Clean the house

Life with Jeff kept getting weirder.

By the third week of him living with you, you were cooking every meal for him, including dinner on the weekends. It was fine since you didn't work on the weekends, but it did cut into your free time somewhat. Breakfast in the mornings, lunch around noon, and dinner in the evenings - plus gymnastics practice on Saturdays soon. It would add up and make it harder to do what you enjoyed the most - marathon gaming sessions.

You finish breakfast and coffee just as Jeff comes into the kitchen one Saturday morning. You set his plate and mug before him and notice that he's looking at you rather sternly.

"Um... everything okay, Sir?" you ask. He's practically staring daggers at you. It makes you uncomfortable.

He waits a moment, and takes a sip of coffee before answering. "I'm disappointed in you, Aiken. Do you know why?"

You feel your skin prickle a little. Were you being scolded? What could you have done wrong. Breakfast wasn't any different than normal - some flavored oatmeal, buttered toast, and scrambled eggs. And you had been good at remembering to call him Sir the past week. You couldn't think of anything else it might be. "Um, no Sir... why?"

Jeff sighs and crosses his arms. "Just look at the state of this house, Aiken. It's filthy. Did I not ask you to keep it clean while your mother is away? Do you think you've been doing that?"

"W-well..." You were taken aback. The house wasn't that filthy. You barely went out of your room except to cook breakfast so nothing was out of place. "I mean, I wash the dishes pretty frequently Sir... and everything else is just the way it was when mom left..."

"Oh, is that so?" Jeff raises an eyebrow. "There's dust everywhere, Aiken. Your room is a mess, and so is my office and bedroom. Is that what you call clean? And on top of that, my laundry is overflowing, my bed sheets need changing, and the whole house could use a scrubbing. Just because things are put away doesn't mean they don't accumulate all kinds of grime and germs."

What?! He couldn't be serious. Why did he care what your room was like? And you were expected to clean his room and office as well? On top of keeping all the other rooms dirt and dust free? Why bother? Who cared about a little dust? And you had to do HIS laundry? That was so unfair!

"Sir... that's kind of a lot. Plus... I mean, we're both guys, right? Can't we just do one big clean the day before mom gets back? It's not like mom really expects either of us to-"

Jeff quickly raises his hand to cut you off. "Excuse me? It doesn't always matter what mom expects - it should matter what I expect. And I expect for this house to be spotless at all times. If it isn't your mom doing the cleaning, then that duty falls to you, understand? You have to learn how to take care of a house if one day you're going to be- Well, it's just an important life skill. Now what do you say?"

You grit your teeth. Your heart is pounding but you know you can't talk back to him. Mom would still be gone for over a month, so you'd just have to humor him until then. "Yes, Sir..."

"Good boy! Then you'll be spending the rest of today and tomorrow cleaning until I say you've done an acceptable job. Oh and I'll be confiscating your game box or whatever it's called until you finish."

You really have to control yourself to keep from shouting. You stifle your anger and resign yourself to a quiet, "Yes, Sir..." before Jeff nods and finishes his breakfast.

As instructed, you spend the rest of the day cleaning, and cleaning, and cleaning. Jeff provides you with a dust wand, a mop, broom, rags, and everything else you'll need, but still looks skeptical before putting you to work. "It's missing something..." he muses while looking you up and down. He shrugs. "Oh well, I'm sure it will come to me later. Get to work, and don't forget you start gymnastics today at 3'o'clock. I already packed you a bag with everything you'll need and I'll drive you over."

You start in the kitchen and move on to the living room, dining room, and your room, dusting and polishing and wiping every surface you can see. Then you go into Jeff's room - which is really your mom's room - and start cleaning in there. It feels weird. His dirty laundry is everywhere, and his bed is an un-made mess. It feels super strange picking up his boxers and making his bed for him, but you know you'll catch a lot of crap from him if you half-ass it.

You barely finish the first load of laundry and the dusting by the time it's nearing 3'o'clock. You can already tell you'll have to spend all day tomorrow cleaning, too.

Great.