Everyone mentioned is 18+
I'd been working for Pristine Pools off and on for the last 6 years, starting out in college working for them during the summer and transitioning to full time after I graduated. It was a pretty chill job and the owner liked me a lot, I'd worked hard for him from the beginning and he trusted me in making sure my job was done. Once I'd started full time for them after graduating I got bumped to a full maintenance position with a company truck and was given mostly free reign, just needing to check the schedule the office setup. The money was good and the job was straightforward, most pulls just needed regular cleaning and when there was an issue with a pump I could figure it out without much fuss.
Matt owned the company and had started setting up the new guys under me to shadow and learn the routine, especially when he brought on seasonal help in the summertime. It was often a parade of young college guys, most of whom having little idea what they were doing but usually took direction well and could pick up the basics of cleaning a pool quickly. I taught them what they needed to get the job done but never really clicked with any of them, they were always temporary and I really didn't want to mix any personal stuff in with my work life.
Monday morning I parked in my usual place behind our office building, entering into the attached warehouse where all the supplies and tools were kept. Before I could enter into the office section of the building, Matt stopped me with a new face in tow.
"Marcus! Glad you're in, I wanted to introduce you to our new pool guy for the summer. This is Tyler, he's my sister's kid and going to community college but needed work for the summer so I figured we'd try him out. Show him the ropes for a bit, bring him along on your runs and we'll see how he does." Matt had a lot of energy to him and a habit of running over people in conversation, especially after a bit of caffeine. I nodded at him in understanding but he didn't give me the chance to draw him into conversation, moving through the door to the offices within.
Looking over at Tyler, I studied him for a bit; he was a smaller guy, maybe 5'8" 130ish pounds. He was overall pretty clean cut, bright blond hair that he kept neat and styled in a side part, wearing athletic shorts and a white t-shirt. He had an overall golden tan, bleaching what hair he had on his arms and legs to a pale blonde that almost looked white against his golden skin. All in all 100% a Grade A twink and 100% trouble for me.
I stuck my hand out to him to shake, "Hey man, I'm Marcus."
"Tyler!" He shook my waiting hand and smiled at me, completing the introduction.
"Well Tyler, you're stuck with me for the time being. Let's go check the schedule for the day and then load up the truck so we can get started." I opened the door to the office block for him and led him over to my small area where the schedule was posted for the day on a clipboard. Snagging the board I scanned it quickly, noting that most of the work was general pool cleaning gigs with a call out to perform maintenance on a pump. "Looks like an easy day, we'll get you going in no time."
The next 20 minutes or so were taken up with me showing Tyler where we stored the chemicals and loading up the truck plus grabbing my tools for the pump maintenance job. Soon we were ready to go and loaded up in the truck to start rounds.
Overall the day went well, we'd go by each of the stops and do basic cleaning, scoop out any debris and vacuum the pools when needed, check the chemical levels and top off whatever was needed. Nothing out of ordinary, I made sure to show Tyler how to measure everything correctly and we discussed what he would come across in a normal day. At the last stop, the maintenance stop, I explained that he wouldn't usually be going to these kinds of stops but still showed him my process of bringing the pump back up to working order.
As I was packing up and bringing my stuff back to the truck, a cat ran out of a bush in the backyard and scared the shit out of me. Tripping over myself I fell into the pool, something I hadn't done in a while. Cursing softly I levered myself out and started squeegeeing water off of me with my hands.
"Are you ok?!" Tyler had walked back from the truck just in time to see my unexpected dive.
"Yeah, just a stupid cat getting in my way. Getting wet is just a job hazard, you'll take a dive or two this summer," I laughed in response.
Getting back to the truck, I broke out a towel I kept around for just such an occasion and threw it in the driver's seat. Finishing up with loading up the truck, I jumped in with Tyler to start heading back to the office. "That's our last stop for the day, we'll get back to office, unload and you can take off."
We chatted on the way back to the office, traffic pulling the ride out to around 40 minutes, enough time for me to dry out a bit. Honestly the plunge had felt good, especially after spending the majority of the day out in the summer heat.
We got to the office and I pulled around back as usual, hopping out to start unloading everything. Tyler jumped out and helped, storing away everything from where I showed him this morning.
"Just so you know, there's an outdoor shower just over there," I indicated a partitioned area not far from where I parked my truck. "With the chlorine and the heat, Matt had it installed so we have a place to hose off before we head out. There's a couple of shower heads in there, feel free to use it whenever, I'd recommend you keep a change of clothes around. I'm going to shower off real quick, you're good to go for the day."
Snagging a small bag of clothes I kept in the back of the truck, I headed over to get showered so I could head out. The outdoor shower wasn't large but Matt had thought it through, setting it up in two areas, one with benches to change and store clothes and the like and the other with two shower heads, open to the sky but otherwise covered on all sides.
