Labeled

I'm Home.

I awake with a jolt, the plane drops as we hit some turbulence. I lift my hat off my face, and look towards Geoff, who was in my unit overseas. We're both from the north east, it was comforting to fly home with a brother.

"We're about to land." he informs me. I sit up and make sure my seat is in it's upright position. I've been gone for about eight months, but it's been over a year since I've been home and I'm looking forward to being home. Technically, not at my house but in my home town. Geoff is a three years older than me, and has a girl waiting for him. He plans to propose to her. I don't have anyone waiting for me, not even my parents. I called my mother a month ago to let her know that I should be coming home within six weeks time, I guess a long vacation was more important. I knew my boy, Vance would be around. I called him a few times while being deployed, he's my brother from another mother, in fact his whole family is like my second home. We start to descend and I grip the arm rests. I watch out the window as the airport slowly becomes bigger, and cars no longer look like little ants. The plane hits the landing strip, jumping around until finally straighten' out, all wheels on the ground. Once the airplane has stopped moving and connects to the gate, all passengers are busy grabbing their belongings. Geoff gets up and grabs our packs from the overhead compartment, tossing mine to me. "Thanks man."

People are beginning to exit the aircraft. We're still in uniform therefore, men are shaking our hands, thanking us for serving our country while ladies are eye fucking us. It's a perk of the uniform. We walk straight to baggage claim where we know our parties are waiting for us. Once Geoff's girlfriend sees him, she comes running and jumps into his arms. It's quite a scene. I notice Vance leaning against a beam, his head down focused on his phone. He looks up at the commotion, and straightens when he sees me. He meets me half way, putting his hand out. I smack it with mine, we pull each other into man hug including a pat on the back.

"Chase, my man, you bulked up!"

I laugh and pull away from him, "Yeah" I squeeze his arm, "Looks like you put some muscle on."

"Oh these?" He makes a muscle and then kisses it.

"Dude, seriously?"

He laughs. "Welcome home man." He pats me on the back again.

"Thanks, it's good to be back on American soil."

"I bet. You want to go home? Settle in? Or you want to grab some food? I'm going out to the field tonight, if you want to come out and see everyone."

"Yeah man, that sounds good. I wanna grab a shower, mind if we hit up my place first, then grab some food?"

"Sounds like a plan."

We head to my house, where it's completely empty. I quick shower and change into some civilian clothes, pull on some boots, put my wallet in my back pocket and run down the stairs.

"Where you wanna go?" Vance asks me from the couch where he's sitting in the living room.

"Big Woody's?"