It's 1973 and the Vietnam war has just come to an end. James Conrad and his partner in war, Sophia Dawson, are wandering the depths of Vietnam when they're visited by two curious looking Americans who say they'll pay them to lead a group through the...
ChapterOne: PartnersInWar Song: time of the season • the zombies
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Vietnam, Saigon • District - Quâng Nâm 1973
She didn't call him James.
That was far too personal, and their relationship was strictly platonic. Well, apart from the odd comment here and there, the heated glances from across the room and oh, there was that time they drank too much and decided to go out dancing - on each other.
They had woken the next morning with throbbing heads and decided to never talk about it again, even if they had enjoyed it - the feel of another's hands on them, especially someone who they admired. The war had made them lonely, and it would seem that they had grown on each other.
James Conrad and Sophia Dawson had been partners for 5 years. They had saved each other's asses multiple times, meeting in the British special Air Force, travelling to Vietnam and then being decommissioned together.
Yet even through it all, they had stayed good friends - sometimes wishing for more when they were drunk or in need for another, which was more often than not.
Sophia called him Conrad - Con most of the time - and James called her Dawson, or sunflower, depending on the mood he was in that day. The nickname had started since Nam while they were hiking through jungles surrounded by soldiers. Sophia thought she had seen a sunflower and Conrad had laughed at her. She still remembered the moment like a scene from a movie:
"A sunflower?" Conrad shook his head with a beaming laugh - so bright the beating sun should be ashamed. He held his gun in his firm grip and sweat had collected on every inch of his tanned skin. "Dawson, sunflowers don't grow in these climates"
It was funny at first, but then it turned sour when Sophia realized that she was severely dehydrated and even as Conrad picked her up from the jungle floor after collapsing, she laughed and said:
"See? I freaking knew I wasn't that dumb to think a sunflower could grow here"
Yet despite this seemingly painful memory, Sophia preferred to be called sunflower, but she wouldn't tell him that, likewise with him.
They weren't meant to fall in love with each other, it was far too cliché, but they could feel themselves falling and they were too comfortable with each other to stop it.
Conrad was playing snooker and Dawson was trying to pawn a couple of drinks from the bartender for a flash of her pearly white smile. It was a typical night for the pair, staying in dingy bars that doubled as a brothel and getting far too drunk for their own good.
