"Sorry I wasn't trying to be rude, but you were ignoring me so I had to see what had you smiling so much," Jack said.
I grinned and said, "Your forgiven this time, don't let it happen again"
"Scouts honor," he replied holding up his hand in some kind of salute.
"Sooooooo," he says sitting across from me, "You think I'm super cute huh?" he said with a cheeky grin.
I was so embarrassed that I just went red and tried to hide my face.
Jack laughed and said "It's ok don't be embarrassed I think your cute too."
As he said that Emily laughed and sighed, "Young love, it's so cute." Which made me go even redder.
"I'm just teasing sweetie," Emily said patting me on the shoulder before walking out with her coffee.
I picked at the sandwich I was eating and sipped my coffee, suddenly Jack grabbed one of my hands and said, "Hey it's ok you know, I mean if you like me and I like you. What's so wrong with that? There's no-one here to pick on you about that."
I managed a smile and nodded while putting my sandwich in my mouth.
We sat and talked awhile and I told Jack that we only just met 2 hours ago, it's a bit soon to be thinking about being anymore then friends, he agreed and finished his lunch and coffee. This time he washed the cups while I put the rubbish in the bin.
"Right time to meet the cats," Jack said as he held the door open for me.
I smiled and said thanks, we walked over to the cattery which was basically a row of four cabin like rooms that were joint together.
Jack explained the first room was for the kittens, the second was for the female cats, the third was for the males and the last room at the end was the recovery room for when the cats got sick or had been operated on. The dogs have a similar one beside the vet room which is off the office.
Once again he held the door open for me, I walked past him and then waited in the little hallway outside the first room which had two doors to it.
"I'm guessing the double doors is in case a cat gets out when people come to look at them?" I questioned Jack.
"Yeah, hey your pretty smart," Jack replied and chuckled.
I shrugged and said "I guess."
We went into the kitten room and were greeted by a very smoochy black kitten who Jack said was named Midnight and lying in the sun by the window was a brown and white tabby who's name is Tabitha, both were abandoned because they are females.
"They'll be old enough to be spayed in 3 weeks," Jack told me as he picked up Tabitha, while I was busy giving Midnight cuddles. Before I got too attached to her I put her down and grabbed their bowls as Jack grabbed the water bottle bowl thing. Jack walked right to the end of the hallway into the recovery room and set the bowl on the bench. There's cages along one wall and cupboards along the other, Jack shows me where the kitten food was while he rinsed out the water bottle and refilled it.
I busied myself with cleaning the bowls and opening up two pouches of kitten food and tipping it into each bowl, after that we went back to the kitten room and put the bowls down.
Next stop was the girl's room, once inside I saw four cute female cats ranging from 1-8 years old. There was a white cat named Snow, a grey one named Rayne, another brown and white tabby named Vixen and a black and white one named Dottie.
I gave each of them attention before grabbed the huge platter like tray bowl, off the ground while Jack grabbed the water bottle bowls, there were two in the room.
Once again we made our way to the recovery room to wash the bowls and fill them, then back to the girl's room again. While in there Jack told me the story behind each cat as we make sure the room was tidy and the beds were arranged nicely.
Last stop was the boys room, in there was a huge ginger and white cat named Duke, a fluffy persian named Prince and two more tabbies one grey, one brown, the grey one was Scooter and the brown one was Mittens due to the fact that both his front paws were white. Again I grabbed the food bowl tray while Jack grabbed the water bowls, back to the recovery room to repeat the process of washing and filling the bowls. Going back into the boy's room Jack told me the boy's stories as we cleaning the bedding and floor up.
With all our work done we went in search of Emily or Stan, we found Stan walking out of the office holding a cage.
"What ya got there Stan?" Jack asks.
"A couple of rabbits someone dumped by the mail box," Stan replied grimly.
"Where are they going?" I asked.
"To the small critters room next to the vet's room," Stan said then asked if I wanted to take them there and get them settled. I smiled and agreed taking them from Stan.
"You know the routine Jack, thanks Layla," Stan said with a smile.
Jack walked ahead of me so I knew where I was going and lead me to yet another room this one with four rabbit hutches on the ground, a couple of cupboards and cages attached to the wall which looked like rat and mice cages.
"This is the small critters room," Jack said as he walked in a circle in the room with his hands up.
I giggled and set the cage down on the bench by the cages and saw a tag on the cage that read Fudge and Cocoa they are both girls, the rabbits were chocolate coloured so the names suited. Jack said he was going to get some hay for them and asked if I could find a big water bottle in the cupboard and two feed bowls.
I nodded and set out looking for them, I found them quickly and washed them out and filled the water bottle. Jack walked back in with a bag of rabbit food, an apple, a carrot and bale of hay, he opened up the door on the end of a hutch and put the hay in and puffed it up a bit.
I attached the water bottle to the side of the cage then filled one feed bowl with rabbit pellets and the other I decided I would put the apple and carrot in, I told Jack that I would go cut them up and be back soon. I walked towards the break room with the spare feed bowl and the apple and carrot in my hands. I found Emily there eating a muffin with another women, who Emily introduced me to, her name is Carol and is the vet and would be coming to check the rabbits when she was finished catching up with Emily. I sliced up the apple and cut the carrot in half and put it all in the bowl making sure the carrot was on top.
