Not The Only One - A Winter Soldier Story

Chapter 27

July 2, 2016

      After a long restless night, I headed straight to the bathroom at dawn to try to make myself look decent. My long blonde hair was a matted mess and I struggled to rid it of its tangles. A look in the mirror revealed that it was time to moisturize my tired looking skin. My only clean clothes were a black pair of lightweight sweatpants and a plain grey t-shirt that was a little too big for me. Looks like today would be laundry day. With a sigh, I left the bathroom.

     "Good morning, Doll!" Steve greeted me cheerfully.

     Steve was such a morning person, but it was not nearly as annoying as I had once found it.

     "Morning," I replied.

     Bucky and I did not exchange 'good mornings', instead we shared a look. Both of us were wondering if the other knew why Steve was staying for breakfast this morning, but neither of us had an answer.

     There was something more than just a question dancing in Bucky's blue eyes. It made my stomach flutter. This feeling was so strange and unexpected.

     Needing to break free of this trance, I looked away and commented, "Breakfast looks good."

     Steve had made omelets and boiled rice cereal. The three of us served ourselves and began eating.

     "So I made this list when I came out of the ice and thought that you two might be interested in looking over it," Steve said and pushed a small notebook between Bucky and me.

     "I know I Love Lucy," I told Steve.

     "I Love Lucy?" Bucky asked. "Who the hell is Lucy?"

     Steve laughed. "It's a classic American sitcom that came out in the '50's."

     Bucky frowned at the unfamiliar word. "Sit-com?"

     "A situational comedy," Steve explained.

     Bucky nodded, but I knew that he still did not really understand.

     "We can watch some sitcoms later," I told him.

     He smiled at me and a nervous chill shot up my spine, so I returned my attention to Steve's list.

     I said, "I know about the moon landing."

     "I do too," Bucky remarked, shaking his head slightly. "Found out about it when I visited the Smithsonian. It's still crazy to me that people have been on the moon. That was the stuff of comic books back in our day."

     Steve smiled at his dear friend lovingly.

     Looking at the next thing on the list, I continued, "It's like I can almost remember the wall coming down, but not quite."

     "It is so cruel that anyone would ever do anything like that," Bucky said sadly.

     Steve nodded in solemn agreement.

     The next item on the list threw me for a loop, so I read it aloud, "Steve? Jobs? Apple?"

     "Did you get a job involving apples?" Bucky asked, just as confused as I was.

     Steve chuckled. "No, we'll come back to that one."

     Bucky and I both shrugged.

     I asked, "Who hasn't heard of disco?"

     "um - I haven't?" Bucky hesitated.

     "Disco is like..." Steve trailed off. "It's kinda hard to describe."