The Flood
"Still pouring huh?" Owen asks coming up behind me and looking out the window of the high rise.
"Torrential down pour and Eddie said it's not going to let up. The storm over the great lakes is wreaking havoc with the weather all over the north east," I reply gripping my mug with two hands to warm up, the heater was on in the building but I was freezing and I was hoping the hot tea would help warm me up.
"I love living in New York until the weather gets involved," Owen comments in a sardonic tone and I laugh a little. "The evening broadcast crew were lucky they got out just before it started really raining. If this keeps up I might just sleep in my office," Owen says as we watch the sheet lightening.
"Can't say I really want to sleep on the sofa in my office but if this keeps up I may not have a choice. Not sure I want to brave the subway or take a cab in this mess," I say twisting my mouth and sighing at the thought of being trapped in the building for a night.
I'd moved to New York to go to Columbia, was hired here straight out of University and worked my way up from intern to anchor woman at this Manhattan television station in five years. It sounds impressive but I was anchoring the midnight edition so I was still at the bottom of the ladder really. Still it was a start and I liked the people I worked with. Surprisingly I was probably closest to Owen, we'd barely acknowledged each other in high school but I considered him one of my best friends now. He'd moved here a year after me and he did the sports on the ten and midnight broadcasts, so we were both at the office from about 4pm to 1am each night and we'd gotten close.
"You write your copy yet?" He questions.
"Finished two hours ago and gave it to the intern for fact checking and editing before it goes to the teleprompter," I respond.
"Man I'm only half done," he says.
"Owen we go live in an hour and half you better get to it," I laugh.
"I know, I'm going, maybe you should lie down you look a little peaked," he tells me.
"If I lay down I'll fall asleep," I argue.
"I'll wake you up in an hour then," he responds.
"Thanks Owen," I smile kissing his cheek and walking out of the break room to my office.
I close my office door, leave the lights off, set my cup on the coffee table by my sofa, and lie down. I will say that we do have rather nice offices even being the lowest rated broadcast on this station, but it's only because our time slot is so bad. It doesn't take me long to fall asleep but I feel like Owen wakes me up after only a few minutes.
"Clare, wake up sleepy head they need you in makeup," he says shaking me gently. I sit up yawning and look at him; he grins and starts combing his fingers through my hair. "You look cute with bedhead," He says and I laugh.
He stands up and pulls me up with him; we leave my office together and start walking down to the studio.
"Hey did you guys hear?" Casey asks as we walk through the sound booth.
"Hear what?" I question.
"The rains overwhelmed the drains and a water main burst a few blocks away. So we have no water and the streets are flooded for 12 blocks, we're all trapped until morning at least," He informs us.
"Awesome," I comment in a sarcastic tone and huff.
I sit down in a makeup chair. Our hair and makeup artists do their thing and wardrobe changes my blouse and blazer for something that looks good on camera. Everyone rehearses from the script even though the teleprompter will give us all our lines. Despite all the rain and the flooding we manage to get through the broadcast without the power going out in the building. How many of our viewers still have power is another matter entirely. While I managed to get through the broadcast I feel terrible when it's done and had an intern get me Tylenol and more hot tea halfway through.
"And we're out, great show everyone. Listen I heard from the fire department, we're considered low priority because we're in a high rise and everyone on floors one through ten have already been evacuated. We won't have running water but we have power for now and a backup generator with 12 hours of reserve power and we have water in the break room. So we're all stuck here for the night, they're estimating getting us out of here one way or another sometime tomorrow morning," Cal, our producer, tells us when the broadcast is done.
"Come on let's go get you comfortable in your office," Owen says putting an arm lightly around my shoulders.
"Don't get too close, I'm definitely sick," I warn him.
"Eh I'll risk it," he shrugs.
We walk back to my office; Owen turns off the light while I take off my shoes and jacket before laying down. Owen leaves my office and I groan as just how awful I truly feel hits me. He comes back a minute later with his arms full of blankets. Stadium blankets of various teams he's collected over the years. I don't care so long as they're warm because I keep shivering. He sets them on the sofa at my feet and looks at me scrunching his face.
"You can't be comfortable in that," he says.
"Not really but I'm not in the habit of keeping pajamas at the office," I tell him.
"Hang on," he says and leaves my office again.
It's several minutes before he returns this time and he returns with his laptop and a blue and gold hoodie I haven't seen I years.
