Hurricane

"For Gods sake!" Cara sighed, exasperated with life in general.
The coffee she had just bought pooling in a puddle round her feet.
"You ok there?" The guy behind the counter asked.
"Yes I'm fine, just not my day"
He passed her some napkins and poured her another cup while she got rid of the mess.
Taking her second cup over to the park bench she sat down and let out a deep breath. What. A. Day. Or to be more precise - what a few months.
Moving to New York from London had been a major decision.
Her relationship had gone sour and she decided a change was needed.
She had been seeing Matt for just over a year. An aspiring actor she thought he was everything she wanted in a man - funny, kind, charismatic and handsome. How wrong she had been.
His huge ego was the wrong side of confident. He was a bully. He got the lead role in the musical Hamilton shortly after they got together which catapulted him into the limelight and ultimately into another woman's arms, or several women's arms to be more precise.
She was devastated and relieved at the same time. It felt as though a weight had been lifted.
She had been through college with her best friend Ben, an exchange student from New York and when she got a call from him telling her there were places available where he was now working, she jumped at the chance.

A police motorbike paramedic hits different in NY, London had its challenges but the drivers here were another level.
Still Cara loved a challenge so when she was offered a temporary contract she jumped at it, after a couple of months here things were starting to settle down.
She let her head drop back and closed her eyes to feel the sun on her face.
Her radio buzzed "168 come in"
"Yes 168 receiving go ahead"
Peace shattered she swigged the last of the coffee and got on her bike.

"Lin we need to run through Hurricane again. The revolve and table lift aren't looking smooth enough"
"No problem" Lin jumped back on stage from his seat in the theatre where he had been watching. He thought taking on the A Ham role again after a couple of years out would have its difficulties but a table wasn't one of them!
Still he had a few months to get back up to speed till opening night.
He chuckled which got him enquiring glances from the rest of the cast.
He just smiled at them all. God it was good to be back.
The whole of the OG cast had agreed to take part in this year long charity run and the money was rolling in.
"Ok good to go when you are!" He shouted. The revolve turned and he was suddenly surrounded by chairs, papers and the offending table.
"Yep that's better!" Tommy Kail the director shouted, happy with what he was seeing "ok that should do it for today!"
"Thanks everyone" Lin shouted.
"Hey Buddy, fancy grabbing a pizza?" Thayne put his arm round Lin and walked off stage with him.
"Only if you're buying and no kissing on the first date" Lin joked.
Thayne grinned "see you outside in 10"
He went back to the dressing room and sat down to take off his costume and boots. Catching sight of his reflection he told himself " you are looking seriously tired boy! Rest is needed. Bags on bags are not your best look, no wonder you can't get yourself a girl!"
He laughed quietly.
On the outside he had it all. The Broadway show, the money, the respect of everyone in his industry, dark Latino looks that made women go weak at the knees and a personality that just made everyone fall in love with him.
What he didn't have was successful relationships. Even the ones he thought were working ultimately turned out to be fake, just wanting him for his fame or how far up the ladder he could help them get to.
They soon got bored when they realised that rather than going to the fancy restaurants and schmooze with the celebrities he preferred a life much less in the limelight whenever he could.
He wore his heart on his sleeve, his emotions always easy to read but over the years had learned to stay cautious. The words "I love you" while easily said to friends were very seldom spoken to partners. He had to be 100% sure, and that hadn't happened for many years.
He changed into jeans and a hoodie and went to meet Thayne

The van had come out of nowhere, side swiping the bike. Cara had been catapulted over the handlebars and was laying in the road silently cursing.
She could hear the van driver in a panic calling the emergency services. The irony of a paramedic being called for a paramedic was not lost on her.
After about 10 minutes and a lot of fussing around her they turned up.
"Jesus! Cara?" It was Ben, they had been placed in the same division and spent a lot of time both at work and away together. He clearly hadn't expected to be seeing her sprawled on the floor "can you give me a run down?" He asked kneeling down beside her.
"I think my head is fine, I can feel my fingers and toes - my back is feeling rough though"
"Ok, you know the score. Don't move. We got you"