We finished delivering lunch to the royals and went for a lunch of our own. The nannies didn’t have time for the eatery either. Instead, we ate in the supply closet. There were about ten other women, all of an older age. They were nice enough to share their hidden leftovers with me. Although some of the food was half-eaten, it all tasted wonderful. After we finished eating, we had to go back and collect the dishes as well as clean any residual messes. Sally showed me how to get away with keeping the leftovers in Charlie’s room. She made me practice in nude yoga man’s room. I dropped the tray and broke his meditation. Sally sent me in alone and I really didn’t know what to do. Yoga man put on a thin robe and stood up to help me. He never said a single word, but he seemed to have a gentle spirit. I couldn’t get the courage to look him in the eyes. Once the mess was cleaned, he returned to his pillow and I got out of there as fast as possible.
I told Sally what happened and asked her why she kept sending me into his room.
“That man never frowns, yet alone yells. He’s gentle and I sensed you needed that. We also need to break any awkwardness or connection you may feel to the royals and I figured if you could get used to a naked man your age, you would be comfortable around all of them. Your true test comes Friday at the weekly Royal dinner.”
I thanked her for her wisdom. We finished the dishes and cleaning and took the leftovers to the supply room.
As I was organizing things and putting leftovers away in the supply room, Luke and the man he was shadowing came in to restock the room. I moved as fast as I could to keep the leftovers hidden, but the man said, “I guess Sally didn’t tell you we share that too. I have a new stock of supplies for you. Luke is going to put them away while I have a snack.”
Sally came into the room and said, “Rose, this is our friend Wilson. He can have as much food as he’d like. Ah, hello, who are you?”
Luke introduced himself and Sally invited him for some food after he finished his restocking. We pretended to introduce ourselves after being seated next to each other for a staff meeting.
Sally pulled out a notebook and said, “Alright, so tomorrow is deep cleaning day. We will deliver breakfast and then clean out the fridges. Anything with a red sticker comes with us and will be replaced with an identical item with an orange sticker. Be sure to wipe up any spills found in the fridges or freezers. Then, we will clean bathrooms, remove bedroom linens, replace them with clean sets, dust everything, sweep, vacuum, mop, and polish. We will serve lunch and dinner at the normal times. Luke and Wilson will meet us with carts at each replacement step and take away the discards when we are done. Do not take any requests until all rooms are done according to the royal standard. Since Rose is new, she will be in charge of taking out the trash, dusting, and taking out the old linens. We don’t want a repeat of Marnie’s first day; the kitchen staff will kill us.”
Wilson leaned over to me and whispered, “Marnie was colorblind and threw out the newer foods along with the old. She works in the laundry room now.”
When the meeting was over, I helped Luke prepare the linen and collection carts for tomorrow. The more seasoned staff prepared the dinner cart. Sally explained later that we were done after delivering dinner, but one member of the service staff is on call each night. That night it was me and Sally. We delivered dinner and then ate our own. Charlie came to the supply closet as we were eating. He gave Sally a brownie and said, “I just came to tell your new staff member where her living quarters were and see how today went.”
“You cannot bribe me with goodies, even ones like this. Friendships between royals and service staff are strictly forbidden. You know that! Anyway, she won’t be here long. She is far too young for this job. The same with the boy. Now, get going before our supervisor comes.”
Charlie left, and Sally came back inside. The other support staff finished their dinners and headed to their bunks. Sally sat down with me and said, “I will show you your bunk tomorrow night. You won’t need it tonight. We have to stay here by the phone in case of messes. I’m sorry if I seemed harsh, but it’s like that boy is determined to get all of us fired.”
“It’s alright, but do you really think Luke and I won’t last?”
