"Come on, it's dinner time." Roe said out to me as I finished up with a rolling of a bandage in my own personal pack. Since Winters left me to my own devices with Roe, the rest of the session was of Roe and I getting to know each other while packing up kits and rearranging the medical cabin. Since I was the only female in Easy company, I was giving my own boarding with some of the other nurses in the army that were stationed there as well, though I have yet to meet them yet. It meant that the dinner was going to be the time that I was going to meet the other men in Easy Company, suddenly having my nervous about seeing them and meeting them. Would they like me? Why am I freaking out about this? This was all new to me, since I was never one to openly flirt or be around men when it had nothing to do with the hospital duties. But now I was going to be working with them, and maybe, help save their lives on the battlefield.
"Are the men in Easy Company nice?" I asked him as we walked side by side through the clearing towards the mess mall. The cooler air was coming in with the early evening, having me see the darkness and the moon coming out from beyond the mountains. I saw Eugene smirk from his spot next to me, hands shoved in his jacket and his eyes straight ahead that had a glimmer of happiness behind those eyes.
"You're afraid of them being mean to ya?" He asked me with his thick accent, having me look over at him with my own raised eyebrow. Were they mean to new people? What about me, since I was in a fact a female in their company?
"Wouldn't they be?" I countered back at him, but he smirked and shook his head.
"Doubtful. They're alright, these guys. A bit on the wild side, but nice none the less." He explained as we were getting closer to the mess hall, having me hear the voices inside from the men, making my own butterflies become more and intense. Holy crap, I felt like I was about to go overboard here. We both walked into the mess hall, having me see the bright lights of the big mess hall and the clattering of the dishes and cups on the tables. I looked normal, at least I thought I did. I had my hair in loose curls down my shoulders, though it was long enough for a braid but short enough to not be too much trouble, and I was wearing my training nurse uniform with my heels and my jacket.
Some other men were looking over in my direction, seeing the medical cross on my arm like Eugene and then going back to eating off their plates and talking together. I must have been another female in their world, since nurses were probably regular to them. I even saw the nurses table at the middle of the room, all of the women there were talking to one another in more hushed tones and gentler grins. There must of been a rule between the males and females, and I was glad there was. Though I wasn't thinking that my safety was going to be a problem.
"Come on, let's get food." Eugene said to me, having me follow him over to the line in front of the food. I looked down at the food, knowing that this was going to be as good as it got. It was soup, a couple pieces of bread and water to drink down, along with an excuse for a salad. I didn't mind though, having me follow him like a lost puppy. In this case, I was since I didn't know anyone here at the mess hall. I must have looked like a fool next to him, though his body language showed that he did not seem to mind at all.
"Roe! Down here Doc!" I heard ahead of the both of us, having me see a table of men pointing over to Eugene and smiling, waving him over and laughing amongst themselves. I then felt Roe nudge me with his shoulder, the both of us walking over to the table slowly. The nurse's table is where I should be, but then again I saw that they were already intrigued with me, wanting me to join them. Eugene seemed to want me to join as well since he shoved me along with him without showing too much enthusiasm.
"Here, Roe. Grab a seat here with our new nurse." I heard a guy say out, moving over for both Eugene and myself to sit down with the group of men there. All of them were watching me now, frozen in their spots and not even eating their food. I then felt as though I was about to sent to the slaughter, since they were analyzing me on the spot. This was a first for me, the fear of rejection coming over me within a moment or two. Roe was next to me, looking first at the men and then right at me with a hint of worry in his face.
Within a moment or two of me sitting at the table, I saw the man directly across from me hold out his hand for me to shake. He was rather large compared to the other men, his stature was like a giant but he had a kind face on him.
"Hi Ma'am. I'm Denver Randleman." He said to me, having me shake his hand in response. I felt a bit better since he introduced himself to me, showing me kindness in this mist of meeting people for the first time. He seemed nice enough, and I smiled at him.
"Marley La Noux, pleasure to meet you." I replied to him, hearing the taking in of breaths of the other Easy Company men around the table as if this was a pure fascination to hear a woman and her accent in front of them.
"Another Louisianan? You must be beyond excited, Doc." I heard another man say in s smirk, having me hear laughs from the men as the same man held out his hand for me to shake, "George Luz, pleasure to meet another Louisianan." He then winked at me, having me hear a collected groan from the men, as if he has done this before.
