Completely & Stupidly: Forever and Ever

Chapter 10. Vanessa

 Charity had headed to work early, and by early it is meant that she was on time for once, and thanks to the breakfast club she'd taken the boys to school too. So, Vanessa had the bed to herself and had sprawled out across it like a starfish, her head lost between their pillows, blocking the morning light from her eyes as it shone brightly through the window. After carting the kids around Hotton shopping for last minute accessories and picking up bits and bobs for the wedding, she had been more than happy slinking off to bed for an early night, and though she woke up well rested and in a good mood, part of her wanted to stay curled up under the duvet all day but she was due at the surgery at ten o'clock, so couldn't. The alarm clock blared from across the room, purposely placed as far away from the bed as possible so that she had to get up and switch it off the first-time round. She groaned, and stroppily clambered across the bed and slammed her palm down on the off button, grateful for the silence that followed afterwards. "Alright" She muttered to herself as she spotted her clean clothes laid out on the dresser. Her blue jeans squeezed up over her thighs and fastened tightly with a brown leather belt, that hid beneath a bobbly grey jumper. She had a quick cup of tea for breakfast and then headed off to work across the road with five minutes to spare.
 "Morning" Vanessa chirped as she let herself in to the vets. "Good Morning" Pearl spoke up from behind the computer. "Hey, not long now" She added when she realised who it was, she had just greeted. "I know, can't come quick enough if you ask me" Vanessa replied with a grin. "Where's Paddy?", "He's just out the back sorting through a hefty pile of folders. He had asked me to do it but I can't with my bad elbow" She explained. "Oh, you have a bad elbow?" Vanessa sympathised. "No" Pearl whispered, "But don't tell Paddy that, I'm hoping to get off early for a game of bingo at the community centre" she laughed. Vanessa snorted as she hung up her yellow coat and swapped it for her green veterinary jacket. Out of the five of them that worked at the Vets, they'd all prefer to be knee deep in cow pat than do the office work, so Vanessa couldn't complain about Pearl's fib, and she wasn't going to because fortunately for her Paddy had arrived first and had been lumbered with that side of the job. Normally they'd have Jamie do the written work, he wasn't very fond of it either but they played to his ego perfectly, letting him think he was the most academic person in the room. So as much as he would complain about having to pick up a pen over a pair of gloves, he'd sit boldly at the front desk and would act as if it all came naturally to him, and the others would go along with it. Vanessa popped her head around the door to find Paddy hidden behind a huge stack of paperwork that had barely been started. His shiny bald head peeked up over the top file, his eyebrows furrowed as he shot Vanessa an unhappy glance. "Not my fault you came in early" Vanessa laughed, holding her hands up in surrender and nodded to the clock, noting that both of their shifts didn't officially start for another two minutes yet. "Yes well, well" Paddy stumbled on his words as he rushed them out, "I had to be the first one here because I'm the one with the keys" He told. "Again, not my fault when you insist on being the one to lock up every night, just so you can feel like a bomb disposal man", "That's not why I do it" Paddy laughed nervously. "Oh? So, Rhona and I didn't catch you humming the Mission Impossible tune last Thursday when you were setting the security alarm?", "No, and if I did it was only because Me and Marlon had watched it the night before", "Okay, Paddy" Vanessa nodded her agreeance that was clearly filled with sarcasm. "Tea?" She then asked as she boiled the kettle. "Please" Paddy replied, chewing on the top of his pen. "What's on the agenda today then?" Vanessa asked, pouring hot water into three cups at the kitchen workspace. "Well, Mr Langsford is bringing in Cat Benatar to be neutered", "Ha, still a hilarious name" Vanessa interrupted as she thought of the photo, they had seen of the little black cat in pink leg warmers. "I know, and the fact we recruited him from that gay bar on 80s night is equally as funny and ironic" Paddy began, "But that's all for today, other than that we're on call for emergency's" He told, shaking his pen to shift the ink inside. "Yeah, we need to do that again. And you need to get the phone number of at least one bloke next time" Vanessa said playfully. "Why though? It's not like I'm actually going to call, I have a beautiful woman, lady, at home", "So do I, but it's still fun to see who can get the most by the end of the night. Even if Charity does always win" Vanessa shrugged. Paddy chuckled, "Speaking of Charity, are you sure you want to marry her?", "What do you mean am I sure? I'm sure I'm sure" Vanessa questioned. "What, even after the shower incident?", "How'd you know about that?", "Chas" Paddy nodded. Vanessa shook her head, "Well, I did jump out of my skin, but I'll still marry her. Maybe that can be her punishment" She scoffed. "Or maybe she'll make it up to you?", "I doubt it, because that would mean bringing it up again and I think she's too afraid to. Although she did take us all bowling", "You went bowling?", "Yeah, and she paid", "I'm sorry, you went bowling and didn't invite me?", "Well it was mostly for the kids, Paddy. Do you even like bowling?", "I love bowling. I breathe bowling. I was the best on the team when I was in school" Paddy insisted, his annoyance at not having joined them growing with every word. Vanessa pulled a face as she turned to him with two of the cups of tea she'd made. "Well, you can come and be on my team next time then, because getting people's phone numbers may be the only sport my fiancé is any good at" she joked, passing him one of the mugs, then she nipped back out to the reception to give the other to Pearl.
