The Nightwatchman (English)(From Ashes Vol.2)

Chapter 53 - Just an Innocent Girl

The tavern wasn't the worst one in Nottingham, but it was far from being the best. It was big enough, but the low ceilings and the heavy, smoky air made it look smaller and oppressive.
Guy looked around, glancing, disgusted, at the drunkards, asleep on the tables and on the floor. He and Allan stepped past a man who was snoring heavily on the floor, and they sat at a free table in a dimly lit corner.
"Hood could have chosen a better place," Guy whispered to Allan, glancing at the host who was approaching, and receiving in return an equally hostile glare.
Allan ordered drinks and food, and the host returned to the counter, not without glaring at Gisborne again.
"You have to admit that the girls are cute, though," Allan said, looking at the women sitting at the tables or wandering around the room, willing to offer their company in exchange for some coin.
"Another reason for not wanting to be here. If someone were to report to Marian where I am now, it would be a disaster."
"And who would tell that to her? Not me nor Robin. And if she should come to know it somehow, I'll tell her that I dragged you here with me and that you didn't do anything wrong."
Allan had just finished talking, when a girl in a gaudy dress came to their table, and sat down on Guy's knees, throwing her arms around his neck.
"Do you want company, honey?" She asked in a loud voice, then she put her finger on his lips to stop his protest, and she brought her lips to his ear to speak to him in a low tone. "It's me, play along or people will notice us.".
Guy stared at her, astonished.
"Meg?" He whispered, and the girl laughed.
"Didn't you recognize me dressed like this?"
Gisborne shook his head, blushing, and Meg smiled at herself noticing his embarrassment.
At first she had not been sure to dress and to wear make up like one of the women who usually attended that kind of ill-famed places, but now she found the whole situation quite fun.
Neither Guy nor Allan had recognized her at first sight, and Meg felt reassured, knowing that she would go unnoticed even in front of any guards.
Well, not really unnoticed, she thought, noticing the hungry looks of the men around her, but no one would ever understand that she was the same girl who fled the sheriff's prisons a few months earlier.
She leaned back on Gisborne and she played with one of the locks that curled on the man's neck.
"You could hold me tighter, you know? If you look so grave, people will know there is something strange."
The girl took his arm and guided it around her waist, so that Guy's hand was touching her back.
"If you come to sit on my legs, I'm willing to hug you as much as you want," Allan said, giving her a cheeky smile.
The girl laughed.
"The instructions are for him," she whispered.
In fact, it would have been enough to sit at the table and drink with the two men, telling Robin's instructions between a laughter and a drink, but Meg couldn't resist the temptation to tease Gisborne a bit. In the past she had insulted him, she had fought with him, and their relationships had never been friendly, but the truth was that the girl found him attractive.
If her father had proposed a man like him as a husband in the past, perhaps by now she would have been busy taking care of a home and a baby, instead of living as the member of a gang of outlaws.
Meg wasn't certain which of the two alternatives she would have preferred.
"Then hurry to report them," Guy said abruptly, and the girl gave him a resentful glance.
It was clear that Gisborne wasn't attracted by her at all, and that the situation embarrassed him, but why did he have to show it so openly?
Well, worse for him, Meg thought, deciding to embarrass him even more, as a revenge for his disinterest. She tightened her hold on him, and she approached even more, rubbing her body against Guy's while whispering Robin's instructions in his ear, then, before parting from him, she followed a sudden impulse and kissed him on his lips.
Gisborne remained motionless, without reacting to the gesture of the girl.
Meg stared at him for a moment and she blushed suddenly, as her eyes filling with tears.
What was she doing? For years she said that she hated men, she had proclaimed that she wanted to be independent, and now she was acting in such a shameful way just for the blue eyes of a man who didn't even look at her? She had gone too far, and she was perfectly aware of it.
She slid down from Guy's knees and she sat on the bench between the two men, turning to Allan and pretending to embrace him too. The outlaw held her tight, and the girl leaned her head on his shoulder, hiding her face against his neck.
Allan realized that the girl was crying and he exchanged a disconcerted look with Guy. Meg's behavior was surprising for both of them, but the outlaw was the first to recover.
He poured the wine into two cups and handed one to Gisborne, hissing at him that he should drink.
Guy obeyed, struggling to look like he was enjoying himself. He now had Robin's instructions, and he couldn't wait to leave that place and situation, but they had to be careful not to create suspicions.