"Don't mind him, he doesn't know when to shut his mouth from time to time, especially in front of women." Another man said, with flaming red hair and a hearty grin on his own face, "Donald Malarky. I'm kind of glad to see I'm not the only redhead in the Company anymore."
"Hey!" Denver said aloud in annoyance, but with a grin on his face.
"You don't count, Bull. You're strawberry blond." Malarky replied back in a snort, having me hear the rest of the men laugh in unison with him.
"So, you're from the Big Easy?" Denver asked me aloud, having me see the rest of the men look at me in interest.
"Born and raised, never been anywhere else." I replied back in a shrug, having me see head nod from my reply and another man, rather handsome to be honest, lean over to me on my left when Roe was on my right.
"From what Doc here told us, you know your medicine real well. How long have you studied medicine for?" He asked me in wonder.
"Since I was 18, went for the academy as fast as I could." I explained to him, seeing another man slap the questioning man on the back with a cooky grin.
"David Webster here's a scholar too." He explained, then pointing to himself with a grin to show his cockiness, "Joe Toye, pleasure to meet you ma'am."
"Likewise." I replied, looking back to the men around and seeing myself more and more at ease with the whole situation.
"So, you thinking go going into combat with us?" Malarky asked me with a shrug of his shoulders, "I mean, if something does happen out there and we need help, who knows if Doc here can rise up to the occasion."
"Back off Malarky." Doc said back in retort, having me hear a bit of laughter form the group.
"We could use another field medic though, you know as well as we do Doc." Webster argued with him in a calm tone, though I saw Doc roll his eyes.
"I won't mind going into the field, better than staying behind a desk all day." I explained to him.
"A girl with a thirst for adventure, I like her already fellas!" Luz said aloud, having me hear more laughter and cheers from the men. I grinned as well, trying my hardest not to smile in front of him.
"Let's just hope that Sobel will let her in with us, since he's so uptight as it was with us." Denver commented, having me hear a collected amount of groaning from the group and having me look at him in confusion.
"Captain Sobel's a bit of a tyrant around here, our Captain in Easy company." Doc explained to me under his breath before he took a drink from his tin cup. I nodded to show I understood.
"He's more than a tyrant, Doc. The guy's a hot head out for blood." Toye commented in a bitter tone, having me feel a bit of his hatred radiate on me and making me wish that the conversation was bit more pleasant than before.
"You're the one that's hotheaded, Toye." I heard from across and down two men, having me look to see who it was as the men went back to eating. It was the man, the same one who watched me walk with Winters to the Medical cabin. The lanky figure and the longish face, the same brown hair that was moved to the side and his face making him look so long. But I shouldn't call him a man since he still looked like he was merely 22 or even 21: young and reckless. He smiled at me, a cocky smile that had one side of his face up and the other was munching on his food. For some reason, my insides got a bit warm from just looking at him.
"Oh Liebgott, ever the optimist." Toye said in grimace as he shoved food in his mouth.
"Well, better me being the optimist than being a dick like you." Liebgott replied smoothly, a cackle of laughter from the men erupted as the man named Liegbottt as he ate some more and then looked at me again, his eyes looking right into me, as if he was trying to read me and figure me out from his own spot at the table.
"So, La Noux…" He paused, having me watch him carefully as I was eating my own food, thinking that now I was on trial with the boys now more than ever, "Why do you wanna be in the army?"
"Way to beat around the bush there Liebgott and I wonder how you make friends around here anyways." Denver said in a low tone, having me wave him off from seeing the uneasiness in Denver. Sure, the guy was blunt, and I just met him for the first time officially. He seemed like the kind of guy that didn't really care where I came from, but he wanted to know why. Of all things, why.
"It's not a problem." I replied back to Denver, seeing him as well eye me with interest as I turned my gaze back over to Liebgott who was still waiting for an answer. What was I going to day to him? Other than the fact that I wanted out of my own home and find out my true purpose in this world. But then again, I doubted he wanted to hear something like that.
