Battlefield of the Heart

by E. A. West

  She leaned back to meet his warm gray eyes. “You know, I’m always willing to give a hug. All you have to do is ask.”

  “I might hold you to that.” He smiled as he released her.

  “That’s fine by me.”

  The area in front of the dorm had cleared by the time they arrived, but Greg and Leann still sat on the retaining wall. Leann looked curious and Greg looked relieved as Cindy and Danny joined them.

  “I take it the dorm’s been declared safe?” Cindy said as she accepted her computer and notes from her roommate.

  “Yes,” Greg said, “they came out a few minutes ago to tell us we can go back in.”

  Leann grinned. “You’ll never guess what set off the alarm.”

  “Popcorn?” Cindy said, lifting her eyebrows.

  “Nope, it’s even better.” Leann paused for effect. “Somebody up on the sixth floor tried to hide a burning joint in a trashcan. It was a metal can, but there were papers inside that caught on fire.”

  Cindy laughed. “You mean there were actual flames? That’s a first.”

  “That’s what I said.” Leann stood and yawned. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m going to bed.”

  Greg stretched his arms above his head then rose from his seat. “Me, too. I have a class in the morning.”

  “So do I, but I have to finish the paper that’s due before I can sleep.” Cindy looked at her roommate. “I’ll be nice and work in the lounge so the light won’t bother you.”

  They headed for the door, and Danny glanced at Cindy. “You want some company? There’s no way I’m going to sleep any time soon.”

  “Sure.” She offered a smile of thanks as he held the door open for her. “Of course, I won’t be very good company since I’ll be busy with my paper.”

  “That’s fine.” He held her back and spoke quietly. “I won’t be good company, either. I’ve got too much on my mind.”

  She ran a hand down his arm, and then they caught up with Greg and Leann as they opened the stairwell door. They left Greg at the second floor and continued upstairs. When they stepped into the fourth floor hall, she glanced at Danny.

  “Before we go to the lounge, do you want to meet Iggy?”

  Leann snickered. “You actually admitted to owning him?”

  Cindy grinned and shrugged. “I had to prove I’m just as weird as the next guy.”

  “Who’s Iggy?” Danny asked, his gaze shifting between them.

  “My duck.” Cindy grabbed his hand and pulled him down the hall. “Come on, I’ll introduce you.”

  He chuckled as he walked with her, and Leann rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe you want to show off that duck.”

  Cindy let go of Danny and glanced at her. “You keep threatening to steal him.”

  “That’s beside the point,” Leann said, her cheeks pink.

  Cindy took pity on her roommate and quit picking on her. “Hey, do we still have any pop?”

  “Yeah, there’s most of a two-liter in the refrigerator. Why?”

  “I need sugar and caffeine to keep me going until this paper is done.” She pulled off her lanyard and slid her key in the lock. “I’ll buy another bottle tomorrow or whenever I can get to a store.”

  “I can give you a ride to wherever you need to go,” Danny said. “As long as I don’t have a class or anything.”

  She flashed him a smile as she opened the door. “Thanks, Danny.”

  She led the way inside, the light still on. Danny let Leann enter first then stepped in behind her. Cindy heaved a mental sigh of relief that they kept their room neat. She’d had a messy roommate her freshman year and quickly learned how embarrassing it could be to have friends unexpectedly drop by her room.

  She grabbed the stuffed duck lying on her bed. “This is Iggy.”

  Danny took the duck from her as Leann grabbed pajamas and headed into the hall. He ran his hand over the duck’s body, a faint smile touching his lips. “You didn’t mention that Iggy’s soft.”

  “Yeah, that’s part of the reason I sleep with him. He keeps me from missing my cat quite as much.”

  He raised his eyebrows as he met her gaze. “You have a cat?”

  Cindy nodded, loving his curious expression. “At my parents’ house. I’ve had Elmo since I was thirteen. When I’m home, he sleeps right beside me.”

