Learning to Fly - 12

Chapter 12 - Making Sense of it all

What was wrong with her? She'd lay in bed for many hours pondering what had gone wrong that evening. Jens had seemed keen on her, after her initial surprise at that, Carly was sure of that, but after walking her back to her room, he'd run off without as much as a kiss. Had he changed his mind? Jens wasn't her type, he was too sophisticated, too experienced and far too much of a flirt for her, but the rejection hurt more than she was happy with. He'd left her with a real emotional hangover, and she didn't like it. After punching her pillow, tossing and turning, she had slept, but now as she headed for the restaurant with a sore ankle and a ridiculous level of fatigue, she rued the previous evening on so many levels. 

She had slept, but not well, and she'd been woken by her parents phoning both excited and sad that she wasn't there with them. With a video link via Skype, she opened the parcel that had arrived in the week, it was filled with her favourite toiletries, a huge jar of Marmite, and some beautiful jewellery. So thoughtful. She'd gushed as her parents had similarly opened their gifts. 

She'd sent them Cd's, trendy winter hats, and some luxury rich dark chocolate for her chocoholic father. Carly had had to rush off to work after that, but she promised to call them later that day, to see how their day had passed. 

Carly was nervous, after all whatever happened today, she'd be working outside her comfort zone. She'd worked bars and restaurants since she was fifteen, was confident she could do it in her sleep, but it didn't ease the apprehension of the unknown. For the first time in her life she worried that she was out of her depth, maybe the safety and security of home was her limit.

Carly shook her head, she didn't believe that for a minute, the last couple of months she'd felt like a butterfly, finally free of the restrictions of her chrysalis. She loved home, even more than she thought possible, but free of the restrictions, she finally felt free, alive. 

The restaurant was quiet, but it gave Carly chance to catch up. She was so glad to get to grips with this new role, failure was not an option, with anything the management threw at her, she had to prove she could do this to herself more than anyone else. When she'd left home after all those years, she'd known this was her one and only chance for the life SHE wanted.

There was a large formal restaurant that was open for set meal times and required booking. Then there was the more casual cafe that sat the opposite side of the foyer, it was busier, but still nowhere near busy enough to need her, so once she'd helped serve breakfasts, mid morning, she was asked to assist in reception. The one thing that she hadn't really fully anticipated was spending time under the jurisdiction of Lucas.

Taking a deep breath, Carly made for the office behind the large reception counter that took up one whole wall of the spacious foyer, a spare uniform had been left there for her by Danica. Changing quickly, she emerged behind the desk pasting on a smile. 

Lucas was the only other person working, and when she appeared, he was engrossed in a telephone call. The switchboard in front of him was blinking madly. He was talking in German, she realised, and his face was a beaming smile as he uttered a 'danke' before connecting to another call. 

Carly suddenly realised she could do nothing to help until  he'd talked her through the basics, so spotting papers spewing from the fax machine behind him, she moved towards it and started to try and sort through it. Several were messages for residents, the room number and id's clearly written on them. So finding envelopes, she started to fold the papers and slot them into envelopes, writing the name and room number on the front. She was placing them into the key slots for the corresponding rooms when Lucas hung up the call. 

When she had finally finished and turned around. Lucas was leaning against the desk ankles crossed, watching her. 

"Nice initiative!" he finally offered. "Unless you speak German or French there's no point you taking any of the calls here, I'll talk you through the computer and key system then you can take the in person requests?"

It was a question but didn't warrant an answer. Carly hadn't known how Lucas would treat her today, in the cold light of day she was embarrassed at the way she'd spoken to him, the previous evening. So she listened, took in his commands, it wasn't rocket science, but there was a lot to remember, and followed him around the desk.

He was drawn away from her induction by the incessant phone, apparently everyone wanted to speak to their relatives on Christmas Day.

Someone came to the desk complaining about a leak in their room, another wanted to know what time the ski lift opened that day, and soon she was in at the deep end, but coping.  The desk seemed to be busy in waves, before the end of the breakfast session, then before the ski lift opens. Once that happened, she leaned back and sighed in relief.

"Too much for you?" Lucas asked raising his eyebrow with a waggle.

She remembered their bet, that neither could cope with the others work place and grinned, "a complete doddle! I'll come and help you if it gets too busy downstairs anytime!" Giving him her greatest smile she turned to help a man who'd appeared at the desk to locate information on the Boxing Day Dinner. 

When she'd finished Carly looked around and finally saw Lucas sat on a chair at the back of the reception area, his legs stretched out in front of him and crossed at the ankle.

