A/N: I totally blanked last chapter and forgot to give cred to Blonde Spirit, who created the New York Wings Quidditch team featured in the last chapter! You really must check out the team's logo at the USAQL website. (See my profile for the link—can't post here, you know the rules!)
Chapter 8
The second Charlie apparated to his house with Gretchen in tow, Hercules started barking his little demon head off. Charlie started to kick the little monster, but Minnie appeared and picked him up.
Before Minnie had a chance to say anything, Charlie turned to Gretchen and smiled nervously. "I have a house elf. This is Minnie. Minnie is my new friend, Gretchen."
It was obvious to everyone that Gretchen had never seen a house elf before and was quite taken aback at her strange appearance, but she hid it every well. Gretchen smiled and said, "Nice to meet you, Minnie."
Minnie bowed very low. "Welcome home, Master Charlie Weasley…"
"I've asked her just to call me Charlie, but it doesn't register," he explained.
"Welcome, beautiful friend of Master Charlie Weasley. Master is the greatest lover…"
"Enough, Minnie," he said cutting her off. She bowed even lower and he looked at Gretchen nervously. "Sorry, she gets a little carried away.
"Minnie, anyone here yet?" he asked.
"Masters Lee and Jason are in the front yard watching the pretty girls clean a huge muggle truck."
The house next to Charlie's was rented by a bevy of young college students, who were always in a state of semi-dress. Oh great, thought Charlie. This is going to leave an impression; a bunch of half naked girls living next door and two horny wizards ogling them. Nice.
"Um, would you like to see the rest of the house?" Charlie asked, trying to distract Gretchen. He was sure she thought he was a lecherous playboy anyway; he wanted to see the domestic side of him. She warily looked toward the back door for an easy escape in case he tried anything.
He led her through the living room and kitchen and started upstairs. She held on to her handbag and had a death grip on her wand. Charlie didn't notice because he was nervous and was trying desperately to make a good impression. Thanks to Minnie, his ordinarily typical bachelor existence was now being kept neatly contained.
He led her down the hallway to his bedroom. The door was opened and she peered in. Over his enormous bed was an oil painting of a nude reclining on a brass bed. The woman was beautiful and she had a playfully sinful gleam in her eyes. He was about to point out the spectacular view of the lake from his bedroom, but he saw that she was staring at the portrait of his ex-girlfriend, Jessica. It was a self portrait and was extremely erotic. She was probably thinking it was porn. The figure in the painting didn't move, of course because it was muggle painted and had no magical qualities. He had no idea what to say to her now. Should he explain the portrait or not say anything?
Gretchen stared at the painting for a full minute before she turned around and headed out the door and back down the stairs. He hurried down behind her. He was afraid she was going to disapparate in front in him, but she merely turned around and gave him a wary smile.
"What would you like to drink?" he asked.
"A beer's fine," she said pleasantly. "I like your house. It has a very nice view."
"Thanks. Would you like to sit outside in the back?" he asked politely.
She nodded and followed him out to the patio. Minnie had their beers waiting on the table outside. They sat down and looked at each other awkwardly. Charlie took a long drink from the bottle. "That painting in my bedroom is a self-portrait done by my ex-girlfriend. She's an artist," he explained unnecessarily.
"She's very beautiful," Gretchen said softly. "And talented."
Charlie nodded. "Very talented. She's non-magical."
"Oh, I wondered why the painting didn't respond," she laughed. She had a sexy throaty laugh.
He paused for a moment then looked at her. "I'm glad you agreed to go out with me. That was pretty brave of you."
"Not really. I figured you weren't too dangerous and I'll admit, I was intrigued. I wanted to know what it was about me that you found interesting."
"Oh, not just interesting, Gretchen," Charlie said, "I think you're incredibly beautiful."
She blushed. "Don't bull shit me."
"I'm not," he said. This was frustrating. "If we had met in a bar or somewhere else, would you have even thought about going out with me?"
