C. Brown - Fraternizing

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.”

“Private First Class, Banuelos, Eighth Radio Battalion, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.”

“Private First Class, Bennett.” He called my name, and I froze; my throat went dry and my hands began to sweat. I didn’t want to hear my assignment, but I was too anxious to tune him out. Time seemed to stand still as I stood there, looking ahead but unable to truly take anything in. My heart beat with ferocious vigor, awaiting the news that would either make me a happy girl or rip me to shreds.

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

My breath stopped, and my blood ran cold. I wanted to erase what had just happened and make something else come out of Jensen’s mouth. Did he really just say that I would be sent to the other side of the country, away from Alex, to go and work in a unit with none other than the idiot known as Allen? I tuned out the rest of what he said, for fear that I would burst into tears if I listened to anymore. I mentally chided myself, making me focus on the here and now and figure out a way to make things work with Alex. If I was this upset about leaving, I could only imagine what the news would be like for him. I didn’t even want to think about it. It hurt all over again to think about what it would do to him.

When I finally tuned back in to the classroom, Jensen was already at R.

“Private First Class, Ruiz, MWSS-374, Twentynine Palms, California.”

Envy shot through me as Angelica received word that she would be staying put in Twentynine, the place that I couldn’t wait to get away from when I‘d first arrived. The place that had stolen my heart. The place that held Alex.

“Eighth Comm has quite a few people leaving, so that’s why so many of you got assigned there. Go out to your new units and kick ass. You are well trained, and you should serve your units well,” Jensen said, shutting the binder that held that goddamned roster. “We still have some things to cover for your final exam that will be coming up soon. You all graduate next week, so we have to make sure you pass the big test before shipping you off to some unit where you’ll be expected to perform.”

I sat in my seat, pissed that I was so entrenched in Twentynine, but would be uprooted soon, and there was nothing I could do about it. Newsome took over where Jensen left off, taking us clear back to chapter one and outlining exactly what it was that we would be expected to know for the final. I couldn’t concentrate, instead focusing on how Alex would react to the news when he finally got wind of it. The thought hurt, like a piercing stab with sharp knife, twisting and turning until it could go no further. I tried hard to block it out, but everything led back to it, and I was beginning to feel sick.

After a while of note taking, which I did very little of, Newsome released us for lunch. I was never so thankful to get out of the suffocation of the classroom and outside, even if it was above one hundred degrees and no breeze. The room and the confines of the four walls seemed as if they were closing in on me.

Like they were crumbling, leaving me standing in the middle of the debris.

Like they were killing me.

My heart ached in the worst way, and as anger and sadness began to pile up, so did the anxiety of having to share this news with Alex.

Dalton walked over to where I stood, his usually infectious smile plastered to his face. “Guess where I’m off to?” When I didn’t say anything he blurted out, “Third Light Armored Reconnaissance. I’m staying right here in Twentynine and going to Third L.A.R. I’m so fucking excited about that. What did you get?”

I looked Dalton in the eye, the misery shining through me erasing his smile.

“Uh oh. This isn’t good.”

“I’m going to Eighth Comm.”

“Noooo….”

The hairs on the back of my neck began to stick up as I felt a presence near me that was wholly unwanted. Allen was passing by with the idiots that made up his crew. Not only was I pissed that I was being ripped away from Alex, but I’d have to go and join a unit with a guy that I didn’t think belonged in this century, let alone in a purely technological unit.

“Dalton, did you just say you got Third L.A.R?” Allen asked, his face pinched and angry.

“Yeah,” Dalton answered back, giving him a dirty look.

“This is fucking unbelievable. Your weak ass gets Third L.A.R., a fucking combat unit, and I get to run off to some pussy ass unit like Eighth Comm with a bunch of bitches.”

I wanted to let it go, but I couldn’t. I was already in a rotten mood, and he was spoiling what little positive I could possibly salvage from this day.

“I guess you just aren’t cut out for infantry, Allen,” I said, turning to find his red face filled with throbbing blood vessels that looked as if they would pop at any second.

He moved closer to me. “Maybe going off to North Carolina will be good for you. No instructors around. Just fleet Marines, not giving a fuck about bitches and their issues. Maybe then I can teach you how to stay in a bitches’ place. On your fucking knees with my dick shoved down your throat so you can’t run your fucking mouth anymore.”

I was about to say something to him when Newsome’s voice came bellowing through the corridor. He stridently walked over to where we were, his face stiff, eyes low, yelling, “Private Allen, Private First Class Bennett, over here! Now!”

I turned and walked his way, meeting him halfway. I swallowed hard, afraid of whatever was to come. This day was horrible, and it seemed to be getting worse and worse.

“What the fuck was that bullshit I just heard?”

Allen stood quiet, staring Newsome in the face like he was ready for battle. He looked like he had lost it, much more so than any other time I had seen him go crazy.

“Don’t look at me like you’re fuckin’ crazy, Allen. Answer my fuckin’ question.”

“You heard whatever you heard, Sergeant,” he lowly grumbled, not talking his eyes away from Newsome’s. The look was scaring me.

