First story, full send. I've been wanting to write this for a while, I just never got into the swings of things. Some of this is a true story, most of this isn't. I thank my brothers every day for bringing me home alive.
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"I'll be waiting for you right here the moment you get off that plane!" Her voice filled my ears as my heart warmed ever so significantly causing two reactions. One was my heart thumping faster than a Dodge driver trying to get around granny in the city, the other was blood rushing to another area. Hey, knock it off. No All Hands on Deck required this time! I adjusted my uniform as I hugged the woman tightly.
I closed my eyes tightly as I held this woman who was there in the thick of everything in my life so far, "Thank you Jen, I love you so much baby." I muttered out, trying to hold my tears back as I sniffled. Jen, or Jennifer giggled and held me tightly in return. This woman was my life.
We held for a bit until another voice behind me shouted. "Hey Gerhart, come on or we'll get chewed out for being late!" I raised my head, turning to the voice spotting my buddy, Halland. "Stop thinking about marching on Poland and let's go!"
I pulled back from Jennifer and kissed her deeply, parting her mouth with my tongue as she moaned softly. Her tongue pushed against mine carefully as we were trying to keep the pretense of just a deep peck on the lips. I pulled away hesitantly, "I gotta go baby... I'll call you when I can!"
She smiled as her eyes casted a shadow of sadness, "O- Okay, I'll hold you to it!" I saw the tears forming in her eyes, but she blinked, trying to hide the obvious emotional distress.
"Don't cry, I'll be home before Christmas!" I smiled, attempting to cheer up my love.
She sniffled again as her brunette hair fell down her shoulders as her dark blue eyes swelled up with more tears. "Y-yeah. It won't be long." She spoke to herself, attempting to convince herself it wouldn't be a tough parting.
I reached down for my bag and slung the back over my shoulders as I leaned in to give her a final goodbye kiss, but she took a step back and I understood why. She didn't want to break down crying right here in front of all the other families. I turned my head and ran, catching up with Halland who smacked me on the back of the head. "You were tongue fucking her, weren't you?"
"The fuck I was!" I shouted in my defense as we jogged over to the bus that would take us over to the airport. The two of us climbed onto the bus, working our way to the seats reserved by the rest of our squad.
"Five minutes to spare, damn you all are going to be the death of me!" Our Sergeant, Morten, chuckled to us as another soldier, Williams, shook his head.
My team leader, Pyler, shot a glance over to Morten. "No, your death is going to be from your special side."
Morten's face turned to questioning, "Special side?"
Williams, Halland, and I joined in chanting immediately, "Special, special, special!"
"Fuck you guys." Morten turned his head back to the front of the bus as the last soldier boarded the bus. Immediately, the bus sped off to the airport that held our plane. We were going to Afghanistan, and I was a 19 year old fresh in the Army. It seemed like yesterday I graduated High School and didn't know what to do besides spend the rest of my life with my girlfriend Jennifer.
We had a clichΓ© high-school relationship, or so I thought. Most people speak of banging the hottest chick or the bitchiest chick, and I suppose I can fall into that category honestly. Jennifer was a cheerleader, shocker, and I was just your average guy, Robert Gerhart. Standing at 5'7, white with that southern bronze tan, light blue eyes and dirty blonde hair. I wasn't into mechanical shit; I wasn't really into sports (I'll still throw down in soccer!) and I wasn't too involved with getting straight perfect grades for anything. I knew what I wanted to do, and college wasn't the option; I wanted to prove to my parents that I was a soldier just like the two were and deploy like both had before conceiving me.
We shared classes together and she didn't like me at all, I wasn't a jock or nerd so she couldn't figure me out other than a loser. I shrugged at it; women weren't my priority. Honestly sex to me at the time wasn't on my list of priorities at all. Chicks dropped out of classes all the time for pregnancies and dudes were complaining about STDs all the time, I decided to wait for once school was over and done with. Her opinion of me didn't change at first until we were usually paired up in class. She'd scoff and I'd just roll my eyes, but we put our differences aside and finished what we'd need to finish. It was Senior year when everything began to change honestly.
It was in September when another project was thrown at us, something in some boring class assignment. I yawned; I was tired as I had stayed up all night hanging out with friends at a bonfire. I wasn't into sex, but I was down to party and hang out with friends doing late night shenanigans. The teacher had called out the list of names for the project, and I of course was stuck with Jennifer. "God damnit." I muttered under my breath.
Jennifer turned her head, her eyes narrowed, "What was that?"
I placed my hands behind my head and glanced at her slightly. "Hm?"
"I said: What. Was. That?" Jennifer repeated as she stared into my eyes. I was briefly ensnared by her eyes as I blinked quickly, half trying to keep myself awake and half trying to escape the alluring capture.
I frowned, realizing she heard me, but I wasn't going to back down either. "I said god damnit."
Jen's eyes widened with surprise, "What, do you have a problem with me?"
I yawned again, turning my head back to the board. "Yeah, I suppose I do. You're just... irritating. Always something about the cheer team or hot guys. Always looking at your phone, taking selfies for snapchat. No one is going to bend their will and fuck you."
Jen leaned closer and kicked my foot hard, causing me to grunt and drop my hands onto the desk. The noise drew some looks as everyone glanced away back to their work. "You think you're the only judgmental fuck here?" She hissed furiously at me as she leaned in closer. "I at least have some social status while you sit here and do absolutely nothing! I can't figure you out Robert, not one bit! No interest in women or men, no interest in anything! You're the definition of social suicide!"
I leaned back, closing my eyes and digesting her profile of me, everything seemed to check out honestly. I did not bother with the social structures of school; they wouldn't last anyways and after I couldn't walk due to an injury, life gave me the exam before the lesson. All my friends forgot I existed so at this point, I was fine with this. I chewed my lip for a moment as Jennifer turned her head in victory back to her papers scattered across her desk. "Let me ask you this Jennifer, what are you going to do when school ends, and everyone goes their own ways? Will anyone care about you then? Will all your friends still be there for you when you have only yourself?"