“Honestly, you were just accepted to fill recent vacancies. We lost two of our best. They got caught with items Prince Charles said they could have, but his girlfriend reported them stolen. They were having a date night in the prince’s room and his girlfriend intruded. We haven’t heard from them since. That boy is trouble, well not him, the people around him. I think you and Luke are too young not to care about their looks, belongings, and how they treat you. It’s a disaster waiting to happen, but the prince’s orders go. To be clear, I have nothing against you personally. I just hate to see people get hurt and to train new people.”
“I guess I understand that. I’m sorry you have to train me, and that the prince caused so much trouble. I’m sure he didn’t mean to.”
She went to respond but the on-call phone went off and she told the person on the other end we would be right up.
I was actually very nervous for my first on-call response. The nerves did not go away when I learned it was Charlie’s arranged fiancé and they spilled red wine on her red carpet. We got up there and Skyler was sitting in the hall crying with wine all over her dress and homework. Malerie was screaming at Charlie so loudly we could hear them down the hall. Sally went in and told me to wait in the hall for now. I couldn’t leave Sky crying alone. At the moment, I did not care about the rules. I got some cleaning solution and dried off her dress. She was still crying, so I took her homework and patted it dry. It was a total loss, so I sat down next to her.
She said, “I’m going to get you into trouble too.”
“I don’t care. I’m not letting you sit alone here crying. Who did you get in trouble?”
“Myself, my dad and stepmom are going to send me back to our home planet if I don’t pass the next entrance exam and if I’m a troublemaker. My brother spent too much time with me and not with Malerie. She’s mad and I just ruined her carpet and fancy drink. It was an accident, but princesses don’t have accidents. She yelled and called the queen. Now, they are fighting, and I may as well go pack my bags.”
She got up to run, but I wrapped her in a hug. “Sky, Charlie is not going to let you get sent anywhere you don’t want to go.”
Sally came into the hall with Charlie as I was hugging Sky and said, “Sir, I am so sorry. She is still learning the rules. Rose, we NEVER touch a royal nor speak out of turn! Get in here!”
Charlie’s eyes were locked on mine in such a way it made me feel as if he had grabbed my heart. As he walked past me, he gave me a silent “Thank you, I’m sorry.” He brushed my hand but focused on his sister. Sally and I finished our cleaning and went back downstairs. Sally managed to turn a simple broken rule into an hour lecture about etiquette and the rules. She told me she was so disappointed since we had just had a conversation about the last person Charlie got in trouble right before we went up there. I felt bad for disappointing her, but at the same time, Sky needed a person. As my punishment, Sally made me stay up to listen for the phone. Thankfully, there were only two more calls – one was for soiled sheets and the other was for an urgent resupply of diapers. At one point, one of the royal twins called and asked for a night light, but her sister apparently threw the one she hid at her while she was on the phone, so she hung up. I was too afraid to sleep, so when the rest of the staff came back, I was so relieved.
Chapter 4
Monday
Deep cleaning day was rough, and the lack of sleep did not help the situation. I did my three jobs pretty well, but apparently my dusting was not elegant. Sally kept correcting me. I imagine she was tired too and was taking it out on me. She put me in charge of delivering the cooked meals since they were all labeled. She literally said she didn’t trust me not to mess it up, but everyone else was too busy. I delivered breakfast, took out the trashes, took the bedroom linens, delivered lunch and d
usted every one of the rooms before getting a chance to stop and drink some water.
When I went back for the lunch garbage and leftovers, the rest of the staff was vacuuming and mopping. Naked yoga man ran into my lunch cart. He was fully clothed this time. He just put his hands over his ears and kept going to the elevator. I think he was most likely heading to the garden because our chaos was too much for him.
Malerie, Charlie’s arranged fiancé, threw her lunch at me and said, “What did I tell you pond scum!?! You’d be working for me!”
I just cleaned it up and did not engage with her. I found naked yoga man having a panic attack in the elevator. I initially got in with my cart and tried to stay strong, but he was hyperventilating so badly he almost passed out. I pushed the cart out on the floor of the service closet and sat down with him. I rubbed his back and tears started falling from his eyes. “It’s ok, just breathe. You’re ok.”
