Distance of love. (Army girlfriend story)

Things were going to get better. I could tell as soon as the car passed the welcome to Kesgrave sign that I was finally rid of the town and things would get better. The past three years had been awful and miserable, and I was more than glad to be leaving. It was up and out from here, the escape I had been waiting years for.

The idea of moving was brought up by my boyfriend, Charlie, in late August. He'd joined the British Armed Forces earlier on in the year and had been away, training, in Robertson Barracks. It was a fifty four and a half mile journey from our home town Kesgrave, and it was too far for him to travel everyday, so he'd moved in with a friend of mine, aaron, that lived five minutes away and was also a soldier at the Robertson Barracks. I'd missed him so much when he was gone, but I had sixth form to focus on... It was worse when my final year finished and he was gone throughout the six weeks holiday. I hated that he wasn't there, that he couldn't cheer me up when I was having a bad day, that I was stuck feeling so alone and that the only place I would feel just that little bit content was at his parents house. He came back in late august and that was when he suggested moving. I jumped at the chance, knowing that I would get to be away from the dreary town and be with the person that made my depression that tiny bit easier to cope with.

We were gone by middle of September. Of course my Mother had done her best to try and convince me to stay, I knew it was going to be hard for her to lose her eldest child, but I had been planning on going to University anyway. I just didn't have the money yet. I'd find a job near the barracks and save up as much as I could, then go when I was ready. It was planned. Charlie covered the rent from what he was getting paid by the army, and I was planning on chipping in with some of what I would earn. It wasn't going to be easy, but at least we had a clue what we were doing. We were going to have a much better life.

I let out a sigh of relief, closed my eyes and put my head back against the head rest. I heard a small chuckle and opened my eyes to look at Charlie. He kept glancing between me and road, a large smile on his face.

"What?" I questioned. He didn't answer. A small smile formed on my lips. "What?"

"I've never seen you so happy." he said. It was true, he'd never known me to be happy, and if I was, it wouldn't last long.

"Well you're going to have to get used to it because this move is going to make everything so much better." I said, "We're going to keep me happy."

His smile stretched a little bit larger. "I could get very used to that." he reached over and scooped up my hand, placed a kiss on it, then held it tightly.

We arrived at Aaron's just after two o'clock. It felt kind of strange, because I'd met him on a school trip almost three years ago, and we kind of had that adult child barrier. The school had told us that we weren't allowed to add any of the soldiers that we met on social networks, but that sure as hell didn't stop me. I only added Aaron, as I didn't feel as comfortable with the other soldiers. I'd never seen him before without the adult child barrier and I wasn't sure what to expect, but as we pulled up to the flat he came out and greeted me with a hug.

"Charlie." He nodded at my boyfriend, then looked back at me. "You've grown up, Kim!"

"Well you haven't seen me for years!" I said.

"True..." He followed Charlie to the car and got a box. I watched them both from a metre away.

"You could help you know!" Charlie joked. "Or are you going to become one of those girlfriends that make the men do all the work?"

"Well, as appealing as the last one does sound.. I was actually going to get a box when you two had moved out of the way!"

"Because that's believable!" Aaron mumbled sarcastically as he passed. Charlie chuckled and followed behind him.

"You two are going to annoy the hell out of me! By the time I'm thirty I'll be locked up in an asylum for going crazy and killing you both!" I shouted as they walked away. I picked up two boxes from the car and carried them inside, then placed them on the sofa and looked around.

You could tell it was a man's flat. It didn't have that women's touch with all of the ornaments and pretty picture frames, but it wasn't untidy, which was kind of surprising. The furniture looked quite expensive, not like what I had in mind, but nothing to complain about. And the TV, well, it was huge!

"Think you're going to settle in well?" Aaron asked.

I thought about it for a moment, "Once I've got my things unpacked, I'm sure I'll be fine."

"That's good." Aaron smiled. "Just make yourself at home, you can put your things anywhere, as long as you're not making a mess!" He chuckled.

I smiled a little, "Don't worry, I'm over my messy stage, I've got a bit of an OCD now."

"Thank god for that! On the trip a few years ago, your room looked like dale farm!"

"It did not look like a gypsy camp! Plus there was nothing wrong with dale farm!"

"If you say so!" He said. "Where do you want these boxes?"