(Note to self, I really need to learn how to 'tab' on these boards...)
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Magically 'Maid'
Alex sighed as he walked up the sidewalk towards his house. He could already see by the toilet paper on the tree in the front yard, that his roommate Jake had thrown another party. Alex had inherited the small house he currently lived in from his grandfather on his fathers side. He knew this was the same house his father had lived in while growing up and so knew how much it meant to him. Alex really didn't want to sell the house, and also would rather live in such an elegant home rather then some crummy apartment anyway.
The problem was, Alex was just a lowly employee at a local chicken restaurant. He didn't exactly make a killing doing what he did, therefore the cost of owning such a home was just too much for him alone. He had put out an add in the paper looking for a roommate. That's how he met Jake.
Jake was the son of a big time movie producer, so in short the guy was loaded. Apparently Jake had some issues with 'daddy' that lead him to seek his own little place to crash. The good news was, they were still on decent terms and Jake was able to access the 'family' bank account for a set amount of money each week. This meant Alex could keep the house with Jake's help. Of course it was clear Jake had wanted more then just 'a place to crash'
Alex had been wary of Jake's attitude from the start, but with no other reliable roommates applying, he was forced to make a decision fast. Jake was a decent enough guy when it came to paying the bills, and giving Alex his space. Jake never once tried to skip rent, or invade Alex's privacy. However Jake did have a large problem not following the rules, and one of the biggest ones was no parties.
Alex was twenty four now, and his mother was getting old and losing her health. At least once a month if not more Alex liked to visit his mom in fear that any time now she may not be here tomorrow. He knew he was over reacting a bit, as his mom was no where near that bad in health, but still he wanted to make sure he didn't regret not spending time with her. Unfortunately for him, every time he'd do this, Jake would throw another one of his 'parties'.
Alex knew the tree wouldn't have been the only thing to be vandalized by the unauthorized get together, and he wasn't let down as he saw the beer bottles and cans strewn about the lawn. It was only worse when he got inside. Though Alex knew Jake at least had the consideration to make sure people stayed out of his room, it didn't help the fact that the rest of the house looked like a hurricane had blown through it.
He didn't even want to try and categorize the amount of damage done this time, instead he just searched out Jake. It didn't take him long, as soon as he entered the den, he found Jake lying there unconscious on the couch. Alex sighed at the site. Jake wasn't very tall, only about five foot six. He had very light brown hair and green eyes. He possessed no facial hair, and had about an average male body, if you didn't count the beer gut he was slowly developing. Jake's green shirt was drenched with sweat, no doubt the result of what went on last night. Alex also noticed that Jake's blue jeans seemed to be soaked with something as well. He could only guess what it was by the smell.
Alex didn't understand how Jake could get the ladies when he looked like this after just about every party he had thrown so far. Alex himself may not be a bishonen, but he didn't think he looked all that bad. He was currently wearing a blue t-shirt with black jeans. His hair was short but fiery red, and his blue eyes fit rather nicely with it. Alex didn't have time to really ponder this now however.
Sighing, he got to work in waking Jake up. After getting a broom from the kitchen he proceeded to 'prod' his roommate till he got a response. It took a few tries, but he was finally rewarded with a sleepy yet rather annoyed, "What!?"
"Haven’t I told you the rule about parties?" Alex said dryly. He already knew where this conversation was going, but yet he was going to remind Jake anyway.
"It wasn't a party man, I just had a few friends over," Jake mumbled trying to go back to sleep to finish getting over his recent hangover. Alex took note that Jake's green eyes looked bloodshot.
"Jake I know you are lying to me, You know you are lying to me," Alex tried. Every time Jake denied the activities of his 'get togethers' Every time it would be Alex who dealt with the neighbors complaints proving otherwise, and what was worse, was every time it was Alex who ended up cleaning up the blunt of the damage. If it wasn't for the fact that Alex just COULD NOT afford this house without him, Jake would have found himself on the street long ago...
"No man, I'm straight, it was just a few of the guys, we behaved," Jake mumbled back. Alex wished he could slap him for that.
"Yeah, and I suppose the fact the outside and inside of this place being a mess is your idea of behaving huh?" Alex said, his voice rising in anger. Unfortunately this is always where Jake pulled out his ace.
"Geez man, lighten up here," Jake said as he reached into his wallet and pulled out two one hundred dollar bills, tossing them in Alex's direction, "There man, this will pay for a maid or something, now let me sleep huh?" With that Jake drifted back off. Alex was peeved, but didn't feel like continuing to argue at the moment. Instead he simply took the money and went back into the kitchen. He was seriously tempted to just call a maid like Jake suggested, but knew he had one more person to talk to before he could do that.
Taking one of the trash bags from his kitchen he made his way out into the back yard and immediately groaned outwardly at the sight that met him. Sure enough the place was a mess with beer cans, bottles, cigarette boxes, and other such trash littered all over the place. Taking his third sigh for the day, he began to pick up what he could as he made his way to the back fence. Sure enough he found his next door neighbor Ms. Lilly there.
