Fighting the War (previously known as "Falling")

Chapter 9

Chapter has been edited by NotebookNinja.

Chapter 9

"Tell me everything!" Lara squealed. I had literally just walked into the condo door.

"What do you want to know? Nothing really happened," I responded, waving my hand in the air to try and make it more believable.

"Whatever! Don't pull that shit with me, I've talked to Noah and already know what happened. Now I want your side of the story," she gave me her best stern expression. It actually looked kind of scary.

"Okay, fine, I'll tell you, but you have to promise to be quiet until I’m done," I told her. I was looking for any signs of her wanting to interrupt, but she wasn't giving any off. I started telling her what had happened from start to finish, and by the end of the story she was bouncing in her seat with anticipation.

"Oh my God! Ky is so in love with you!" she half screamed.

"You think so?" I asked, fully knowing that the guy was totally in love with me.

"Yeah, I mean, what guy says he wants the moment to be special and stops right in the middle of a heated make-out session? C'mon, even I know you’re not that stupid, Nat. I know you know that boy has fallen and he has fallen hard," she giggled. It was like one of those eighties movies, where the girls are all sharing their innermost feelings while giggling and saying ‘aw’.

"I know he's in love with me, and some part of me is in love with him as well, I just can't make myself tell him. It’s just...I mean....who falls in love in a week and a half?" I said, turning my head away in embarrassment.

"Soulmates, that’s who! Look at Noah and I, we've known each other the same amount of time and already I know I want to spend the rest of my life with him," she paused, pulling her emotions back into check. "Nat, he's my everything... I would swim across the ocean to get to him and I know he would do the same. It just sucks that we both have to go back home to Georgia and Noah and I have to be apart from each other. It makes me want to drop out of high school and move down here to be with him." Lara's eyes were filling up with tears, and they were threatening to spill over.

"Don't quit school! C'mon, we’re in this together! Both of our men are going to be out of our reach. Well, yours will be closer than mine, but we’re still in this together, Lara. Plus, if you quit school, you know your dad will remove you from his will," I said while laughing, hoping to bring her mood back up. Lara needed to see that I was going to go through the same thing she was. Only mine was worse. I seriously didn't know if I was going to see Ky again after Friday. Anything could happen between now and next year. Lara was lucky in that aspect, because at least Noah was only a state away. She could drive down one weekend and see him. Or he could come visit her. But for Ky and I, it was so much different. We wouldn’t have the chance to see each other.

Thinking about this didn't even bring tears to my eyes anymore, I had come to terms with the fact that the person that meant the most to me in the world was going away for a year. I would write to him every day, tell him everything that was going on in my life, and hope he would do the same. The thing that made this easier was the fact that I knew that next year at this time I would have Ky in my arms. Ky would be in my arms to stay.

"I know that this is going to be hard, Lara, but we can do this. Just think, you’re only one state away from Noah and you guys could travel on the weekends to see each other," I said, desperately wanting to her cheer up.

Lara wiped her tears away.

"Jeez, what am I crying for? Your man is going off to war and here I am crying because I’m going to be a few miles away from mine," she began sniffling again. "I'm such a crappy friend."