Once a Stranger

Chapter 11: Adventure hike

A/n: Is everyone here? 

Pov y/n 

The first day is always the one that I'm the most nervous about because everything is new and I have to understand what they're working on and so on.
I'm also a little nervous about having to meet new people but that gets easier with each time. It also feels easier because I'm having Scarlett and Rose here with me. So, if everything goes bad, I'll still be able to get comforted by them and have a bit of a familiar environment around me.

I enter the center and am instantly greeted by a man in cargo shorts and a button up with short sleeves.
He smiles at me and introduces himself before showing me around a little.

There are a lot of people working here, way more than back home at OFI. Most of the names he tells me are forgotten the second after he said them.
I was never good at names, especially not with so many at once. But it looks like I don't have to remember them because I'm led into an office with a free desk. There's another man sitting at the other desk and smiles kindly at me.

"Hi, I'm Andy, I'm gonna be working with you this week." He introduces himself and with a nod, cargo shorts leaves the office.

"Nice to meet you, I'm y/n." I introduce myself and shake his hand.

"We have a lot of work to do this week but I'm optimistic that we'll be able to send you back to New York at the end of the week, just like it's planned." He says with a small wink and grabs a paper from his desk.

He has a very open and enthusiastic vibe that I enjoy. Andy hands me the paper and I take a look at it. It's a schedule for this week with what we have to do each day and when we're gonna do it.

Monday until Wednesday are similar to my hours in New York, I'll have to work from 8 am to 4 pm.
Thursday looks a little different though. Work hours will start at 2 pm and end at 10 pm.
Underneath, there's a note telling me that it's because we're gonna select samples in the afternoon and night from the same spot to analyze the change.

That's gonna be a long day but at least I'm gonna be able to spend the morning and noon with Scarlett and Rose.
On Friday work starts at 10 am and ends at 4 pm again, allowing me to sleep in a little after our late night the day before.

"Looks good." I say and take my phone out to take a picture of it. Andy waves it off.

"You can keep it, I got another one for me." I smile at him in thanks and he shows me around the office that we'll share the next five days.

Today we won't go out to collect samples or anything else. Instead we go through the information I got on what to collect and some of the research results that lead to my boss sending me here.
We compare notes and talk about how we want to do this specifically and whether or not to start analyzing here already.
It's a whole morning of planning but I feel like we're moving forward very fast and it's really productive.

For lunch, I decide to take a little stroll outside the building and enjoy the sun and the smell of the beach. In New York you're not quite able to smell the sea because there are too many buildings and cars but here in Ponce Inlet you can smell it and I love it.

I find a bench near the coast from where I can watch the waves but am not surrounded by screaming children. It's quite peaceful here, not as hectic as New York, which is a really nice change to be honest.
It reminds me a little bit of back home because it's smaller and has a more comfortable vibe than the big city.

I get out my phone to take a picture of the waves and the horizon, hoping to catch the peacefulness of this place. Right after I took the picture, my phone starts to ring and I smile when I see it's Scarlett.