  Sadness clouded Danny’s face, and he looked at the duck in his hands. “I had a dog. She got hit by a car while I was overseas the last time.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.” She set her computer and notes on her desk and gave him a hug. “I know how hard it is to have a pet get killed by a car.”

  He stepped back and nodded, then he laid the duck on her bed as he spoke softly. “Especially when you’re out of the country and can’t get home for another seven months.”

  She didn’t know what to say — what could she say? — so she walked over to the small refrigerator in the corner. After pulling out the partial two-liter of cola, she retrieved a pair of plastic glasses from the box on top.

  Danny walked over and took them from her. “Let me carry this stuff so you can bring your homework.”

  “Thanks.” Cindy retrieved her computer and notes from her desk.

  She left the door open as she led Danny to the lounge. Leann would return any minute, so she didn’t see a point to locking the room. Besides, she wasn’t sure her roommate had taken her key.

  Cindy dumped her homework on one of the couches, and Danny set the two-liter and glasses on the low table in front of it. He went around the table to sit on the other couch as she opened the bottle of cola.

  She filled one of the glasses and held it up. “Want some?”

  “Sure.” He accepted the glass and took a sip. “So, what’s this paper that’s due in the morning?”

  “It’s for my sociology class.” She finished pouring her cola and sat down beside her computer. “The one I had to pick a new topic for since veterans returning to civilian life is too complex.”

  “What did you finally choose?”

  “Poverty. I still have four pages to write before I’m done. Depending on what time I finish writing it, I may just get up early and proofread it before I go to class.”

  “I’ll proofread it, if you want me to. I have a talent for finding typos and grammatical errors.”

  Warmth flowed through her, coming to a rest at her heart. “That would be awesome. But it’s going to be pretty late when I finish writing the paper.”

  “As long as it’s before five, I’m sure I’ll still be wide awake.” He sighed and looked into his glass. “It’s a good thing I don’t have class until noon. Otherwise, I’d have to go on no sleep.”

  Cindy kicked off her sneakers, sympathy flooding her. “Is there anything I can do?”

  He shook his head. “I’ll sleep eventually. Just not for quite a while.”

  After taking a drink of cola, she set her glass on the table and picked up her computer. She could feel Danny’s haunted gaze on her as she continued her paper, and she wished she could find a way to help him get over his PTSD. She’d done a little research on it, which was part of the reason she still hadn’t finished this paper, but she hadn’t found anything she could do, other than be a friend to him.

  They finished off the cola before Cindy typed her conclusion. She wrote the last few lines and saved the file with a sigh of relief. Danny looked up as she stood and stretched.

  “Finished?”

  “I hope so.” She checked her watch and groaned. “Remind me to not get curious about the time again.”

  He stood and joined her. “What time is it?”

  “After three.” She shoved her hair back from her face and fought tears of exhaustion. Crying wouldn’t change anything. “My class is at eight. Maybe I should just skip trying to sleep and go over my paper until I have to leave.”

  Danny wrapped her in a hug, and his warm embrace and calm voice kept her from completely losing it. “You need to get whatever sleep y
ou can. I already told you I’ll go over your paper for you. By the time you print it out in the morning, it’ll be grammatically perfect and typo-free.”

  She leaned against him, too tired to care what kind of signals she might be sending. “I can’t abandon you to deal with my paper.”

  He used a single finger to nudge her chin up and looked into her eyes. “So lie down out here. If you fall asleep before I’m done, I’ll wake you up so you can go to your room.”

  She managed a small smile. “You’re a good friend, Danny.”

  “Hey, helping you with your paper is the least I can do since you helped me out a few days ago and again tonight.” He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her toward the sofa he’d been sitting on. “Go lie down. You look ready to drop where you stand.”

  “I am.”

  She moved to the sofa and lay down on the firm cushions. Rolling onto her side, she watched Danny sit on the other couch and pick up her computer. He smiled as he settled it on his lap. “Go to sleep. I’ll let you know when I finish.”

