The Nightingale || John Egan

XIII

His arm voluntarily snaked around her waist as he led her with him towards the man whose hair was curly, eyes were blue and skin as white as snow.
Buck came along from behind catching up to the two, as the three approached the man and the men he was with, all stood side by side as if on duty.
"Fellas" said Bucky.
"Gebtlemen" said Buck.
Iris did nothing but mutter a small 'good evening' and smiled at the four.

"Major Cleven" one of the four said, stepping forward, a drink in between his fingers.
Bucku eyes the four and guessed two of their names "Rosenthal. Nash".
"That's right".
"Copilots, Spatz and Lewis?" asked Buck this time, his arm resting on the other "Speas, sir" corrected the one and Buck repeated the name correctly.
"Lewis, sir. But people call me pappy" the last one said adding a chuckle, Iris smile and though what is it with the nicknames?
She stuck with her own name and no one dared to call her other than Iris.
"You boys uh- you were pilots before the war?"
"Lawyer sir" corrected Rosenthal and Iris spoke for the first time since they were introduced "Lawyer?That's fascinating" she smiled at the man, she smiled back and began to thank her but trailed off not knowing her name "Iris Grey".

"Where'd you learn to fly a B-17?" asked Buck, his arms crossed over his chest, gazing at the ex lawyer.
"Laredo. Nine months, 12 hours a day. Gunner training. Lieutenant Nash too."
"Well, you boys, you come with a hell of a reputation" Bucky complimented.
"Are you talking about us flying in our skivvies, sir?" Rosenthal asked and the boys chuckled, Iris suppressed a smoke as she looked down at her feet knowing that that wasn't what Bucky meant, she heard a small laugh coming from Bucky before he explained himself.
"I'm not following".
"Well, we were known for flying in our underwear" Nash explained further.
"All of you?" Bucky asked and received a "yes sir" from the four all at once.

"That's what the kids are doing these days?".
"In Texas, those forts get so hot, you could fry an egg in the instrument panel" Rosenthal responded sincerely with a calm expression and a smile.
"Is that so?" Iris asked and recieved a nod from the four before Buck spoke "We hadn't heard about the underwear, but we heard you're outstanding pilots".
"We're happy to be in the war, sir. We've been requesting a combat position for months. Now that we're here, feels like we're actually gonna do something".
"You'll do something, all right" Bucky told them and with his arms still around Iris, they walked away, Iris gave the man, Rosenthal, a smile before she turned and walked alongside Bucky, Buck beside his friend.

Iris pressed her hand on the hand on her waits and looked up to face him, he smiled before he spoke "Wanna drink?"
"Maybe later, I'll go find Alissa" she said, and found herself still there and he was too before Buck cleared his throat a slight smirk on his face that he could feel but no one could see.
She stepped back and with a small nod she left, leaving Bucky to side eye his best friend and Buck patted his back as both walked to the bar.
Iris hadn't seen Ronald since she went with Bucky so she figured he was with someone else, not with William though.
As Iris walked around, she spotted Alissa leaning on the wall, her hands behind her as she looked up at William, whose face was close to hears and both were smiling and talking.
For a second, William leaned in closing the space between them and then pulled his face away as he muttered something in Alissa's ear that brought her to slap his arms playfully and her eyes to widen.

Iris waited before he walked away and made her way to Alissa who placed her empty glass on the table beneath.

Her eyes lit up when she saw Iris walk over, her face reaction was filled with excitement as Iris stood before her with a small smile on her face "You know, you two remind me of those couples in the romance books is used to read in high-school" Alissa smiled at that statement and looked away, her cheeks burning up.
"I really like that man" she said as she looked around the room, her golden curls over her face.
She took a deep breath in before she turned around to face Iris, who seemed to be staring elsewhere, a slight smirk formed on Alissa's face as she cleared her throat, catching the other girl's attention.
Iris blinked consecutively before she hummed in response.
"I told ya you'd be dancing with that man of yours" Alissa grinned and wiggled her eyebrows, Iris scoffed and shook her head, but she couldn't bring herself to deny as she recalled when his hands were around her waist and at times slid down to hold her hips.

"We danced once" she said instead.
"For a very long time" she said.
"Has your attention been on me and John the whole time?"
Alissa chuckled at Iris' question "You two would be a beautiful couple".
"Mmh" was all Iris could reply with.
"Changing topic, may I ask you something?" Alissa asked her, Iris nodded as she waited for the other question.
"You have two missions left before your twenty-fifth, what will you do after?"
Iris hesitated before she answered her friend's question, she honestly didn't know, all she knew was that she wished to continue, if she could continue.
"I must arrive to the twenty-fourth mission, though. No?" she replied with a small laughter accompanying her reply.

"Oh, do not speak like that, Lord knows what I'd do without you" Alissa spoke, her tone sincere and worrying, but little did Iris know that Alissa cared so much about her, and that she should never doubt that.
"Well, if something comes in between my life I shall go home at twenty-five. If all is the same I shall continue until the war is over, or I will just choose to stay on the ground where it can be safer at times".
"I think this is wonderful, tell John to accompany you back to the sleeping quarters though, I'm leaving early with William" Alissa said with a firm smile on her face as she spoke quickly, Iris made an understanding face and muttered an "oh".
She shook her head as she knew she wouldn't be asking that out of Bucky.

Iris leaned to her side and whispered in Alissa's ear "Will he ask you to marry him?"
"Honey, if he does you won't be sleeping tonight, I'll keep you up with my chatter and excitement" her tone had an ironic sound to it as she added two laughs at the end.

Iris laughed along with her friend, and Bucky never thought he had even seen a woman whose crooked smile was as beautiful as hers. He was enchanted as if she has involuntarily bewitched his body and soul. He couldn't get enough of her beauty and laughter.

But soon enough, Alissa was taken away, leaving her to wave with her wiggly fingers at Iris who stood back and brought one thumb up.
She shook her head and walked around and she bumped into Rosenthal.
She immediately excused herself "Forgive me, I wasn't looking".
"All is fine, I was the only who really wasn't looking where I was going, forgive me".
She offered him a small smile and as she was about to walked away a question of his brought her back to her place "Iris Grey, right?"
"Yes".
"You're a nurse, right?"

"A flight nurse" she corrected and he tilted his head "Oh, I've heard about you. I believe everyone has, I believe too that it's going well for you?"
"Yes, I am happy I could help. I trained a lot too, it requires a lot of practice".
"If I may ask, how many missions have you been on?"
"Twenty-three,"
"That is close to twenty-five" he said and smiled.
"Not as close as many think- are you all right?" she saw a sudden change in him, she let out a breathy chuckle as he spoke "I think I made quite a bad impression on the two majors and on you-" he scratched the back of his head as Iris nodded her head "Don't think much of it, you'll get used to your surroundings and find yourself saying much worse around those two over there,".

"Well, thank you, Grey".

"Have a nice night" she said before she walked away.