Rohan woke up late. He barely had time to get dressed and grab an apple on his way out the door to catch the train to work. He shoved the apple between his teeth and tucked in his shirt before running his hands through his unruly hair while he waited his turn to get on board.

Throwing himself onto a vacant seat he bent to tie up his shoe laces. If he kept waking up in the middle of the night, like he had been lately, he'd have to get some sleeping tablets or he'd start making mistakes at work. Rohan thought about increasing the amount of time he worked on his gym or maybe he should start jogging. He heard it helped if a person had trouble sleeping. Looking out of the window he crunched on his apple and grinned. If the real Annie had been in his bed with him, he'd never want to get out.

He trudged up the stairs and wondered if there'd be any repercussions because of his actions yesterday. Rohan walked along the hall and drew curious looks from some of the staff. That was nothing new. It was only when John Forks one of the technicians nodded at him and said, "New haircut, Wayland," that he realised the curious looks were probably due to the fact he hadn't had time to oil his hair.

Rohan shrugged, the new him didn't care. He passed Mercer and Sally at the staff room door and made sure he held their stares as he went by. They both looked nervously away. This made Rohan smirk. They had obviously got his point and wouldn't give him any trouble for a while.

Sitting down at his desk to tackle the latest batch of blood samples, Rohan thought about Jack saying he should go into research or forensics. If things continued to get better and his confidence grew, he would look into Jack's suggestions. Rohan wondered what Annie would think about him having a hand in solving crimes.

This thought made him anxious because he wondered how Annie would receive him today. He was afraid she would treat him as someone with a disability because of his inability to stick up for himself. In some ways he wished she had been there to witness his confrontation with Sally and Mercer. Rohan sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He'd just have to prove to Annie he wasn't weak, not any more.

*

The place was packed. Annie was run off her feet. She hurried from one table to the next.

Rohan came in but she barely had time to grin at him. His usual booth was taken up. She wondered if he would hang around until one became vacant. When Annie looked again, she was surprised to see he had slipped into Harry and Sid's booth with them. She put his order in, grabbed the coffee, and then wove her way towards him.

"Hello." Annie poured his coffee but didn't look him in the eyes. She was afraid of what she'd see after her interference yesterday and what Ruby had said about her just having earned herself a boyfriend.

Then there was her dream. Annie felt if she looked at him it would replay for everyone to see.

"Busy today."

She glanced at him and nodded. "I put your order in but it might take a while."

He grinned and picked up his cup as she refilled Sid and Harry's.

There was something different about him today so Annie looked again. It was his hair. He hadn't oiled it and it looked fantastic. Thick, dark brown and slightly wavy so it hung in his eyes a little.

"Hey, Annie!"

She tore her eyes away, and quickly lifted the coffee pot. "Oh shit! Sorry, Sid. I'll get a cloth." Annie blushed and scurried away.

Sid chuckled and kicked Rohan on the shin. "That was your fault, lad. The new hairdo threw her and you can bloody stop with the leg shaking cause she ain't gonna bite you. Not today anyway. Too many witnesses."

Rohan stopped shaking his leg. He hung his head and supported his forehead with his hands as he chuckled. If only it was, he who had distracted her. He was still smirking when Annie came back with a cloth to wipe up the coffee spill. She frowned at him so he cocked his head a little and grinned some more.

"Are you laughing at me, Rohan Wayland? Because if you, are you can get your butt off that seat and help me clear tables?"

Rohan lit up like a spot light as he tried to stop his chest from shaking with humour. She was so cute. The word feisty came to mind but he could tell she wasn't really angry because her eyes were sparkling. He started to stand but she put her hand on his shoulder and pressed down.

"Stay where you are. You'll probably break more than you clear and just create more work for me," she said as she lifted her chin and strutted away.

Rohan was sure her hips swayed more than usual. As he lifted his eyes from her backside, he met her gaze. Her stern expression changed to a cheeky smile. Annie raised her eyebrows and cocked her head at him. Rohan chuckled again, and then dropped his head so Sid and Harry couldn't see him blush.

Sid kicked him on the shin again. "I hear little Puss saved your arse yesterday. Shame I wasn't here to see it. Harry reckons it was one of the quickest set downs he's ever seen."

Rohan's mouth was starting to ache from smiling so much. He looked at Annie clearing tables for waiting customers, chatting happily as she did it. He grew sombre and sighed as he murmured, "She's beautiful."

He couldn't believe he'd said that out loud. He stared wide-eyed at Sid and Harry. His face prickled with heat.

