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?"
"Hell yeah, best wings in town! Let's roll."
We jump into his car and head over to Woody's. It's a quaint place, a mixture of restaurant and bar. The tables are tall and scattered around the restaurant. A sign hangs on the hostess desk, "Seat Yourself". I scan the place, a few people occupy a couple stools at the bar, some couples at the high top tables. I head towards a table in the back for privacy, but mainly I prefer to have my back facing the wall allowing me to see the whole restaurant. Shortly after being seated, a really pretty brunette approaches our table, "Hey guys, what can I get you?" her boobs are about to come out of her top, not that I'm complaining. Vance order's us two beers, and she asks for our ID.
"Don't worry, sweetheart, we're legal." Vance winks at her and we both hand our license over.
She takes a look, "Well look at that, you are." She flirts and hands them back to us. She smiles then saunters off, we both can't help but watch her walk away.
"My god, it's been a long time." I groan.
"I bet, I'm sure your hand could use a break."
"It's not like there's a plethora of hot women in the sandbox, dude. My hand was all I had!"
"I know, man, just bustin' your balls."
The brunette brings our bottles of beer to the table, "You guys ready to order?"
"Sure are, sweetheart." Vance orders some wings, and I get a burger with some fries. We watch her walk away, can't help it, she has a nice ass. When she's gone, we jump into all the bullshit I've missed. Vance's 21st birthday was 'epic', and he insists we have a re-do to celebrate mine since I didn't get to. Vance is still single, and doesn't seem to want to settle down, no surprise. I WAS surprised to hear that Vic found a girl, and it's pretty serious. He's a full time accountant, and a totally 'yuppy'. I laugh, because I can't see Vic 'the charmer' being a serious about anything.
"How's V?" I ask.
"She's doin' good. She's a senior this year, I can't believe she's going to be graduating."
"Damn. I remember chasing her around the house with spiders, she'd scream like a little girl!" We laugh at the memory of it, I remember how terrified she was. Her face was priceless, it was so hilarious.
"She hated us."
"Nah, she loves you dude."
"I've had to beat the guys off her, literally. I almost don't want to take her to the strip anymore. Every time we go, there's some douche bag trying to get into her pants."
"She doesn't have a boyfriend?"
"Hell no, there's no one good enough for her. Maybe that church boy, Devon, I mean I'm sure he's saving himself til marriage or something."
I laugh, "Oh man, poor V."
"I told you, she hates me."
"I'm sure she knows you care about her."
"She was pissed at me last night, that fucker Ryan Wittman...she was about to give her number to him. I wanted to knock him out. He's as big as a man whore as Mark!"
"She'll understand, one day."
We've been at Woody's for a couple hours, it felt nice to sit back, drink beers, and relax. It's close to eight o'clock when we're ready to leave. I pull out my wallet when Vance pushes my hand away. "I got this." He pays, leaving our waitress a nice tip.
"Thanks man." I tell him as we walkout.
"Thank you, man. What you do, out there, that's brave. It's the least I could do."
Those words mean't a lot, especially coming from Vance.
"You want to head to the field?" he asks me.
"Do you mind dropping me off? I wanna drive myself."
"No man, that's fine. I gotta swing home to grab Vaughn and V."
Vance drops me off and I head inside. The house is dark, quiet, and it's almost too much. I haven't been alone in over a year, there was always someone around. I sit on the white couch, in the dark, and take it all in. I'm home.
♦ ♢♦ ♢♦ ♢♦ ♢♦ ♢♦
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, if so, please vote!! Adding Labeled to your public reading list will help others to find my story!
Chase is home! What are your opinions of him so far!? And Vance?
Fun fact: I have a soft spot for the military, and know quite a few people who have/are serving. They are my heroes.
xx
Jenn
**Dedicated to @PuppiesAreLove for your love and support of this story since the beginning. You help motivate me in continuing on with this story and for that I thank you! It'll be almost a year and you are still reading. I can't tell you how much I value that!