A Case of Extreme Mistaken Identity - Victorine E. Lieske Page 0,8
wasn’t sure spraying it a few times would work. But on the bottom of the cart she found the refill bottle that said concentrate. Perfect. That’s what she needed.
She poured a capful in, but that didn’t look like it was enough, so she tipped the bottle. More came out than she’d planned, but she didn’t have time to deal with it. This tub would just be cleaner than the others. She turned on the jets and set out to find an outlet plug for the vacuum.
Turning up her music, she pushed the vacuum and rocked out to her favorite SuperM song. It lifted her spirits, and she was able to forget about her current situation. She sang along to the English parts of the song, even though she was sure she was off key. It didn’t matter. She was getting her job done, and actually enjoying it.
She took a step back and something white surrounded her foot. Startled, she dropped the vacuum and screamed. What in the world? Bubbles covered the floor behind her. They streamed out of the Jacuzzi, like a volcano burping up mouthfuls of foam. It piled up waist-high in some areas. Panic gripped her chest.
What had she done? She had to shut off the tub, but she couldn’t even get to it. She yanked out her earbuds, her heart pounding. More blobs of froth piled up. She had to do something, and fast, or the whole room would be covered in the stuff. She took a step toward the tub, but the foam was slick and she slipped, falling a third time on her already sore behind. Soapy bubbles covered her, surrounding her on every side, getting in her mouth and nose. A second scream ripped from her throat.
“What happened?” Austin’s deep voice cut through the foam.
Dani furiously wiped at her face, trying to get the stuff away so she could breathe. “Austin? Where are you?”
His arms lifted her up and she found herself standing in front of Austin, his eyebrows knit together in concern. “Dani?”
Her brain wouldn’t work. All she could see were more bubbles coming from the tub. Frenzy clawed at her stomach, and she waved her hands, even though the motion seemed totally useless. “Hurry, shut it off!”
He reached over and somehow found the right button to push. The sound of the jets shut off. Dani glanced around the room, now completely ruined. Hysteria made her hyperventilate as she thought about how much it would cost to replace all the carpet, and fix all the mess. Her father was going to kill her, if he found out. Tears sprang to her eyes, and a large sob escaped.
“Hey,” Austin said, gripping her arms. “It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not. Look what I did! How am I going to pay for all this damage?”
“Your father—”
“No!” she yelped. “He can’t know about this.” No one could ever know. She’d never live it down. Who poured cleaner into a running Jacuzzi tub? Obviously, it was the wrong thing to do. She’d be laughed at for months if this leaked. She was already called horrible names on social media. This would just give more fuel to her haters.
Austin seemed to assess the situation. “Well, let’s clean it up then. I’m sure there isn’t any damage. It’s just soap bubbles.”
No damage? A ray of hope lit in her. She wiped at her face, still trying to get the bubbles off. “Really?”
“I’ll go grab the shop vac. We can clean the bubbles and then vacuum the floor.”
Her throat closed again, but this time from gratitude. “You’d do that?”
“Sure. It won’t take long.” He pulled out some keys. “There’s a Shop-Vac in the maintenance shed. I’ll be right back.”
Dani watched as Austin left, her heart thumping. Was he limping? She hadn’t noticed it before. What had caused that? Had he injured himself? She hoped he wasn’t in too much pain.
She glanced up at the mirror and about gasped. Bubbles covered every part of her except her face. She looked like she was to play the part of the abominable snowman. Or trying out for a Mr. Clean commercial.
A giggle snuck out, which only made her look even worse. No makeup, soap suds everywhere, and her reflection was staring back at her with a wild look in her eyes, laughing. Fantastic. She was going to end up in the loony bin.
Austin carried the Shop-Vac to room 225. Before he reached the door, he heard Dani inside, laughing. He entered the room and grinned at