The Unexpected

Chapter 4 - Reality Bites

A/N: Thank you all for taking time to read my story! As always I am always open to suggestions and feedback. If you're looking for nursery nurse edits I also do them: @ventu.nursery. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

The afternoon sun painted the nursery walls a warm shade of gold, casting long shadows from the plastic animals lined neatly along the windowsill. The laughter of children echoed through the corridor, a soothing melody that had become the background score to Charlotte's daily routine. She glanced at the clock, feeling the seconds tick away like a metronome in her chest. The end of her shift was approaching, and with it, the inevitable conversation with Marjorie.

Charlotte had managed to avoid Marjorie the whole of the shift. It seemed that the parents must have had a premonition about Charlottes awkwardness when it came to talking to Marjorie about her blind date as she managed to avoid those who would normally kick up a fuss on the smallest of things, which Charlotte would normally have to relay to Marjorie before the never-ending complaints came in.

With a deep breath, Charlotte picked up the last of the tiny backpacks and began the process of matching them to their respective owners. The children's eyes lit up as they saw their parents, eager to tell them about their adventures inside the nursery walls. She nodded and smiled at the conversations, her mind racing with the conversation she'd soon have with Marjorie. As the last of the parents had collected their children, Charlotte quickly cleaned down the nursery room before locking it behind her and trying to sneak out the nursery.

As she sneaked down the nursery corridor, she was holding onto her breath like she was underwater and desperately trying to hide from a shark. Suddenly as she sneaked past the nursery office, the door swung open with such force it nearly caused Charlotte to fall over. There was Marjorie, her bubbly however slightly overbearing manager, and also one of her greatest friends; however, it didn't stop the anxious knots forming in Charlotte's stomach as her eyes looked into Marjorie's who was looking like the cat who had got the cream.

"Ah, there you are!" Marjorie exclaimed, waving a piece of paper in the air. "I've been waiting all day to hear all about your date!"  She beckoned Charlotte into her office. a kaleidoscope of colour, with every wall adorned with children's artwork and a rainbow of Post-it notes fluttering from the bulletin board. Now there was definitely no escape from the conversation. Marjorie propped herself against the desk and folded her arms before directing her attention back to Charlotte who was lingering near the doorway as if she wanted to make a quick escape. "So, tell me everything!" Marjorie demanded, her tone playful yet insistent. "What was she like? Did you hit it off? Are you going to see her again?"

Charlotte shuffled awkwardly in the doorway, her eyes darting around the room as looking for another escape to the conversation, she let out the breath she had been holding onto for what seemed like hours. "Marjorie, I—" Charlotte began, her voice tentative. She swallowed the lump in her throat, her eyes flickering to the colourful chaos of the office. The cluttered desk and floor didn't offer much comfort.

Marjorie's eyes narrowed, a knowing smile playing on her lips. "Oh, I know that look. You're going to tell me it was a disaster, aren't you?" She leaned forward, placing her hands on the desk. "Spill it, love. I need some juicy details for the office gossip pool."

"It wasn't a disaster, it was amazing!" Charlotte protested, feeling the heat rising to her cheeks. "It just..." She paused, searching for the right words.

Marjorie looked back at Charlotte confused. Charlotte had never been this difficult to read but the confliction between her words and her reactions was boggling her mind. "Just...?" she questioned concerningly not wishing to make Charlotte uncomfortable.

Charlotte paused, her mask slipping from her face, she had to tell someone about how she was feeling about herself, a problem shared is a problem halved, isn't that what they say? Charlotte swallowed another lump that had caught in her throat. "I'm just scared that if I put my hopes up too much that I'm just going to get hurt again and what if she doesn't even feel the same way about me?"  the vulnerability lacing her words.

Marjorie stood up from the desk and slowly walked over to Charlotte and put in a reassuring hand on her shoulder before looking at her with a mixture of concern and reassurance. "Please don't think like that love, you're a great catch and if she can't see that then it's her problem not yours and what's the old saying there's plenty more fish in the sea." She gave Charlotte's shoulder a squeeze. "Now come on what did you ladies talk about?" She said with a chirp in her voice trying to steer the conversation into something more positive.

Charlotte spent the next ten minutes or so recounting how the conversation flowed so easily over the pot of coffee that laid on the table in front of her and Mia in the café, she talked about how beautiful the scenery was and the many conversations that drew them closer together in the park. She recounted how Mia had and her shared their first kiss alongside an inpatient taxi driver before the bittersweet separation.

Marjorie listened eagerly before noticing a blonde-haired man had now come to stand behind Charlotte. It was Reece. "Hello you." He said in the sizzling tone that made Marjorie's knees go weak. "Hello Charlotte." He said in more matter of fact tone before nodding towards her "So what you two up to?"

"Well nosey, Charlotte was just telling me about her blind date, and I was just going to ask her what her name was." Marjorie said teasingly before directing her attention back on to Charlotte.

The pair then both turned and focused their attention on Charlotte waiting with bated breath, their eyes seeming to cut through Charlotte's. Charlotte's awkwardness had returned as well as the flush redness to her face. Charlotte then wished a thousand times over that the ground would swallow her whole as she awkwardly looked between them both. How was she going to get out of this one?