The question looked like it surprised her. She started to answer but turned to look away from him. She thought about it for a moment before turning back to him. "Honestly? No."
"So I would have had to kidnap you like this in order to talk to you?"
"Pretty much, I guess," she said.
"Why?" he asked.
She shrugged. "I don't know, really."
"Is it my red hair?"
She laughed and shook her head. "No, not your hair."
They continued to drink their beer and every few minutes, Minnie appeared with plates of food and more beer. They chatted about little things and Charlie asked her about herself. He steered away from questions about himself, focusing on her; her likes and dislikes, her family; where she went to school. She had gone to the Wizarding School in Birmingham. She came from a small family; she had two sisters, she was the oldest . Her younger sisters were still in school. She'd spent a couple of summers in England and had heard of Harry Potter.
"Do you like to fly?" he asked.
She shook her head. "No, not really. And I've never apparated before today."
"No shit? Really? I've notice a lot of Americans don't apparate much. Wonder why?"
She shrugged. "It's not taught in school. I didn't care much for the sensation. Kind of scary, I thought."
"Yeah, well takes getting used to. I'm a bit stocky and it was hard for me to learn, kept leaving little pieces of me behind."
She smiled. She had a beautiful smile. "I can't imagine you having any problem doing anything," she said.
Charlie snorted. "Wish that were true," he said.
"I guess you just make everything look easy."
"Well, sure," he kidded.
"You make me want to abandon all my doubts about you," she said, shyly, scraping the paper label from the beer bottle.
"Really?"
She nodded. "You're easier to talk to than I would have imagined, and you sound sincere when you asked questions about me. I don't know if it's just your 'line' or you really do want to know. You seem like you're really listening."
Charlie reddened slightly. "Honestly, I usually don't. But usually I'm just for a quick shag, so I know what to say for the desired results."
"So, you don't want a quick shag with me?" she kidded.
"Well, not a quick one," he drawled.
Gretchen threw her head back and laughed. "You do have a nice sense of humor," she said.
"And so do you," Charlie said. "I like that."
There was a quiet, awkward moment when neither of them knew what to say. This was one of the few times Charlie wasn't sure of himself. He found himself desperately wanting her to like him. Gretchen was thinking the same thing. Despite her reservations, she did find him charming and she decided that if he asked her out, she would go.
Charlie ignored Lee and Jason; they were happily watching the bevy of hot girls next door anyway. The other chasers, Jack and Alicia came over later. Charlie was just getting to know Alicia; she had been Iris's girlfriend and she rarely partied with Charlie and his friends. But something happened and Iris was transferred outside the league. Alicia never said a word about what happened, but she had a very smug look on her face when the coach announced that Jack Bledsoe, a 17 year old baby-face from Birmingham, Alabama, was replacing her.
Jack and Gretchen hit it off right away since they had the Birmingham connection. Charlie felt the slightest tinge of jealousy at the way she and Jack got along. His first instinct was to draw the attention to himself, but he resisted and just listened as the two reminisced. He found out a lot more about her. Jack invited Gretchen to their game Saturday night, which pissed Charlie off even more because he hadn't thought of inviting her to the match, but now that Jack had asked her, it was too late for him.
Joanna and Jordan dropped by later with Kayleigh. They didn't stay long because Kayleigh was getting fussy, but they stayed long enough to meet Gretchen. Joanna was on her best behavior and promised Charlie she wouldn't embarrass him. Right before they left, Joanna pulled Charlie aside.
"Don't fuck this one up, Charlie," she said. "I like her."
"I'm trying," he said. "I think I'm going to kill Jack though the way he was flirting with her earlier. You should have seen it."
"Charlie, he's a baby, he doesn't know how to flirt. I don't think you have anything to worry about. I think she kind of likes you."
"Really?" he looked relieved.
She nodded and smiled affectionately at her best friend. "Yeah, I think so. Try not to fuck it up."