Afterwards I made my way back to the small critters room and let Jack know that Carol would be over soon to look the rabbits over. I put the food bowls in the front part of the hutch and grabbed the carrots out and set them down on the bench beside the cage with the rabbits in it. Jack opened the cage and grabbed one of the rabbits and offered her one of the halves of carrot. I smiled while watching how gentle he was then did the same with the other rabbit. We talked more and shared more about ourselves while we held the rabbits, petting them as they nibbled on the carrot.
I heard the door open and in walked Carol, "Hey guys, so these are the poor wee dears?" she said as she looked at Cocoa and Fudge.
"Yup" Jack said.
"Hmmmm well they look ok, a little skinny though, can you bring them through to my room so I can look them over properly please?"
We nod and follow her through the door that joint the small critters room onto the vet's clinic room. One at a time we helped hold the rabbits on the table so Carol could check them over.
"Well they are definitely both girls and both on the skinny side but otherwise they are healthy, they should put the weight on soon enough being here," Carol said after she looked at both of the rabbits.
Carol said we could put them in the hutch and left to fill in some paper work and let Emily know how she got on. Jack and I went back through and put the girls in their hutch and put the carrots in with them then left them to it.
I stifled a yawn and stretched out a cramp that was trying to start in my shoulder, Jack chuckled and said, "Coffee break?" "Yes please," I replied
So we walked to the break room. I made the coffee this time refusing to let Jack make them. I'd just sat down as Emily walked in holding a plate of yummy looking and smelling biscuits.
"You guys look hungry would you like a freshly made choc chip biccie to go with your coffee?" Emily asked with a smile. Both Jack's and my stomachs gurgled in answer as we all laughed we grabbed a couple biscuits each and Emily sat down to ask what I thought of the shelter and the work I had done.
I told her I loved both and would really love to work here, Jack agreed and said I was an amazing help today, I blushed and smiled.
"Ok well when your done here come see me in my office, you have some paper work to fill in," Emily said as she went to leave just before closing to door behind her she added, "Oh and welcome aboard"
I grinned and looked at Jack, he was smiling just as much as I was.
"I guess I'll be seeing you a lot more," he said with a wink. "Looks that way." I replied and we discussed how much fun it was going to be working together.
When I finished my coffee and a couple more biscuits I got up and washed my cup and went over to the office to see Emily about the paper work. I knocked on the door and Emily let me in and told me to take a seat. She went on to tell me that the paper work was to make sure I'm on their records as a paid employee and so they had my bank account details to put my pay into.
I filled in the paperwork and when I was done Emily said I could go home if I wanted to and that she'd see me again tomorrow. I said good bye and went back to the break room and walked right into Jack.
"Woah watch out," he said with a grin.
"Sorry I'm just so excited about getting a job after one day," I said blushing for the millionth time today. Jack laughed and said.
"It's ok no harm done, I'll see you tomorrow ok?"
"Yeah see you tomorrow," I replied and grabbed my bag. I got my phone out after Jack had got in his car and drove away down the driveway.
I checked my texts for the second time today once again I had two texts waiting to be read the first was I'm glad your enjoying yourself babe, we are nearly all moved in I'll come see you tomorrow night Tiff <3 so I sent a text back saying Sweet, can't wait I'll ring you on your cell when I get home and I'll fill you in on my day Layla <3. The second text said Hey I'm glad your having a great day, I'm sorry to do this but my sister needs me to babysit her two kids so I won't be home till around 9pm. I hope you'll be ok on your own.......Katy. I sent back That's ok don't worry about it, I'm pretty tired from work so I'll just have dinner, a bath and end up going to bed. Hope the kids are behaving. Oh great news I got the job I'll be working friday after school and saturdays until I'm finished school Layla.
After sending the text I put my head phones in and listened to music as I walked home, I smiled to myself thinking about how amazing Jack is and wondered if he was actually interested in me. I shook my head and thought nah I bet he's just being nice to the new girl. When I got home I put my bag in my room, got my lunch box out and found a piece of paper folded in half inside it. What the? I thought as I opened the lunchbox and grabbed out the paper, I unfolded it and looked at it. There was a cell phone number on it with a message Text or call me sometime ;) Jack. I blushed and giggled to myself, I put the number into my phone then decided I should probably cook some dinner, I'll text him later, maybe.
I made myself some pasta and a home made cheese sauce to go with it for dinner, deciding it was far to quiet I ate in the lounge while watching tv. When I was done I watched the rest of the programme I was watching. Then washed the pots and bowl I used then went for a nice relaxing bath. After my bath I put my pj's on, which were just a pair of cotton boxers and a tank top and climbed into bed. I grabbed my phone and decided to ring Tiff.
I told her all about Jack and getting the job, she told me about moving and the rooms and that, then promised she'd come over for dinner tomorrow night. We talked for an hour, thankfully I have her on the best mates plan, so we can text and ring each other as much as we want for $6 a month. I said good bye and good night to her and decided to text Jack.
Hi, very cute note....Layla :) Not expecting a text back I go up and turned my light off and crawled back into bed ready to sleep when my phone beeped at me. I smiled, unlocked my phone and opened the text Thought you'd like it, how ya feeling? Jack :) I texted back saying :P it was really cute, I'm good thanks kinda tired though. Layla :) and then put my phone on the pillow next to me waiting on a reply. We texted for another 40mins then agreed we should both get some sleep seeing as we had work tomorrow. I put my phone under the pillow beside me and snuggled down and fell asleep thinking about Jack.