Ms Lilly had been living in the house behind his for a long time, and had known both his grandfather, and his father. He was sure she was pushing well over eighty by now, but didn't think it was his place to ask. Ms Lilly even though old still looked good for her age. Alex would have sworn she was no older then thirty if it wasn't for her snow white hair that cascaded down to the small of her back. Her blue eyes while reflective of the knowledge they held behind them, had not dulled in the slightest over the years. He couldn't even detect a single wrinkle on her skin. She wasn't dressed very fancy, just a plan pink blouse with a pair of black jeans. She gave Alex a sad, yet reassuring smile as he walked up. This wasn't the first time they had done this, and Alex groaned inwardly as he guessed it wouldn't be the last.
"Quite the racket last night," She said as he picked up the remains of a beer six pack container. Alex simply nodded.
"I can only imagine, let me guess you managed to keep the cops from being called again?" He asked, Ms Lilly nodded.
"Alex I know you mean well, and I know how things are for you right now, but something has to be done soon," Ms Lilly said in a stern and serious tone. Alex nodded sadly. He had been secretly searching around for a 'replacement' roommate for a while now, but had had no luck.
"I know Lilly, I know, "Alex replied, having been told by Lilly long ago not to call her 'Ms', "But what can I do? I can't kick him out you know that! I told you I'm looking for a replacement, but no one's biting." This time it was Ms Lilly's time to nod sadly.
"So how is your mother?" She asked suddenly changing the subject. Alex wasn't surprised though, he was use to Lilly asking him these types of questions in their little 'talks'
"She's doing well," Alex said running out of trash next to the fence. Unfortunately there was no short supply in the rest of the field, "Her health is stable, and she's still happy I'm able to live here despite my roommate problem. Though I am getting tired of her asking me if I have a girlfriend yet."
"In time deary, In time," Lilly replied giving Alex a smirk. She also knew very well his lack of luck with that as well.
"People always tell me that," Alex said managing a small smile, "I'm sorry to cut this short, but as you can see there is allot I need to 'pick up' as it is. I tell you, I'm seriously considering hiring that maid Jake always offers to pay for. But this money just does better going for food or bills..." He trailed off there leaning up against the fence for a moment despite his earlier comment about having to go. Lilly could see Alex had already drained most of his energy already and was not up to this. Luckily Lilly had planned for just a thing.
"Oh that reminds me," she said reaching behind her fence. Alex watched her over his shoulder as she disappeared from his sight, only to pop back up again in a matter of seconds holding a potted plant. Alex let out a small sound of amazement at what he saw. Sitting in the pot that Lilly had in her hands was a single rose, but not any rose Alex had ever seen before. What lay in this pot was a pure black rose. At first Alex was sure it was fake, but upon a quick inspection realized the thing to be one hundred percent authentic.
"Wow!" Alex said, letting his amazement show clearly, "I didn't think black roses actually existed. I've only ever seen one in anime."
"Oh they are real if you know where to look," Lilly said with a smile, "I thought it would look nice in that den of yours. Why don't you go put it in the house before continuing with your choirs?"
"Yeah sure, Thank you very much!" Alex said as he took the beautiful flower from Lilly. Lilly merely smiled.
"You are very welcome," She said as she smiled inwardly. She was normally against this type of magic, but Alex was trying so hard, that he deserved a break.
Alex felt dizzy as he walked through his back door into his kitchen. He had been fine just a moment ago, but now it was like all the lack of sleep he had been having as of late was catching up with him. It was a bit strange it would just hit him like this so suddenly though. As he made his way into the den in which Jake was still occupying he set the Rose upon the table hoping Jake didn't knock it off. He had planned on going back outside to continue cleaning, but knew he wouldn't be able to last ten minutes. Reluctantly he trotted past the sleeping roommate, and down the hallway to his room. He barley managed to close the door before walking to his bed and collapsing. He was out in seconds.
Meanwhile Jake had been struggling with a dilemma of his own for the past five minutes. Not long after his annoying roommate Alex had woken him up, then he had to use the restroom. Jake really didn't feel like getting up at this moment, but a bladder was something he had problems ignoring. He hadn't even realized he had soiled his pants once already. A full bladder while drunk was different then a full bladder while sober. Reluctantly he finally gave in to nature and sat up. Blinking his eyes a few times he came face to petals with a single black rose. His current dilemma forgotten for the moment he gazed at the peculiar flower in curiosity. He was fairly certain no such flower existed, yet here one was sitting no farther than one foot in front of him.
He probably would have only spared a few moments more staring at the thing before losing interest, if it wasn't for the fact that at that moment the black rose seemed to 'arch back' and spring back forward spraying him with a strange pollen. Jake immediately began to cough as the black powder seemed to invade his body. His need to use the restroom as well as his hangover suddenly evaporated as if he had never drank. He would have felt pleased about this if he could have breathed at the moment. He continued to hack and wheeze as he noticed 'other' changes occurring to his body.
First his gut seemed to suck back into his body, which despite the trouble breathing gave him a brief feeling of pleasure, though he didn't understand why it had happened. He next noticed that the hair of his body seemed to be disappearing like some invisible razor was shaving him all over. He began to worry as he saw his arms and legs seem to slim to a point where they no longer looked like the belonged on a man at all. In fact as he watched his legs smooth out he would have sworn they belonged to a girl. He began to itch like crazy as his shoulders retracted, and his hips widened out. He almost thought he felt his feet growing smaller as well, but that couldn't be happening right?
