Love on Leave

by Leah McDonnell

  Lana points. “Oh, we got you so good!” she says, barely able to speak through her laughter.

  Tears roll down Drew’s cheeks as Max grips his side.

  I cross my arms putting two and two together. “You assholes set me up didn’t you?”

  Drew clutches his side. “Well, Lana told us how much you liked seeing her lady parts yesterday, so we thought we’d give you a few more to look at.”

  “Drew promised he’d do their laundry for a week if they’d do it,” Lana says.

  Max throws up his hands in surrender. “It wasn’t my idea, I swear!”

  I nod. “Alright, I’ll admit it. Y’all got me! But y’all better believe payback’s a bitch!”

  It's late evening. Two pepperoni pizzas and a half case of beer later, we’re sitting in Drew’s room reminiscing about all the crazy excitement we’ve had this weekend. As the holiday comes to a close more and more people make trickle back in from the break.

  Santos and several other friends stop by to say hello, including one of my new shower friends. Who came by to make sure there were no hard feelings.

  As the sun finally sets, full-bellied and rested, Drew claps his hands, “Alright! It’s time!”

  Max and Drew have mentioned this Chemlight thing at least a half a dozen times, but we still aren’t computing what exactly it is.

  “Time to see what all the fuss is about,” I say, still confused.

  “Lana, you might want to change your T-shirt. White tends to stain,” Drew explains.

  She does as instructed as Max and Drew open the wrappers of large glow sticks. They’re like the ones used for Halloween, only bigger. Purple, green, orange, blue, and yellow illuminate the room as they crack each one. I watch mesmerized as Max punches a small hole at the ends of each one with a safety pin. Passing them over one by one.

  Drew flips off the overhead light, allowing only the glow from the sticks to shine. “Are you girls ready?”

  He cranks up his stereo. “Now watch this!”

  It’s like something out of a dream as they begin to fling the contents of the sticks across the walls. We join in as a 3-D rainbow of neon colors splatters every inch of the room, and us. An acid trip on steroids as the room glows like a circus funhouse.

  “Won’t this ruin his stuff?” I ask Max, slightly concerned.

  “Nope! Watch this.” He flips the light switch on and the colors instantly vanish. He flips it back off and they reappear.

  I’m in awe. “How long will it stay like this?”

  “It wears off in a few hours,” he says, slinging green and purple colors on me. I squeal and sling mine back.

  “This is in-sane!” Lana yells, joining in on our game.

  In less than ten minutes we’d drained all the liquid out of the sticks. Painted in it, we sit in silence, gazing at the masterpiece we’ve created.

  Lana and Drew use the opportunity to have an under the lights make out session, while I snuggle on the couch with Max.

  I look around the room. “This may be one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.”

  “I’m glad you like it,” he says with pride.

  “Thank you for this.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  It doesn’t take long before it’s clear, four’s a crowd. So Max and I make our way to his room. It’s different from Drew’s. Simple and clean. Bunk beds made up with a small pile of folded laundry on the top. A few moving boxes are stacked up near the door and work gear is neatly organized on the shelves of a bookcase. Other than an American Flag, nothing else is on the walls.

  “As you can tell, I don’t spend a lot of time in here,” he says, picking up a pair of work boots from the middle of the floor.

  I nod toward the boxes. “Coming or going?”

  “Coming,” he says. “I’ve only been in here about a month. I haven’t taken the time to unpack yet.”

  “Where were you before?”

  He sighs. “Well, it’s kind of a long story.”

  “We’ve got all night,” I remind him.

  “Yes we do,” he says. “And I tell you what… why don’t you get comfy while I go get out of these clothes? When I get back, I’ll tell you all about it.”

  It’s late and the halls have grown quiet. Max is back and has changed into a T-shirt and gym shorts, looking hot as ever. He turns on the radio, barely loud enough to hear. The lights are off, but the streetlight outside lights the room through a crack in the blinds.

  I’m on the bottom bunk, my back propped against the wall. He climbs in beside me and pulls me to him until we’re face to face.

