Always Army Strong

Chapter 5

        "I wanted to apologize to you both for blowing up back there. Dani, is it alright if I speak to Nicole alone before I take you home?"

        Dani nodded in acceptance and waited in the car. Dean and Nicole got out of the car, Nicole was still too scared to make eye contact. Dean walked around to Nicole and reached for her hand, she pulled away. 

        "Nicole, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings it's just that you have no idea how it feels to have someone you love join the military. You didn't deserve to be yelled at like that and I am so sorry for it." Dean started. Thunder cracks in the sky just as a down pour begins. Dean and Nicole pause to look up at the rain, now falling on them. "I have really strong feelings for you, and I don't want anything to happen to you. I've never met a girl that makes me feel the way you do. I couldn't imagine life without you. I wish you would stay." He pleaded, reaching for her hands again, this time successfully. "It's just that I-I think I might be in love with you," he revealed.

        Nicole's eyes immediately softened and she felt a longing in her stomach to kiss him and show him the love he felt for her. But she knew better, she knew that if she told him she loved him it would only hurt him worse. 

        "D-Dean, I don't kn--"

        "And I know that you might not come back, but it is a risk that I am willing to take if it means that there is a small chance you come back." He continued.

        Nicole looked down at her shoes, as her hair fell in her face. Dean gently placed his fingers under her chin and lifted her head to meet his eyes. At that moment Nicole flashed back to a college memory. 

        Dean pulls up outside Nicole's apartment and walks up to the door. He takes a deep breath and rings the doorbell. Nicole answers the door with a big smile on her face. Dean pulls out a rose from behind his back and hands it to her. 

        "You look so gorgeous. I'm the luckiest guy in the world," he tells her smiling ear-to-ear. 

        "How did I get the kindest, funniest, hottest boyfriend ever to be my date to the formal?" she jokingly asks leaning in and kissing him.

        "Shall we go milady?" he asks with humor, gesturing to his car.

        He puts his hand on the small of her back and leads her to the car, opening the door for her and closing it behind her. He made his way to the driver side and the second he sat down he leans over and plants another kiss on her lips. Dean starts the car and begins the drive to the party. 

        Nicole could not take her eyes off of Dean. He had his hair perfectly combed and man was he hot when he dressed in a suit. 

        "What are you looking at?" Dean asked looking back at her with a huge smile on his face. He leans in to kiss her when she interrupted him. 

        Nicole's eyes went wide as she yelled, "DEAN THE LIGHT'S RED!"

        Before a car smashed into them, sending glass all throughout the car. It all seemed like it was in slow motion. After tumbling multiple times, the car finally came to a rest upside down. Nicole lay unconscious in the passenger seat and Dean fading in and out of consciousness murmured, "Nicole," just before losing it.

        The flashback fades away as she comes back to reality. 

        As Dean leaned in for a kiss, Nicole turned away. "Dean I'm sorry I can't!" Nicole sputtered, voice breaking. She took multiple steps back before saying,  "I couldn't ask for a better guy in my life. You were always there for me. When I felt alone, hopeless, and insignificant you always had my back,"

        "Let me have it now," he urged.

        "I can't risk hurting you. At dinner you asked me if I thought about how you would be while I was gone, I lied! I think about it all the time! Dean, I love you! I do, but you have to know that you would be better off just forgetting about me." She sniffled. 

        "I could never forget you. You aren't sparing me the pain, I willl always care about you and value your safety." he argued.

        "I'm sorry Dean. We are over. We have to be," Nicole finished, tears trickling down her face. She began to head for her house.

        "No. No! Nicole, we do not have to be! Please don't do this," he begs, as she walks away.

        She looks back for a second to see him glistening from the rain with pain flooding his face. His eyes showed a longing that could never be quenched, until she was back in his arms.