Aspen Falls

BRB--December 20th

                 warning that chapter talks about self harm

My girl had left.  It was rare that she would flee from this crowd.  I saw her.  Nobody else did...but me?   I watched her give the dogs a command to stay.  I watched her fade into the background and ultimately run.  Between the hour after my mom had gone home and now?   I was going insane worrying about my girl.

      Hunter threw keys at my face.  "Your girl  is at her house."  He knew.

     Yeah sure, I was on teams with the youngest Ellington brother, his team leader.  But Hunter had been my best friend since birth.  I took his keys, kissed Momma T and ran out the door.

      I wasn't entirely sure when it had actually started.  The 'titles'.  The claims we had on each other.  Somewhere around her sophomore year of high school?  That was the first time I'd wrote the words.  If I asked her, she'd have the answer locked and loaded before the question was even finished.  'Beau's Girl'  That's the way its been for five years at least.  The last two years were a grey area, but even with her brothers...her parents.  Always 'Beau's Girl'.  And honestly?  I wouldn't have it another way, and in my mind...it will bever be any other way.  Sue me.  Hate me for being possessive, but when you know you have the one nobody stands in the way.

      She's always been mine just as I've always been hers.  The whispers when I walked into a crowd.  'Aspen's Guy'   Long before she uttered the words nearly two years ago about actual feelings.   We've never gave it the boyfriend/girlfriend titles but she never pushed.  Couldn't say it was the age...or because I'm a SEAL with three of her four brothers and gone more time than it takes me to sign my first name.  I never asked her why she didn't ever push it.

      It's always been an unwrote, unspoke, 'everybody knows within the first two minutes of seeing us' type thing.   Aspen Carlee Ellington is 'Beau's Girl'.  And nobody ever questions it.  So no, it's not rude or weird in any way that I just let myself into her beachside house (gift from her godfather) and made myself at home. 

       After looking around the house in its entirety,  I finally found my target.  Outside, on the deck, in a torrential monsoon worthy downpour...back in her wetsuit.  "What exactly are you doing out here?"

      "Sleeping."  It was such a simple answer.  She didn't even budge or open her eyes.  It was a little annoying.

      I laid down next to her.  With massive SEALs training embedded into my being, literally, laying through a little rain was easy peasy.  "But...why...may I ask are you sleeping in a monsoon?"

      "It helps me feel closer when you four are deployed."  Another simple answer.

      "Not to state the obvious A, but we four are home currently and all together home for a minute."

      She was quiet for what felt like ages before I felt her right side press up against my left.  "It's December 20th."

      With those three words, my insides broke.  Hi foot?  Yeah.  Meet my fucking mouth.  I internally groaned.  In all my own excitement to get home I didn't fully register the date.  Of course she's outside in the downpour.  She wasn't trying to feel close to the four SEALs that are here...she's trying to feel closer to the one who isn't.  The one that will never be here again.  Archer.

      After a few seconds, I felt her shiver.  Yup.  Time to get her inside.  With minimal effort to lift this girl that barely passed 5'2", I swung my right arm under her legs and my left under her shoulders and stood up.  She immediately breathed deep and snuggled closer, leaving her nose in the crook of my neck.  I wanted her to kiss me.  This girl was doing things to me.  I lazily let my lips rest on the top of her head.  My girl.