Page 23 of Be With Me
“Eric, how are you? Haven’t seen you in a while.” Mooney kicked back now that he realized he didn’t need to be ‘on’.
“Doing well, got the star on my wings now.”
“Congratulations. Jumpmaster isn’t an easy school to get into or graduate from. You must be staying around Bragg for an extended time.” He knew that some of the SF guys got to homestead here in Fayetteville. Mooney didn’t know if he would want to live here for more than a tour or two.
“Need to kick back tonight. Figured I’d see if you wanted to grab a burger and beer?” Eric sounded hopeful.
“How’s wings and beer sound?” Mooney offered.
“As I listen to my stomach growl at me, since I missed lunch, good to me.”
“I’m meeting up with Mackey and Kevin in about an hour at Hooligans. Want to join us?”
“On Chason Ridge?”
“Yeah. We’ll be over near the dart boards. Kevin’s on some league between the companies in his battalion and apparently the others told him that he sucked and needed to practice.” Mooney ended with a chuckle.
“See you there.”
§ § §
Sipping his beer, Mooney watched Kevin and had to agree with the guys in his unit. Kevin couldn’t throw for shit. How someone that had a sharpshooter badge couldn’t toss a little dart seven feet shocked him.
“Kevin? Are you sure you need to be on the team?” Mackey asked as he squared up to the board and tossed a bull’s eye, closing out the game.
“You asshole. Don’t criticize, help. They need an NCO and I got chosen. Give me a M24 and I can deadshot from two hundred. Put this little piece of crap with no balance in my hand and I can’t hit the fucking board three out of six timesorif I do I’m nowhere near what I need to hit.”
Mooney went to say something and Mackey shook his head. “Okay, once again, hold the dart…”
He tuned out Mackey as he tried again to teach Kevin the proper way to throw. He let his thoughts wander back to Debbie, not that she was far from his mind every day. She only had a few months before she graduated with her BSN and RN. They hadn’t really talked about what her plans were for after. Might be something they should spend some time discussing since he knew he wanted her with him. Could she move around with a nursing degree? Would she even want to move around with him? Never knowing how long they’d be in one place. Not being able to hop in the car and be with her family in under four hours.
Something hit Mooney in the face, snapping him out of his thoughts. “What the hell?” He looked down and saw a pretzel on the table in front of him. When he looked up, Mackey and Kevin were both staring at him.
“Mackey, what does Mooney look like to you?” Kevin “whispered” really loud.
Mackey held a hand up to his mouth and “whispered” back, “Like a lovesick jackass who needs to suck it up and make her his permanently.”
“Who’s a lovesick jackass?” Eric asked as he walked up to Mooney.
“Hey Spook,” Mackey and Kevin said at the same time.
“This one here is,” Kevin answered pointing to Mooney as they approached the table. “Have a seat and help us kick him in the ass.”
“We’re here to teach you to throw, not solve my love life,” Mooney groused.
Mackey slid into the chair next to Mooney, Kevin and Spook taking the ones on the opposite side. Mooney reached for the menu, in a poor attempt at distracting them. “Everyone ready to order? Need a drink Spook?”
“When did I become Spook?” Eric stared pointedly at Mooney. “You were calling me Eric earlier.”
“You got the nickname the last time you were with us at a bar,” Kevin said.
“I’d forgotten but seeing as you’re the big bad scary Special Forces guywiththe last name of Casper? Yeah, you’re Spook.” Mooney hoped they’d drop the issue of his lack of balls when it came to talking to Debbie about the future.
The waitress came over and asked with a tired smile on her face, “Ready to order, gentlemen?” They all jumped to order food and more drinks before she left with a quick, “Be right back with your rolls.”
“So back to your absent balls?” Kevin started. “Why the hell haven’t you put a ring on Debbie’s finger yet?”
“Whoa, don’t pull any punches, Kev. Thought we were going to ease into that?” Mackey asked.
