The Spirit of the Corps » Band of Brothers

08: Something in Exchange

"Wait," Charlie said. Her eyes flicked around the room, hoping one of the other nurses would be able to clarify the situation for her, "what?"

Mabel wore an amused smile as she watched Charlie flounder. "Which part you strugglin' with, darlin'?"

"All of it!" answered Charlie, completely baffled. "So you do like him after all?"

Mabel laughed. "Well, I'm not sayin' I wanna have his babies or anythin' like that, but sure, he's cute."

"I thought you weren't interested!"

"Well, why on Earth would you think that?" Mabel's voice was easy, as was her smile and her posture, as she took a sip of water and reclined further into the couch. As she did, the light of the evening sunshine streaming through the sheer curtains hit her like a halo and had her blonde hair glowing white gold.

"Because you told him you weren't interested!" Charlie insisted.

Mabel only tutted at her fondly. "You got so much to learn, Charlie. Sure is a good thing you got me here to teach ya."

"She was playing hard to get," Autumn put in helpfully from the armchair on the other side of the room. When Mabel gave her a nod of confirmation she nodded back, taking a sip of her own water.

"Playing hard to get," Charlie repeated, wondering about the phrase. She'd heard some of the girls she'd gone to school with say it a few times but hadn't ever actually learned what the context of it was. She was starting to put the pieces together now. "So you make him think you don't like him and that makes him like you more?"

"Yes," Mabel agreed. "But it also makes him chase ya. Get ya flowers, take ya on fancy dates, act on his best behaviour - that sorta thing. A guy who wants to impress ya pulls out all the stops, that's how you can tell which ones are serious about ya and which ones aren't. Think of it like insurance." She winked at Charlie, who nodded slowly as she processed the words.

"Violet," Charlie began, turning to face the dark-haired girl sitting quietly in the corner, "did you know anything about this?"

Violet lifted her shoulders in a shrug. "I've heard people talk about it before."

"Wow," Charlie muttered under her breath, but still loud enough for the rest of the room to hear, "I really am clueless."

"We'll teach ya everythin' ya need to know, honey, don't you worry your pretty little head about it."

When she glanced over at her, Charlie found Mabel wearing a reassuring smile, so she smiled back, reassured for the time being.

A while later Charlie excused herself from the living room, knowing she had a job to do - and, more importantly, a person to pay a visit. She had no idea how she intended to find them, just hoped it wouldn't be too hard considering they should be off of work by now, too.

Charlie didn't know exactly where the paratroopers had their lodgings. She had heard in passing at the pub the other night that it was on the opposite side of the village to the nurses' house and that the boys were all being put up in a barn - aside from the officers, of course, who someone had grumbled were getting private lodgings with the locals. Charlie supposed it was a perk of being part of such a small unit of nurses that they had their own house to share; she doubted any of the bigger groups would have been so lucky.

The light of evening was as bright as it had been at midday due to the double daylight savings they'd been informed about on their first day in England, though the sunshine wasn't hot in the early-March chill. The air was chilly but not freezing, though Charlie was sure it put a flush in her cheeks (most things seemed to, these days). The walk really wasn't unpleasant; some of the villagers recognised her from her morning commute to the bus stop and greeted her politely with smiles and scattered 'hello's, and Charlie enjoyed the time to herself, letting her thoughts wander to how lucky she was to be getting to experience rural English life (which she couldn't say she'd ever expected to, beyond what she read about in books).