“Devil Dog, you’ve lost your motherfuckin’ mind. I know female Marines in Eighth Comm that will fuckin’ destroy you. That shit you just said is grounds for sexual harassment, and I won’t fuckin’ tolerate it. Especially not from one of my students. Go stand-by in Gunny Chavez’s office right the fuck now. He’ll decide if this shit goes up to First Sergeant.” Newsome’s face was nearly touching Allen’s—deep red, and full of rage. His finger looked as if it would poke Allen’s eyeball out, and to say that I would be glad to see it happen would have been an understatement.

Allen didn’t say a word. He glared at Newsome for a minute longer. Newsome wasn’t moving...wasn’t blinking...

“Jump if you feel froggy, Marine,” Newsome growled.

For a second, I wasn’t sure if he was even breathing. As angry and volatile as Allen came across, Newsome looked ready to kill him should he make one wrong move. I glanced around and found most of the students’ eyes trained on us, taking in the tense, albeit entertaining scene. Allen finally tore away from the stare down and turned away, walking down the hall that would take him to the upper administrative offices. I had never seen that side of him and it worried me, but Newsome wasn’t afraid. I was sure if Allen went completely stupid, he’d be thinking twice after Newsome was finished with him.

“Bennett, stand-by. You will be called in for your statement about this.”

I nodded, not knowing exactly what to say. He turned and followed the same path that Allen took, finally bringing air back to my lungs, and blood back to my veins. The whole thing happened so fast, and now a shit storm was brewing, leaving me feeling light headed.

“Whoa! That was some serious shit. You okay?” Dalton asked, coming up behind me.

“Not really,” I said, choking back a sob. When my clear thinking mind finally came back to me, fear set in as I realized that it was certainly going to get back to Alex.

“Hey, he’s gone. He’s probably going to get a serious punishment, and then maybe you won’t have to PCS with him.”

“I know. I don’t care about that though.”

“Ohhhh. You’re thinking about Alex.”

I nodded my head, wiping away the loose tear that had managed to escape.

“He’s going to find out about it. You might as well be the one to tell him. Call him.”

“I won’t reach him. He’s a on a plane, on his way back here.”

“So leave him a voicemail and he will hear it when he gets off. You need to be the one to tell him, Cassie.”

“He’s a loose cannon, Dalton. If I tell him that, he won’t even think. He’ll just react and come straight up here. Jeopardizing everything.”

“Cassie, I listened to you when you said not to tell him what had been going on with you and Allen. Now, this—this will surely get to him, and he’s going to be even more pissed. I think it’s better if you tell him. Just leave him a voicemail and discuss it with him once he’s off the plane.”

Dalton was right. I needed to call and let Alex know what was going on, but inside, I didn’t want to. I knew how angry he would be, and I didn’t want to deal with that. I wanted everything to go back to before Allen ever opened his mouth in that courtyard. I wanted to take it all back and re-do it, leaving Allen out of the equation as Dalton went on with his excitement about his new unit and I wallowed in self-pity for mine. All of that seemed so much more enjoyable than what we were faced with now, and the thought of calling Alex and telling him what had taken place, in front of numerous students, made me sick with worry.

“I can’t do that right now, I—“

“Cassie, stop,” he said, raising his voice and drawing attention to us. He grabbed my arm and pulled me away from all of the prying eyes fixed on us. “You need to seriously shut up and listen to me. You do not want Alex to hear this shit from anyone but you. Look at everyone out here. This is going to be the talk of school for days to come. Don’t let Alex hear about it through the fucking grapevine, Cassie. What’s wrong with you?”

I stared at him, completely understanding what he was saying, and agreeing with it, but unable to bring myself to actually do it. The one thing Alex had told me before he left was to stay away from everyone else stay out of trouble. I was in the middle of a big heaping mess of it.

“Call him, Cassie. Go over there by that bush, and call him.”

As much as I wanted to slap Dalton in that moment and tell him to fuck off, I didn’t. Rationality hit me and made me realize that he was absolutely right in everything he was saying and that delaying the inevitable would only make things worse. I stepped away from him, over to the bush like he said, and dialed Alex’s number--knowing he wouldn’t answer-- and readying myself for the voicemail that was sure to set him off.

Alex

Touching down at Palm Springs International Airport put a smile full of anticipation on my face. I never thought I’d be so fucking happy to look out the window and see the sparse, brown desert laid out before me, but I was. I was excited to be back, and sitting in my seat waiting for everyone to gather their shit and get off the plane was starting to piss me off. The drive back to Twentynine would be another hour or so, but the sooner I was back in my truck and on the road, the better.

I hauled ass out of the terminal, and thankfully, since I carried on my bag, I made my way out to my truck and hopped in, finally powering on my phone. Numerous missed calls, texts, and voicemail notifications buzzed as it finally came back to life. The two newest voicemails were coming from Cassie and Newsome. Whatever Newsome wanted could wait. I plugged the phone into the auxiliary and tapped Cassie’s message, driving off in the direction that would take me back to her.

When her message started, the tone in her voice and the thick lump in her throat I could hear her trying to speaking around froze me.

“Hey, Alex… I um—um, I really need to tell you about something that happened here today—um, it’s pretty serious.”