The Spirit of the Corps » Band of Brothers

45: That Bit More Spirited

He passed her back the bottle and she took a long draught of it, revelling in the warmth of the crimson liquid as it went down, but when he held out his hand to take it back, she thrust it behind her back.

"Freckles -" he began to complain.

"In exchange for the bottle back," Charlie said, cutting him off, "you have to give me a dance."

"A dance," Floyd echoed, straightening up. "That's all?"

"That's all," she agreed, matching his taller posture.

"You could ask me for anything and all you want is a dance," he went on, attempting to clarify.

Charlie shrugged one shoulder, swaying from side to side and tilting her head to the side, coquettish. "I'm a simple girl," she told him, grinning. "Easily pleased."

"Oh, I don't think that's true at all, Freckles," Floyd replied with a grin equally as wide on his face.

"On what grounds?"

"On the grounds that I know you better than anyone." He was getting closer to her with every word, joining in on her little game but playing it better than she did. "So, you wanna ask for something else, or just the dance?"

Tilting her chin up, Charlie adopted an air of defiance. She refused to let on that he'd flustered her. "I still want the dance," she said, her voice decisive, "but I also want..."

Floyd waited patiently while she thought up her second demand, smirking at her all the while.

"I also want you to stop being mean to James and the other replacements, both to their faces and behind their backs."

He pretended that this was the hardest thing anyone had ever asked of him, playing it up just to make her laugh, but eventually he conceded. "Deal," he told her, holding out a hand.

Charlie put her own hand in his and shook it, gazing up at him through her lashes, her blood fizzing with the impact of the red wine. When they both retracted their hands, he laughed.

"I was actually waiting for the bottle."

"Oh."

Charlie gave him back the bottle, but instead of drinking from it he set it aside and offered her his palm. With a little bow, he asked, "May I have this dance?" A nod and a giggle his confirmation, Floyd led Charlie back onto the patch of grass they'd both not long since vacated and drew her in close as Boo changed the record in the record player.

Charlie tipped her head back to look into Floyd's face and smiled softly when she found him already looking down at her. She'd never before noticed their height difference and how, even though he was taller and broader than her, his size made her feel safe instead of intimidated. And she'd never noticed the flecks of gold in his warm brown eyes, and how they lit up in the sunshine.

A moment later, the quiet in the air around them exploded into vibrant colour, the song Boo had picked loud and fast and joyful. Before Charlie could so much as laugh at how high Boo had turned the volume up, Floyd was spinning Charlie under his arm and lifting her up, forcing her to let herself relax and follow his lead.

The dance was so fast and her laughter so frequent that Charlie couldn't get any words out. Floyd couldn't either, laughing at how easy it was for him to make her laugh. And then, when she was gasping for breath as Floyd drew away from her and then pulled her right back into his chest, the first droplet landed on her skin. A pinprick of cold on the hot skin of her arm, Charlie never would have guessed what it was if it wasn't then followed by another, and then another, and then another.

"It's raining!" she shouted to Floyd over the music, her smile painting her words in joy.

Floyd simply shrugged, not seeming to mind in the least, and continued to swing her this way and that, his dancing enthusiastic but never not careful to keep her steady on her feet.