“Fine, but I know you’re keeping something from me,” she yells as I close my door.
I’m hoping she’s drunk enough to forget about things by the morning. The fucking alcohol has me spinning and I’m fighting to remove my clothes, so I just plop down onto the cool fabric of my comforter for just a few minutes and close my eyes.
Jesus, I’m such a slut. I can picture Bain standing in the dark alley with his dick hanging out watching me walk off. That was cold. Why do I do shit like that? I’m kind of wishing I’d handled it differently; he was really sweet. But it’s not me anymore. I’m fucked up. The past has screwed me over royally. Slowly, exhaustion takes me away to my paradise…
Biting my bottom lip, I shake my head fighting the feeling, wanting to hold on to this forever. But I can’t. Nate knows just how to push me – I let go. Enjoying the ecstasy that crashes through me while I cry out his name, he does the same, grunting like an animal, coming inside of me.
Just as he slows, I peck his lips and hear a group of people coming towards the water. He scrambles off of me, pulling his pants up. I giggle and pull my dress down, searching for my shoes. “Just leave ’em, baby, we’ll come back,” he says gripping my hand and pulling me away. We run down along the water hand in hand ’til we are a safe distance away.
When we finally stop and I’m out of breath, Nate chuckles at me, looking like he’s been on a nice beach stroll. “How are you not dying right now?”
“I’m a Marine, babe. I’ve been training for months; we run miles for breakfast.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re the Marine and not me,” I say looking back. It looks like the group is skinny-dipping, so I guess we didn’t really need to run off.
“Me too. Wanna walk for a bit?” he asks.
I nod my head, loving that we aren’t in a rush to get home. Walking hand in hand is perfect. But then when I’m with Nate, everything is perfect. “Are you going to write me often?” he asks.
I glare at him. “I thought we weren’t talking about this tonight.”
“You brought it up first.”
“Yes, I’ll write you every day.”
“Good, I’ll write you too.”
“How are your parents taking the news?” I ask.
“My dad is fine, but he’s been through this himself. He served overseas. My mom on the other hand, that’s a whole other story.”
“I’ll keep an eye on her.”
“Thank you, baby.” We continue walking in a content silence. “Look,” Nate says as we approach a huge array of sand castles. They are all lit up and range from ships to mermaids to castles. They are so many of them.
“I didn’t even know this was going on,” I whisper.
“Me neither.”
Both of us stare in amazement, looking at all of the intricate creations as they stand before us.
Nate sits in the sand pulling me down with him and I nestle against his chest watching the moon glimmer on the water. I exhale loudly and close my eyes, letting the sound of his beating heart soothe me.
“A?” he says, and I can hear the underlying question in his tone.
“Uh-huh,” I respond.
“What do you see for the future?”
I think of his question, wondering what it will hold. “What do you see for the future?” I ask, flipping the question back on him, wanting to know where his head is at.
“After I’m home from Afghanistan, I wanna spend every waking minute with you. I mean, I want to now, so I can only imagine what will happen when we are apart for so long.”
“I want that too.”
“What if I asked you something crazy?”
“You can ask me anything.”
“Before I go, I want to make you my wife. I want to leave knowing that you’re mine – forever. Will you marry me, A?”
Turning around in his hold, the look of sincerity is as apparent as ever. A warm smile spreads across his face and I know he is one hundred percent serious…
Waking up again, my eyes are wet. But finally the dream was different. I made progress. For the first time in over half a year, I made progress. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s because of Bain or Brady, or just my mental state. But whatever it is, I’m shocked. Dreams are normally my biggest enemy; they haunt my sleep like a ghost that won’t go away. Yet, I want nothing more than to relive those precious memories and get as close as I can to what I once had.
Rolling over, I check the clock on my phone. It’s almost eleven and I have to be at work at noon. Getting out of bed, I stretch and head right for the coffee machine. Even though I work at Starbucks, I need my caffeine now; my body can’t wait for me to get to work.
Aubrey’s nowhere to be seen so I check her room, hoping to wake her lazy ass up, but it’s empty. Huh? I wonder where she is? Heading back to the kitchen, I get my fix from the Keurig and grab my phone out of my room to text her.
Where did you sneak off to?