Don't Fall For Me

Chapter 3

Lauren collapsed on Jane's sofa and sobbed into the pillow, "What's going on Lo?" Jane asked as she sat down next to her, "I broke up with Carter." Lauren mumbled into the pillow, Jane only hearing her slightly. "What?" Jane yelled, "Why the hell would you do that?" Jane asked which made Lauren cry even more. Jane let out a deep breath and placed a hand on Lauren's back. "Was there a reason for it?"

"I can't deal with him being gone all the time!" Lauren shouted, "It's months on end and I can't do it. The house is so empty without him there." She cried, "I miss him every minute of the day and I am so worried that he's going to die." Lauren sobbed and Jane pulled her into her chest, "Did he say anything?"

"He just said he loves me and that he understands why." Lauren sobbed again, "I broke his heart and he was so nice to me." Jane held Lauren as she cried. Once she had managed to get herself together Lauren sat back in the sofa, playing with one of the pillows. "What's your plan?" Jane asked and Lauren shrugged her shoulders, "It doesn't feel right staying at his house but I don't want to leave. I feel like if I leave then that's it. He's gone."

"I get that." Jane gave her a small smile, "But also, you can't hold onto him anymore." Jane spoke, "If you don't want to be with him because of what he does then being in that house won't help you. You almost need to forget that he exists."

"I can't." Lauren spoke, trying to hold the tears in. "I love him." Lauren wiped her eyes quickly before clearing her throat, "I feel like I have ruined my chance at being with my true love."

"Lo." Jane spoke as she watched the tears fall from her best friends eyes, "I understand why you have done it. It would kill me if Nick was to go away for months on end, but you know the others would look out for him."

"We have been together for nearly a year. In that time I have seen him for a maximum four months maybe." Lauren wiped her eyes, "What kind of relationship is that?" She sighed, "I don't mind long distance as you can talk to them and speak to them, but he is literally walking into a war zone where we can only speak like once a week. I don't want that for myself. I want someone I can rely on." Jane sighed as she listened to her best friend, "Look, I will support you through this decision, but I need to know if Carter is okay." Lauren nodded her head, "I will send Nick over."

Nick knocked on the door to Carter's house and Carter opened the door and gave him a small smile, "Hey man." 

"Hey." Carter spoke quietly, his voice breaking in the process. "How are you holding up?"

"Alright." He spoke, "I think it was coming. She hadn't been happy the past two weeks I was home and even if she seemed happy things just didn't seem right."

"Well you're back for a couple of months right? We can hang out like the olden days." Nick smiled, but it faded when he saw Carter shake his head, "I'm being deployed in a couple of days."

"What?" Nick asked as he widened his eyes.

"There is no point me being here. You work most of the time and I can't be in this house not when everything reminds me of her. I have to go back. I have to do what I love." Nick furrowed his eyebrows, "Are you trying to convince yourself that?" Nick asked and Carter gave him a questioning look, "You don't want to go back do you?"

"I was trying to figure a way of staying." Carter spoke honestly, "The last mission we got sent out on, it went wrong." Carter spoke, "We were captured." Carter swallowed. He slowly removed his top and turned around showing Nick the slowly healing wounds, "Oh my god." Nick put a hand over his mouth, "They whipped you?" Carter nodded his head before putting his top back on, "I wouldn't have sex with Lauren because of them."

"Why did you not just tell her?" 

"She would have refused me going back." Carter explained, "I don't want to leave on somebody else's terms. I want to leave on mine." Carter spoke before clenching his jaw.