Beautiful stranger.

That night I woke up to my phone buzzing. I glanced at the alarm clock. “4am?!” I groaned, reaching for my phone. I had 4 missed called from Michael. I sat up and cleared my throat before calling him back.

“Hey, what’s up, I’m not on call am I?” I groaned.

“Scarlett it’s a nightmare, the roofs leaking, there’s water everywhere, I don’t know what we’re going to do!” I suddenly woke up.

“What, Where?” I asked.

“At the surgery, the wind was crazy last night.”

“Shit… do you want me to come down?”

“No, no” he replied, “I was just warning you not to bother coming into work tomorrow, but you might be needed elsewhere.” It was common that when surgeries were closed for whatever reason vets and nurses could be used at another surgery near by if they were low on staff.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come down? I’m awake now,” I asked, realising how worried he must be.
“No its okay, I’m sorry I woke you, I just didn't know what to do, but the fire brigade here now, also I thought you’d like to know ASAP.”

“Its fine,” I smiled, I was glad he thought so highly of me. We ended the phone call and even though I was worried I found myself fast asleep again.

When I woke up It felt strange not going into work, I even called Michael again just to double check I wasn't dreaming. I took an extra-long shower and straightened my hair. I also decided I’d put more make up on than just the usual mascara as I found myself with more time to spare. I was just surfing the net when I got a phone call. It was Michael.

“Hey, it’s me; would you come down to the Bridge road surgery? We’re moving the animals over there, the place is completely flooded and damp.”

“Sure, I’m on my way.” I jumped up and grabbed my bag. Being stuck at home really was boring.

When I reached the surgery I realised just how bad it was. Apparently what happened was a tree had fallen down and hit the side of the building and then the rain collected onto the damaged roof until it had eventually caved in.
“Are they all okay?!” I asked when I saw Michael walking towards me holding a portable cat carrier.

“Luckily they are all fine, just a bit distressed, the carriers are in the back of the van.” He nodded towards to van and I hurried over there. The rain was still pouring and it took a while getting all the animals to cooperate but after an hour or so they were all done.

After placing the last animal in I drove myself to the other surgery. Luckily there was enough space for them all and after making them all comfy in their temporary homes I was offered some coffee the break room. Just as I was texting Amy I heard a unfamiliar voice.
“Hey, you must be exhausted, would you like something to eat?” I looked up and there standing above me was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. He was tall and had jet black hair which was just long enough for him to tie back into a slick ponytail. I opened my mouth but felt the words disappear. I watched him smile and it was a sort of side smile which was so knowing yet so mysterious at the same time. I then realised how awful I must have looked. My straight hair was now a bush of frizz and my make-up must have smudged in the rain.

“yes, yeah,” I nodded, “I’m starving,” I laughed, trying to brush of the embarrassment.

“Good, I would take you to the cafe over the road but, it seems pretty busy here so we should probably stick around.” I smiled, he seemed nice. We ended up sharing a sandwich he had made himself for lunch and ate while he told me a bit about his work. It turned out he was a veterinary technician (like me but more skilled in operations) and this was the second surgery he had worked at since moving over here from the Philippines where he was born and had studied. We had already discovered one thing in common, I was also half Filipino and we joked and laughed until we were both allocated to certain tasks. Just before we separated he took me to one side and gave me a folded piece of paper. I frowned.

“What’s this?” I asked taking the paper.

“My number he grinned, “Keep it a secret.” He then walked off. I stood still for a moment, taking in what just happened. Had I seriously just met an extremely good looking guy who was interested in me? Things were starting to look up…