The Beautiful Ones

37- The Day Has Finally Come

I was shaking the whole way there and when I parked in the parking lot, it was unsurprisingly empty. I was still half an hour early, although I’m sure there will be other people here soon, because Lance is coming here with a bunch of other troops that are coming home, so their families should probably be here too.

I sat in the front seat of the Hummer only for a minute before I got restless so I jumped out of the front and then into the back where I began to perfect the scenery. There was a red sheet draped over the back seat and the huge Valentine’s Day teddy bear was sitting in the far left hand seat with a bouquet of flowers in his brown furry lap. There were those little teacup candles, but they were fake and battery operated because I didn’t want to burn down the Hummer, and they were perched on the back of the seats, flickering with fake fire.

When I realized that there was nothing else I could do to make the backseat look any better, I looked down at my outfit and began perfecting my clothes. I was wearing a tight body con dress that showed a little bit of skin on my midsection, right above my belly button. The bust area was a camo pattern of different shades of green and the bottom was just black and came to about mid-thigh on me. I was also wearing a dark green army jacket and black studded booties that I stole from Zoey’s shoe collection. My heart locket that Lance gave me when he left was still tightly hanging around my neck for good luck and I clung to it for a moment before leaning against the Hummer and forcing myself to breathe. After checking the time, I saw that I still had ten minutes before he said that they’d be there, but Zoey told me that Lance also said that their timing might be a little off, so he could come later or earlier than that.

I continued to lean against the Hummer and I nervously began texting Zoey for a little while before a pair of headlights beamed through the parking lot. I subtly watched the car pull into a parking space a little down the lot from where I was and I assumed it was just another person waiting for them to get here. This happened five more times with different cars but nobody was getting out, which was beyond creepy, but I just stood at the hood and tried to control my shaky hands as I waited and waited for the next car to really be the one.

I was looking down at my phone when another set of headlights erupted in the parking lot, only this one didn’t park and I suspected that it was the right car, well it was a van, so the right van, I guess. I thought I was going to pass out right there, I was so anxious. I stood straight off of the Hummer and eagerly watched the car come to a stop. I think everybody knew that this large van was it, because people started getting out of their own vehicles.

I let a large, excited grin erupt on my face as the two back doors opened and two guys filed out from the side facing me. They were obviously troops, because they were wearing those camo uniforms, even topped off with the camo hat and the cargo boots. I watched as both of them ran to their separate parties, being engulfed by hugs and cries from parents and siblings and maybe some girlfriends too.

After those two came out, I watched anxiously from the Hummer for Lance to appear. When four other guys had escaped the large van to join their welcoming parties, my lungs stopped producing oxygen when I saw that familiar brown buzz cut peep out of the dark doorway of the van. He looked just the same as he did those six months ago when I was waving him a goodbye. He looked amazing and perfect. I watched him speechlessly as he stood out of the van and looked around, searching for me.

I grinned at him as he just stood there when he saw me. He froze for a short moment before he began walking towards me. I was kind of expecting him to run up to me, you know, like in the movies and the couples reunite. I couldn’t run, due to the heels I was in, but I started to walk briskly. I thought he’d lift me off of my feet in a huge embrace and spin me in circles while I giggled, but instead he was just walking. And that’s how I knew that something was wrong. My stomach hit the blacktop that I was standing on in just mere seconds.