  He swipes a stray curl from my face. “Thank you for coming up here.”

  I smile. “Thank you for letting me come up here.”

  “I know we have plans to meet on the Fourth, I just wasn’t ready to let you go yet.”

  I shake my head. “I still don’t get any of this. You. Me. It’s like a dream. It honestly doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I’m crazy about you. I hope you know that?”

  “No, that’s not what I meant,” I say, frustrated with myself. “You’ve been amazing this entire time and I find myself liking you more every minute we’re together. What I don’t know or understand is why you do. I mean, don’t think I…”

  He grabs my hand. “That ex of yours did a number on you, didn’t he?”

  I don’t answer right away. The brutal truth, hard to admit. “Yes, he did. And as you saw Friday night, I still battle it every day.”

  “He’s an asshole, Kate. You’re way too good for him.”

  “I know,” I say with a heavy sigh. “I don’t love him anymore. Honestly, I’m not sure I ever did. It’s more about history than anything else. When you’ve worked so hard to make something work, it’s difficult to let go. Even if it was never reciprocated. Or appreciated for that matter.”

  “Well, for what it’s worth, I think you’re one of the most genuine, down to earth girls I’ve ever met. I honestly couldn’t tell you the last time I’ve had this much fun. Or Laughed this much. The fact you’re beautiful is just icing on the cake.”

  “Thank you. You’re not so bad yourself,” I tease, reaching over for a small kiss. “So you want to tell me about the moving boxes?” I ask, not letting him off the hook.

  “Eh...It was a complicated, dysfunctional, relationship that left me on a bit of a roller coaster of my own.”

  “I had a feeling it had something to do with a girl.”

  “She’s enlisted here. We met about a year ago through mutual friends. Things started off great. We had an amazing first few months. I was spending all my free time with her. I was at her place more than I was here, so eventually moved in. But as time went by, other than work, I realized we had absolutely nothing in common. She was needy and had a wicked jealous streak. She couldn’t stand for me to do anything away from her. I tried bringing her around the guys. Well, you’ve seen how they are. They’re crazy as hell, but all genuinely good guys. Even Davis.”

  “I will take your word for it,” I chuckle.

  “Jody wouldn’t give them a chance. Her personality and theirs didn’t mesh at all. They couldn’t stand her and she couldn’t stand them. So I tried to focus on the two of us for a while. But we could never get on the same page. I’m all for fighting for love, but it was a never-ending cycle of turmoil.”

  “When did all this happen? When did you guys break up?”

  “I guess we’ve been on and off since Christmas. But it was about six weeks ago when I cut the cord for good.”

  “Whoa! Six weeks? Not too long ago then.”

  “It was over way before, though. I kept hanging on hoping it might get better.”

  “Did you love her?”

  He thinks for a second. “I did. I really did. But it wasn’t meant to be. Thankfully, her time’s up in August. She’ll be heading back to Idaho, which will be a blessing for all of us.”

  “I’m sorry, Max. I’m sure it’s been a tough few months for
you.”

  “Well, I was serious when I say I couldn’t think of the last time I had this much fun.

  The beach was great, but meeting you and getting to spend time with you and Lana, made it a weekend I’ll never forget.”

  “I’m glad I could be of service!”

  We talk until the wee hours of the morning. To the point of sounding delirious. “We need to get some sleep. You have to work in the morning," I say between yawns.

  “Yep. Back to reality.”

  “Boooooo!” I whine.

  “So here’s what’s going to happen in the morning… We all have to be up at five and head to First Formation. We’ll have PT, then come back and have about an hour before we have to report to work.

  “PT? As in physical training, right?”

  “Yep! See. You’ll have this Army stuff down pat in no time.”

  “Doubtful,” I admit.

  “You can sleep in and when I get back, we can exchange numbers and say all our dreaded goodbyes.”

  “Not good-byes. Say our see you laters.”

  He smiles. “Absolutely!” he says, kissing me goodnight. A soft, loving, kiss that slowly releases the chains around my heart.

