Charlie knocked on Claire's door at 10 to two that afternoon, jittering nervously, he really needed a smoke now. God he wanted a smoke, why did he give them to Locke?
"Hi Charlie" Claire said opening the door.
"Hey" He said, and then he knew why he gave the smokes to Locke, he didn't need them as long as he was around Claire.
"Your early" She smiled.
"Yeah, sorry uh…" He said.
"It doesn't matter" She said "Come in"
"Thanks" He said, not believing he was actually in her house.
"You want some coke or something?" She asked him, taking a bottle out of the fridge.
"Please" he replied and she got another out.
"Come on" She said, heading into what Charlie presumed was the living room.
There was a tiny wooden crib by the sofa with a blue nappy bag beside it.
"And this is Aaron" She said, picking the baby out of the crib.
The small baby gurgled when Claire picked him up and she smiled down at him. He waved his hands and kicked his legs happily in the air.
"He's got you nose" Charlie said.
"Wanna hold him?" She asked.
"What? No!" Charlie said worriedly "Ill probably drop him, I don't know how to look after babies" he said.
"Its easy, really Charlie" She said.
Aaron reached his little hand out and grasped it around Charlie's little finger, his fingers barely wrapped around it, but they had a tight grip.
"Someone likes you" Claire said. "Go on hold him" She said passing him carefully over to Charlie, who held him perfectly.
"Yeah" Charlie said proudly "Yeah he does"
"Told you it wasn't hard" She said "Lets put him back in the crib now, I thought we could watch a film or something"
"Cool" Charlie said, handing Aaron over to his sister.
Claire carefully but him back in his crib and his eyes quickly fluttered shut as he fell to sleep. Claire smiled down at the sweet sleeping baby before heading to the cupboard that held her DVDs.
"I've got… Lord of the rings, The day after tomorrow…" Claire said, looking through the DVDs.
"You got The Two Towers?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah, I always loved that one" Claire replied.
"So have I" He said as Claire took the DVD from the shelf. She put it into the player and the titles flashed on the screen.
"Sit down Charlie!" She giggled as he was still stood there.
"Uh.. Yeah" He said, quickly sitting down on the sofa, and to his delight Claire sat beside him.
After the film has finished Claire spoke up.
"Never gets boring does it?" She smiled.
"No I think its great" he said, this was it Charlie thought, i'm going to tell her, going to tell her I like her "I think your great too" He said, smiling with embarrassment.
"I think your great too Charlie" She said, a blush rising in her pale cheeks. Aaron started to wail loudly from his crib and Claire quickly rushed to pick him up.
Damn baby, Charlie thought.
Claire soon settled Aaron, annoyed that he had decided to cry at that minute. As Claire laid Aaron back in his crib her mum walked through the door.
"Hi Claire" Her mum said "How's he been?"
"Great, he only just cried" Claire answered. "Um… this is Charlie" She said introducing him.
"Hey Mrs.Littleton" he said politely.
"Miss please dear, Claire's dad isn't around anymore" She replied.
"Sorry" he said quickly.
"Its ok dear" She said smiling, he seemed like a nice boy "You can go out now if you want Claire"
"Do you want to Charlie?" Claire asked him.
"Yeah I'd love to" He smiled.
"Ok lets go" Claire said happily, pulling on her coat.
Charlie and Claire sat on a bench in the park down the road from Claire's house in silence for a while.
Charlie took a deep breath of courage before he carried on the conversation that Aaron had stopped.
"I meant what I said you know" Charlie said "I really do think your great"
"I meant it too Charlie" Claire smiled embarrassedly.
"Would you like to, if you want to, go out with me?" He said, stumbling over his words with embarrassment.
"I'd love to Charlie" Claire smiled.
"Really?" he said in amazed shock.
"Yes" She laughed.
They sat on the park for a while and talked and then it started to get dark.
"I better get back" Claire said sadly "My mum will be worried if I'm not home before dark"
"Ill walk you home?" Charlie asked.
"Please" Claire smiled. When she stood up Charlie took her hand and they walked up to Claire's house hand in hand. Charlie dropped Claire off home and walked down the corner calmly. When he was out of sight of the house he let his happiness spill all over, he began to jump around wildly, punching his fist in the air. He only stopped when he got a rather strange look from an old lady on the other side of the road and then he ran home, happier than ever.