"You still have your DeGrassi football hoodie?" I laugh.
"Hey it was comfortable, which is why I brought it in for you. It'll be much more comfortable than what you're wearing." He says handing it to me.
I take it and stand up; Owen closes the blinds on the windows that look out to the rest of the office. He turns his back and I start undressing, he turns out the overhead lights and switches on the small lamp on my desk. I hear him putting blankets on the sofa while I change. I take off my panty hose first then take off my blouse and put on his hoodie. It's soft and warm, permeated with his scent and feels like a warm hug. I hear him sitting on the sofa as I begin taking off my skirt.
"Sweet strip show!" He comments as my skirt hits the floor. I reach around unhooking my bra and take it off under the hoodie then turn and throw it at Owen for the comment. "Sexy," he grins holding up my bra and examining it.
"I'm just going to sleep you know," I tell him as he turns his laptop on.
"Which is why I brought the laptop, but if you get worse or you need something I don't want to be all the way down the hall," He says as I get comfortable in the nice nest of blankets he made for me one the sofa.
"What if you get sick?" I question.
"Then you can take care of me, now get to sleep," he commands.
I smile, laying my head on the cushioned armrest of the sofa, my eyes close and I drift to sleep. I wake up sometime later when the lights flicker and then go out.
"Well there goes the power," I yawn.
It takes a minute but the backup generator kicks in and everything comes back on.
"How do you feel?" Owen asks and he seems to be playing a game of some kind on his laptop.
"Terrible, I'm still shivering and my head is killing me," I complain wishing I was home and curled up in my bathrobe or soaking in my garden tub.
Owen sets down the laptop and gets up walking to my side of the sofa. "Sit up," he orders and I do. He sits down and guides me to lie back against him. "This way you'll keep warm from my body heat and I've been known to give a pretty good massage so let's see what we can do about this headache of yours," He says and starts rubbing my shoulders.
He's actually quite good, it feels marvelous and after a while I fall asleep on him. Which is how I wake up late the next morning and he's still asleep. I yawn feeling much better and my fevers gone so I must have slept it off, thank goodness! Owen is sleeping soundly and snoring lightly. I sit up and either the movement or the cool air, which results when my body leaves his, wakes him up.
"Morning. What time is it?" He questions.
I pick his phone up from the table to see the time. "Nearly eleven," I tell him.
"Guess we should go see if we can go home yet or at least go scrounge up some breakfast in the break room," he yawns. "You better put clothes on first though," Owen remarks when I stand up and I'm still wearing just his hoodie and panties.
I laugh and get dressed again, then fix my hair; we get a few looks from other people when we leave my office together.
"Hey they're clearing the streets, we should be out of here in an hour and we're closing for a couple of days. They'll be repairing the ground floor and basement that received water damage and the city will be fixing the streets. The prime time broadcast will be done from the Brooklyn studio but everyone else gets two days off paid," Leon tells us when we enter the break room.
"Thank God I can't wait to get home and in my bed," I smile.
"Is there anything to eat?" Owen asks.
"We've picked the vending machine pretty clean but there's some cookie packs left." Leon says.
Someone ate my yogurt I had in the fridge so Owen and I get bag of cookies but he doesn't eat much. Mostly, he drinks a Sprite. He's starting to look a little pale and I worry that I got him sick. Everyone stays in the break room until it's announced we can leave. Owen and I gather our stuff and I wait for him outside his office.
"You look like you're getting sick now; I think you should come back to my place," I suggest as we get into the elevator.
"Is that a proposition Edwards?" He cracks smiling but he doesn't look like he's feeling well.
I just shake my head at him. We have to walk a few blocks until we get to a street that they're allowing traffic on. Then we take a cab back to my place, Owen follows me up to my loft and I unlock the door.
"The bedroom is through there why don't you make yourself comfortable and I'll make you some tea," I tell him.
He walks back to my bedroom and I turn on my electric kettle, when the tea is ready I go into the room. Owen's propped up in my bed watching TV. I have to say it was quite a sight to see a shirtless Owen surrounded by purple bedding.
"Here drink this and try and get some rest. I'll be just in the living room if you need anything," I tell him and he smiles at me.
I set down the mug and turn walking toward the door; I'm at the doorway when he speaks.
"I told you the day I was hired I'd find a way to get into your bed," he reminds me.
I pause at the door and smile at him, shaking my head, he really hasn't changed that much but it's a good thing.