“You want to get out of here? My apartment would be so much more fun than this place.” The smile she gave was just as intoxicating as the beer I’d been drinking all night, but I wasn’t interested.

“I’ll pass,” I said, standing up and walking out to Douglas. He was the only one of the three that I could find.

“Hey, man. I’m gonna go.”

“Everything alright?”

“Yeah. I just want to get back and sleep. Long day.”

“Alright. You need a ride?”

“Naw. Stay and enjoy yourself. I’ll get a taxi.”

He nodded his head, and I turned and walked out. I took a taxi back to the base, dragging myself to my room and crashing on the bed. I had every intention of calling Cassie, but the exhaustion from the day and the alcohol flowing through my veins inhibited that, leaving me passed out, still fully clothed.

When I awoke the next morning, I had a headache from hell and a missed call from Cassie. I called her back, trying hard to lie still so as not to make my pounding head worse.

“Hello,” she said. Her voice was enough to take a slice of the ache away.

“Hey, good morning,” I said slowly with a hefty dose of grog.

“Morning? It’s almost noon. I was wondering what was going on with you. When did you get in?”

“Um….” I looked at the clock sitting on the nightstand. “I got back kind of early. I left the club.”

“Then why the hell are you so tired?”

“I drank way too much, and I didn’t get any sleep the night before.”

She went silent. I could hear her breathing, but no words came out of her mouth.

“You there?”

“Yeah, I’m here,” she said, the anger in her voice easily distinguishable.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Did those guys have any females around?”

I wasn’t going to lie to her. “Yeah. And that was when I checked out.” She went silent again. “Cassie, there were girls there, one hit on me, and I left. Honest to God. I made that fucking mistake once. I’m not making it again.”

“Alright. Anyway, what are you doing today?”

“Sleeping. I have a fucking hangover and all I want to do is sleep. What about you?”

“Dalton is taking me back to the pool. It’s like one-ten here.”

“Did you give him my message?”

“No. Completely unnecessary.”

“It’s necessary. But, I’ll check it out when I get back.”

“Have a good day of sleep. Talk to you later.”

“Bye.”

As soon as I hung up with her, I lolled to the bathroom, then climbed back into bed and went back to sleep. I didn’t want to eat, see daylight, or anything else. I just wanted to sleep, in a shroud of darkness, thinking about nothing, since thinking hurt too much. Never again would I drink beer the way I did the night before. It wasn’t meant to be consumed like that—not for me anyway. I slept until ten that night, when I woke up and finally left the room to grab something to eat. The sticky, night air, fireflies flying all around me, mosquitos looming with them, had me hurrying to get back to my room. Florida was definitely not for me, and I was on serious countdown mode to get my ass back on a plane that would take me back to the dry heat of the Mojave Desert.

Monday morning, I woke feeling so much better. I dressed in my uniform and left for the meeting room, where I was handed a binder as I walked in, taking my seat at my assigned spot next to Belkins.

“Hey, man. What happened to you Saturday? You okay?”

“Yeah. I was just too wasted. And that chick was up to no good. I have a fucking girlfriend back home.”

“Ahhhh. Gotcha. We thought something was wrong with you.”

I shook my head, turning in my seat as two middle aged men walked in, beginning the presentation on a new aircraft based radio system for joint services. The presentation was informative, teaching a few things that aren’t normally covered in regular Comm School, but I couldn’t get too in depth with it. My mind was elsewhere. I never thought that I would long for Twentynine so badly, but I was. That shithole with all of its sand, bushes, blazing heat, had one thing that sunny Florida and all of its pristine beaches just didn’t have.

Cassie.

When the class was over, Belkins turned to me as I was gathering all of my brochures and binder materials, reaching out his hand for a shake.

“I hope if you come back to Florida, you look me up.”

“Oh, for sure. Thanks for showing me a good time.”

I said my goodbyes to Miles and Douglas, then headed back to my room to pack up. I had an early flight in the morning, and I couldn’t wait to get on that plane and get my ass back to California.

Halfway through packing, I picked up the phone and called Cassie, needing to hear her voice.

“Hey you,” she answered, the tone of her voice sweet and excited, making me long for her even more.

“I’m all done here. I’ll be on a plane early in the morning. Coming back for you.”

“Can’t wait to have you come,” she said with emphasis on the ‘come’ part.

I laughed, feeling like I could go to town on her and never stop. This three day separation was killing me, but thankfully, it was just about over.

“I have a long flight and a layover in Phoenix. It’ll probably be kind of late by the time I land.”

“No worries. Just get your ass back here to me. And bring that delicious cock with you. I think I’m hungry now.”

“Fuck, Cassie. You can’t say shit like that to me while I’m on a different coast and can’t do anything about it.”

“Well, hurry up and come home.”

“I’m working on it. Let me go to sleep so I can wake up and be on a plane because as early as I have to be up, I won’t remember much of my morning.”

She laughed again.

“Alright. Have a good night. See you soon, Sergeant.”

“Bye.”

I hung up the phone and quickly packed away the rest of my stuff before jumping in the shower. The stickiness in the air and the fact that I wanted to cut out the morning routine had me hurrying to get myself to bed. I would be back in Twentynine by tomorrow evening, and I had never been so thrilled. I couldn’t believe my heart was stuck in that fucking place, but it was. It was firmly planted, and needed to get back as soon as possible. 

Chapter 28

Cassie

Alex’s TAD trip seemed to drag.

It felt as if he was gone forever, but when I woke up this morning and met Dalton down at the chow hall, he reminded me that Alex would be back by this evening. Those words were like music to my ears. I didn’t think a few days apart would be that hard, but it turned out to be more difficult than I had anticipated. Thankfully, Dalton was around because I avoided Angelica like the plague.

I walked into the classroom, excited and ready for the day. Although this course was coming to an end--and that alone brought astronomical amounts of sadness-- I knew Alex would be coming back, so I pushed that little cloud of misery out of mind and focused on his arrival.

We filed into the room, Jensen standing before the class with a roster in his hands.

“Alright. It looks like Headquarters Marine Corps has finally assigned you to your first duty stations. Remember that preference sheet you filled out at the beginning of this course? Disregard that because some of you will be happy with whatever they gave you, and some of you will not.”

My breathing picked up as he began reading off names with unit and location. I had been dreading this day for a while. Alex had told me not to worry about it, and I’d tried not to give it any further thought, but the reality of it all still followed me. And now, here it was.

“Private Allen, Eighth Radio Battalion, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.”

Allen’s face soured. He obviously wasn’t too happy with his duty assignment.

“Private, Bane, Eighth Radio Battalion, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.”