His hair began to 'tickle' as he felt it grow to a longer length then it had been. He couldn't be certain, but he was sure his face was shifting as well. He was very nervous at what was going on, but felt a bit happier that he was beginning to regain his ability to breath without coughing. He had almost begun to clam down just by that, until the next and final changes happened to his body. His chest began to burn with a strange yet pleasant warmth as his shirt began to expand. He didn't need to be a doctor to know what those were. Panicking he reached for his lower section only to feel it quickly slip in and away. Before he knew it the changes stopped and he was able to breath just fine again.
"Wha-What?" He tried to say before becoming deathly silent when he heard the sound of the voice he was making. Those words that came out may have been his words, but that defiantly wasn't HIS voice. He knew exactly what kind of voice that high pitched yet pleasant voice sounded like. It sounded like a girl. Doing what he was sure any man would do in such a situation, he began to scream. But before he managed to make one more sound in that new voice of his, he felt his mind suddenly begin to fog up as if he was once again under the influence. Holding his head he tried desperately to clear it He felt himself falling deeper and deeper into darkness as he tried desperately to struggle back up to the surface.
"Sorry," He heard a women say from somewhere behind him, "But that male side of you has had enough time in control of that body of yours. It's time to see what the female half of you wants." Jake could barley register the words as he pushed with all his might to turn around. The last thing he remembered was his nosey next door neighbor Ms Lilly standing there, before everything went black.
Alex was interrupted from his nap rather suddenly by a steady rapping on his bedroom door. Still sleepy he managed to sit up and mumble a simple, "Come in."
The door quickly opened as a girl Alex didn't remember seeing walked in. She wore a maid's outfit and carried a tea tray in her free left hand. Alex was taken aback by the beauty he saw in front of him. She had very nice light brown hair, and the loveliest pair of green eyes he had ever seen. She was decorated by no more then three white ribbons. Two on her arms, and one holding her hair back. Blushing she gave Alex a small curtsy as she turned her head to the right in embarrassment.
"Hello master, I'm sorry to wake you up, but you looked so busy with cleaning the yard that I thought you'd like a nice cup of coco," She said in a very pleasant voice. Alex blushed at the thoughtfulness of his maid, not even realizing the fact he suddenly remembered everything about this girl. Her name was Jessica, and she was the daughter of a rather famous movie producer. Unfortunately her father didn't 'want' a daughter and had kicked her out on the street. Having no place to go Alex couldn't help but give her a place to stay. He had originally only thought to have her be a normal roommate until she could find a job, but given the frequent messes of his ex-roommate Jake, she offered to become a maid. Alex said she didn't have to be referred to as a maid if she was just going to help clean up the house, but she said she didn't mind the classification. So Alex simply went along with it.
"Jessica, I told you not to call me master," Alex said as he watched her pour his coco, Jessica merely gave him a smile.
"But I'm your maid, doesn't that make you my master?" She said giving him a wink.
"Hey that was your idea!" He said in good humor, "Besides you know I hate being called master! I've even ordered you not to call me that!" Jessica merely stuck out her tongue at him and continued to pour her herself a cup as well.
"I honestly don't know why you tried to clean up the mess by yourself, that's why you have me silly," Jessica said as she took a seat next to his bed. Alex sighed remembering the events that lead him to doing such a thing.
"I had to get my mind off of it somehow. Jake's money intake was well received, but we were seriously close to getting kicked out due to his parties. I had no choice but to send him packing. The only problem is that I'm now in a predicament when it comes to cash..." He said with downcast eyes. He hadn't been getting any good news in searching for a new roommate, and he just didn't make enough with his current job. He only hoped he thought of something soon. He couldn't bare causing Jessica to end up on the street again.
As he pondered this he felt Jessica's hand reach over and grab his own. As he turned in her direction he was met by her face leaned up close to his.
"Don't worry about it, you're a good person, something will come along to help!" She said her eyes full of reassurance. Alex was always so happy to look into those eyes. They were so strong, he felt strength flow into him just by looking at them. He smiled as he leaned closer to her. Before he knew it he was giving her a kiss, and to his surprise she was returning it. When they broke Alex looked at her with wide eyes.
"I- You... me?" He barley managed to get out, Jessica simply giggled and put her finger upon his mouth.
"I'm here for you," She said softly as she leaned in for another kiss. Alex was happy to aid her.
Ms Lilly smiled as she watched the two from outside through the window which she was sure would be drawn closed soon to allow the new couple to get a little more 'closer' then they were at the moment. As she made her way back towards her house carrying her black rose, which had now turned white having cast it's spell, she began to plan out what more she had to do. She still needed to help Alex find a better job, but she already had those details planned out. She was also certain Alex's mother wouldn't have to worry about her son's relationship problems anymore either. The only thing left was to find a new person to receive the rose. When it was black it made guys girls, and when white, it made girls guys. With a few reality alterations here and there of course.
She already had a female client in mind...