 A few hours passed by and Pearl had managed to wangle the afternoon off, her secret safe with Vanessa, after she played on the arthritic elbow excuse. Paddy had fallen for it hook line and sinker and even ended up doing some of Pearl's own work at the computer after she'd left. Cat Benatar's operation went well and Vanessa had managed to put her under without getting a single scratch from her sharp claws. While the cat dozed in a small kennel, wearing a huge plastic cone around its neck, Vanessa re-joined Paddy out in the front room and sat at the desk, waiting for the phone to ring. "You know, if you're that bored you could always help me with the paperwork?" Paddy reminded Vanessa for the third time, as she sat in a huff with nothing to do. "I'll tell you what, if anyone calls in in the next half an hour, I'll swap you. I'll do the paperwork, and you get to take the job. But if there isn't a call, you stop pestering me for the rest of the day. Deal?" Vanessa propositioned, thinking she had the upper hand after another quiet day at the surgery. "Deal" Paddy nodded sharply, holding out his hand and giving her a firm handshake. "If anyone calls in thirty minutes," Vanessa laughed, "Yes, but if they do, you have to stick to your word" Paddy reminded her. "Okay" Vanessa laughed again. "On another note, I reckon we should get work phones, that way we don't have to keep coming in on days when we don't have any appointments" Vanessa suggested, "We could just stay home and only get out of bed when we need to", "Yes, that would be lovely, but the paperwork would still need doing" Paddy pointed out. "So, take it home with you then" Vanessa smirked. "Very funny you, aren't you?" Paddy faked a laugh, rocking his head from side to side as he did. Vanessa mimicked him, and for a moment they sat fake laughing at one another and were caught off guard by the phone. As it rang upon the desk, they both stared at it before trying to grab the receiver at the same time. Paddy's face lit up as he hoped it meant he could go off into the world and leave Vanessa to finish the paperwork. "Emmerdale Veterinary Centre, how may I help you?" Vanessa addressed the caller in her finest phone voice. "Oh, no, okay. Is she breathing?" She asked. Paddy fist pumped the air, but then felt bad as he realised, he was getting excited over the state an animal was in. "Okay, that's good, in the meantime try to keep her calm and I'll get out to you as soon as possible" Vanessa told, then hung up the phone. "Who was that?" Paddy asked, still a little bit overjoyed at the possibility that Vanessa had set herself up with the rest of the afternoon sat with a biro in her hand. "I don't know, some woman said there was a distressed feline up at the cricket pavilion. Sounded like a prank call to me though" Vanessa told. "Don't care" Paddy blurted out, and he quickly grabbed his vet bag and smartened himself up. Vanessa quickly pressed the redial button that confirmed that they had been called on a withheld number. "I knew it, no number" She began, and looked up to see Paddy heading to the door. "What are you actually going to go?" Vanessa asked. "Yeah, because if it isn't a prank call then someone's poor pussycat could be in trouble" he explained, ready to dart out of the door. "Fine" Vanessa huffed, now regretting making the bet with Paddy in the first place. "Catch" Paddy called out as he threw Vanessa the pen from his pocket, "Have fun" He added, then quickly ran out of the door, leaving Vanessa alone with a pile of papers ranging from stock checks to costing tally's.