  As we close our eyes, Bob Seger’s, “We’ve Got Tonight,” softly plays on the radio. It’s as if the universe is confirming how much we truly needed this time.

  We barely close our eyes when the alarm clock begins to scream. “Oh Max, I feel terrible I kept you up all night.”

  “Worth every minute,” he says as he slowly rolls out of bed.

  He runs to the latrine to get dressed as the hall grows louder and louder as everyone begins to stir; like the halls of high schools between bells. Davis walks by the open door on his way back from the latrine wearing nothing but a white towel.

  His tall frame making it look the size of a washcloth.

  “Sup, Skeeter Bites!” he shouts, clearly proud of himself for coming up with a small boobs joke.

  “Like I’ve never heard that one before, Lurch!” I shout back as he passes.

  My jaw hits the floor as Max walks back in. He’s wearing a grey T-shirt with ARMY written across it, camo pants, and black boots.

  “Damn, Max! You look…”

  He smirks. “You like?”

  I wipe the invisible drool from my mouth. “There are no words.”

  “I’ll be back in about an hour, so get some sleep while I’m gone. I’ll wake you when I get back.”

  He finishes tying his boots and gives me a quick hug. A hint of Carmex on his burned lips trails as he leans in for a kiss.

  “Just a baby kiss! I have some serious morning breath!”

  He laughs. “See you in a bit.”

  With a quick smile from his beautiful face, he’s gone.

  The halls are silent again as I cozy back under the covers. Lana barrels through the door. “I had the most amazing night!” Clearly on cloud nine.

  I know exactly what she was busy doing. “I’m glad you had a good time.”

  She plops on the bed beside me. “We did it so much I’m sore.”

  I cringe. “I’m starting to worry about the closeness of our friendship.”

  “Ha! The best part, he gave me his number last night and asked if we could come back in a couple of weeks, so I can see him one last time before he heads home.”

  “That’s encouraging news.”

  “Nah, we’re just having fun. It won’t go any further. But I’m sure as hell going to enjoy it while it lasts.”

  “What about you and Max? Any under the sheet action?”

  “Nope. We kissed and talked.” I say, proudly.

  “Talked?” What is this? Middle school?"

  “Things are different with him. Our time is important. I can’t explain it.”

  “Well, it sounds B. O. R. I. N. G. if ya ask me!”

  I raise up and fluff my pillow. “I’ll tell you all about it on the way home. But he and I were up all night, I could use some more sleep before we head out.”

  “Me too, but I don’t want to be in Drew’s room alone. The door not shutting all the way freaks me out. Please come in there with me? Pleaseeeeeee!" she begs.

  “It didn’t freak you out last night when you were doing the horizontal hokey pokey.”

  “I'm serious, Kate!”

  “Why don’t you lay down here?”

  “Pleaseeeee?

  “Ugh!” I fling the covers back. “Fine! If it’ll shut you up!”

  I drag myself to Drew’s room and Lana and I settle into his bed. To save space, she lies at the head of the bed and I lay at the foot. The lights are off and I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.

  I’m not sure if it’s been thirty seconds or thirty minutes when voices grow at the door. My brain’s not awake enough to determine real-life and dream world.

  The bright fluorescent light flips on, instantly pulling me from my sleep.

  A male voice booms across the tiny room. “WHAT. THE. HELL. IS. THIS!?”

  I freeze, too scared to move from my spot at the end of the bed. Lana pops up. “WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?” he growls.

  I watch through a crack in the sheet, but he doesn’t notice me. The huge, angry, black man, with lots of stripes on his uniform, stands over the bed quizzing Lana. While another one stands at the door.

  I startle him when I pop up. “THERE ARE TWO OF YOU?” WHO SAID YOU COULD BE IN HERE?”

  “They, he, brought, home, beach, Max said, ok, here.” We try to explain ourselves, but it comes out as a bunch of rambling gibberish.

