"And what's wrong with… does that really say Johnno?" Lucy looked at the piece of paper Jack had handed her.
"Yep," Jack nodded, trying to hide a grin and failing. "One of the regulars, you never met Johnno before?"
"No." Lucy looked at him warily, as well as Tony and Anna who were giggling. "Is there something you're not telling me?"
Anna coughed. "Um, no, not at all. We better let you get on with… Johnno." She hurried off, her shoulders shaking with laughter.
Lucy was about to call for her patient, when an ageing man with stubble, a red face and smelling strongly of alcohol, among other things, lurched over to her. Lucy tried to avoid looking completely horrified.
"Johnno?" she said, wishfully thinking that this was just a dream.
"That's Johnno," Jack agreed.
"I need a doctor!" Johnno announced loudly, draping one arm around Lucy's shoulders, before his legs gave way.
"Ooo, easy!" Patrick caught his other side as he went past.
As Johnno came back up he lurched back towards Lucy, giving her a gap toothed grin. "You're new. Would you make an old man very happy and go out with me?" he asked, before slumping forward again.
"I think we can ignore that one," Patrick said calmly in response to Lucy's alarmed face as she remembered the challenge. "Come on, let's get this guy sitting down somewhere."
"Sounds like you had a bad shift then," Dillon remarked, as Lucy finished recounting her encounter with Johnno. "You shouldn't mind Johnno too much, he's harmless really."
"A dead weight," Lucy rubbed her shoulder.
"Well, yeah." Dillon grinned. "But he doesn't mean any real harm. Just a lonely old bloke with nowhere else to go really. His wife died a few years ago, you see, and since then he's just kind of wandered around."
"Poor man," Lucy said softly. She paused to reflect a minute. Would she have ended up like him if Patrick hadn't dragged her out in time?
"Yeah," Dillon agreed. "So, what brought about the new look?" He flicked her pony tail teasingly.
"Nothing," Lucy laughed, batting him away. "Can a girl not just get her hair cut because she feels like it?"
"So you wouldn't have any plans tonight then?" Dillon enquired. "I mean, I assume you're not working…"
"Not until Thursday," Lucy smiled. "Day off tomorrow."
"And tonight?"
"No, nothing planned for tonight," Lucy shook her head. "I was intending to sleep until about nine o'clock anyway. Why, is anything happening?" She'd actually enjoyed the gathering at the pub the other day; it finally felt like she was being accepted.
"Erm, I was actually wondering if you felt like doing something." Dillon suddenly looked and sounded very awkward. "We could go for a drink if you like. Just you and me," he added.
Lucy felt her stomach flip. Her and Dillon. Alone. Together. Wasn't that a… date? "I… I can't," she said automatically.
Dillon looked crestfallen. Patrick had seemed so sure that she would say yes, and he should know after all, what with their history. "Oh. Oh, don't worry then."
Then Lucy remembered the challenge. Accept the next date you get asked on. If Johnno didn't count then maybe this one didn't… but she knew deep down it did. It would be the first challenge she'd completely ignored. Technically it was a false challenge anyway, it was an afterthought, it was… it was still a challenge.
"Oh hold on," she finally managed to get out. "Sorry, I was getting my days muddled. I was thinking it was Wednesday already. Tonight's good for me."
"Oh cool." Dillon visibly brightened. "So shall I pick you up?"
"I'll meet you there," Lucy replied. "About eight shall we say?"
"Cool."
"Cool." Patrick had a lot to answer for.
