Love In A Battlefield

Chapter 8

     My evaluation took longer than usual so we just decided to stay the night and in the morning we would leave, but Logan and Drew were already gone. I was all packed and looked around the room one last time and I could feel a smile come onto the very corners of my lips. 
    "Hey sweetie, are you ready to go?" My mom knocked on the door and I looked over my shoulder at her. 
    "As ready as I'll ever be" A sigh escaped my lips and I took a deep breath in and closed my eyes before opening them again. 

   "Are you going to miss this place? I know a lot has happened here" She was right, a lot has happened but that is what makes the perfect memories right? 
   "Uh...yes and no I mean this place has some good and bad memories." She came beside me and hugged me tight and let go before looking at me in the eye. 
    "You're right, but those good memories over take the bad memories any day" I smiled and we were already walking onto the elevator and down the main lobby. 
    "I'm ready to go home though, nothing is set in place yet but I do know that home is where the heart is, isn't that always what you say?" She laughed and nodded before opening her door on the drivers side. 
     "Ha Ha, you think your so funny don't you?" I nodded and she rolled her eyes as I got in the passengers seat of the car.

     "Yes actually I do" Another eye roll and scoff coming from my mother and another giggle from me.
   

    As we pull into the driveway Lynn and Noah and my Aunt Ashley were standing by the door of our house and they were smiling with a stupid smirk, and I looked above their heads and saw a huge sign that read "Welcome Home Quinn" I'm sure this was the fabulous work of my best friend Lynn and my Aunt, Noah does not have a special touch with arts and crafts like his girlfriend does. 
     "Oh my gosh...you guys" I am lost for words as they all come towards us and give us hugs, there is cupcakes and food along with some drink on the porch of our house. 
     " Lynn. I have no idea what kind of best friend can pull this off in just a few hours but you did amazing. Thank you for being there" She smiles and hugs me tight before leading me over to the food table which of course I go for the stupid cupcakes. Those things are my ultimate weakness. 
    "Well, lets just say Noah was no help at all but your Aunt is probably the fastest person I have seen in my life that make a bow in like ten seconds flat so she helped a lot. Oh! And Justin got caught up in practice so he will be right over" She gives a wink and I shove her a little and all she can do is laugh. 
    "Thanks for the update but I wasn't even thinking about him until you mentioned something" I try so hard to act like I don't care or whatever girls call it when they are being 'cool' 
     "Mmmhmm. Whatever don't try that stupid trick where you act stupid, you are better then that Quinn Jackson" Gosh she's right. 
   "Ugh, you're right. So do you mind if I walk with you and Noah tomorrow? My body can handle it trust me I will be golden" I give my best puppy dog eyes and smile while she just scoffs and shakes her head with a smirk.
   " Of course you can. God whoever says no to that is just plain soulless monster" I laugh and eat another piece of watermelon from the bowl and we continue with our conversation like normal people. 
    Justin's car ends up in my driveway and he parks right next to the mail box and get out. still in his jersey and his floppy brown hair is making me dizzy. He smiles and gives me a quick hug, even when we weren't dating he still gave me hugs. Guess he just a hugger we will never know because he will never tell. 
    "Hey, how are you feeling I just heard you were getting discharged today and that Lynn was hosting this welcome home party and when she invited me I just couldn't resist" He flashed that million dollar smile at me and I nearly fall to my knees, no no that's an under-exaggeration more like fall to my knees and confess my love to him a million times and give him one of my kidneys.

    "Much better thanks, uh actually my doctor cleared me for school officially so you will be seeing a lot more of me around school" I smile and I see a blush form on his perfect cheekbones. Snap out of it!
   "I certainly wouldn't mind that at all, are you walking tomorrow?" I grab some more watermelon and water.
   "Yeah actually, I'm walking with Noah and Lynn" He looks embarrassed to have asked that question and then he smirks like an idiot.
   "Oh...uh I guess I should have known that answer shouldn't I?" I laugh and take a sip of water before looking at him in a serious face and tone. 
    "You could always just walk with us. Hey Lynn do you mind if Justin walks with us?" She talked to Noah and all he did was shrug and give Justin a reassuring thumbs up. 
    "Of course! Noah likes the idea of having another guy friend around to talk about sports and stuff with, he doesn't like the idea of talking about celebrities abs. Wimp" I laugh and she goes back to listening my Aunt rant on about the lawyer industry as she lays her head on his shoulder. That's sweet. 
    "So Quinn I have something I want to tell you and I hope you are okay with it the same way my family does. Maybe this is for the better" Oh no. Is he already breaking up with me? 
    "You aren't breaking up with me already are you? Because in that case I'm breaking up with you" He shakes his head and looks alarmed while I just nervously chuckle. 
    "No of course not, I don't understand why any guy would want to leave you. Anyway I have decided to pursue a career in the Military, Army to be exact" He smiles and I stand frozen and just smile along with him. I set down my cup and feel the tears become stronger.
    "Excuse me" I walk a quick pace into the house Lynn catching me and all I say is 'Justin' and she gets half the message at least. 
    "What have you done? What did you say to her?" I look through the window and see what exactly is happening while I try to calm down. 
    "Well, I just told her I was pursuing a career in the Army and she got sad I guess I didn't get a chance to speak to her about it" Lynn now gets a little protective and walks towards him and Noah hold her back just in case.
   "You told her what? I assume you knew about her brother both being In the military and both just recently had to leave her in the hospital right? Or are you just that oblivious to what is around you Justin?"
   "I knew about her brothers being in the military, I didn't realize that they had both gone I didn't know how she would take the news" Lynn's brunette hair is now in a pony tail and Noah has just let the show go on.
    "You couldn't just wait? She just got back from the hospital and she needs time to recover too, you should have just waited" She scoffs and comes into the house before sitting on the couch with me and helping me get back to the focus I need to be at.
    "Quinn, I'm sorry. I didn't know that he was just going to tell you that now, in fact I didn't even know but I'm sure Noah did because he is our talking with him right now. Are you alright?" I nod and wipe a single tear from my eye and breath deeply. 
     "Yes thank you, I will be fine it's just a lot to take in right now and I may be upset with it but he has his own choices and every choice he makes is his own responsibility"
    "Quinn, can I speak to you for a second?" Justin comes inside the house and wrings his hands together as I nod to Lynn and she happily gets up from her spot on the couch.
    "I'll be outside If you need anything alright?" I nod and she opens and closes the door softly and leaves us to speak but for right now nothing is being said and everything is silent. 
    "I'm sorry Quinn I should have told you when I thought you were ready to know" He hugs me and intertwines our fingers before he stops talking and his eyes are apologetic.  
    "You don't have to be sorry, I am happy for you if this is what you want. You make your own choices and I can't help that. So instead of being the annoying and demanding girlfriend I will be the girlfriend who helps you along the way okay?" He pulls a piece of hair from my face and brings it behind my ear.
    "I promise that I will come back for you Quinn, that is one thing you never have to worry about" I Smile and he smiles.

    "I know, and I will be here when you come back" I smile and he smiles before we end up going back to the welcome back party. Talking about his next step.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Authors Note:

           Hey everybody! If you are currently reading this then you have gotten all the way to Chapter Seven which I just edited and I really hope you like the new modifications to it because I cannot go back now so I really hope you enjoy and at the end of the book I will put a complete reason to why I decided not to do another book so if you are curious then watch out for that. But other than that thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the next part of the story that is not edited but will be eventually!