The Reading Pod

One shot

The sky had been clear just a few minutes ago but now it was almost black as night and the rain was thrashing down on the few folks still out. Meg looked down from her new apartment and saw a tall man in running gear, his t-shirt had been rendered almost transparent by the rain,

"Oh the poor sod!" She muttered and without another thought she was racing down the stairs to call him indoors.

"Hey! Come inside for a bit, wait for the worst to pass." She called to him, he looked up then, sweeping his hair out of his eyes and the water from his face, Meg smiled to show she was friendly and he sprinted the short distance. Closing the front door and gesturing up the stairs, Meg took the opportunity to have a closer look at her temporary guest; he was tall, much taller than she had realized and he clearly ran a lot as there wasn't an inch of him that didn't appear to be toned.

"Have a seat while I get you a towel" she said and scuttled through to the linen closet, when she returned he was still standing however and looking rather sheepish about the puddle of water already forming beneath his feet.

"I'm sure I said you could sit down" she said, a puzzled look on her face.

"I would make your sofa wet." the man said; his voice seemed a little shaky and Meg realized that he was shivering.

"You're frozen!" she exclaimed handed the towel to him and rushed off again, returning a few moments later with a large fluffy dressing gown,

"Here, you can wear this and I'll get your gear dried, bathroom's through there"

"No, I'll be fine, I wouldn't want to impose on you." he said rubbing vigorously at his hair which Meg suddenly found incredibly distracting as his hair was a mass of blonde poodle curls.

Gathering her thoughts quickly, Meg insisted it was no imposition and gently pushed him towards the bathroom, "There's another bigger towel in there, make sure you really dry off, I don't want you catching a cold." she added as she opened the door for him.

Turning away and heading across the hallway to her new utility room, she heard the bathroom door shut followed by the muffled noise of soggy clothes hitting the floor; a short while later came the sound of the bathroom door opening and Meg was greeted by the sight of her guest holding a folded bundle of wet clothes.

"You folded them?" she blurted out before her brain could catch up with good manners eliciting a small chuckle from him that caused her knees to buckle.

"That storm came up so fast didn't it?" Meg said, mentally shaking herself and taking the pile of clothes from him.

"Oh WOW! Didn't it though! One minute sunny, next minute soaked to the skin, standard British summer weather I suppose but I don't think I've ever seen it turn that fast!" the man responded "My name's Tom by the way." he added and held out his hand.

"Meg" she replied taking his hand, checking his body temperature and receiving what felt like a bolt of electricity; removing her hand, she looked up into his face and saw that he had felt it too.

"A pleasure to meet you Meg." said Tom, Meg smiled and suggested he head back out to her living room while she put his clothes in the dryer and got the kettle on.

"Tea or coffee?" she asked as he exited the room, "Do you have Earl Grey tea? that would be great but standard tea would be good too." He responded with a smile.

"Earl Grey it is Tom, no problem at all. Go on through, I'll bring it out in a mo."

"You know there is still a puddle out here." Tom called from the living room, "Oh drat!" muttered Meg and grabbed the window vac 'This should clear that up quickly.'  She thought and headed out to deal with it. Tom was sitting on the sofa but jumped up when Meg walked in, "Sit down! This will only take a second." she said and speedily used the little vac to remove the water, Tom was only just resuming his seated position when Meg was again leaving the room, "Be right back with your tea!" She called back.