A few years ago, Molly left Sheffield. She left behind friends, family, her entire life to pursue a dream. Now she's come to London on leave from work and she finally makes contanct with a long lost best friend. Their relationship is mended and new...
A constant beeping wakes me swiftly causing me to sit up and crack my head on the bunk bed above me. The ship's metal work has definitely not been very forgiving on my forehead as of late; a permanent red patch has been forming. However, today isn"t just any old day on board HMS Queen Elizabeth II as it is the day we all leave the ship for Christmas leave. The aircraft carrier is one of the few ships that gets the rare privelage, simply because the maintenance is carried out by external organisations that take control of the ship for the month.
An excited frenzy begins as everyone, cooks, engineers and technicians alike, get into their best uniform. Mine looks something like this:
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Soon enough, the time comes to leave the ship. I have no clue whether or not anyone thought to come and meet me so my stomach is churning violently. As I step up onto the main deck, the sound of the sea fills my ears and I walk over to meet my collegues. We line up in an orderly fashion, and begin to march down the steps, off the ship. The noise of cheering greets me as I near the shore and, to my complete surprise, I see 10 familar faces grinning widely at me. Chris, Kelly, Ollie, Vikk, Simon, JJ, Tobi, Harry, Ethan and Josh are holding a massive banner that reads Welcome Home Molly!!! I smile at this greeting and, immediately after we are dismissed, I run to greet them.
Vikk pulls me into a tight embrace first and everyone else piles on, creating a huge group hug. We gain some weird looks, especially seeing as a number of these people only know me as the person in charge of the missiles, but this doesn't disuade us from being just as, if not more, excitable as previously. Whether I had realised or not, when I pull away, my face is covered in tears, all happy of course.
Now is probably a good time to fill you in on the events of the past 8 months. 6 months ago, I was drafted to a ship which meant leaving Chris - who had quickly become my best friend, the 'kiss incident' long forgotten - and Jersey behind me for a while. However, after finishing my last ever term in the Navy, having handed in my resignation a week ago, I am definitely looking forward to returning to Jersey.
I look around for a second, taking in the surroundings and the surrealness of the situation in which I find myself. My eyes fall on Chris, the one person I regret leaving behind the most. We make eye contact and he extends his arms to me, wrapping his hands around my waist. We hug for a good 2 minutes before he releases me slightly to look into my eyes. Almost instinctively, I move forward to meet his lips halfway, my eyes flickering shut. His hands move to my hips, pulling me in closer as I cup his cheek with my palm and wrap my free arm around his neck. My heartrate increases as I feel something indescribable. There are no sparks, there never are, only an elation that seems to last for eternity. As our lips move together, I realise one thing. I love his man with all my heart and soul and nothing the world throws at me can take that away from me. We pull apart slowly and he rests his forehead on mine, grinning. I giggle and only now am I aware of cheers and wolf whistles from behind us. Somewhere in the mix, I hear Kelly yell to Chris.
"My brother's growing up!" This is shortly followed by Ollie.
"Or down, he's still way too short." We all laugh at this humour and Chris and I pull apart. He places an arm around my waist before we go and rejoin the group.
However, as we approach them, Chris turns to me.
"I know this has gone a bit fast and I know we were 'just friends' a couple of minutes ago but I'd really like to make this work," he speaks nervously, as if on tenterhooks, "I suppose what I want to ask is if you'll be my girlfriend? Please? I'll be nice?" I giggle and press my lips to his.
"Is that a yes or...?" he asks, looking slightly dazed.
"It's a yes. A big fat one."
"Easy there tiger. Anyone would think you're actually happy!" I giggle. His humour never ceases to amaze me.
"Are you guys done being cute or...?" Harry asks us. The others nod in agreement as I flush red. I stand slightly straighter as Chris takes my hand. We rejoin the babble that I can now call my family.
I've never been happier, I mean that. Feeling loved is the best feeling in the world. It's like all my previous insecurities are banished and only the views of the people I hold dear matter. I'm finally free from my demons. Finally.