"OK, so you're a natural when it comes to this, but I have to say that this is a particularly quiet day, all things considered!"

Carly rested her hip against the desk beside him, and presented her sweetest smile, "do you concede? Admit defeat?"

He shook his head, "no way, I'm looking forward to a day with half pint punters! I'm from a  large family...it's second nature to me!"

As he stood to answer yet more phone calls, Carly leaned back, it was her first chance to think about the previous night since she'd left her room that morning. Jens attention...she'd thought he was going to kiss her...she still didn't know how she felt about that, still wasn't sure how she felt about him. She'd acted so out of character the previous night, becoming the sort of gibbering wreck that she despised in a woman. She'd virtually thrown herself at him, and that wasn't how she was.

Groaning she remembered their skiing 'date' that they had planned for the next day, was it rude to pull out?

"Penny for your thoughts!" Lucas' voice disturbed her thought process, and she felt the telltale flush of embarrassment sweep over her face, the last thing she wanted was to discuss Jens with him, he'd made his feelings far too clear the previous night. It was hard enough to work out how to deal with Jens, what she wanted, without the toxic influence of Lucas.

"Not worth a penny!" she mumbled into her chest before turning away from him.

"I didn't mean to upset you last night." He offered and she cursed silently the fact that he bloody knew she was thinking about Jens. The man was an enigma! 

"Whatever..." she really didn't want to do this now. it had been an enjoyable morning working with him, and Carly knew that'd change if the name Jens cropped up in the conversation.

"Carly...we can't ignore things..."

She turned to him, "there's the option of us arguing, spending Christmas day at each others throats. Or we could pretend that we don't argue every time we speak and get on with things!"

His mouth was poised open as though he wanted to say something, but obviously the look in her eyes warned him off, clamping his lips closed he nodded, he could live with that. 

"Where are you from?" She asked when there was another break in the mania he controlled so well. She'd spent hours trying to place his accent, and was failing.

Lucas glanced up from the computer he was bowed over, his dark eyes were sparkling as he smiled, "born in London, but moved to Sydney, Australia, when I was nine. Think I have a blend of both accents, so I'm not easy to place."

"Ah." Was her only vocal response,  she turned back to the stack of rosters he'd asked her to sort through and digested that information. It didn't shed any further light on him, and she was still curious to know what really made him tick.

Hearing his chuckle she fumed, even asking that slight question had caused some sort of misplaced confidence in Lucas. She wasn't interested in him in anything other than knowing why he felt he had the right to talk down to her, why he thought he could tell her what to do with her life.

As lunchtime approached, there was a real buzz at reception, people asking all sorts of questions, and trying to confirm bookings for the various dinners, that were being held for the rest of the day. The staff lunch was being served in two sittings, Lucas was taking the first break, Carly was due for the second, then she was moving back into the restaurant to start the dinner preparations. It really was all go, and Carly barely had a moment to think about anything.

Lucas came back from lunch with a smile on his face, "Wow, that meal was awesome!" 

Carly smiled, "I'm really looking forward to it!"

"Thanks for today, you've really been a great help...a natural!" Lucas' smile was genuine as he beamed at her.

"I have actually enjoyed it...and it's nice to know you can be civil when pushed!"

He shook his head and she realised she'd just spoilt the moment, "God Carly, will you listen to yourself? Any warning I have given you is genuine, Jens Konig is not a good man...he's a womaniser and I'd hate to see him hurt you, use you..."

Carly shook her head in amazement, "he won't hurt me. And why wouldn't he like me? What are you suggesting?"

He groaned, "I'm not saying you're not fanciable, just that he's not the time to take anything seriously. He...he's not like us."

Carly laughed, "you keep saying we're similar, but I'm nothing like you! You warn me about Jens, yet you are the man jumping into bed with women regardless of circumstances. Get your own ship in shape Lucas before you dare to criticise me!"

There was an anger in Carly's eyes that Lucas realised was final, he had as much influence over her as Jens himself, and every word she spoke cut him to the core. "You're right, we're not alike, you are just like all the rest! I can't believe I thought you were different! I'm not the one bouncing from woman to woman, I'm not here on some ego massaging jolly. Just think about it! I work and board. That's it.  You believe that Jens is the answer, that he loves you, he WILL use you, he won't woo you, date you, take care of you..."

"We do have a date planned, I'm not some loose floozy who's about to throw themselves at the boss. You know nothing about me..."

He laughed an ugly sound, "he's done this to so many Carly, and he will ruin you...If this job is important don't jeopardise it by trying to sleep your way to the top."

The crack of her hand connecting with his cheek rang like a gunshot across the thankfully quiet reception.