The Soldier Next Door

It is early morning and I am still lying in bed. I look over at the clock, it is only five now, this would be round about the time our platoon leader will come chase our asses out of bed. There is no way I am getting my ass out of bed now, I turn over onto my good leg and fall right back to sleep.

………..

I hear rapid gunfire coming in from the distance, the entire squad goes into panic as they start shouting at and over each other. I have a much-panicked soldier next to me, the fear on his face is clear is the light of day.

“Sir, we need to go! We need to go now!”

“Help me out! I can’t move my leg!”

He furiously tries to pull and pull, but my leg is not budging an inch. The ever-growing amount of fear is now visible in his voice.

“Sir I can’t get you lose, try to move your leg.”

“I can’t move it” I go dead still and realize that he is not going to get it out. “It is crushed.”

The gunfire is now getting closer and closer. It is merely but a couple a meters away from where we crashed.

“Leave me here, go get help.”

“Sir I can’t leave you here!”

I immediately start to raise my voice and demand him to accept my authority. But it only sounds as much as a whisper coming in under the gunfire.

“Leave me here.”

“Sir I can’t.”

“It’s an order soldier, go look for help.”

……….

I am startled awake by the buzzing of my phone, after that nightmare I am very happy to see that it is Ana.

“Morning soldier, thanks to you I dreamt of teenagers spanking each other.”

“Hahaha now that is not my fault and I must say that is so not kinky at all.”

“Well in my dreams I was a teenager so it was fun in my head.”

“Mmmm don’t go give me ideas now, I might just dress you up as a schoolgirl and spank you.”

“Hahaha, you are absolutely impossible. Get your head out the gutter, it’s almost time for lunch.”

“Can’t wait, see you just now Miss Stubborn”

“You better watch that mouth soldier.”

I drop down on my bed and stare at the ceiling. I like this girl, I wonder how much she is going to like me though when she sees I am not all the man that she thinks I am.

I get up and rush to the shower, it is ten, and my father is going to have a good old fit because I slept in so late. What can I say, nightmares don’t keep time, and they will come for you and keep you as long as they want.

I put my buddy on as I get dressed, yes that is what I call my prosthetic leg, after all, buddies are there to carry you, just this is not really the type of buddy you want.

I make my way to the kitchen, I can hear my father and Matt having a bitching session so early in the morning. My father is the first to say his five cents worth. “Ah look who has decided to finally wake up.”

“John don’t start your nonsense, why don’t you go read your book, you very annoying this morning.”

Matt nearly topples over as my mom slaps my father against the head. “You tell him, mom.”

“You better watch your mouth,” my father warns him. “You not too old to get a smack.”

I only shake my head as this is never-ending. “Is this what you guys do every morning or should I rather say every day.”

“He complains every morning about what I plan to do for the day,” Matt explains as he moves a bit further away.

“Which usually is nothing,” my dad says as he glares at Matt. “His damn eyes are stuck to that computer the whole day.”

“I don’t think I have the energy for that shit every morning.” I wave them off as I head for the back door. “I am off to take Ana for lunch. I should be back for dinner mom.”

“You go have a good time, you can always bring her past here if you want.”

“And let her listen to these two, I would rather not torture the poor girl.”

I head out the back door and make my way up the path, today the walk goes much slower, my leg is hurting from trying to push myself so far yesterday. I will just tell her my body is sore from training with my brother.

I finally make it to her front door, before I even knock, it opens.

“Good morning soldier, I thought you weren’t going to come.”

“And not give Miss old Stubborn shit, why would I pass that opportunity up?”

“Well if you are ready then I am.”

“Come let’s go give this town something to talk about.”

“Mmmm it sounds like you want to start a scandal.”

“Do you feel like starting a scandal with me?”

“That depends.”

“Now what would that depend on?”

“If you spank me.”

“Hahaha, you are absolutely terrible.”

“I just had to put it out there. Those goddamn dreams were horrible, thanks to you.”

“Well, hopefully, you will be dreaming about me tonight.”

“You pretty sure about yourself. What makes you think I will dream about you?”

“You have not stop staring at me for the past five minutes. You nearly walked into that tree.”

“You would only know that I nearly walked into that tree if you were staring at me.”

“I guess then we were staring at each other.”

We get to the road that leads to the main road into town. She goes very quiet, I don’t know if she is just nervous or if she is scared. Scared why I would not know, I think she has just had herself locked away from people for far too long.