  Cindy closed her eyes as he shifted his attention to the computer screen. The silence was broken only by the occasional tap of a key from Danny. She relaxed, knowing her paper was in good hands, and drifted off.

  ****

  “Cindy, your paper’s done.”

  She stretched a little and opened her eyes to find Danny watching her. “What do you think of it?”

  “It’s excellent. I only found a couple of places where you forgot a letter or used the wrong verb tense.”

  “What do you think of the content?” She sat up and studied him. Would he tell her if he thought it was garbage?

  “If you write your paper on veterans half as well as you wrote this one, I think you should submit it somewhere and see about getting it published.”

  “Really? I didn’t think I wrote that well.”

  Danny sat beside her and put an arm around her shoulders. “Cindy, after reading your paper, I have a new understanding of just how big a problem poverty is in this country. What you wrote, and the way you wrote it, makes me want to do something to fix the problem. If you can bring that much awareness to something so prominent in society with a five-page paper, just think how much good you can do with twenty-five pages on veterans reintegrating into civilian life. You have the opportunity to raise awareness of the difficulties we face.”

  She laid her head on his shoulder, his praise lifting her spirits. “That’s what I want to do, raise awareness and call people to action to make the world a better place.”

  “Keep writing papers like the one I just read and get them published so the general public sees them, and I have no doubt you’ll succeed.” He gave her a quick hug. “For now, you’d better go get whatever sleep you can before your class.”

  She straightened with a sigh, and he lowered his arm as she turned toward him. “You doing okay now?”

  He nodded, his gaze much clearer than when they’d first come to the lounge. “I’m fine. I plan on going to bed myself.”

  “In that case, I guess I’d better stand up.” Cindy groaned and rose to her feet. “I think I’m going to come back and take a nap after my class.”

  Danny stood as well and grabbed her notebook off the low table. He pulled the pen out of the spiral binding and flipped to a clean page. “Call me whenever you wake up, and I’ll take you to lunch.” He finished writing a phone number and handed her the notebook. “If you want to go with me.”

  As if she’d say no to a guy this sweet. “Sure, I’ll go. I don’t know what time it’ll be, though.”

  “If you don’t call me before my noon class, I’ll take you to a late lunch. My class ends at one-thirty.”

  “Sounds good to me.” She tossed the empty two-liter bottle in the trashcan in the corner, and then gathered her things. “Thanks for looking over my paper. I’ll see you sometime tomorrow — I mean, later today.”

  He chuckled at her correction. “I look forward to it.”

  She left him at the stairwell door and continued on to her room. Her sleep-deprived brain wondered if going to lunch with him would count as a date. A smile touched her lips at the thought that it could.

  Chapter Ten

  Cindy barely made it to class on time and struggled to stay awake through Dr. Brixton’s lecture. Once the session finally ended, she went straight to her room and crawled back in bed. When she woke up a little after one, she felt almost human. A shower and clean clothes brought her completely to life and reminded her that she’d skipped breakfast in favor of a few extra minutes of sleep. She located Danny’s phone number and gave him a call, hoping he was back from his class.

  “Hey, are you still interested in going to lunch?” she asked when he picked up.

  Danny chuckled. “Of course. I was just waiting to hear from you.”

  “Where do you want to meet?”

  “Come on down to my room, and we can go from here.”

  “I’ll be there in two minutes.”

  She shoved her cell phone in her pocket and grabbed the lanyard holding her keys and ID. After making sure she had a little cash in case Danny wanted to go somewhere other than food service, she locked her room and headed downstairs.

  Danny was leaning on his doorframe while he talked to another guy, but he straightened with a smile as she approached. “Hey, Cindy. This is Marcus. He lives across the hall.”

  The dark-haired guy turned and ran his gaze over her. “No wonder Danny was standing in the hall. I would, too, if I had a girl who looked like you coming to see me.”