"I've always heard army men were easy." I said in a cocky tone, having me hear nothing at first from the whole table as I took one large drink from the tin cup. But then I heard the whole table roar in laughter, having me have a sense of relief as Webster clapped me on the back and the others nod in agreement.
"Oh, geez boys. Not only is she attractive as hell, she can give just as much lip as Leigbott here." Luz said in a grin, having me hear more laughter as we ate some more. Somehow the dinner wasn't so bad after all, with some new men that I would have to work with and help out later on in the future, it all made me feel more at peace with the situation.
This wasn't going to be so bad after all.
After dinner was over, I was walking back with Eugene over to the Medical Cabin where I was going to stay with the other nurses whom I was going to meet with Eugene in the morning with our own training. The dinner with the Easy went off without a hitch, having me feel more at ease. I knew that I and to go write to my parents and Owen as soon as I got back to my own barracks, though I knew I had to get sleep from getting up early in the morning to start the day. Every guy that I talked to and got to know already saw me as one of their now, but was I really? Not at all, since I was only a nurse assigned to them: nothing else really.
"La Noux." I heard behind me, having both Doc and I looked and see that it was in fact Liebgott walking over to us, his hands in his pockets and having me hear the twang in his voice as he called me out. His voice, though it sounded rough, also sounded gentle and soothing a bit as I felt Eugene place a hand carefully on my arm, as if he was silently asking me if I was okay.
"I'm fine, Doc." I replied back to him, seeing him nod his head at me.
"Just be back before the Captains make their rounds out here for curfew." He explained to me, then looking over at Liebgott.
"Doc." Liebgott replied back in a causal tone. Doc then walked off without me, going back into the medical building and leaving me there with him. I felt as though I should first apologize to him for making that remark to him, but he beat me to the punch.
"I wanted to apologize for jumpin' down your throat back there." He said to me, his voice was still a bit rough but with a hint of gentleness in it. I shifted from one foot to another, moving my hair from my eyes thanks to the wind around us.
"No need, you were just trying to get to know me." I replied back, seeing him still look hesitant about it, eyeing me suspiciously and it had me wonder why. But then I realized, seeing my hands in front of me: I was signing as I was talking.
"What was that?" he asked me bluntly, having me grin and keep my hands in front of me.
"I know Sign Language." I explained, signing as I talked to him slowly. He watched my hands and then looked up at me, "I learned when I was little, since my kid brother's deaf I had to talk to him somehow." He then was quiet again, clearing his throat and cracking his knuckles before he went on.
"I'm not that great when it comes to talking to…" He trailed off, looking a bit odd when I knew what he wanted to say.
"Talking to girls?" I asked while brushing my thumb across my jaw, the sign for girl. It made my accent for the word "girls" become thicker, "Women?"
"Way to make me feel better about the whole apologizin' thing." He retorted back to me in a snort, but he smile when he said it. I smiled too, seeing that he was cocky but none the less kind.
"It's okay, I have no real way to talk to guys on my end." I explained, seeing him eye me from his spot a bit away from me, the same look that I received when we saw each other for the first time. But now I was more intrigued with the stare he was giving me.
"Why do you do that?" I asked him with a tilt of my head, having me see him look at me in confusion now.
"Do what?" He asked me in wonder.
"Stare at me like that, like I'm something out of a movie for something." I pressed him, seeing him think for a moment before he realized what I was talking about. I waited for some kind of answer, then he nervous rubbed the back of his neck before answering me.
"You're a breath of fresh air around here." He merely replied, having me lose my own voice from chairing him say that. He of me in that manner? A breath of fresh air? Not one guy ever in my life has ever passed a compliment in that big of a way, and it felt big to me. Maybe because it was my first real day in the army and I was trying to find my place, though that was still questionable. Either that or it was the cocky lanky Jewish kid who looked like he never took crap from anybody that said it to me. For some reason, he saw something in me that was rare and good, was it good?
"And you say you were never good to talking to girls." I commented back, seeing him crack and grin and we both laugh. That small moment between us was small enough to pass us by but big enough for me to remember. I watched him hold out a hand for me to shake since apparently we were never really introduced to one another.
"Joseph Liebgott." He said to me, having me smile widely at him and then shake his hand in my own. I felt the cool hand against my own. This felt the start of a good friendship between the both of us, even if we were at war.
"Marley La Noux."
