Chapter Ten

Alrighty Peeps!! For the next several days at least I will only be posting every other day since I'm heading north to the land of no internet and limited cell reception!! I have a few chapters written, so I figured I'd just schedule them to post everyother day to keep some sort of continuity for ya'll.  Please comment, because I will still be able to read them when I get out of the gap for whatever various reasons.

So as a writer who likes to focus on the building of relationships... these next few chapters are exactly that. Hopefully you get some good laughs and smiles learning a few more things about our characters!!!

Soundtrack for today:

Sometimes, the last thing you want comes in first,
Sometimes, the first thing you want never comes,
And I know, the waiting is all you can do,
Sometimes...

I'll put a spell on you,
You'll fall asleep,
I'll put a spell on you,
And when I wake you,
I'll be the first thing you see,
And you'll realise that you love me.
Strange and Beautiful (Put a Spell on You) - Aqualung

“You are an evil woman!” I hissed into the phone, late Sunday morning.  I slept like a baby after spending the night drinking and dancing.  Dancing!  It really had been a fairytale and I couldn’t get the pictures out of my dreams all night.  The picture I constantly saw?  Sam’s face, close to mine before Sarah called me over to do shots; I thought for sure he was going to kiss me.  I tried to brush it off so that I wouldn’t be disappointed, but the more I thought about it, the more disappointed I became.

“Well then I guess I better get to church…” Denise giggled on the other end of the phone.

“No, you are going to stay on the phone with me so that I can tell you how bad of a person you are.”

“Did you have fun?” she asked, obviously not taking offense to my sand-paper attitude.

“I had a very nice time.”

“Just a nice time?”

I sighed and smiled broadly.  “Okay, I had an awesome night.  Sam was actually a lot of fun to be with…we even danced!” I divulged happily.

“I told you!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

“Hey, while I have you on the phone…come over for lunch today.  Race is already preparing some chickens to cook on the grill.  It’s a beautiful day, so we have to be out enjoying it!”

My stomach was already growling so there wasn’t a way of getting out of this.  Besides, Race made some of the best chicken BBQ I had ever tasted.  “Alright, I’ll be over in a bit.”

“Great see you soon!!”

“Man!  It smells delicious already!”  I exclaimed as soon as I stepped into the house.  Denise quickly came running over and pulled me into a hug.  She was definitely my favorite cousin and I always enjoyed hanging out with Race.  I was just glad they finally gave him a desk job in the military so he didn’t have to be deployed anymore.  My Aunt said he did it for Denise, they want to start a family in the worst way, but so far, no news on that front.

“Hope you brought an appetite because I have an extra chicken on the grill and I think Denise was planning on inviting the block with the amount veggies she’s cutting up for the salad!”  Race called from the kitchen before walking out back to the grill.  I laughed.  Before I could take a couple more steps away from the front door, it opened up.  I spun around and not to my complete surprise, found Alex looking back at me.  I turned back around and yelled out to Race, “I think Denise did invite the whole block!”

When I turned back around Alex was looking slightly confused.  “What was that all about?”

“Race and me were not aware that you’ve been invited for lunch, it seems,” I smiled.

“And I didn’t know you were invited,” she said shyly.

“Would you have not come if you had known?”

She bit her lip and smile softly.  “Just be prepared to fight me for the chicken.”

“Oh, it’s on.”

Admittedly, it was slightly strange seeing her the day after spending a memorable evening together.  It was if we both didn’t know where to go with this next.  Am I supposed to give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek like I did last night or do I just act like none of it happened?  Do I tell her that I’m really happy to see her or will that sound corny?

“Um, Sam?” Alex piped up.

“Yeah?”

“You’re in my way and I don’t know about you, but I kind of want a beer.”

I looked at her for a moment and then left out a laugh, thankful that Alex obviously had things under control.  I nodded my head and walked out to the kitchen with her following me.

I could tell he was mulling over things, but there wasn’t anything to say, was there?  I mean, we had a wonderful time, as friends, and that was that.  Never mind the fact that you dreamed about him all last night and could still feel his arms wrapped around you if you thought about it for too long.  Never mind the fact that you became all giddy when you saw his Jeep parked out front of the Race’s house. And never mind the fact that he looked adorable in his, flip-flops, cargo shorts and fitted brown t-shirt with his backwards Texas Rangers baseball hat. Ugh.