  “Go get Andrews RIGHT now!” The angry man shouts to the other. “Somebody better have an explanation for this!”

  He continues to scream like it’s our first day in boot camp, “You two stay here! I’m going to get the bottom of this!”

  He finally leaves, but hear him yell up the hall for someone to call the MP’s.

  We stare at each other in shock. “Holy shit! What have we done?”

  Tears pool in her panicked eyes. “I thought it was ok for us to be here?”

  “We have to get the hell out of here, Lana! Get your shit together! We have to go NOW!”

  We spring out of bed, gathering our things in hurried chaos. My legs shake as I race to Max’s room. I snatch my purse and not even stopping to put on shoes. Lana meets me at the door as I fly out of his room. Juggling a handful of clothes, her purse, and trying to slide her flip-flops on and run at the same time.

  “Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!” I shout over my back. “You grabbed the number right?” I ask as we jump the stairs two at a time.

  “Yes! It’s in my purse!” She yells as we make it to the door.

  The guys are lined up in rows doing jumping jacks as we clear the building. I’m so scared, I don’t dare look over.

  We sprint across the lawn to the parking lot. Lana is a pace slower with her hands full. I’m in the car and cranking it as she flies in. I throw it in drive before the door is shut and speed off as fast as I feasibly can.

  We don’t speak until Fort Benning is safely in our rearview mirror. We don’t even take a breath until we’re back on civilian land.

  “I have to stop,” I say, my hands still shaking. “I need to calm down before I can drive us home.”

  We pull into a Hardee’s and go in. We sit in silence, letting our nerves settle as we replay what happened.

  Lana finally musters up words. “Um, did that just happen?”

  “I think it did,” I say, straight-faced. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more scared in my whole life.”

  The corner of her mouth turns up. “Did you see the look on his face when he saw both of us in Drew’s bed?"

  And just like that, we bust out in hysterical laughter.

  Exhausted, it’s a quiet ride home. The radio’s tuned to seventies music, allowing us to be a little closer to Max and Drew in spirit. We didn’t need to talk. We already knew how the other felt and how much our lives had been affected by this amazing weeken
d.

  I pull up to Lana’s house and ask again, “You got the number, right?”

  She pats her purse. “Yep! Right here in my purse. I triple checked.”

  “Ok, good.”

  “Since they don’t have phones in their rooms, it’s the number to the hall phone they share.”

  “I hate I didn’t get a chance to tell him goodbye,” I say for the hundredth time.

  She grabs her pillow from the backseat. “You’ll still be able to. We can call them later.”

  She swings the door closed and leans into the window. “You don’t think they sent their boss in there to kick us out, do you?”

  I climb out to hug her goodbye. “Surely, not. It wouldn’t make any sense if they did. We were leaving in less than an hour.”

  She wraps an arm around my neck. “Go home and get some sleep. I’ll come over later so we can call them.”

  I climb back in the car and yell through the open window. “Well! We wanted a ‘do-over’ weekend and dammit if we didn’t have one hell of one!”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Father’s Day Weekend

  “How many times do I have to say I’m sorry, Kate? I was drunk and clearly transposed a number.”

  It turns out, in Lana’s inebriated state the night of the Chemlights, she jotted the last two digits of Max and Drew’s phone number wrong. So when we call, we get Fort Benning, only it’s not the building we need. We’ve been trying for weeks to reach them with no luck.

  I sit on Lana’s bed, flipping through TV channels while she finishes up last-minute college forms. “It’s been three weeks and we’ve tried every possible number sequence there is and we still haven’t gotten them,” I say, irritated.

  “I thought the guy we talked to at the mess hall sounded hot.”

  I lean back and bury myself into her mound of throw pillows. “It’s not funny. I can’t get him out of my head, Lana. There was something there. I felt it. Not to mention, I’m sure Drew told Max he gave you the number and now thinks I’m purposely not calling him.”

  “You’re going to see him in a few weeks at the beach. We can explain what happened then.”

  I lean up on my elbows. “But don’t you want to say goodbye to Drew?”