The Story of Adeline May

Ma'am, Yes, Ma'am!

As we begin walking, Kristian puts his hands in his pocket. He's looking down at his shoes, causing his hair to follow his face. He doesn't push it out of the way— though why would he; he is looking down. My eyes trail down his lean, semi-muscular body—

“Hope you like what you see.” Kristian says.

“Eh.” I comment, looking away.

He chuckles.

Affirmative—a sense of humor detected.
He looks up, and points. “There’s the bleachers.”

I follow his sight and look out. I don't pay much attention to the bleachers, immediately looking for my brother’s number. He plays football, a wide receiver. I'm more of a basketball girl myself, but I know that the wide receiver catches the ball.

I spot Silas running a drill with one of his teammates and grin a little. I see movement out of the side of my eye, and I turn toward it. The familiar marching of a platoon brings a smile on my face.

“Dude, you didn't tell me they had a JROTC program!” I exclaim, still following the platoon with my eyes.

“Huh?” Kristian follows my eyesight. “Oh, um. We have a ROTC thing.”

I nudge him and say, “Come on, let’s get closer.”

I start moving without him to the fence. A slight breeze happens to blow, and it shakes my hair. I reached the fence in a timely manner, just as the platoon commander calls a ‘platoon, HALT’. He then calls a right face, and the platoon turns to me—now us since Kristian is by my side.
“Platoon!” He
calls, his voice deep and familiar. “Parade, REST.”

Almost perfectly, everyone moves their right leg shoulder length apart, putting their arms behind their backs. My eyes fall on the fourth squad, the third element still fidgeting.

“You don't move that parade rest,” someone says.

The platoon commander does an about face, turning to me.

Oh. I said it.

Wait, Evan—the boy who almost punched Kristian my first day here—is the platoon commander?

A wave of shock breaks his posture, but he recovers quickly. He does another about face and says, “Platoon, DISMISSED.”

“Dismissed, aye, sir,” the platoon responds. “Honor, courage, commitment, GO NAVY—” they do an about face, “—White Lightning, HOO-RAH!”

Immediately following, Evan says, “Ears!”
“OPEN SIR,”

“You guys have a five-minute break before we practice again.”

I watch the platoon move off of the track with calculating eyes. Everyone starts reaching for their phones and I roll my eyes. I turn to Kristian, about to tell him something that hopefully seems flirty. I see Evan walking to me and my—again, I say, hopeful—flirtatious expression is replaced with a scowl.

“What are you doing here?” He demands now standing in front of me.

“What are you doing leading a platoon?” I resort, crossing my arms.

“Chief is out sick so he told me to do it,” Evan says, rolling his eyes.

“I think I should have a little talk with him about you.”

“Why, because I almost punched your boyfriend?” He asks mockingly.

“She’s not—”

“Well, that, and because you don’t know how to lead a platoon.”

“Oh, is that so?” he scoffs. “And you can do better?”

“You’re damn right.”

We stare at each other for a few moments until Kristian coughs a little. I look at him and his almond eyes are basically pleading for me to let it go. l look back at Evan with a sigh.

"Just make sure your platoon knows how to act, alright?" I say, looking at them.

"You make sure you keep your mouth closed when I'm running things, okay, newbie?"

"That's Cadet Lieutenant Commander May to you." I snap, rather loudly, earning the attention of the other cadets.

"Yeah, whatever," Evan says. As he is moving away he looks at Kristian. "The hell are you looking at fairy-boy?"

I step in front of him protectively. Evan is taller than me by a few inches, and there's a fence separating us, but that doesn't stop me from looking into his stormy eyes with a sneer masking my face. "Calling your platoon and forming them up in an orderly fashion is what you need to be doing."

Evan chuckles and backs away from us. I watch as he turns around and starts running to his platoon. I growl a little at the thought of him running my platoon. I feel hands on my shoulders and a little caress.

"Okay, Cadet Lieutenant Commander May. Calm down."

Instantly, almost, the raging feeling escapes me. I roll my eyes a little at him. "Please don't call me that unless I'm in the uniform."

Kristian laughs and leans against the fence. "Are you insinuating that I'll be calling you something other than your name?"

I give him a sly smirk. "I hope so."

I watch as a red tint washes over his face.

Oh, yeah. I nailed it.

yay! i did it, you guys. merry belated Christmas, happy early new years!! ♡.

xoxo, yourcityrose
maya cyns