  Cindy laughed at his obvious flirtation. “You’d also wait in the hall if that girl was coming from two floors up and you knew you were leaving about as soon as she arrived.”

  Marcus looked at Danny. “You didn’t tell me you were going somewhere.”

  “I promised to take Cindy out for a late lunch,” he said as he pulled his door closed.

  “Man, you mean she’s taken?” Marcus sighed. “I should have known.”

  He disappeared into the room across the hall and shut the door hard. Cindy turned to Danny. “He seems unusually disappointed.”

  He shrugged and guided her toward the stairwell. “Marcus is a little strange, but I think he’s having a hard time finding a date.”

  “I’m sure he’ll find someone soon enough,” she said as he opened the stairwell door for her. “So, where are we going?”

  “I was thinking about the diner.” He paused before going down the stairs and glanced at her. “Unless you’d prefer somewhere else.”

  Cindy smiled and touched his arm. “The diner sounds good.”

  They talked about photography as they walked across campus. Cindy had learned a lot just from talking to Danny, and she decided to talk to her parents about enough money to buy a good camera. A thought occurred to her, and she glanced at Danny.

  “Where does your family live? You’ve told me a little about them, but you never mentioned a location.”

  “My parents live about twenty minutes from here in Maple Creek. My sister and her family live in Sacramento, and my little brother is in Norfolk with the navy. He enlisted for six years and still has three left.”

  “Do you think he’ll reenlist?”

  “I don’t know. He might. He likes being a sailor.” Danny sighed. “My parents are hoping he won’t. They don’t like having him at sea for six months at a stretch. His fiancée doesn’t like it either, but she’s willing to deal with it for the next twenty years if he decides to be a career navy man.”

  She noticed he hadn’t mentioned his own feelings on it. “What do you think of him reenlisting?”

  “I think the navy’s been good for him. If he decides to stay in until he can retire with a pension, he has my full support. If he decides to get out in three years, he’ll have my support in whatever he does.”

  Talk about a noncommittal answer. Cindy studied him as they waited for traffic to clear at the corner. “Okay, so what do you think about it?”r />
  Danny grinned. “You didn’t like my diplomatic answer?”

  “It’s very good, and I’m sure it comes in handy at family gatherings, but I’m curious about how you really feel.”

  The light changed and they crossed the street as he spoke. “I’m jealous that he has the option of reenlisting. Even with all the stuff I have to deal with because of my time in the army, I still miss the life sometimes. If it weren’t for the PTSD, I could easily have become a career soldier, but they think I’m too messed up to be of any use to them now.”

  “They couldn’t make you a janitor or something equally non-stressful?”

  He shook his head. “I was a mess when they sent me home. Once they had me to the point I could function halfway normally, they gave me a medical discharge and enough benefits to guarantee I’ll never have to pay for psychiatric care out of my own pocket.” He paused outside the diner and turned toward her with a look of mock suspicion. “How is it you always get me talking about stuff I don’t normally tell people?”

  She grinned and grazed her fingers across his forearm. “I’m talented.”

  Danny laughed and opened the door for her.

  ****

  Cindy followed Leann across the Mitchell Complex dining room Thursday evening. They wove their way around other students, crowded tables, and the occasional vacant chair. Their girlfriends had taken over a large table in the back and waved maniacally as they called out. Other diners chuckled and rolled their eyes at the ruckus, and Cindy laughed at her friends’ antics. The eight girls lived in four different dorms, although most of them had shared rooms or lived on the same floor in previous years. They made it a point to have dinner together once a month; more often if their schedules allowed it.

  Cindy set her tray on the large table and sat down between Leann and Jane. Chrissy leaned forward and raised her eyebrows. “Hey, Cindy, who’s that guy you were here with last week? You know, the one with the gorgeous eyes and a great body?”

  Heat flooded Cindy’s face. She’d only been there with one guy recently. “Oh, that was Danny.”