“Hey, Miss Stubborn.”

“Yes, soldier?”

“You here with me, I won’t let these vultures eat you up, least of all Maggie.”

She takes my hand in hers, the soft touch of her fingers against my palm sets my body on fire. I swallow deep as my cheeks turn a bright pink.

“You okay there soldier.”

“Never been better. We sure going to have the town talking now.”

“Well, you did say you want to give them something to talk about.”

“Well holding hands was not quite what I had in mind.”

“Mmmm and what did you have in mind?”

“I was waiting for Maggie to pop up then I was going to show you.”

“There is an old lady over there frantically typing away on her phone.”

I look on over the road to where the coffee shop is.

“Yes, that is old Maggie. I am sure my mom knows we are here and a few of my ex-girlfriends.”

“Well, are you going to show me now what you had in mind?”

I spin her around and pull her into my body. I lower my lips and brush it against hers. I kiss her and it feels like the world falls away. It is slow and soft, comforting in ways that words would never be. I clasp her face in my hands, my thumb caressing her cheek. She runs her fingers down my spine, pulling me closer. I can feel the beating of her heart against my chest. There is a fire between us, twisting and turning.

I pull her even closer until there is no space left between our trembling bodies, her warm fingers is grasping my waist, I am lost in her, I am lost in her kiss, and all my defenses give way before this mysterious girl. I pull away and rest my forehead against hers, our bodies are panting.

“Wow soldier, I did not expect that.”

“Sorry I kind of got carried away there, I was aiming for a peck.”

“Well your aim was far off there but I am definitely not complaining, now if it was that peck then I would have.”

“Hahaha can never keep a woman happy. Now, how about that lunch.”

We walk across the road past good old Maggie, who has now shamelessly taken a picture, we are for sure going to be in her stupid little blog. Whatever keeps the poor old gal happy?

I take a seat across from Ana. She is absolutely gorgeous, I see her differently now. It’s like I had a taste into her soul. Her brown hair is hanging loosely over her face, framing her beautiful eyes. The smell of her sweet perfume is lingering in the air. It is intoxicating, every bit of her is just drawing me in. I want more of her, I want to kiss those soft lips again, feel her body tight into mine.

“What you staring at soldier?”

“At you Miss Stubborn.”

“And what are you staring at me for?”

“Can I be bluntly forward?”

“Be as blunt as you want.”

“You are beautiful and I want to kiss you again.”

“Guess it is your lucky day because I want to kiss you again too.”

I pull her closer over the table. Our lips touch. It feels like sparks are flying in every direction. It is a small yet warm kiss. I honestly never knew a kiss so innocent could be so intimate and electrifying. Our lips are moving in perfect sync, this kiss is deeper, more passionate. She makes me feel like nothing else but this moment matters. A smile grows on my face as we finally pull apart.

“For a soldier that has had no girlfriends, you sure know how to kiss.”

“Hahaha for some old stubborn girl you sure know how to let loose.”

“Be careful soldier, just now you fall in love with me.”

I think she might just be right, I can see myself falling for a girl that’s not going to want me when she sees the real me.

We have the best time that I have had in a while. She makes me forget about all my problems, all my fears, she is simply an amazing woman.

“Guess we better head on back soldier before lunch turns into dinner too.”

“Maybe I want to keep you for myself a bit longer.”

“Maybe we can go do it at that whore house of mine.”

“Hahaha just as long as you don’t spank me.”

“Now that is a dream I can have tonight.”

“Believe me I’d prefer that one too.”

We slowly make our way back to her place. My leg is hurting like a bitch but I put on a brave face and push ahead. I can almost see it’s bruised and bleeding.

We get back to her place. We are standing in the kitchen while she is making coffee. She slowly walks on over to where I stand.

“Do you know what soldier?”

She slowly starts unbuttoning my shirt.

“They say that soldiers have the best six-packs in the world.”

“Hahaha, I think you just made that up.”

She continues to unbutton my shirt.

“So take this off and prove me wrong.”

She slips my shirt off and it drops to the floor.

“Mmmm this is damn hot.”

She pulls at the buckle of my belt.

My body freezes…

“I think I must go.”

I put my shirt on and head out the door.

“Fuck!”

I shout as I walk down the path. When I get home I go straight to my room and drop down on the bed. Tears start building up in my eyes.

I slowly pull my pants up and look at my leg. It is bruised and bleeding. To think that she nearly saw this bruised and broken man.