Chasing a Ghost

Chapter Twelve

The atmosphere that enshrouded the encampment was unnerving.

Thoughts of the lack of movement towards the ever-imposing mission pushed aside, Simon had been giving you the cold shoulder for almost an entire week now.

You hadn't really tried to speak to him since that day in the cafeteria, sure. But typically he'd have said something to you by now. He'd have corrected your posture during the morning routine, for example. Told you that you'd missed a spot when cleaning your gun. Hell, he'd have even muttered a "good morning" to you this time a week ago. What the hell is his problem now?

You'd never seen the Lieutenant as the type to take something so personally, if that's what was going on here. He'd always been so good at shirking off comments or situations that you'd have considered awkward. You'd never once seen him blatantly ignore anyone on the unit for this amount of time. Why did he have to do this to you?

You let out a frustrated huff of air, fighting the ever-gnawing feeling of pure annoyance that kept bubbling up inside you. You were beginning to think it childish, the way he'd been passing by you without a word for the last few days. You wanted to run up to him and give him a piece of your mind. Imagined yourself stomping up to him, jamming a finger in his chest, and demanding to know the reason why he'd been avoiding you lately. You imagined the look in his eyes if you actually did that. How would he respond? You wouldn't be surprised if he plainly ignored you again, turning and walking away from you, or something like that.

Instead of acting on your impulses you went about your daily duties in steaming silence, fighting those thoughts to stay at bay because you were so sick and tired of thinking about it. You were glad the work week was almost up and you wouldn't have to worry about running into him anymore, for a few days at least.

As you flipped through those papers once again, you were silently hoping for some external distraction to come and save you from your thoughts... And blessed be, if a handsome man didn't enter the room just as you were thinking that, right on cue. It wasn't your favorite handsome man, but it was a handsome man nonetheless.

When Drake entered the little office space and settled down in front of you with a steaming coffee in hand, you thought for a moment about Ghost's response to seeing you two in there alone a couple days ago. He didn't seem to like it - but you weren't sure if that was just because Drake was needed elsewhere at the time. For a moment you felt uncomfortable, worried about the Lieutenant coming by and getting upset again. But then you remembered his callous demeanor for the entirety of the last week and promptly decided you didn't care.

You smiled at Drake warmly, happy to have something to distract you from your boredom.

"Good morning, Y/N," he said, taking a sip of coffee and grimacing as it appeared to have burnt his lips.

"Morning," you responded to him. "Still not scared of L.T., I see."

He laughed at your joke, having also taken note of Simon's bitterness the other day. "Precisely."

"You didn't bring me a coffee?"

His eyebrows raised. "Didn't know you wanted one."

"Take note for next time." You smiled teasingly.

"Next time?" He questioned, leaning back in his chair and looking at you with interest. "So what you're saying is, you want to see me here again on Monday?"

Instead of responding you laughed sheepishly, pretending to mark down something important on the paper in front of you. You hadn't intended for that to be flirtatious... or did you?

"I'll take that as a yes."

You continued scribbling on the papers for a moment before realizing that he was just sitting there, doing nothing. Your eyes raised to give him a curious look.

He saw you looking and shrugged. "I've got nothing else going on right now."

"Okay." You wondered momentarily why he hadn't found someone else to sit around with, why he wasn't entertaining himself back in his room or even off chatting with one of the boys. You also wondered where Simon might be, feeling a twinge of nervousness at the thought of him stumbling by to see you and Drake sitting in the room together with nothing to work on. Then you remembered the way he'd brushed past you without a word yesterday, and reminded yourself that you didn't care.

Drake stole you from your thoughts once he spoke up again. "Looks like you're getting all healed up."

You'd noticed that this morning. Bruises fading, lip no longer swollen and split. It was nice to see your normal face again. "Yeah, finally. I was tired of everyone looking at me like a poor, abused animal."

He laughed heartily. "Been there, but they didn't look at me that way. They'd say, 'So how's the other guy look'?"

It was your turn to laugh. "Glad I'm not the only one who gets beat up around here."

"Not in the slightest." He paused for a moment, looking at you idly, like he had something on his mind. "Say, you got anything going on this evening?"

Caught off guard, your thoughts immediately flickered to the fact that you had just met this guy. You appeared to think about his question for a moment even though your evenings mostly consisted of laying in bed watching YouTube until you fell asleep. "Um, I don't think so. Unless I've forgotten something."

He continued on without missing a beat. "I heard a bar not too far away has some local bands coming tonight. Got a couple friends tagging along. You want to go?" He smiled slightly and you caught a glimpse of dimples dipping into his smooth cheeks. Oh my gosh, he is so cute. "I'm buying."

You took a moment to consider, not hiding the fact that you were thinking about whether or not to say no. If Simon was upset about you having idle chatter with Drake on base, you knew he'd be furious to find out that you'd left the grounds entirely with him. But then again, you weren't doing anything wrong... You were allowed to leave base with a partner after all the day's duties were done. You knew that because you'd gone out with Soap on multiple occasions before. It had never gotten you in trouble in the past... If you could go off with Soap, then why couldn't you go off with Drake?

"Hmmmm..." you thought out loud, struggling to come to a decision.

"That is if your guard dog will let you."

You looked into his eyes and saw a playful gleam in them. Something inside you stirred, excited by the idea.

You knew you should say no. But at this point, you didn't want to.

Besides... How would Ghost find out anyway? He never reached out to you outside of working hours.

"Hmm, yeah. Sounds fun. I'll go with you."

Drake flashed you a beautiful smile, his blue eyes lighting up once again at your response. "Great. Probably be good for you to finally get off base again, huh?"

"Yeah." He was right. You had been craving a break from the drab scenery of the base, at times silently begging to feel like a civilian again. But there was a gnawing anxiety in the pit of your stomach. One that said, You might get caught.

"Well, let me get out of here before someone comes searching for me again." He stood from the table and turned towards the door. Before he made it all the way out he quickly turned back around and dug into his pocket. "Oh, wait. I'll need your number." He paused when you just looked at him blankly. Distracted. "So I can get ahold of you when it's time to go."

You took the phone from him, not saying a word, punching in your number and handing it back. You could only muster a polite smile before he turned to leave. You stared down at the papers before you, chewing your bottom lip. Wondering if you'd just made a big mistake.