The sunlight streaming through the bay window lit the page of the book, the only source of illumination Adalyn Perry needed to read the original edition of Wuthering Heights by. She'd spent the the whole night before from the minute she'd gotten home from school holed up with the new arrival, glad it was finally spring break and she finally had time to curl up with the novel. It wasn't her first time with Emily Brontë's classic novel, but this was the first time she'd been able to locate and procure such an early version of the book, who's pages were so old that she had to turn them with practiced care.
"Ah, this is the life." The thought strolled through her mind as she reached the final page of a chapter. Setting the book gently against the cradle of her bent, sweat-pant covered knees, she took the opportunity to stretch her arms. Addie couldn't have picked a better way to start her spring vacation then curled up in the window seat of her family's library with a literary classic in-hand, especially since her sister was currently out of the picture. Her personal terror, Charlotte Perry, wouldn't be arriving until that Friday as her break was- thankfully- not scheduled until the week after theirs. It wasn't the first time she'd been grateful to Duke University, and it most certainly wouldn't be the last. The only problem she could easily for-see was that she only had one more chapter left in her novel, and then what would she do? Unfortunately, Addie wasn't enough of a forward thinker to have planned ahead for that eventuality.
Just as she was starting to realize that this would be a problem, the phone sitting beside her on the velour fabric suddenly trilled at her. She jumped a little at the sudden noise- the first she'd heard in more than a few hours- and quickly reached for it. The message on the screen alerted her of Gracie's distress and she found herself smiling, that girl couldn't go more than a few hours without becoming bored. Without a second thought- even to the last chapter of Heathcliff and Catherine's story- she unlocked the screen and tapped out a quick response, lol~~~ I'll be there in a few ;D My Dad has 2 go 2 that meeting anyway. See ya soon beautiful~~~ Of course she and her family had been members of Gracie's father's country club as long as it had been open- their families went back for ages- so it was a given that he'd be attending the meeting as he always did- even if he had to cancel a shareholder's meeting to do so.
With the response sent to her best friend, Addie gently placed the ancient book on a side-table with her place marked and hurried out of the large oaken doors to get dressed. In the process of leaping up the stairs she passed her father- clad in his polo and boating shoes-, on his way to the meeting. "Just wait- I'm coming too! Gracie's there!" the girl called back to him as she continued on her way to her room. She knew the man wouldn't think of correcting her and that he'd be waiting with the car ready when she came back down the stairs.
Less than ten minutes later she was running back down the grand staircase that led to the front door of their beach-front estate, this time clad in a skimpy, pink tennis dress and a pair of high-heeled sandals that defiantly weren't made for tennis playing- her racket and a bag full of swimming gear in hand. Adalyn hurried through the doors and out to the sleek, white sports car waiting at the end of the front steps with her father in the front seat. After throwing her things into the back she slid into the passenger seat, her hands instantly going to yank her curly, brown hair into a ponytail as soon as the door was shut. "Ok Daddy, let's go!" She commanded and her father obeyed, putting the car into gear and driving them off to the country club at a reckless speed.
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"Alright just call me if he needs anything. Or anything happens. Or just... just call me," the words sounded stressed even to Jackson as they passed his lips- no wonder the babysitter was giving him such an odd, understanding look.
"First kid, eh? Don't worry hun, I've had loads. I know how to deal with 'um." Helega Peterson must have been old when Jax was born, which meant that she was now practically ancient and also that her words were more then likely true. This fact did not, however, make him feel any better about leaving his little brother alone with her. If he had to be honest, he wouldn't have felt comfortable leaving Rory with anyone- it had nothing to do with poor Mrs. Peterson- it was just the way he was when it came down to anything involving the kid.
"Umm.... I guess you could say that....," He responded hesitantly- unwilling to get into an argument with the woman who would be watching his brother for the rest of the week and also because he was already running late to work at the club. "Anyway, just call me. My number's on the fridge," Jax called over his shoulder as he hurried down the stairs of the rickety old apartment building. No matter how worried he was about leaving his brother alone with a woman who might croak at any moment, he was already on thin enough ice when it came to his job; even if he was always on time and the hardest worker in the entire employee force, being an ex-con was enough to put him on a permanent black list. Honestly this didn't mean that he held it against Mr. McDonald, he was still just grateful to the man for giving him a job; the only thing that this really meant for him was that he would always try his hardest to show that he was worth the potential risk they'd taken in employing.
Trying to keep up his "perfect attendance record", Jax barreled down the sidewalk as fast as his legs could carry him- heedless of the reactions the other pedestrians gave him. Luckily enough his apartment was close to the busstop, and from there it was only ten minutes by bus to the stop nearest the club. Unluckily, given that the patrons of the club never needed to take public transport, the closest busstop was another ten minutes away by foot- which could be shortened to seven if he ran the whole way. The second Jax stepped off the bus he took off once more- the bag containing his work gear bouncing against his side from its place on his shoulder. He raced through the empty field leading up to the wide, white building, only slowing when he got close enough to spot a group of customers standing before the front steps.
Thanks to his busy, work-heavy lifestyle, Jackson was barely panting by the time he trotted over to the employee entrance. Casually he glanced at the old, thrift-store watch attached to his wrist and cursed to himself, "Shit..." Unfortunately he didn't even have time to go into the locker room to change properly before his shift started; so he popped open the door and hurried to his locker. After yanking out the bright, blue polo shirt that was the required uniform, Jax shoved his bag deep into the recess of the plain metal box along with the plain black t-shirt he'd been wearing over his required khakis. He never stopped moving even as he began to roll up the shirt to slip it on over his tattooed torso. Shoving open the door he'd just entered, Jax pulled the polyester uniform shirt down to cover his skin on his way to the pool where he started every day at work.