 Not even half an hour later, Vanessa noticed Paddy running back towards the front door. She'd only gotten through one sheet in the time that he'd been gone and was confused as she saw his bright red face appear at the window as he ran by. The door bolted open and in he came, very flustered and embarrassed. "What's going on? What happened?" Vanessa asked, jumping from her chair, panicking slightly as her friend raced to the back room. "It wasn't a client" Paddy spat, quickly trying to hide away. "Ah, so it was a prank caller?" Vanessa chuckled, but still couldn't understand why Paddy was in such a rush to get into the back room. "Not as such," he admitted as he dropped his bag and leaned his back up against the far wall around the corner. "The feline in distress. It wasn't a cat" He added in almost a whisper. "What? What are you on about?" Vanessa questioned with a slightly nervous laugh, but before anything else could be said, the front door was thrown open and in came Charity, equally as flustered as Paddy was. "What's going on?" Vanessa asked again, only this time to Charity, who had charged in all guns blazing. "Where is he?" Charity shouted. "Paddy?", Vanessa had no idea what was going on and pushed through to the back room, where Paddy was still hiding, and sweating. "I think what Charity's getting at is" He stammered, "Is that I saw.. I wasn't meant to see" He continued, not able to look either of them in the eye. As Vanessa turned to face Charity once more, the penny kind of dropped as she noticed that Charity seemed to be wearing a lengthy coat, and nothing else. "Don't tell me, you flashed him?" Vanessa gasped, not knowing whether to laugh or not. Charity made an attempt to wrap her coat around her body even tighter at the sound of Vanessa's words, almost confirming exactly what had happened without actually answering her. "Next time you say you'll be with me right away, make sure it's actually you, yeah?" Charity breathed, timidly. "Wait until I tell Chas" she added, almost sounding menacingly happy with herself as she toyed with Paddy from across the room. "What? I didn't mean to see you naked, you're the one who propositioned me" Paddy called back having found his spine again, now standing up for himself. "Woah, let's all calm down," Vanessa insisted, trying to handle the situation but failing as they continued to talk over her. "Propositioned you? Nice choice of words that is. Well, we'll see what Chas has to say about that, and about you not meaning to walk in on another woman naked, shall we?" Charity suggested, "No I'm sorry, don't tell Chas, she'll get the wrong end of the stick and I'll be in the dog house again-", "Good" Charity blurted out. "Babe, get your coat" she added, turning back to Vanessa. "She can't just leave. You can't just leave" Paddy chimed in, turning to both of them as he stepped out into the open. "Oh, can't she?" Charity questioned, widening her eyes threateningly. Paddy stood in a stunned silence and dropped his head, the second-hand embarrassment washing over him once more. "Alright go, just go, but please don't tell Chas" He shouted as Charity dragged Vanessa out of the front door, letting it slam behind them.
 "I can't believe you did that" Vanessa laughed nervously as they arrived back home. Charity flopped onto the sofa and covered her face with her hands. "It was supposed to be you" she muttered, still embarrassed. "Well, I gathered that" Vanessa laughed again. "What made you want to take all your kit off, and at the pavilion of all places?" She asked, joining her on the sofa. "I thought it would be a bit of fun. And it was, until I dropped the coat and turned around to see Paddy standing in the doorway" She told, "He screamed, and his eyes lingered for a bit too long" she added, with a grimace. "Well, I can't blame him for that" Vanessa admitted, glancing at the top of Charity's chest as she loosened her grip on the coat. "I am such an idiot," Charity murmured, turning to face Vanessa, shyly. "You are" Vanessa agreed, but smiled. "But, for what it's worth, I would have totally swooned and gone weak in the knees," she added. "I know, that's why I did it," Charity replied, attempting to laugh at her own expense. "You could always, try again?" Vanessa suggested, gently biting her bottom lip. "No, it's ruined now" Charity smirked, trying to hide her growing smile. "Is it?" Vanessa asked, climbing onto her knees, sitting herself upon Charity's lap. "Is it?" she asked again, pawing at the fabric of the coat, flirtatiously. Charity giggled and sat upright, happily allowing Vanessa to unfasten the coat and cop an eyeful, and a feel.