A War on Two Fronts (Peterick)

Chapter 6

-Pete-

I hate boot camp. So much. Its not that I couldn't handle the rigor of it. I was well enough in shape because I worked out back at home, but I'm just so lazy, and the consistency of doing drugs was finally catching up with me. On top of that, I hated being told what to do. By anyone. Not to mention I hate the majority of people here. However, there was one guy who caught my attention.

He was shorter than the rest of us. Even shorter than me, and wore glasses. He had dirty blonde hair with bangs that fell onto His forehead. It's strange how much I played attention to him, but I didn't even know his name. He had trouble keeping up with us when we ran, worked out, and did the obstacle courdes, but He did it. Which is better than some people could say, but that's not what interested me so much. What was so interesting about him was what He did while he thought no one was looking. Fixing his glasses. Singing to himself. Looking off into the distance or into the sky. He never spoke to anyone. He never showed any emotion. He was mysterious, and I always found myself watching Him or thinking about what could be going on in his head when He stared at the sky, or what song He singing, or what he was writing in his notebook, or how many times He had to fix His glasses in one sitting.

Why did I care so much? I honestly don't know. He just grabbed my attention more than anyone else ever had. He seemed to innocent for this place. Too pure, and even though I didn't even know his name, I didn't want Vietnam to ruin Him. What killed me the most is that I can't stop it. In a few weeks, we will all be split up and I will never see Him again, and I will never get to protect him. So.. maybe I should get to know Him while I had the chance. I sat there contemplating it, and decided for it. But not directly. If I just walked up to Him, I'll probably make an idiot out of myself and scare Him off, and that's the last thing I want.

It's break time now, and He was sitting under a tree taking turns between looking at the sky and the setting sun, and writing in His notebook. I looked at him as He wrote and when He picked his head up to push His glasses back up, He looked at me.

'FUCK. HE CAUGHT ME!' I screamed internally as I felt myself turn a dark shade of red across my face. My entire body felt like it was on fire and I don't know why. 'It's not that big of a deal.' I though to myself. But it really was a big deal, because now he thinks I'm some creepy stalker and that is not cool.

I took a chance and looked up at Him and He was back to writing in his notebook. Then I saw Him rip a page out and throw it at me. It landed a few meters from me so I had to get up to get it. When I sat back down I opened it and read it.

"I know you've been watching me since we got here... So there's two things you can do... Either talk to me so you don't have to be weird as fuck, or stop watching me because it's really awkward for me.
-your eye candy"

I couldn't help but smile as I read it. I grabbed the pen from my pocket and started writing on the back.

"We'll see.
-your secret admirer"

I crumbled it up and threw it back over to Him. I didn't mean for it to hit Him in the head... I fell over laughing and when I was done, He was giving me his best angry face, but He cracked a smile. He opened note and flipped it to my side. Laughing, He slipped it onto his pocket as the bell rang to dismiss break and call us for dinner.

I tried to keep my eyes on Him, but He was lost in the crowd of people hungry for dinner. I followed the mass of people to the mess hall and got a tray of the slop they called "dinner" and sat down alone. As I always have... While I was poking at my food I looked around the room looking for Him. I looked past all the people who were laughing, talking, and enjoying themselves. I was looking for a sad lonely person that didn't talk to anyone.

I don't know why He looked so sad, but over these few weeks of watching and learning him, I wanted to make Him feel better. I may have ruined my life, but that doesn't mean I can't make someone else's better. I feel like we connected through the small note exchanged because when He laughed at my note, it was the first smile I've seen Him give ever, and I wanted to see more of it. It was a nice change to the military atmosphere of the camp.

As I was about to give up looking, in the corner sitting alone writing in his notebook, I saw Him.

________________________________

I tried -Matthew