The house was frantic by the time Charlie returned to it after work on Saturday. Maddox let her leave at lunch but she had to wait half an hour for the next bus, so it was three o'clock in the afternoon when she finally arrived home. But she wasn't all that worried; the bus didn't leave for Swindon until seven.
"I'm not going!" Violet cried.
Charlie rounded the corner to find her sitting on the couch in the living room, her arms crossed and a pout on her face, a textbook tantrum if Charlie had ever seen one.
"Aw, come on, Vi, don't be a spoilsport," Mabs teased, joining them after jogging down the stairs. Her hair was in rags - the same ones she wore to bed last night, Charlie assumed, from the state of them, though she supposed that meant her curls would hold extra well through all the dancing later that night.
"Look at me, Mabs," Violet complained. Her own hair looked as though someone had thrown a paper bag over it and then pushed her down three flights of stairs, though Charlie knew better than to say so. "My hair is a disaster!"
"Well," began Mabs calmly, "I'd have to agree, but it ain't nothin' we can't fix."
"How?" Violet whined. "How are you possibly going to fix this?"
"Come with me," Mabs ordered, holding out her hand to Violet.
Reluctantly, Violet stood up and took Mabs' hand, and the pair of them walked through to the kitchen to do goodness knows what.
To herself, Charlie mocked, "Hi, Charlie, how was work?" Then turned to the side as though she was talking to herself and answered, "Hi, guys. Work was good, thank you." She turned back once more and added, "Good," before Autumn came bounding down the stairs.
"Did you see Violet's hair?"
Charlie laughed. "What happened to it?"
"She tried to put it in rags but it was too short, so it just kind of went poof." Autumn indicated the size of it by creating an explosive gesture around her head. "I told her not to try anything different but she didn't listen, did she?"
Charlie only shook her head, still chuckling about the entire affair.
She went upstairs a little while later to begin the process of getting ready. Retrieving her shower equipment from her room, Charlie trekked back downstairs and through the kitchen to get to the garden, where their bathroom outhouse was. As she made her way through the kitchen she found Violet with her head in the kitchen sink, Mabs right behind her and rinsing her hair out.
Charlie shrugged and continued on her way without saying anything. She supposed that was one definite way to help with a hair disaster.
When Charlie returned from her shower, her wet hair dripping cold water onto the towel slung over her shoulders, Mabs and Violet were gone from the kitchen and the house was unusually quiet. Upstairs, she found everyone in Mabs' room, each holding two dresses up to themselves and deliberating together on which one to wear.
"Charlie," Mabs declared when she saw her lingering in the doorway, "which one do you think?"
In her hands were three dresses, one red, one black, and the other a rich, dark purple. Charlie couldn't tell what the details of each dress were with how Mabs was holding them but she knew instantly which one she favoured.
"The purple one," she said, pointing to it. "Definitely."
"That's what I said," said Autumn, who was holding an emerald green dress up against herself as she looked in the mirror.
"That's because it's your dress," Mabs replied with a laugh. She placed the other two dresses down on the bed and came to stand beside Autumn, holding the purple dress up against herself and shifting from side to side, trying to get a read on how it looked with her colouring.
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.
Charlie rolled her eyes.
"And before you think about it," Chuck added, coming to stand beside Charlie but keeping his hands to himself, "this one's mine."
Charlie blushed and ducked her head to try to hide it, smoothing her hands down the front of her dress.
"Any preference, ladies?" Hoobs asked, looking between Autumn and Violet with an easy smile. He had a sweet, if a little bit goofy, face, with big ears and a kind smile. Charlie thought he would go nicely with Violet, if only to help soothe her nerves for the night, but when she glanced over at George she found him making what could only be described as heart eyes at her himself.
Potentially, George would be a bit much when paired with Violet, but he was already making his way over to her when neither she nor Autumn gave voice to any preference of the two. When he came to stand in front of her he bowed gallantly and took her hand, pressing a gentle kiss to her knuckles while keeping his eyes on hers.
