Page 30 of Perfect Chemistry

“Says Infantry, that correct?”

“Yes, Gunnery Sergeant!”

“Follow the yellow line for your uniforms and equipment issue.”

“Yes, Gunnery Sergeant.”

“Next!”

* * *

“Congratulations, Marines!”

“OOOH-RAH!”

The parade field was soon overrun with the families of the newly graduated Marines. It had been almost a half a year of training, but I did it. I was in beautiful California far from all of my worries.

I searched the field for my family. I didn’t have to look far before I saw Andie bounding across the field squealing.

“GIRL!!! You look so fucking HOTT!!!” Andie screamed as she jumped in to hug me. “My goodness, I may go gay for you after all, Katiedid.”

I laughed at the looks other Marines gave us as we giggled and hugged. I didn’t realize how much I had missed her. We stopped when a voice cleared behind me. I turned slowly to see a man staring at us expectantly. He looked familiar.

I looked at Andie’s blushing cheeks and it all clicked. “JONAS?!?” I squealed. “YOU HOOKED UP WITH JONAS?!” I laughed so hard I couldn’t stop the tears from falling.

Jonas was four or five years older than us. His parents lived near Andie’s and we would see him when he stopped by to visit. He was shy but Andie would tease him relentlessly. I knew she liked him, but she always denied it.

“HA!! I KNEW IT!” I squealed, hugging her again. “Spill! Tell me all about this secret affair!” I ordered them looping one arm through Jonas’s and wrapping the other around Andie’s waist.

We gathered my gear from the barracks and loaded it into Andie’s car as she told me all about her seduction of the sweet and innocent Jonas. She was going to drive with me to my next assignment on the East coast. I had been worried about her driving to California alone, but now I understood why she told me not to worry.

I couldn’t help but laugh each time she referred to Jonas as sweet and innocent. Andie didn’t keep sweet and innocent men. She was a man eater. Jonas had to be a closet Dom to keep her this enthralled. I won’t lie and say I wasn’t interested to know, but there was no way in hell I would ever ask either of them. She was happier than I could ever remember seeing her and that was all that mattered to me.

“Did you want to get right on the road? Or should we put our feet in the Pacific before we go?” I asked when we got to their hotel. I was signed out on leave for the next ten days, giving us plenty of time to drive to my next assignment in North Carolina.

Andie leaned back one of the two Queen beds in the room. “Let’s get on the road! I want to spend a day or two in Arizona.”

Jonas and I agreed. Arizona had always been a dream destination for Andie and I, and she had not stopped on the way to pick me up in California. With the car packed and the hotel checked out, Andie drove the first stretch. We drove until we reached the Arizona state line and found a campsite for the night. Thankfully Andie brought two tents. I slept alone and I was okay with that. The trip went by so fast with the three of us laughing and sharing stories.

We stopped in Tombstone and Bisbee, then drove north to see the colored mountains around Flagstaff and Sedona. It was so freaking cold that we opted to get a hotel rather than camp out again. I could ignore my heartache when I was in training, but not now.

With every mile closer we drove to the East coast, my heart ached a little more. I didn’t want to go back home and see anyone and had declined the option for hometown recruiting. My parents had come to my boot graduation, but I still didn’t have a car, so driving up to visit them was not an option. I would request leave in the summer and see them then. I didn’t need to bother them with the move to my first assignment.

Andie knew me so well. “Do you want to talk?” she asked quietly while Jonas slept in the back seat.

I shook my head looking out the passenger side window. We were somewhere in Oklahoma or Texas.

“Kai-” she started, but I didn’t let her finish.

“Stop. I don’t care. Not any more. I know I said I left my phone, but I didn’t. He never once tried to contact me. Did it matter how I felt? What about what I wanted all this time? Huh? I had no fucking say before, and now he doesn’t either. He wanted to end it, it’s ended.” I whispered out harshly.

Andie glanced over at me as she drove. “Ok. I won’t bring it up again.”

We spent two days in Memphis, visiting Graceland and eating some of the best barbecue I had ever tasted. Jonas also had a bucket list for this road trip, and it involved a food crawl through Memphis. We laughed and ate until the meat sweats set in.

“No more. Please,” I cried when Jonas pointed to another barbecue shop further down the road. Andie laughed at my pain, but convinced Jonas to save the last stop for their honeymoon. Jonas blushed and stopped pushing for more restaurants.

I couldn’t help but watch the two more closely. Andie always said she didn’t want to get married young. She wanted to ‘sample the seven seas’ before settling down. Now, she was talking about honeymoon plans with Jonas.

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