May 18th 2013,
I'm sitting on my bed in my tent, re-reading the letters I sent home (only to be returned), when I felt my bed dip behind me and two, strong arms wrapped around my waist. I grinned, immediately knowing who it was. Her. Master Sergeant (Msg) Brittany S. Pierce. Brittany and I have known each other a little over two years now ever since I first joined the military back in 2011 and we had to share a tent due to lack of space. She didn't mind thankfully. Actually, she was more than happy to share her space with the new doctor around camp that would bring a great deal of service to her fellow soldiers.
We spent that first night lying in our respectable beds, talking and learning about each other's lives. Surprisingly enough, she's from Lima, Ohio, same as me. It's such a small town; you'd think that I would've seen her before. I wouldn't forget a face like that. Turns out that her parents were really overprotective of her and she went to a private school forty minutes away from town.
We learned about each other's childhood; she learned about my fear of heights while I learned about the scar across her chest and stomach from what should've been a fatal motocross accident. How I wanted to join the military to help and care for others the way my parents never did for me and how she joined so she could prove her parents wrong, to show them she was capable of doing bigger and better things than they would ever give her credit for. We spoke like we knew each other forever.
Months passed quickly with my new found friendship. Every night before bed, we would sit and talk about the others day. It was nice and new to me. I've never been the person someone would want to share their day with.
Back in Lima, I'm kind of what you'd call a bitch. No, ok I'm a bitch. I was head cheerleader, daughter of a doctor, had more money than I knew what to do with. I was living the life and didn't give a shit what anybody had to say about my choices or who I slept with. It wasn't until I was sitting in my second day of college when I got a phone call that my best friend, Tina, was killed after a car crash due to internal bleeding. After that, my whole outlook on life changed. I dropped out of school and in turn went to medical school. The doctors said they did everything they could to stop the bleeding but, it wouldn't stop. I swore to myself I would go to medical school and be the best damn doctor so nobody would ever have to go through what I did with Tina. Here I am six years later keeping my promise. Nobody that's been brought through the Lima General Emergency Room has died under my hand.
For some reason, Brittany's the only person I'm never a bitch towards. Don't get me wrong, she says some very…different things than any other person I've ever spoken to and if she were anyone else saying these crazy things, I'd probably be in jail right about now from killing them. But when it's Britany saying it, I just find it adorable and I can't get mad at her. So days turned to weeks turned to months and we knew just about everything, if not everything, about each other. It wasn't until about a year later that things started to change…
March 12th 2012
I woke up this morning same as always. Got up, brushed my teeth, and started to change into my uniform before heading to breakfast. It wasn't until I had already taken my tank top off, standing in only my old cheerleading shorts and sports bra, that I noticed she was staring at me.
"Uh, can I help you?" I asked with a slight smirk and a chuckle. She didn't answer, which wasn't uncommon for her lately. She was just staring at me, lost in thought, with a look on her face that looked…confused? Intrigued? So I did what I knew would bring her mind back to earth.
Walking up to her where she was sitting on her bed, I practically got in her face and snapped to get her attention.
"Hello, earth to Brittany." I said with a smile. "Huh, what?" she asked, blinking rapidly. "You spaced out again. You ok? I know the Generals been tough on you lately." I spoke softly so she would realize I actually wanted to know if she was ok. "Yeah, I'm alright. Sorry." She said with a small nod, still looking at the spot I was standing in when I was changing.
It wasn't until she finally turned her head to make eye contact with me, that I realized how close we were. I took in a sharp breath when hers hit my face. That was the first time I realized just how beautiful she was. I've always known she was beautiful but, now with the way her eyes sparkled in the sun coming though the corners of the tent and were a little glossy from just waking up, the way she had two strands of hair hanging on either side of her face from her (almost) perfect bun, and the cute freckles that seemed to show more when she's been out in the sun, now I could really see how beautiful she was. Damn, she was gorgeous.
We didn't speak for what felt like hours which turned out to be only a few minutes. It wasn't until some hair fell in front of my face that she finally moved.
Keeping eye contact, she lifted her right hand slowly to my face and pushed the stray hair behind my ear. My breath hitched and I hoped she didn't notice how blatantly obvious I was being. She did of course. Brittany didn't pull her hand away and I leaned into her touch instinctively, wanting more. I knew we wanted the same thing when I saw her smirk.
