The War Angel

Replacements Part 1

Guarnere slammed his drink down and smiled with his jump wings in his mouth. The rest of the men clapped and cheered even though they had seen him do this trick about a dozen times before. Evangeline sat across from him and shook her head.

"Am I supposed to be impressed?" She asked with a smirk and her arms crossed against her chest. The rest of the boys were wearing their formal uniforms. Evangeline had borrowed a dress from the daughter of the family she was staying with. It was dark red that stopped just short of her knees and it hugged Evangeline in her chest in a way that left just enough to the imagination. Evangeline's tomboy self was surprisingly fine with wearing a dress, however she refused to wear high heels. So tonight she wore black and white saddle shoes.

"Bet you couldn't do it." Guarnere said through a burp. Since D-Day Guarnere and Evangeline's relationship had quickly developed into an interesting friendship. Guarnere took simply pleasures in annoying the hell out of Evangeline and Evangeline had a lot of fun embarrassing him. She had a feeling an opportunity to further embarrass him was knocking and Evangeline could never resist a bet.

"Okay." She said uncrossing her arms and shifting forward in her seat. "what do you want?" She asked cocking an eyebrow?

"Your luger." He responded leaning in too. The rest of the table was waiting with baited breath. Liebgott was sitting next to Guarnere smoking. He had learned his lesson about betting against Angel.

"Okay. I want your bowie knife." She said squinting her eyes. Bill chuckled and stuck out his hand. Evangeline grabbed it and shook. She turned to the rest of the boys. "Can I borrow someone's jump wings?" All of the boys quickly went to their jackets to unfasten their wings, but Talbert was the quickest and was sitting next to her.

"here ya go, Angel."

"thank you, Honey." She cooed grabbing the wings with one hand and pinching his cheek slightly with the other.

She dropped the jump wings in the drink and began to chug. The other boys began to count "One Thousand, Two Thousand..." At this point, beer tasted like nothing to her. Her dad used to let her drink the foam off his beers since she was 8. Only the really hard stuff had an effect on her, when she need that she knew to find Nixon before anyone else. By the time the boys counted to seven she finished the beer and slammed it back on the table. She smiled a wide smile with the jump wings firmly between her teeth. Everyone except Guarnere cheered. Bill just sat back in his chair angry yet very impressed. Just another reason why she ain't like the girls back home.

Evangeline took the wings from her mouth and gave them back to Talbert. She stood up from the table and smoothed out the back of her dress. "Keep you knife, Stud. Your embarrassment is better than any other reward." She quipped and shoved his head away playfully. The rest of the men laughed at Bill's expense and Evangeline walked over to Luz and Toye to see what they were up to.

"Hey Chuckles, watcha doing" She asked sweetly leaning on his shoulder with her arms.
"Hey Doll, Buck here's about to run away with it." Luz whispered motioning to the game of darts. She watched and listened as Luz and Buck hustled Toye and Babe. Toye and Babe groaned in annoyance and reluctantly gave up their pack of smokes. Evangeline's ears perked up like one of her wolves at the chance to out-hustle a hustler. Plus she loved to play darts. As if on que Luz asked her if she wanted to play.

"Oh no. I've never played before." She lied, shaking her hand and head to say no.

"So what? Toye plays like he's never played before either." He joked and she giggled.

"No, no, no. But maybe you can show me?" She flirted with Luz and dusted off his shoulders. He flicked his eyebrows up and smiled.

"Of course I can." he said and guided her to stand in front of him. He put the dart in her hand. He put one hand on her shoulder and other he wrapped around the hand holding the dart. Evangeline reveled in her mischief. Together they both threw the dart and it got semi-close to the bullseye. Evangeline pretended to surprised.

"Oh my god! I did it! Well, we did it," She yelped and ran her hand down the nape of Luz's neck and planted a firm kiss on his cheek. By now, some of the men had grown used to Evangeline's small signs of affection. Like her nicknames, small touches, and gentle kisses. But Luz enjoyed them each time like it was the fist time.

"Alright, now she can play!" Luz cheered and gave her the darts. Buck was clearly annoyed. Although he respected her greatly as a soldier, Buck didn't fall for her schoolgirl flirtations like the rest of the boys did. Evangeline knew that, which is what made this so fun.

"Hang on, hang on." he said interrupting. Evangeline watched his cotton candy colored eyes. He was playing into her hand faster than she expected. "If she wants to play with the big boys, she gonna have to prove it." He said staring down at her. Luz was taken back by Buck's sudden puff of his chest. He never understood how he couldn't be attracted to Evangeline. Evangeline just smiled and licked her teeth.

"Okay Bucky, name your price." She said crossing her arms. Buck grew even more annoyed at her nickname.

"Just make the same shot again." He challenged with his hands on his hips. Evangeline chuckled. Oh you stupid boy, you.

"Okay. Throw in a carton of smokes?" She asked and he nodded in agreement thinking it wouldn't matter anyways and that it was cute that she thought she would actually do it. Buck handed her the dart. She raised her arm again, only this time she looked directly at Buck. He looked at her confused. Without looking and never breaking eye contact with Buck, she threw the dart and hit the bullseye. Buck snapped his head to see. He exhaled dumbfounded. Luz laughed and realized Evangeline's trick as did Toye and Babe.

"Pay up, Big Boy." She mocked him with a smile and cocked eyebrow. Buck shot ice cold daggers at her and reluctantly gave her the pack of smokes. Once she got them she tossed them back to Toye who pointed at her and winked in response.

Smokey entered the room unusually without crutches or bandages. He introduced the new replacements to Lipton as he entered alongside him. Smokey quieted everyone down announcing that the 1st sergeant had something to say. Lipton announces that they're moving out to Holland. The smiles fade and the men hang their hands in silence. Evangeline began to sweat at the thought that it was at least a 3 days march to Holland. Which meant the boys would be jumping. She feared that meant she would be jumping too. Evangeline could do a lot of things. But she's never been able to handle heights.