Like last night, I learned even more about Alex, or Fletch, which is what Race always called her.  They told stories about their time over in Afghanistan.  Alex talked affectionately about the many children they came in contact during their patrol.

“There was this one little girl who always only wanted bubble gum!”  Alex exclaimed, her face lighting up at the memory as she spoke.  “She was the beautiful thing ever, do you remember, Race?!”  Race smiled and nodded.  “Well, the one day I stopped to give her some of the Double-Bubble that Kramer had gotten in a care package and I handed it over to her.  She instantly ripped the wrapper off, chewed it a couple times and swallowed it.  I said, ‘Aya!  What did you do?!  You are supposed to chew it until the flavor is gone and blow bubbles in the meantime.’  She looked at me confused, put her hands on her little hips and said, ‘Miss Fletch, why would I want to do something like that?!  Why would I want the taste to go away when it can stay forever in my belly?’”  We all laughed at the innocent story.  Alex cut in between giggles and said, “Thank God the old wives tales are true, otherwise that kid’s stomach would have blew up!  I’ll never forget Kramer’s face when I told him the story.  He insisted that he wouldn’t be giving me anymore of his gum to me to give to the kids because it was a waste.”

“Of course he gave them to you anyway…”  Race said with a sad laugh.  “He never could say no to you.”

I looked over at Alex whose smile also changed to a sad one before it faded away.  It was obvious Kramer was someone special.

“Does Kramer still serve?” I asked curiously.

Alex looked up at me and slowly swiveled her head back and forth.  “He was killed the day I was shot.”

All of a sudden I felt very small.  “Oh, I’m sooo sorry,” I quickly said, leaning towards her and taking her hand to squeeze it.  She squeezed it back and her sad smile came back.

“No, worries.  Life moves on and I choose to remember him than forget him," she said quietly, not sounding 100% sure in her words.

“That’s right,” Race said.  “It has taken some time to be able to tell our stories, but we never want to forget them because then we’d forget who we were and who we are.”

Alex nodded and looked up into my eyes.  Despite learning more things about her, it was obvious I didn’t know even the half of it.

“I live two blocks down the street,” I informed him for the 20^th time since he insisted on giving me a ride back to my apartment.  It was only 7pm, but Denise wasn’t feeling very well, so it was time for us both go.

“I know where you live, Fletch.”

“Well, then why do you insist on taking me home?” I asked as he scooped me up and placed me in the passenger seat.  “This is more work than anything.”

“Who says I’m taking you home?” he asked, a smirk coming over his face.

“I need to get home,” I protested.

“To do what?!”

“It’s none of your business.”

“If it’s actually something important, I will take you home, but if it’s something like washing your hair or something then you’re coming out with me.  It’s 7pm on a Sunday night in the middle of the summer.  Besides, it’s not like I’m going to take you some place and sell you to a band of gypsies.”

I looked at him, crossed my arms and faced forward.  He just laughed, ran around to his side of the Jeep and crawled inside.  Soon we were off with the warm evening air whipping my hair around.

“Do you have an extra hat in this thing?!” I yelled over the loud wind and Theory of a Deadman.  I usually had my hair pulled back or at least a hair tie around my wrist, but not today and now I was tired of my hair flying into my eyes.

“I think the windblown look suits you,” Sam laughed before reaching into the backseat and pulling out a hat and a sweatshirt from underneath the seat.  I grabbed the sweatshirt from his hand before he could put it back under the seat and pulled it over me.  Despite the fact that I was swimming in it, I didn’t care because I was already a little chilly since I was only wearing a tank-top.  I then took the old, sweat-stained Nike hat, and threw it on, pulling my hair halfway through the back of it to keep it in place.  The hat wasn’t the cleanest, but it didn’t bother me, especially since it wasn’t the first time I had put on something not overly clean.  Honestly, I was just thrilled with anything that didn’t involve sand after spending all that time in the sand-box of Hell.  Once my hair was under control I left out a little sigh of content and flopped my arms back down onto my lap.

