The Decoy Date

Chapter Fifteen

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Charlie ran into the dining room and began waving a tea towel at the fire alarm to try and get it to stop screaming at him; he was not having a good day. It had started really well, he’d finally gotten Penny to take Sam into her group as long as he took a couple of the pupils back to his group; but he didn’t care about that because Sam could finally escape the nightmare of year nine third set for the green, green pastures of set two. However it only went downhill from there.

The two year nines Penny had given him were Jamie Preston’s best friends, which meant he now had two more people spurring him on to disrupt the class; he’d definitely succeeded in that today, nobody in the class had gotten past question three. Then Michael, the head of department, had sprung a theme day on them at this week’s meeting; they had less than a week to come up with maths activities relating to Christmas for all year groups. Then it got even worse as Ben Wilson gave him a pile of GCSE mock exam papers to mark over the weekend.

Now he was having to host a dinner party for eight people, trying not to give them food poisoning and trying not to burn the whole house down; he was sure he’d already singed his eyebrows off while he tried to flambé something earlier. Finally the bleeping stopped and he removed the battery so it wouldn’t start off again when everybody arrived; he’d just have to pray he didn’t set fire to anything. The smell of burning onions drew him back to kitchen just as the doorbell rang; he gave the pan a quick stir and turned the heat down before rushing to the door in a panic that people had arrived an hour early.

He opened the door to find Imogen on his doorstep, in spite of the cooking freak-out he smiled at her. “Hey, you’re not supposed to be here for another hour.” He stood back and let her in feeling confused when he saw the duffel back she was carrying with her.

“I know but I wondered if I could use your shower, mine's on the blink and the plumber can’t come until tomorrow. I know it’s really cheeky, I’ve brought my own towel and shampoo and stuff, so I literally only need your water.”

“Hmm, well maybe I’ll have to charge you, I mean I am cooking you dinner as well.” He folded his arms and looked at her with a thoughtful look on his face, but he was having a hard time to keep his smile hidden.

“Ah I thought of that, so I brought you this.” Imogen reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of red wine. He looked at it and thought it looked quite expensive.

“I suppose that’s alright then. You’re probably better using my bathroom, it’s on the top floor. I can smell burning so I need to get back to the kitchen.” He stayed to watch her start up the stairs and smiled to himself before hurrying to the kitchen. His onions were no longer just burnt they had turned black and were caked to the frying pan; sighing he chucked the mess in the bin and started chopping another onion.

The bitter smell of burning was soon replaced by the sweet smell of softening onions, Charlie turned to the wine Imogen had bought for him and decided one glass couldn’t hurt. He grabbed a corkscrew and opened the bottle, letting it breathe while he reached for two wine glasses. Pausing before he poured the drinks he thought he’d better ask Imogen if she wanted one, just in case she’d driven over.

Climbing the stairs two at a time he couldn’t hear the shower as he reached his room, hopefully she was finished and hadn’t got to the wrong bathroom. He walked to the en-suite and stopped in his tracks when he reached the opening to the room. She had definitely finished in the shower and was now drying herself, his eyes slid over body stopping on a tattoo of a trail of three swallows on the back of her right shoulder. Her skin looked soft and warm, all he wanted to do was reach out and touch her, hold her close to him.

The towel slipped down her body and he stared at her curves. s**t, she was turning this way. He covered his eyes with his hands so he didn’t seem like a pervert ogling her in the shower. “Would you like a glass of wine when you get down?” he kept his hands tight over his eyes as he heard her gasp and then the towel drop to the floor, he really wanted to peek through his fingers but didn’t trust what he would do if he did.

“How long have you been standing there?” He heard her pick up the towel and cover herself. “You can look now.” Charlie removed his hands and saw her wrapped in the towel, she looked at him with her eyebrows raised.

“I didn’t see anything, Scout’s honour.” He held up his fingers in salute and grinned at her.

“Wine would be nice thanks. I won’t be a minute.” He nodded and left her to it, the food downstairs needed his attention now.

                                  *

Imogen watched Charlie leave the room, her cheeks burned with embarrassment and she wasn’t sure if she believed him when he’d said he hadn’t seen anything. Her heart was still racing from the fact he was behind her in the first place. She unwrapped the towel she was holding firmly around her and folded it up; reaching for the towel rail she picked up her jeans and slipped them on, followed by a clean blue and white striped t-shirt.

Placing all her toiletries and the towel back in her bag she dropped it in the bedroom thinking she may as well make the most of her opportunity and have a sneak peek at his bedroom. It covered most of the top floor, with a small roof terrace at the front of the building, one similar to her own room. The wall opposite the bathroom was papered in green and brown patterned wallpaper, while the other three walls were painted lightly. On the plain walls was some photo frames with pictures of Charlie and his friends and family. She scanned his shelves of books and CDs, seeing they had a similar taste in music as well as literature.

A glass of wine was waiting for her when she finally made it downstairs, along with the smell of something delicious. She found Charlie in the kitchen stirring a couple of pans at once, when he saw her he smiled but quickly returned his attention to the hob. They talked about their days while they waited for the rest of the guests arrive, she listened as he told her about the papers he had to mark and that one of his pupils had finally been moved up to the next group.

Before long the doorbell was ringing, Imogen left Charlie to his cooking and went to answer it. As she did she found herself looking at a nightmare of her school days, she was faced with three of the boys who could always be seen in the background of the crowds of bullies and her best friend standing in front of them trying to protect her. She had to shake her head to remember they were no longer at school and these people were now her friends.

“Hey Imogen. We’d have come in but Liam and I forgot our keys.” Toby smiled as he walked past her, Molly gave her a quick hug following Adam and the others through the door. Jess walked forward and hugged her too, Matt waited on the doorstep then followed his girlfriend through the door, stopping to give Imogen a peck on the cheek.

Charlie was pouring out more wine as everybody gathered around the dining table, he smiled through the gap in the group at her. The eight of them chatted all night through dinner and through the three bottles of wine they’d gotten through with the food. She was sat in between Molly and Charlie both of whom were talking to her at the same time and she was struggling to keep up with both conversations.

“You never told me you had a tattoo? Isn’t that something a boyfriend would know?” Imogen shivered as Charlie leant down to whisper in her ear, she turned and found herself looking straight into his eyes as her face flushed at the thought he had seen her earlier.

“I thought you said you hadn’t seen anything. Scout’s honour.”

“I was never a scout.” He bit his lip looking as cute a ever. “So when did you get it?”

“For my 21st birthday, I’d wanted one for ages but my mum would have killed me. Then Jess and I went out and got a little drunk and I finally built up the courage to get it done. Jess has a heart on her hip and your friend Jenny has Tweety Pie on her shoulder, I think she really regrets drinking so much.” They both burst out laughing and Charlie moved his hand to the small of her back.

“I always wondered why she wore long sleeves all the time, even when it’s sweltering hot.” She looked back across the table at Jess who was staring at her and Charlie while listening to Toby and Matt’s conversation. Imogen immediately stopped smiling as she saw the look on Jess’ face, she didn’t look happy, annoyance dancing in her eyes and a scowl drawn across her face.

Imogen gave her a questioning look and furrowed her brow in confusion, however Jess just shook her head and returned to looking at Matt. For the rest of the night Imogen tried to get Jess by herself so she could ask what the problem was but didn’t get the opportunity as she and Charlie found themselves the last ones at the dining table. All the other guests had left while they’d been immersed in conversation and before she knew it was nearly midnight and time to go to bed.