They met shortly after completing boot camp. She was on a high from a new level of physical fitness, one she enjoyed maintaining. She was also enjoying the brief moments out of uniform; for the first time in three months she was able to slip into a pair of jeans, a low-cut top, and slick some plum lip gloss on her full lips.
She wasn't pageant material, at least, not until you truly got a good look at her. Her long chestnut hair, finally free from braids and buns, swept her high cheekbones, which were just barely sprinkled with the lightest freckles. Bright baby-blue eyes set above a button nose and a brilliant smile that made you look twice and realize she was really a knock-out. Her newly sculpted and honed figure didn't hurt, either.
She first caught sight of him when rushing to get back to base from Chicago. On a precious liberty weekend, she had finally been able to go out drinking with her girlfriends and truly let her hair down. He was tall, a Puerto Rican, given his honeyed skin tone and the small flag pinned to his satchel. His deep dimples flanked gorgeous full lips, and his shirt was just form-fitting enough to reveal an impressive body. She stopped, almost tripping into the train, as she saw him watching her, and a small blush crept up her fair skin as she rushed to meet her friends on the train.
She could barely carry on a conversation with her friends on the forty minute train ride back to the base. She even tried to think of excuses to walk up into the other train cars to see if he was on this train, but she realized that would be incredibly obvious and didn't want to look like some kind of psycho. So she settled back, listened to her friends giggle and gossip while she watched the scenery roll by.
As they exited the train, she scanned the platform but didn't see him, so she pulled her jacket around her and hurried to the gate and on to her barracks. The sun had gone down and it was getting chilly....plus the girls still needed to find their stashed uniforms and change, as they were not supposed to be off base out of uniform. The four girls huddled behind a large group of bushes at the edge of a small grove of trees and took turns quickly changing into uniform, shoving their civilian clothes into their backpacks. Quickly twisting their hair into loose buns, they began making their way into the barracks.
She was going to take the opportunity to have one last cigarette before going to bed, so she struggled to pull out her pack of smokes (without dumping her civvies everywhere) and patted her pockets for a lighter.
"Looking for a light?" she jumped and turned to stare into the most gorgeous chocolate brown eyes she'd ever seen. She almost lost of her train of thought, stammered, and finally managed to squeak out, "...yes..." He walked with her to the smoke deck, where they shared a cigarette in silence. As her cigarette burned perilously close to the filter, he finally broke the ice and asked her name.
"Tell me yours first..." her characteristic impish flirting caught him off guard and a slow, broad smile spread across his face. "Lupe...and....you?"
"Megan." She smiled and her blue eyes flashed with the fun of the game, and as she leaned forward to crush her cigarette into the ash tray, he saw the swell of her breasts and the belt cinched tight around her trim waist and he felt himself start to stir.
"So..can I get your number, or do I have to follow you around?" he joked, pulling out his cell phone. She deftly pulled the phone from his hand, her index finger purposefully sliding down his, and then popped it open, entered ten digits, and quickly slipped it across the table to him as she stood and walked inside.
Once inside, she raced upstairs and into the shower....her panties had become mysteriously wet during her brief encounter with this new intriguing man, and she felt the need to rinse off. His voice was smooth, deep, with the lilting accent of a native Brooklyn from a Puerto Rican family. Unlike most Latino guys she saw around base, he didn't dress like a thug...in fact, he was wearing rather fitted jeans and a polo and whatever cologne he was wearing was mouthwatering. Thoughts of him kept her tossing and turning late into the night.
Lupe's sleep wasn't much better. After going to his barracks, turning on his iPod (mainly so his roommate wouldn't bug him with mindless chatter), he lay in his rack and let his mind wander to her musical laugh, her shiny, dark hair, and the brief glimpse of her body he had seen when she was changing back into uniform behind those bushes by the gate. He hadn't been peeping, just lost in thought as he walked by the fence along the perimeter of base when a flash of white caught his eye and he looked over just in time to see her sliding her halter top over her head and her white bra showed quickly before it was covered with the uniform top. It wasn't long, but it was long enough for him to snap a mental photo of her long, tanned torso with the twinkle of a belly-button ring and the swell of her breasts. In fact, upon remembering it, he knew he wasn't going to be able to sleep unless he got his mind off of her, so he switched on ESPN and fell asleep to sports highlights.
The next few days passed quickly, with Lupe and Megan catching quick glances at one another between drills and classes and texting almost nonstop when cell phones were allowed. She liked sushi, he liked steak, where to go for dinner? She liked rock music, he liked rap and jazz, what to listen to? They teased and flirted, pushing the brink of phone sex multiple times but finally mustering the courage to set a date and time for a dinner date.
They arranged to meet just outside her barracks since they had both recently earned the right to wear civilian clothes on base. Lupe was slightly disappointed when she bounced down the stairs with a flouncy skirt, a blue top, and a blue jean jacket on top, but his concerns were put to rest when she removed the jacket at the gate and stashed it behind the same group of bushes, revealing a sexy, low-cut halter top that hugged her torso and chest perfectly. He felt a twitch in his pants and adjusted himself quickly, hoping she didn't notice. He hailed a cab and gave instructions to a nice steakhouse about twenty minutes away, and then they passed the time in polite conversation, pretending to ignore the sizzling energy growing between them. His eyes wandered down her long, tan legs and he switched the topic to running to avoid asking her to wrap those legs around him.