Some royals got on and off of the elevator, so we just kept going wherever it was needed. They made fun of him and spilled stuff on or kicked me. I didn’t care. I was more worried about him.
After a while, when there wasn’t anyone else on the elevator, I said, “I’m new to the Royal Quadrant so I’m not sure if there is a doctor or someone I should be calling. I hope I am not making this worse for you.”
He took a deep breath and said through sobs, “No doctor… please stay.”
“Okay. I am already breaking rules so I may as well tell you, we servants call you naked yoga guy.”
He picked his head up and was laughing a little bit.
“The reason I told you is because I don’t know your name.”
“I’m Conner. Thank you… I just… thank you.”
“We are on the first floor. Can we go back up to yours now, or do you still need time?”
“We can go back.”
I stood up and pressed the button for his floor. He stayed sitting until we reached it and I helped him up. Sally pushed my cart on as he hugged me. She let him get off before reacting and then when the door closed said, “Where have you been? None of us have eaten because you left our food. I catch you for the second day in a row touching a royal and it just happens to be naked yoga guy. The point was to ignore him, not spread your legs for him. You better hope the security staff does not report this to our supervisor!”
“He was having a panic attack. Are we not allowed to intervene when health and safety are at question?”
“That is not our job. We clean and that is all.”
“We are nannies by title, and nannies care.”
“You are at strike two right now, just stop before you make it worse. Just make it through dinner and start tomorrow on a better foot.”
She took the lunch cart to the others, but I didn’t get to have any. I didn’t even get to sit with the group. I restocked the shelves, so Luke and Wilson didn’t have to. I was still ignored, but surprisingly,
Sally still sent me to deliver dinner. I purposely saved Conner’s until last so I could check on him. I took his stuff into his room and he was resetting his meditation area. I put his dinner on his table and went to leave, but he said, “Thank you for earlier. I’m sorry if I got you in trouble.”
“It was no problem. I hope you are feeling better.”
He smiled and said, “Much better. Have a nice night.”
I thanked him and told him to have one as well. I got back downstairs, and everyone had already left, except for the woman on call, but she was napping. I didn’t know where my bunk was, and I didn’t want to risk getting in trouble for wandering around, so I used a pile of dirty laundry as a bed.
It felt like minutes after I fell asleep that the on-call phone started ringing. The woman didn’t answer after three rings or when I nudged her chair, so I got up and took the call. The royal twins needed a new night light. I had trouble finding them at first but found one I thought they’d like. I got up there and the twin who had called was being made fun of by her sister. I plugged in the night light and it made stars on their ceiling. The twin who called said, “Can you check for monsters too?”
“Of course, Jaisy. You know the light scares them away, but I’ll check for a brave one?”
“You know my name?”
“Of course, I do. I used to watch you before your tutor came.”
Her twin sister, Jenna said, “But you know us apart, like who is who. Not even the tutor does that.”
“Jenna, you like purple, crust on sandwiches, and chocolate chip cookies. Jaisy, you like pink, crust-off sandwiches, and sugar cookies. It’s not that hard to notice that although you look the same, you are not the same person!”
I checked for monsters and Jaisy thanked me for the night light. As I left, Jenna also thanked me. I got back to my laundry bed and right as I got comfortable, I got another call. I again tried to let the on-call woman get it, but she again slept through, so I answered. It was for a soiled sheet for the same child as the night before. I took a night light with me and sure enough, the accident was the result of a nightmare. It was his mom who called, but she left him crying in the wet bed and went back to sleep. I cleaned him and his bed off. Then I plugged in the night light and told him a story until he drifted back to sleep. I quietly left him and went back to the on-call room.
