to do things we don’t want to do sometimes.”
“You have a choice,” I retort. “You don’t always have to follow what your rich parents want from you. I’d have thought you knew that, being a smart adult doctor and all. I would’ve thought you knew that you can be your own person.”
“You wouldn’t understand what it’s like being a Penmayne.”
I groan at that comment in exasperation.
