C. Brown - Fraternizing

“What’s up, boys? I’m Jossie, any particular seating you looking for?”

The dark walls with neon signs plastered to them were filled with people. Some holding drinks in their hands and chatting, others making out, some even looking like they were two steps away from fucking. This wasn’t a classy establishment, but it was popular, and I was beginning to see why. Anything went here.

“We’ll take the usual, Jossie,” Miles answered, winking at her. I had no idea what the usual was, but Jossie smiled and turned, all of us following right behind her. When we finally stopped, we were in an enclosed area, cut off by a wine colored, velvet curtain.

“Four beers, please,” Belkins said. “Whatever is on tap. I’m paying tonight.”

He reminded me a lot of Jensen, only he wasn’t as uptight.

“So, Cruz. What is it that you do?”

“I’m a radio communications instructor at the Comm School in Twentynine Palms.”

“I went through Comm School at that place. It’s a piece of shit. Florida is so much better. I hope to never see the place again.”

I laughed. “Yeah, it’s no fucking oasis like the signs say, but it’s home. And it isn’t so damn humid. This humidity out here can kiss my ass.”

“I’m a Florida boy,” Douglas threw in. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

The waitress came back out, bringing four pitchers of beer with her. My eyebrows scrunched. I thought when Belkins ordered four beers, he meant four mugs.

“Thanks,” he said, stuffing money into the waistband of her tiny miniskirt. “Drink up, man. Plenty more where that came from.”

Free beer would never be passed up by me—ever. Before long, I was sucking down the last of it just as Jossie was bringing out four more pitchers.

“Are pitchers the norm here? I thought she’d be bringing out mugs.”

“I slipped her a little something extra,” Belkins said, smiling.

These guys were definitely a little wilder than my crew back home. We sat around talking, Belkins stuffing large amounts of money in the form of tips into Jossie’s pants. The dreaded beer buzz was starting to hit me as I went to work on my third pitcher.

“I’ve never tested this theory. I wonder if I can get an extra beer if I tip more back home?”

“Don’t let this asshole fool you. Jossie is his girlfriend!” Douglas yelled out over the music, ribbing Belkins.

“So we were going to get in here tonight regardless?”

“No,” Miles answered. “Big Pete wants to be paid.”

“Gotcha.”

“Hey, Jossie’s friends are coming in to chill until she gets off,” Belkins said, nodding his head in the direction of the entrance to the VIP area.

Three tall, thin, Latinas strutted over to our table, wearing tight fitting dresses that left very little to the imagination and high heels that screamed, fuck me. Their thick, long, flowing hair draped their shoulders, hitting just right against the light caramel color of their skin.

“Who’s the new guy?” one of the girls asked as they stopped just in front of us.

“This is Sergeant. Alex Cruz. He’s in town for work.”

“Another military guy. Love it,” the girl said, puckering her lips and smiling. She threw out her hand, introducing herself. “It’s nice to meet you, Sergeant. Alex. I’m Jazlene.”

I took her hand and shook it, not trying to be rude. The other two girls immediately took to Douglas and Miles. I watched them for a bit, noticing that Miles was very comfortable with this girl who didn’t appear to be his wife. They all stood, making their way out to the dance floor where they easily mixed in with the crowd, groping and kissing much like I had done with Cassie the first time I ever saw her. Jossie dropped off more pitchers of beer, stopping to chat with Jazlene for a bit. I drank it, trying to hide my loneliness with drunkenness. Belkins followed Jossie off somewhere, leaving me alone with Jazlene.

She moved to the chair directly beside me, her much too short dress riding up even further. I continued drinking, bobbing my head to the beat of Promiscuous Girl—how fucking fitting.

“So how long are you in town for, Alex?”

“Until Tuesday. I’m here for a work seminar.”

“Ugh. That’s no fun.” Her eyes lowered as she sat her hand on my thigh. “I can show you a good time while you’re here.” Her hand slowly moved upwards. I looked down at my thigh, then back into her eyes; hunger and lust riddled in them. She bit her wine colored lips, silently begging me to take her off somewhere and fuck her senseless.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” I said, removing her hand as I sat my pitcher down on the table. I got up and let the room stop spinning, then walked off in the direction of the bathroom. I wasn’t sure what I was thinking coming out to this club, but I quickly realized that this was not the scene I wanted to be in, especially not with Cassie clear across the country. I tossed some water on my face, feeling the heat begin to creep into my body with the settling of the overabundance of beer. I walked out, pushing my way through people as the club seemed to be filling up even more. When I reached the table, Jazlene was still sitting there, looking bored. Her eyes landed on me, instantly igniting the lust that filled them just before I stepped away.

“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. 

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.”