Love at First Letter ✔️

Love at First Letter - 29

"Fried chicken." He laughs when we get to the table. "Mashed potatoes and dessert." We sit on opposite sides of the table. "You know me so well."

"Well I'm not too big on cooking so Johanna and Cara went to get it." I say to him and pass him the bowl of chicken. We fill our plates with food and take no time digging in. Beside the table is a small cooler of beer and I hand him on.

Brett and I kept up a steady conversation throughout dinner about everything besides what we knew we needed to talk about. We kept tiptoeing around the fact that we only had two weeks left together.

"Can we just talk about it?" I finally cave, hating the tension that was building in the air around us.

"I know what you're going to ask me and I want you to know that I want to stay together. I know I'm asking a lot of you, to stay here and wait for me. We can still send letters and emails and video chat, but I want to stay together." Brett lent across the table and held both of my hands in his. "But if I'm asking too much—"

"You're not asking too much. I'm just scared." His grip on my hands tighten in a reassuring way. "I'm scared that you're going to go away and I'm going to lose you."

"I want to tell you that that's not going to happen."

"But you can't." I give him a slight smile when he brings our clasped hands up to his mouth and kissed the back of both of my hands.

"I wish I could, but I'll call you and email you whenever I can."

I lean over the table and lightly press my lips against his. "I'm going to miss you so much."

"I'm going to miss you even more." He says to me, pecking my lips once more. "I'm going to be stuck with a million guys. I have no girls under my command."

"Which is what I like." I tell him and he send me a smile. "But if something does happen with one of those boys overseas, I do not want to know about it. Understood?"

He laughs, flinging his head back and letting out a loud belly laugh. Our hands come unclasped as his hands go to his stomach and continue to laugh. When he finally finishes and sti"Nothing is going to happen with any of those guys. You have nothing to worry about."

"Oh I'm not." I tell him. "I'm just saying, you boys overseas get pretty lonely sometimes and I just don't want to hear about it."

"Okay, I won't tell you anything."

"Thank you."

"Plus, I'm not going to be shipped out right away. I have to go back to camp and get back in shape before they would even think about it. I've got at least three to six months before shipment is possible."

"That makes me feel a little better, knowing you won't be as far away from me."