Army Way of Life

Chapter Eleven

Two days later, Dad came home from work early about to bust at the seams and I knew that they had found a replacement for him.

At dinner he told us that they would be leaving in 2 days, on Wednesday, a day before Jeremy and I were supposed to leave for Raleigh. So after we ate, we were all sent upstairs to finish our packing.

I called Jeremy to come over and help with Ryker's stuff since the boys were busy with their own stuff. It seemed like it took forever, but when we were done, there was nothing but boxes and our beds left out.

The first thing the next morning, Jeremy and I headed into Wilmington to look at apartments.  We only had to visit a couple places before I found one that I fell in love with. I had to call my mom to co-sign the rental agreement because I didn't meet the requirements, and they were paying for it anyway.

When my brothers got off work that day, they, along with Jeremy and Melanie, helped me move in.  My mom kept Ryker for the night so we could get more done.  Around 11:30, we had finally gotten everything in the apartment, with a lot of struggle because the unit I was assigned was on the third floor. They didn't have many availabilities, and none of the ones open on other floors were 2 bedroom, so we were stuck carrying everything up 4 flights of stairs.

They had gotten the crib and changing table put back together and we had arranged everything how I wanted it before everyone left. Everyone but Jeremy, that is.  When my siblings left, I fell back on the floor in the living room floor, which was still mostly bare. My parents had agreed to give me their furniture because it was too expensive to haul it to Hawaii, so they were just going to get new stuff.  That worked out in my favor.

"I'm so tired," I groaned.

"It has been a long day," he agreed. We laid there in the middle of the floor for a while before I decided I needed to get up and organize. He got up a few seconds later and followed me into my bedroom and helped me unpack boxes and put the contents away.

Around 2 am, we had finished both my room and Ryker's room.  Now, you may be asking why I did it all tonight. But I will say this. It was impossible to get stuff like this done with a toddler around.  Ryker was always into everything and you had to keep a close eye on him.

I had tried to tell Jeremy many times that he didn't have to stay, that he could go home.  But he insisted on staying and helping. I think part of it was that this had been the first we'd been alone, truly alone, since reconnecting. And I was both nervous and excited about what that meant.

At this point, I knew Jeremy wasn't going home tonight. His mom would kill him if he came in this late. And post was sometimes really strict about letting people on after about 1 am. There wasn't a curfew, but you got dirty looks from the night guards sometimes. It almost wasn't worth it. And I was kind of excited that he would be staying, especially since we truly were alone.

"I need to go get a shower.  You're welcome to take one in the other bathroom if you want to. I can get you a towel," I said.

"Okay, thanks," he said, following me into the bathroom in my room.  I turned around to hand him the towel and he took it from me. But then he pulled me in close and pressed his lips to mine. Not hungry or sloppy. It was nice. Like a good first kiss. It didn't last long and after he said, "I've wanted to do that since I saw you at West Point," he admitted, blushing.

"I've wanted you to do that, too," I said shyly, lifting my face toward him again. He pecked me on the lips again before walking out of the bathroom and toward the hall.

After I got out of the shower and was in a pair of running shorts and tank top, I walked out into the bedroom and saw Jeremy lying on my bed, wearing a pair of basketball shorts and no shirt.  I knew he caught me staring, but he didn't acknowledge it. He just motioned for me to come to the bed. I climbed in and cuddled into his side, savoring the feeling.  It had been so long since I had been with a boy like this; he was the only one and it had been 2 years since we had been this close to each other. We laid there a few minutes, neither of us saying anything. I eventually wormed out of his grasp and went into the living room area and made sure the door was locked and everything was turned off before joining Jeremy in my bed.