My Short Story Rambles

Drying Off

This was inspired after watching the old war movie "Kelly's Heroes"
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The boys were starting a fire down below her. They had gotten caught out in the rain again, but this time they had been able to find shelter for the night. Now the boys were shucking off their wet clothes to dry them by the fire.  Being the only female of the group of soldiers, she had taken shelter on the second floor of the old barn. Luckily this barn had not yet been half destroyed by the German 88 shells that seem to be fired constantly. No one needed her assistance, seeing as she was the medic, so she had taken to hiding away from the loud group of men complaining about the French weather. Better the weather than being rained down on by enemy fire.

Sergeant Joe, or Big Joe, the leader of the odd outfit of soldiers, could be heard yelling at Little Joe, then Cowboy and Willard, and lastly Kelly. 'Poor Kelly', she thought. He was always taking some sort of brunt from Big Joe. Luckily for her, the men had learned she wouldn't put up with their crap.  But Kelly, being the crazy nut he was, always seemed to get himself in some sort of mix up with their Sarge.

She had her gun propped up on her field pack, and she was resting against the stone wall of the barn. The fire was roaring below her, and she could feel the heat rising on the floor beneath her. It seemed like the men were content to forget her. She was fine with that, being left alone was better than hanging around a bunch of half naked men who hadn't had any in a while.

Taking off the helmet that had kept her head dry, she settled herself and closed her eyes to get some rest. Well, that would have been the target goal if it hadn't been for the footsteps making their way up the wooden steps. She cracked open one eye to take a look at who it was coming to bother her. It was the one person who she always had her eye on, Kelly.

Ever since she had been assigned to this outfit, she and Kelly had seemed to draw each other in. It meant the others left her alone because they honestly thought he had already claimed her. If only that was the case. She kept her thoughts about the handsome young man to herself, but always stayed by his side. Plus, she didn't mind getting in on some of his scheming sometimes. It was hard, though, being around Kelly. He always had this sour look on his face, and he rarely smiled. It was hard to tell what he was thinking sometimes.

As Kelly stalked over to the field medic, all she could think was that she had done something to get in trouble. She straightened up in her spot and watched him crouch down in front of her. He was still in his trousers and boots, but his jacket, shirt, and undershirt were missing. It showed off his strong, but not overly muscled upper half, and the little bit if chest hair he had. She swallowed and stared him dead in the eye. He looked her over for a moment. "Are you just gonna sit there in your sopping wet clothes or are you gonna come dry off?" he asked in a low volume baritone voice.

She raised one of her thin, dark eyebrows at him. "I'm going to sit in my wet clothes there is no way I am going to sit down there half naked with a bunch of men who haven't seen a naked woman in months," she quipped back at him, as it was pretty obvious. With a sigh, Kelly reached over and yanked her blanket out of her pack before rising.

"C'mon, get up," he said and motioned for her to stand. She stared him down incredulously. "I said get up," Kelly ordered with a little more force in his voice this time. This time she stood like she was told. Kelly threw the blanket over his shoulder before he began pulling her soaked shirt free from her trousers.

"Kelly!" she almost squealed as she tried to remove his hands from her. He grabbed her by her wrists and pulled her flush against his chest.

"I ain't gonna let you sit up here and freeze. So either you take of your soaking clothes, or I will do it for you." There were no if, ands, or buts about it for her. She stared up into his ice blue eyes vefore sighing and pulling herself free from his grasped. She started with her boots and trousers, throwing them to a pile on the wood floor. She tried hard to hide the embarrassed blush on her face and she began pulling off the thick button down shirt. She also tossed them aside vefore being handed the blanket in Kelly's hand.

With a smirk of triumph, Kelly picked up her clothes and headed back down to the fire. She wrapped the blanket around herself before sitting back down where she had originally been. A few minutes later, Kelly was coming back up the stairs, his own blanket in hand. He wrapped it around his back before wedging  himself in between her and the stone wall of the barn. She let him, because he added extra heat. Plus is felt nice being pulled back into his chest with his arms wrapped tightly around her. She relaxed against him and let him stroke her hair. Okay, so maybe she was Kelly's girl after all, and she just hadn't known it.