Letting her hand go, George stood up straight again and spoke quietly to Violet, likely giving her the opportunity to let him down gently without the rest of the room overhearing. Charlie looked away. The whole thing was very sweet but she felt she was intruding on something private.
Now, though, she was more at ease with the idea of George taking Violet to the dance. He'd look after her, she thought.
Charlie looked over at Autumn and found Hoobs - was that really his name? - standing in front of her, grinning like a madman. "I like your scar," he told her. He gestured to his own cheek, indicating where the scar on Autumn's face would be if he had an identical one, as if she wouldn't know which scar he was referring to.
"I like your ears," she replied, as pleasant as if she was telling him she'd just love to go out with him.
Instead of being insulted, however, Hoobs only laughed. "Touché." He held out a hand for her to shake, somehow smiling more sincerely now. "I'm Don."
"Autumn," she told him, shaking his hand with a smile of her own.
"I thought Floyd said his name was Hoobs?" Charlie whispered to Chuck, who she knew had also been eavesdropping.
Chuck smiled down at her. "Donald Hoobler. We call him Hoobs for short."
"I see," Charlie acknowledged. "So if he's Hoobs, and Floyd is Tab, who are you?"
He laughed. "Chuck is already a nickname," he pointed out.
Charlie shrugged. "So is Charlie, but that didn't stop Floyd from giving me another one."
Chuck didn't get a chance to reply to that, since Mabs had suddenly decided she didn't want to stand around anymore and was, in fact, ready to leave. Charlie giggled as Mabs pulled Floyd behind her and out of the door.
Autumn and Don were right behind them, and just as Charlie went to follow Chuck halted her gently by her elbow.
"Before we go," he started. He ducked his head closer to hers to avoid being overheard by Violet and George as they passed them on their way out of the door, Violet's hand tucked into George's elbow and George's smile as bright as the sun.
Charlie's attention was drawn back to the boy in front of her when he continued, "I got you something." He withdrew his other hand from behind his back and produced a small white cardboard box, looking nervous as he handed it over to her.
"It's not much," he warned as she began to open it.
Charlie laughed. "You didn't have to get me anything at all!"
"I wanted to."
Charlie looked up and met his eyes just to give him a smile, then turned back to the little box in her hands as she pulled the lid open.
Her hand flew up to cover her mouth. A gasp left her lips. "Chuck!"
"Do you like it?"
Inside the box was a delicate pink damask rose, its green leaves peaking out from behind the petals.
"A corsage," Charlie breathed. She'd finally been given a corsage to press into a scrapbook and show to her children. She may have missed out on one for her prom but this was even better.
Slowly, Charlie lowered her hand from her mouth and touched one of the petals with gentle fingers, delighted by its softness. She looked up at Chuck, truly touched by the gesture. "How did you know?"
Chuck shrugged with a half-smile. "Do you like it?" he asked again.
"I love it," she replied, positively glowing with happiness. She held out the box to him. "Will you pin it for me?"
"I'd be honoured."
Chuck's fingers were clumsy as he attempted to pin the flower onto her dress right by her shoulder without accidentally brushing up against any impolite places, but after some perseverance the rose sat proudly on top of her dress, the shades of pink matching each other almost perfectly.
Charlie touched it reverently. "It's so beautiful," she said quietly. She glanced up to Chuck to search for his agreement.
He smiled. "Shall we go?" He offered her his elbow and she took it without hesitation. Any nerves she'd had earlier in the night about how the dance would go were silenced now that she'd been given a corsage. She was so glad Chuck had asked her, and that she'd said yes.
The pair of them left the house and Charlie locked the door behind her before they walked in a comfortable quiet down the street together. Mabs and Floyd, Autumn and Don, and Violet and George were still visible, even far up ahead as they now were, and it didn't take her and Chuck long to catch up. All the while Charlie found herself even more excited for the night to come than she had been when she'd been getting ready, now that all of her nerves had dissipated. She had no idea what was in store for all of them, but suddenly that was exciting instead of terrifying.