"Out Adam!" Lynn pointed her finger sternly to the other side of the reception desk.
Adam sat on the top of the desk belonging to Cassie, a young, very buxom, brunette receptionist. The girl didn't seem to mind much judging by her wide, sparkling grin. He offered an innocent glance towards his supervisor.
"Now!" Lynn insisted, "Stop hanging around reception like some bored monkey, already. You're on morning pool duty in 5 minutes!"
Adam slipped off the desk and snapped to attention on his feet. Flashing perfect rows of smiling white teeth he said, "Mais oui, mon capitan!"
Cassie giggled and he finally pulled himself away. The lanky, sharp-faced young man with the scrunched-teased sandy hair casually made his way past Lynn as she stood by the reception desk's gate.
He stopped and smiled downward towards the shorter woman. "I've got the trunks on underneath my shorts," he remarked through a playful, angled curl on his lips. He always liked to sweeten his words with his curling French accent when he was like this. "I'm good to go, Lynn."
Lynn put her hand on her chest and chided, "Well, that really puts me at ease. Thank you, Adam. Now, do me a favour and get your butt to the pool."
The young man arched his sharp brow and chuckled, "Seeya, Cass!" He winked at Lynn and scooted down the corridor towards the pool.
Lynn sighed, exasperated. She steeled her dark brown eyes towards the young receptionist. Cassie was already cringing. The supervisor had been on a warpath for the last few weeks and the perky girl with the round cheeks --round everything-- had caught a lot of her flak.
"You know that no one's supposed to hang around back here behind the desk," Lynn said in a low, slowly seething voice.
Cassie chewed her lower lip and nodded, sinking into her chair.
"So what was that?"
Cassie's big doe-eyes pinched as she cowered helplessly. "Um...He just stopped by when you...uh...he was just here for a second," she offered, noticeably flustered.
"Adam isn't supposed to be...," Lynn caught herself, realizing the harsh tone in her voice. The girl in front of her looked like a rabbit that was preparing to be flayed alive. Calmed slightly, she started again, "Cassie, no one except you should be working behind this desk, alright?"
Cassie nodded again. The phone rang and she quickly, earnestly, answered, "Hello, Valleyview Recreation and Aquatic Centre. Cassie, speaking. May I help you?"
The receptionist smiled anxiously towards the supervisor and then turned away as she talked on the phone.
Lynn sighed as she walked away. "I 'ave got deh trunks on underneat' mah shorts," she fumed derisively, feigning a brutal French accent. Smirking to herself, she added, "God knows what else he's packing underneath his shorts."
She stumbled for a moment, tripped up by the double entendre of her flippant thoughts. Lord, she was tired, just so tired.
Summer at the recreation centre was not her favourite time of year. She wanted to be outside not stuck working in the center all day. It was constantly busy and the patrons were more demanding as if their lives would end if they couldn't have access to the squash court. To fill the increased demand and hours, the centre offered more shifts to the part-time junior staff, which in turn meant more antics from Adam.
This summer in particular was not going well at all for the staff supervisor. In fact, it started off as a disaster and steadily rolled down the hill from there. Lynn had pinned so many of her seasonal plans on her budding relationship with Dominic. A new boyfriend in the spring had quickened her step and made the already fun and energetic woman just that much more of a pleasure to work with. She always had a smile on her softly curved, fair-skinned face and a natural lightness in her voice. Able to deflect any stress or adversity with a simple laugh and a focused mind, everyone found her to be easily approachable.
So it was a jarring contrast when her mood suddenly took a turn just before the summer peak-period started. She was agitated and aggravated. Every word she spoke had an edge to it. Now a month into the season and everyone knew to take a wide berth when she was around, everyone except Adam. The young man seemed to relish standing on the tracks waiting for Lynn to railroad him. It was either a death-wish or a fetish.
With all her other headaches, the last thing she wanted to deal with was the young Cassanova...or at least he fancied himself that...and most of the girls his age seemed to believe that...along with some of the older women on staff. Lynn shook her head and scolded herself. This wasn't just about Adam. He was a symptom of her lousy summer, not the reason for it.
Apart from supervising his work, he was of no concern in her life.
*********
"You're in charge of the pool staff," Lynn groaned, "Can't you do something about them?"
Olivia tapped something into her keyboard then swiveled in her chair as the two staff supervisors sat at their desks alone in the centre's office. "You mean Adam?" she asked.
Annoyed, Lynn sniffed, "No...not just Adam. I said them."
Her friend and co-worker smiled and folded her arms. "Alright. Who else, then?"
Lynn was hunched over her desk. She scribbled some gibberish onto her schedules and then tossed her pencil down. Leaning back in her seat, she dragged her hands down her face. "Okay! Adam!" she moaned, "He's getting on my nerves!"
Olivia chuckled.
"He's always hanging around doing nothing but flirting with any young thing with breasts and a tweety-pie giggle. He moves like he's going for a stroll on a beach. He smells of smoke. Those stupid baggy cargo shorts of his...I swear it could be below freezing outside and I'd still be forced to look at his hairy white legs," Lynn bemoaned barely stopping for a breath.
Olivia continued to laugh. "You forgot about his hair."
"He must run a vacuum cleaner through it in the morning! Oh! Oh! And that crazy way he arches his eyebrow. What the hell?"
"It's like it's going to detach and fly off into space," Olivia fed her friend's annoyance, "And all those men's magazines he reads?"
Lynn closed her eyes and shook her head. "No wonder he's over-sexed. Worse, he's misguided reading that garbage. I mean how many times can they rewrite the same article about how to pick up and seduce women?"
Swiveling side-to-side in her chair, Olivia looked upwards and sighed, "Ah, it does seem to be working for him, though."
"Pfft!" Lynn fluttered her lips dismissively, "Only with immature school girls who are just as over-sexed as he is."
"It must be that passionate French blood of his." Pouting her lip for a second as she thought, Olivia finally said, "He is really cute though."
Lynn said nothing. She just picked up her pencil and tapped the eraser end on the desk.
"I mean, he has the looks," Olivia mused, "Tall, blue eyes, spiky light brown hair, V-shaped build...even the little bit of scruff on his face suits him. He doesn't look nearly his age."
"He looks like an escapee from a Disney Channel show," Lynn muttered.
"Well, if you ask me..."