Eyes continuing to stay locked, her hand still on my cheek, Brittany stood up so she was now taller than me. I hesitantly lifted my hands and placed them on her waist. She put her other hand on the small of my back to pull me closer. Our bodies pressed against each other slightly, breath bouncing off the others, with one quick movement I knew our lips would connect. 'All I have to do is'—
"Sergeant Pierce! Sergeant Pierce!" A yell was heard outside our tent. Even though all soldiers have been given strict orders as to not enter our tent without permission (so my medical studies wouldn't be interrupted) we flew back from one another. Stumbling, I landed on my bed (gracefully I might add) while she fell onto and over her bed and onto the ground with thud. I sat up, mouth agape, at a loss for words, hoping she didn't hurt herself.
"Oh my god. Are you ok?" I whispered loudly so she could hear me but the soldier standing just outside couldn't. It wasn't until I saw her head pop up from the other side of the bed, bun sideways on her head, and blushing when I blushed just as much and stifled a laugh. Our eyes connected across the tent and she gave me a shy, embarrassed smile.
She snorted and her smile (as well as her blushing) grew. "Uh yeah. I'm ok. Just wasn't expecting to be interrupted." "Yeah me neither." I scoffed quietly under my breath.
Brittany scrambled off the floor. Trying to fix her now haphazard clothes and hair, she made her way to the front flaps of the tent to find out what was so important that he interrupted her morning.
Checking herself once more, she gave me one last blushing smile over her shoulder and stepped outside, meeting the soldier.
By the time she came back inside, I was already dressed in my uniform, hair fixed, and bed made.
"What happened this time that was sooo important that he needed to interrupt our morning?" I asked sarcastically. I knew whatever it was that it wasn't something serious but, from the look on her face, I knew it wasn't something she was happy with.
"Private (Pvt) Puckerman was caught, once again, leaving Pvt Fabray's tent. Now because I've let it slide so many times and because Pvt Anderson has to go 'by the book' and report what he saw to me, I had to go tell General Sylvester and you know how that conversation went." She said with a sigh and an over exaggerated eye roll.
"Hmm…she screamed at you for not reporting it to her sooner, threatened to lower your rank, which she'll never do, and threatened to cut off Puckerman's balls so she can feed them to her dogs?" I said with a smirk and a laugh. "And Bingo was his name-o." She snorted with a genuine smile and pointed at me. She looked at me with soft eyes and her smile faltered ever so slightly when she tilted her head to the side. Noticing I was getting lost in her eyes again, I coughed awkwardly, blushed, and broke our eye contact.
"I've gotta gay. GO! I've gotta go, go to breakfast. With the other soldiers. I'll uh, see you later." I practically bolted from the tent leaving the blonde, blue eyed beauty confused behind me. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid. Real smooth Santana. Why didn't you just keep your damn mouth shut? Now she definitely knows. Well, I mean, she probably knew earlier. That way she was looking at me? I'm pretty sure she almost kissed me! Or did I almost kiss her? Ugh, why am I making this such a big deal? Jesus, tonight's going to be awkward.'
Scrutinizing myself all the way to the wreck hall, I was stopped in my tracks from a familiar screaming coming from in front of me.
"One more infraction like that Puckerman and I'll make damn sure that not only will your balls get chopped off and fed to my dogs but, you will be finding yourself on a one person, one way boat trip across the Atlantic and back to America with nothing but a half filled bottle of water and a stale cracker! Do you understand me?" "Yes General Sylvester!" "Good! Now get your ass out there and give me fifty laps around camp and when you're done, give me fifty more!"
And with that, Puckerman took off like a scared puppy with his tail between his legs. Like clockwork, I heard another familiar voice from behind me.
"Lopez! Hey Lopez wait up!" I turned and like an angel running towards me with the sun behind her and bouncing off her golden hair, which was now fixed and in her (almost) perfect bun, I didn't realize I was staring awestruck until Brittany was right in front me and snapping me back to reality.
"Hey there space cadet. And you were accusing me of staring this morning?" She whispered into my ear making me shudder. "Come on. We're already late so the gross, hot oatmeal is gonna be gross, cold oatmeal." She spoke after straightening her back and away from my ear. Brittany grabbed my hand and I swore a burst of electricity shot through my veins.
She turned and began jogging towards the building. After stumbling a few steps, I caught my footing and fell into step next to her, still holding hands. I looked at her sideways, 'gorgeous', I thought. Like she read my thoughts, she turned her head to smile back, though she had a certain glint in her eyes that I've never really seen before besides this morning in the tent when we almost…you know. She gave my hand a little squeeze before turning her head back to focus on where she was going.
'Tonight's going to be a good night. I can already tell.'