The phone was already ringing when I got there, and it was a complaint about banging pots and pans in the hallway on Conner and Malerie’s floor. I politely told the caller there weren’t any service staff members up there, but he insisted, so I went up to investigate the situation. When I got up there, there were four highly intoxicated men outside of Conner’s doors with wooden spoons and pots. I recognized one of them as someone who spilled stuff on me in the elevator earlier in the day. I politely asked them to leave and they got louder. The complaint caller came out of his room, so they threw the pots at me and ran. I apologized to the caller and he just shut his door.
I knocked on Conner’s door and said, “Conner, it’s Rose, the service staff girl from earlier. I just want to make sure you are okay.”
Conner didn’t answer, but I heard the door unlock. I went in, and he was anything but okay. He was so shaky, he couldn’t talk. I noticed he had a watch like Charlie’s and realized he must not have been from the same planet as me. I sat down with him and rubbed his back again.
“They took over my home planet. I was a prince there. My family surrendered, but our planet did not. There was a horrible war and one night some of the resistance attempted to kill this ship’s royal family by burning down our castle. I was the only survivor from my family, but I was so badly burned they didn’t think I’d survive anyway. I did and Prince Charles made them give me this apartment. I’m not actually naked when you see me, but clothes are too painful sometimes. They are just too much… And you have no idea what I’m talking about because until just now you didn’t know I am an alien…. That any of us were.”
“Actually, Charlie… Prince Charles got me this job after I spent a day with and befriended him. I know a lot more than I should, but I didn’t know you were an alien until just now. I’m so sorry you had to go through all of that and that these people are treating you so badly.”
“It’s not your fault. They treat you way worse.”
“But at least I get away from it at night.”
“It’s night now. Why are you here?”
“They never showed me where I live and the woman on call slept through the phone.”
He laughed and said, “Well at least you came to rescue me. I think protocol is to ignore us.”
“It is, but I’m not too good at that.”
“Clearly, but you should probably go man the phone though. Goodnight Rose.”
I picked up all of the abandoned kitchen ware and returned to the on-call room. I had to go change a diaper at three am, but otherwise it was quiet until the morning.
Chapter 5
Tuesday
The next morning came and the girls were still ignoring me. The woman I covere
d for was under the impression that nothing had occurred all night, and reported that to Sally even though I had a whole report ready to go. I just folded it up and put it in the pots. Thankfully, they had which room they came from written on the bottom, so I was able to return them with breakfast. The drunken royals they belonged to were all passed out, so it made things a little less awkward. I just kept the report tucked in my shoe all day. The day passed so much more slowly than yesterday. I was paired with the woman who was on-call. She didn’t even ask why I slept on the floor or had pots with me. In fact, she wouldn’t talk to me at all.
They still had me doing Conner’s room so I could get used to not reacting. It was not at all easy, he was tan and had the perfect body with dirty blonde hair and emerald green eyes. It was very hard not to stare, but now it was even harder because we had bared our hearts to each other and felt a connection. I knew he was lonely and wanted so badly to be able to be his friend, but I could not. We both knew it, which is why he wouldn’t look at me while I cleaned.
I didn’t get to see Charlie at all. My coworkers still didn’t share lunch, well the girls didn’t, but Luke passed me a nutrient bar and a water when they were not paying attention. I again got left behind after delivering dinner, so I just prepared replacement sheets and diapers. The woman on call observed but didn’t say anything. I put my report from last night on the cart and made my dirty laundry bed. The woman on call slept right next to the phone. She actually woke up when she got calls and handled them, so I got some sleep. She woke me to ask if I did the report last night and what a monster check was. I explained that I just pretended to look for monsters in Jaisy and Jenna’s room so they would feel safe.
She was impressed with my work and said, “I’m Meredith. I’m sorry the other women are being so tough on you. They aren’t too big on grey areas. They see their job as black and white, only cleaning and never interacting. I personally think we need more people who will put their hearts into the work like you did. Thanks for preparing the cart for me as well. I’ll show you to your bunk tomorrow night. You must at least want clean clothes.”
Queen of the Stars Page 3
