Dragon Man

Chapter 5 – Sunny day

Charlie was nervous, although he would never have admitted it. He stood outside the canteen, the squeak of the door each time it opened was starting to annoy him. The canteen was starting to quieten down, the busiest times were between 7 and 8.30am, when those going on duty and those coming off got their breakfast and supplies for the day. He checked his watch for the umpteenth time, it said 8.09, he tapped it, last time he looked it had said 8.08 and that had been at least five minutes ago in his estimation.

He tried to relax, taking in the scenery in the watery morning light. The dense wooded area and the hilly terrain beyond that housed the dragon population were home to him and he often took it for granted, as people tend to do with their immediate surroundings. He watched as puffs of smoke and the odd plume of flame appeared now and again, showing that the dragon handlers and their charges were going about their daily business.

He looked at his watch again, 8.15, well he'd thought it would at least be 8.30 by now; he'd obviously been stood up. Juliet didn't strike him as the kind of dippy woman that was running late for everything, or got held up for more than a few minutes. It was obvious, the great romancer Charlie Weasley had been stood up. Not that he'd been that for a while, he mused. He'd been single now for over six months and single in every sense of the word. No woman had even come close to catching and keeping his attention for more than a few minutes. But he was intrigued by Juliet, she was different to most of the other women he knew or had known in the past. Juliet was a little like his mother and sister, but not too much. Maybe it was the fact that he respected her, seemingly automatically.

He looked at his watch once more, 8.17. This was no good at all; he was now in serious danger of losing all the street cred he had with his team. They would soon be drifting their way to the canteen for a lazy breakfast, and if Nelly caught onto what was happening then Charlie would never hear the last of it. He sighed, standing with his hands on his hips trying to decide what to do. Should he go looking for her? Or was the fact that she wasn't here enough of a sign? Did he really need to hear it in person? Charlie stood for a moment thinking these things through and came to the conclusion that he needed some breakfast. He grimaced as the door squeaked when he opened it, he was going to give the duty manager a piece of advice regarding an oil can and that door with his breakfast! He headed for the counter, sighing like a stroppy teenager when he realised there was a queue.

"You made it then" Charlie turned on his heel, Juliet stood beside him smiling. It took him a few minutes to get his mouth to work.

"Er, well yeah" he said, slightly off hand.

"And here was me thinking that you had slept in" she said.

"Oh, no, no" he said his mind working overtime he realised that he'd been outside waiting and she'd been inside all the time "Have you been waiting long?" he didn't trust himself to say that he'd been outside, fretting that he'd been stood up; he might have betrayed his insecurity and that was something he wanted to keep to himself.

"About twenty minutes, but I thought I'd wait for you to have breakfast" she smiled again and Charlie instantly relaxed.

"That's great" he said "Go and grab a table, what can I bring you, full English? Taste of home?"

"Just a tea and some toast for me thanks" she replied.

"You can't go all day on two bits of scrappy toast!" he said feigning shock "You need some proper food inside you for what I've got planned!"

"Sounds……interesting" she said, realising that she was flirting with him again.

"It will be, I promise you that" he said as she picked a table, seating herself carefully.

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He was right; the day had been interesting, and fun. Charlie had proved to be a good companion and they seemed to feel easy in each others company. He'd shown her the reserve in its entirety; from the nesting boxes that held the eggs waiting to hatch to the large breeding enclosures that were used during the spring mating season. They had walked most of the time, taking to brooms when the terrain became impassable on foot.

Charlie had introduced her to each dragon as if it were a personal friend, giving Juliet their past histories, their likes and dislikes, their little ways. For her part she found it far from boring, Juliet had always admired dragons, but like most people, from afar. Today Charlie had gotten her up close and personal with them. Charlie had enjoyed having a captive audience and had been gracious. Holding her elbow when the going got tough, flying alongside and helping her to land.

They had found themselves laughing a lot, and Juliet had not laughed quite so much nor so easily for a long time. Charlie found that he wanted to impress her, but not with sly jokes about his excellent bedroom skills like he usually did, but by being himself, sharing his interest and love of dragons and hoping that was enough. It was, as they flew back towards the staff village, neither wanted the day to end. Unfortunately the setting sun had other ideas and as they say, time waits for no man, or woman.

They landed near to the staff quarters, the dorm windows were all lit, and various music drifted to them as they stood. The cabins were slightly behind, more secluded by trees and shrubs, Charlie suddenly realised that he didn't even know where Juliet lived.

"Thank you Charlie" she said, smiling up at him "I have really enjoyed today"

"Me too" he agreed "It's been a good day"

There was a slightly awkward silence, it seemed that neither wanted to make a move to leave, or to stay.

"Do you have a cabin then? Or do you live in the hospital?" he asked, mentally kicking himself because he realised how it sounded.

"I have a cabin now" she replied "I stayed in the dorms for a while until they cleaned up an old cabin and fixed the roof, but it's ok now, not that far from yours actually, just behind" it was her turn to berate herself inwardly.

"Oh right, well good" he said.

"Look, this is just stupid" Juliet began in for a penny and all that…. "I've had a really great time today, and not just because of the dragons, because I enjoyed spending time with you. I'd like to say thanks; do you want to come over for dinner? I'm starving"

Charlie managed to speak through the idiotic grin that plastered itself across his face "I'd love to, thanks" and in a brave moment took her hand as she started to walk in the direction of the cabins, she smiled briefly at him as he did so, wondering if they would get as far as dinner.

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