The Spirit of the Corps » Band of Brothers

17: A Little Birdie Told Me

The four of them must have spent an hour just deciding on dresses. As time wore on Charlie had to make the executive decision to leave and make a start on her hair, lest it dry straight and leave her with limp curls by the time she was ready to leave the house. By the time she returned, however, they had all decided and agreed on dresses for each of them: Mabs would indeed be wearing the purple dress Charlie had liked, Autumn would be wearing a vibrant red dress, Violet would be wearing a yellow one, and Charlie a pale pink dress Mabs had pinched from her closet.

When Charlie eventually made it back to her room, ready to make a start on her makeup, she was almost too exhausted to finish getting ready, but time was wearing on and she knew she didn't have a choice. She had a date, after all, and he was due to show up at six thirty to escort her to the bus.

Charlie took great care in applying her makeup, much more than she would on an ordinary outing to the pub, and applied more than she usually would. She didn't have as big a selection of products to choose from as she did at home - she hadn't had enough space to pack everything and the rationing in England meant she couldn't buy anything more - but she did the best she could with what she had.

By the time she was finished it was nearing six o'clock and she wasn't even close to ready, so she was frantic as she got dressed and finished her hair.

She made it downstairs at the same time as Autumn, joining Mabs and Violet who'd already been waiting in the living room. Charlie sat carefully on the sofa, trying not to crease her skirt, but she needn't have bothered, for not a minute later the doorbell rang and each of the girls hopped to their feet.

"Who's gonna get it?" Autumn asked. Her smile was wry as she looked between the other three nurses.

"Not me," insisted Violet immediately.

"Nope." That was Mabs.

"I need to go to the bathroom." Charlie.

"Not now, Charlie," Mabs hissed through the side of her mouth.

Autumn laughed and shrugged. "I guess I'll go then."

The gap between the front door and the living room wasn't very big at all, but even so, when Autumn turned the corner Charlie turned to Mabs and Violet and confessed, "I'm nervous. Why am I so nervous?"

"First date jitters," Mabs supplied helpfully with a wink.

Charlie's stomach flipped. "This is a date?"

Before Mabs could reply Autumn led a quartet of boys around the corner, each of them dressed smartly in their khaki dress uniforms.

Unsurprisingly, Floyd led the bunch, and he winked when he locked eyes with Charlie briefly before turning his full attention, and the full force of his charm, on Mabs. Behind Floyd was Chuck, who smiled at her when he first met her eyes. He looked as handsome as ever and had his hands tucked behind his back, more formal than the others. Behind Chuck trailed a boy Charlie recognised from the injections but couldn't remember the name of. Her attention was quickly diverted from the other three boys, however, when she saw George Luz rounding off the group, grinning at the room at large as though he couldn't have been happier to be there.

"A little birdie told me there are two beautiful women here in need of some dates," he declared.

Charlie smiled wide and looked at Mabs, who met her eyes and smirked before turning away. This was all the confirmation Charlie needed to know that she'd been the 'little birdie' who had passed the information on to George.

The boy who'd come in in front of George smiled wide as his eyes passed over the four girls in front of him. "So, do we get to pick or do you?"

"Two of 'em are already spoken for, Hoobs," Floyd said, smirking as he came to stand beside Mabs. He slung an arm around her shoulders and smiled innocently at the other boy - Hoobs? - as though he hadn't just clearly marked his territory.