“Thank you!” I exclaimed happily.  “That was totally necessary.”  When Sam didn’t say anything, I turned to find him looking at me with a mesmerized stare.  “What?”

He just smiled, shook his head and turned his eyes back to the road.  “Nothing.”

“What?!”  I cried.

“Seriously, nothing.”

How is it that a girl can look completely sexy all dressed up like a princess, like she was last night but can look even more desirable wearing an old, disgusting baseball hat and an oversized sweatshirt?  Of course she caught me staring and I probably could have come out and said what I was thinking, but I still wasn’t 100% sure I wanted to fully open that can of worms yet.  I was okay with taking this slow, especially since Alex seemed to have enough on her plate right now.  Staying easy going, with no expectations appeared to be the best choice at the moment, despite the fact that I was very attracted to the girl sitting in the passenger seat of my Jeep.

“So I’m a little disappointed that you’re not blaring Taylor Swift right now…” she chirped.

“Would you like to listen to that instead?” I threw back.

“Only if you sing along,” she giggled.

I reached over to the dash, hit the change CD button and before I knew it we were pulling into the drive-in, singing Our Song.  We laughed hysterically at the kid at the ticket-window when he looked at us like we were drunk and continued laughing until they started the previews of the movie.  Alex finally made a comment about where I brought her when the starting credits began.

“I’ve never been to a drive-in movie,” she whispered excitedly.

I laughed and leaned across the console towards her.  “The best part about the drive-in is the simple fact of not having to whisper,” I whispered into her ear.

She laughed at loud and swatted at me.  After a moment she asked, “So how many dates have you brought here?”

I sat back, reclined my seat a little and propped my hands behind my head to get comfortable.  “One actually.”

“Just one?”

“Yup.”

“How old were you?”

“17. Her name was Tracy, and I had the biggest crush on her since elementary school.  I came back here for the summer after being chosen to play for the U-18 Canada team and thought I was the biggest shit on the planet.  I was so nervous that I ended scraping the side of my dad’s Benz on the pole at our parking spot.  I was humiliated because all she did was laugh at me and make a comment about my ears.  We didn’t even make it through the first 5 minutes of the movie before I took her home.”

“She made fun of your ears?”

“Yeah,” I frowned.

“What movie did you come and see?”

“The Lord of The Rings.”

“Did she call you a hobbit?” Alex asked, stifling her own laugh.

“I do not look like a hobbit!” I growled.

“No, you’re too tall, but you could pass as Elijah Wood’s distant cousin or something…that’s if he was a hobbit in real life.”  She busted up at the end of her comment, unable to hold it in anymore.

I looked over at her and scowled.  “Whatever Mulan,” I grumbled.

“I’d rather be Mulan than a hobbit,” she snorted.

“Ah, Mulan might be beautiful, but don’t forget, she was a princess.”

Alex instantly stopped laughing and gasped.  “She wasn’t a princess!”

“Uh, yeah she was.”

“No, she wasn’t.  She was just a warrior who fought in the war because her father was too old.  Plus, she wasn’t Korean!  That is just being stereotypical.  So get your movies and facts straight.”

“In all fairness, you calling me a hobbit because of my ears is stereotypical,” I informed her.

She opened her mouth and then thought against whatever she was thinking, crossed her arms and sat back into her seat.  I watched her sit in silence for a moment and then she quickly turned towards me, stuck out her tongue and turned back to the movie.  I couldn’t help but leave out a loud laugh.

“You are definitely a spoiled princess.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head.  “Whatever, I’m still trying to figure out how someone who people claim is a big stud hockey player knows about one of the lesser popular Disney characters.”

“I have two sisters you know.  And what do you mean people claim I’m a stud hockey player…you don’t know this for yourself?”

“I’m not a big hockey fan,” she settled back into her seat.

“And you call yourself Canadian?” I chuckled, lightly pushing her shoulder.

“Your hot-shot mouth is definitely getting on my nerves now,” she grumbled.

I leaned over the console towards her once more and whispered, “So I guess this doesn’t count as date #2?”

She slowly turned her head so that she was only inches from my face and whispered, “You wish…hobbit.”