"Can you believe it?!? A whole night out in New York City! I must be dreaming!" Barbra exclaimed from across the aisle. The other nurses and I are headed to New York before we are deployed to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Saying we were excited would be an understatement. The girls were talking about guys and telling stories about their childhood, but I wasn't really paying attention. My mind was somewhere else. I would be able to see Danny tonight. That's the only thing that mattered. Eventually one of my best friends, Betty, pulled me from my daydreamin'.
"Hey, Earth to Carol. Evelyn mentioned that you are planning on seeing someone special tonight." She teased. I rolled my eyes. I had told Evelyn about Danny and how I knew him and Rafe since I was a child. She thought it was the best thing ever.
"Yeah, I heard he is a cutie." Barbra swooned.
"Well, I guess you could say that." I sighed while looking away to make sure they couldn't see me blushin' from embarrassment.
"I just hope we can find us some cute lookin' pilots as you two did," Betty said while glancing at Evelyn and me.
"Remember, we are not here for the social interaction. We are women serving our country." Sandra, an uptight nurse who loves to read, states. There are only two things that I and Sandra really have in common, and that's reading and nursing. She's only fun to hang out with when she's had a few alcoholic beverages.
"Yeah, yeah, that too." Barbra dismissed with a wave of her hand. We finally arrived at Grand Central where we departed the train and began walkin' down the long train platform. We had only been walkin' for a few minutes before I saw Evelyn's eyes light up. I followed her gaze to see Rafe and the rest of the boys appear from the opaque cloud of exhaust coming from the train. Evelyn ran to Rafe who picked her up and spun her around. It made me smile to see someone who is like a brother to me and my best friend make each other happy. As I approach the couple, I find myself lookin' for Danny. I don't see him anywhere so I turn my attention towards Rafe.
"Where's Danny?" I ask concerned. Rafe was still smiling as he responded.
"Well, it's good to see you too, Carol." He joked before pulling me into a brotherly hug. I giggled and pulled away.
"Don't worry, he had somethin' to do. He'll meet us at the club." Rafe explained. I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that Danny didn't come and welcome me as Rafe did for Evelyn. Before I could think about the dilemma any longer, I hear Betty speak up to Rafe.
"Hi, so we are the other nurses. I'm Betty, that's Barbra, Sandra, Meryl, and Loraine. You obviously already know Evelyn and Carol. Now that that's out of the way, do ya got any cute friends?" Betty asked. However, it sounded more like a demand than a question. Rafe laughed and turned toward the group of men from his unit.
"Have your pick." He said as the rest of the men looked like they were drooling.
"Ladies, shall we?" Barbra sarcastically asked.
Time Skip
I have been sitting at a table, by myself for an hour. I looked like a lone alcoholic due to the number of glasses that filled the table. Only 3 of them were mine in reality. I was too busy staring at a glass to see someone approach the table. I was snapped out of my trance when I heard a deep southern accent ask, "Would you like to dance, ma'am?" I look up to see who the voice belonged to. I was met with those same familiar brown eyes I have known all my life. Danny stood in front of me with one of the biggest smiles I have ever seen.
"Well, it's about damn time!" I stated as I stood up and wrapped my arms around his neck. He laughed at my witty response. He leads me out onto the crowded dance floor, where people were dancing to the loud, fast jazz music. Once we finally found a place to dance, the music changed to a slow, smooth piano and trumpet duet. Danny placed his hands on my waist while I hooked my arms around his neck. As we dance, I lay my head on Danny's chest and listen to his heartbeat. It was pretty fast, just like mine.
"How did we get so lucky to see each other again?" I ask. Danny doesn't respond immediately. He must have thought about it for a minute or two.
"I think it may have been fate." He whispered in my ear. I giggle and pull away to look at him.
"Yeah right. You never believed in that type of stuff." I commented. He nodded his head while a smile washed over his face.
"How about we get outta here? I have somewhere I want to take you." He mumbles just so I could hear. I blush and quickly nod my head. Before we leave, I look around for Evelyn, but she is nowhere in sight. Neither is Rafe... They must've gone somewhere a little quieter, like Danny and I are. I drape my black coat over my navy blue dress before walking out into the cold winter air. It was only November, but the snow was already dusting the streets. Once outside, Danny leads me down the street towards the harbor. I grinned as I remembered when we were children and how I insisted that I would live near the ocean one day. Danny uses to always make fun of me because he thought it was stupid for me to live near the water and not know how to swim. As we neared the water, Danny turns towards me and pointed to a building that was next to one of the loading docks. It was a fairly tall building. It reminded me of a small apartment building you would find in a small town.
"Come on," Danny smirked. I followed him as he leads me inside and up the stairs since the elevator was out of order. We finally reached the top floor where there was a door that had the words "Roof Access" written across it. When we emerged into the cool night air I could see a large blanket spread across the roof with a bunch of smaller blankets folded off to the side. I also noticed a bottle of wine with two wine glasses. I turned toward Danny and smiled.
"Danny. I'm speechless. It's absolutely perfect." I whispered. I may have imagined it but I thought I saw Danny Walker blush at my words. I placed a small kiss on his lips before pulling him over with me to sit down and cover up with warm blankets. Once we were all settled, Danny opened the wine and poured each of us a glass. We sat there for a moment in a comfortable silence, looking out over the harbor. Suddenly I broke the silence.
"I wish this night could last forever." I sighed while leaning onto him.
"I do too." He responded.
"You know, honestly, I never thought that you and Rafe would have made it to the military," I confessed.
"Why do ya say that?" Danny laughed.
"Well firstly, you two were always gettin' into some sort of trouble. Secondly, you both tend to cheat on tests."
"Hold on a second. I never cheated in school." He defended. I rolled my eyes and looked back at him.
"Are you kiddin'? Just the other day Evelyn told me how you tried to help Rafe with his eye exam before she switched stations." Danny blushed from embarrassment.
"Alright, so we occasionally get into trouble and cheat, but we still made it." He argues. I giggle and turn my body toward him. "To be fair I'm surprised you're a nurse. You used to be the kid who would burn ants with a magnifying glass." He commented. I pretended to look offended, but I just ended up laughin'. Soon we both fell silent again.
"I hope you don't have to go over to Europe." I blurted out. Danny's face makes a pained expression. It began to make me worried.
"Yeah, you ain't gotta worry about me. I ain't goin' over there. It's Rafe you should be worried about." His words caused my eyes to grow wide. Why the hell is Rafe goin' to Britain to fight a war that isn't his own.
"How come he's goin'?" I ask. Danny sighs and shrugs his shoulders.
"I don't know. He said something about being assigned there." I could tell that Danny was disappointed and worried. To be honest, I was too. I can't help but think about how Evelyn will feel when he tells her. I turn back around and lay back into Danny's arms. He wraps them around me and we both stare out into the water and watch the boats comin' in and out of the harbor. Eventually, I turn my head to look at Danny, who happened to be already lookin' at me. Our lips touch and it's like fireworks went off in my head. I was still fallin' hard for Danny Walker. I just hope it lasts.