They laughed and nodded their agreement. "She is that." Harry leaned closer. "I reckon you owe her some thanks. You take her out some time, I'm sure she'd like it."

Glancing towards Annie once more, Rohan's leg shook as a ripple of anxiety swept through him. He pressed his hand down hard on his thigh and looked fretfully back at Harry. "I'm... I'm... not very good with women... find... find... it hard to talk to them."

"Yeah..." Sid scratched his head. "I know what you mean. I was a bit like that me self when I was your age." He tapped the table with his fingers in thought. "But if the woman's worth it you'll find a way." His eyes lit up as he lifted his head and wagged his finger at Rohan. "The movies. Take her to the movies. Not much talkin' needs to be done at the movies."

Harry banged his hand down hard on the table causing their cups to shake. "God, Sid! There's still life left in you yet, you old dog." They burst into laughter and drew the attention of just about everyone in the café.

Annie looked towards them. She let out a sigh. Rohan looked so happy and handsome. Even with his thick rimmed ugly glasses and his tatty old jumper.

She didn't get back over to his table again. Ruby delivered his sandwich.

*

Catching a glimpse of him as he was going out the door, Annie gasped, grabbed his book from under the counter and rushed out after him. "Rohan!"

He turned immediately at the sound of his name and strode towards her holding her gaze. It surprised him that it was she who looked away first.

Annie held his book out. "You left it yesterday."

Rohan looked down at it, and then back at her face. He felt the now familiar feeling of arousal stir in his jeans. He wanted so badly to touch her lips again. To be a normal man but he just nodded and took the book from her. "Thanks... thanks, Annie... thanks for what you did for me yesterday... I'm... I'm not good with wom..." Before he could finish, she reached up and touched his lips with her fingers.

"Shush... it's okay... I get it." Then she quickly turned around and darted to the door where she stopped and turned back towards him saying, "By the way, I like your hair like that."

Rohan stood with shear disbelief on his face. He unconsciously ran his hand through his hair as she hurried inside. So, it was his hair that had distracted her. He looked through the café windows to see numerous people watching him, smiles on their faces.

Feeling overwhelmed he stood frozen until he saw Sid and Harry giving him the thumbs up. He chuckled and gave them a wave as he walked away.

He was on such a high when he returned to the office that Miss Macy, the pay roll clerk, stopped him in the hall outside reception and asked if he'd won the lotto. Jack also looked at him strangely as he entered the lab and asked if he had been drinking.

Rohan burst into laughter as he shook his head. "I just had a really great lunch break. Sorry."

"No need to say sorry for being happy, Wayland. In fact, I'm glad to see it," Jack said with a nod of approval.

Rohan put his book on his bench and went back to work. As he shifted things around and shook test tubes, he accidentally caught the book with his elbow. It fell to the ground and flipped open. "Shit," Rohan murmured. He left it there until he wrote down the results of his test, and then bent to pick it up.

A small piece of card slipped out and fell on the floor. Rohan lifted it and turned it over. His heart surged. It was a painting of a daisy with the name 'Annie' signed in delicate writing in the corner. Placing it carefully on his desk Rohan gripped his forehead in his hands and stared down at the picture. What did this mean? Did she like him? Did he dare ask her to go to the movies like Sid and Harry suggested?

"Hey, Wayland! Can you test this for me in a hurry? It's some old chick's blood. She's on the verge of dying, apparently. If they don't find out what's going on she's a goner."

Rohan drew his eyes away from the watercolour and took the sample Bill Peters held out to him.

"What. Have you taken up painting pansies instead of being one?" Bill scoffed.

Normally Rohan would have ignored this but not today. He scowled, "What sort of scientist are you, Peters, if you can't tell a fucking pansy from a daisy."

Bill stared wide-eyed, his mouth agape. "What the fuck!"

Scraping his chair back with force, Rohan towered over Bill. "Yeah," he said. "What the fuck? I think it's time you pulled your head in."

Bill held his hands up and backed away before he spat back. "Fuck you, Wayland!" Then he stammered, "Phy... phytology isn't my field anyway."

Laughing, his confidence on an enormous high, Rohan shoved the sample jar full of blood back at Bill. "I don't think pathology is either so get some practise and test the fucking sample yourself."

As Rohan sat down Jack Benny nodded his head in approval. He knew Bill had asked Rohan to test the sample hoping he'd come up with a solution no one else had yet come up with, to then take the credit for it. He chuckled to himself. The boy was finally getting it.

I wonder if Rohan will be brave enough to ask Annie out.

Photo - Dissolve