He showed up early and she answered the door in a big t-shirt, tight jeans, and wet hair. He helped himself to a beer and made a few phone calls while she finished getting dressed. It'd be their last night together for a couple of years and she wanted to make sure he remembered her fondly.
They discussed work, relationships, and everything else until she made him turn around so that she could pull on her sweater. He laughed at her and said that after all these years, she shouldn't be bashful in front of him. She playfully swatted him and said it wasn't modesty but her knowledge of his libido that prompted her actions.
Over dinner they talked about his upcoming deployment and her future plans for whatever adventure she decided to get herself into this time. He asked her about her failing relationship and she teased him about the whiplash he was getting from checking out the waitress three tables down.
They sat through a movie and then went for a drive to check out the cool night breeze from the ocean one last time together. As they sat on the ground, his head in her lap and her hands in his hair, no words were really spoken but nothing needed to be said that hadn't been already.
He'd taken her back to her apartment for the night and was off to have a farewell drink with his buddies. She looked up at him, holding back the tears in her eyes and told him not to be a hero in the war because she needed him to come back to her. He said that he wasn't meant to be a hero and he needed her as well. He pulled her to him and kissed her with hunger and desire but she pulled back.
She asked him to see her for not what she could give but what he could give her. He said that she wasn't paying attention. She said if he gave a woman everything, the woman would give him the world in return. He said he couldn't explain what he felt and she said they'd figure it out together.
He kissed her again softly and walked out the door. She felt the latch catch under her hand and let her head drop to the door after it closed. She had a relationship she was trying to save and she knew her best friend's history with women as a Playboy. The last thing she needed was to have him break her heart. But she wanted more than anything to open that door and go after him. To live in that moment they'd created.