C. Brown - Fraternizing

Cassie

Alex’s TAD trip seemed to drag.

It felt as if he was gone forever, but when I woke up this morning and met Dalton down at the chow hall, he reminded me that Alex would be back by this evening. Those words were like music to my ears. I didn’t think a few days apart would be that hard, but it turned out to be more difficult than I had anticipated. Thankfully, Dalton was around because I avoided Angelica like the plague.

I walked into the classroom, excited and ready for the day. Although this course was coming to an end--and that alone brought astronomical amounts of sadness-- I knew Alex would be coming back, so I pushed that little cloud of misery out of mind and focused on his arrival.

We filed into the room, Jensen standing before the class with a roster in his hands.

“Alright. It looks like Headquarters Marine Corps has finally assigned you to your first duty stations. Remember that preference sheet you filled out at the beginning of this course? Disregard that because some of you will be happy with whatever they gave you, and some of you will not.”

My breathing picked up as he began reading off names with unit and location. I had been dreading this day for a while. Alex had told me not to worry about it, and I’d tried not to give it any further thought, but the reality of it all still followed me. And now, here it was.

“Private Allen, Eighth Radio Battalion, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.”

Allen’s face soured. He obviously wasn’t too happy with his duty assignment.

“Private, Bane, Eighth Radio Battalion, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.”

“Private First Class, Banuelos, Eighth Radio Battalion, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.”

“Private First Class, Bennett.” He called my name, and I froze; my throat went dry and my hands began to sweat. I didn’t want to hear my assignment, but I was too anxious to tune him out. Time seemed to stand still as I stood there, looking ahead but unable to truly take anything in. My heart beat with ferocious vigor, awaiting the news that would either make me a happy girl or rip me to shreds.

“Eighth Radio Battalion, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.”

My breath stopped, and my blood ran cold. I wanted to erase what had just happened and make something else come out of Jensen’s mouth. Did he really just say that I would be sent to the other side of the country, away from Alex, to go and work in a unit with none other than the idiot known as Allen? I tuned out the rest of what he said, for fear that I would burst into tears if I listened to anymore. I mentally chided myself, making me focus on the here and now and figure out a way to make things work with Alex. If I was this upset about leaving, I could only imagine what the news would be like for him. I didn’t even want to think about it. It hurt all over again to think about what it would do to him.

When I finally tuned back in to the classroom, Jensen was already at R.

“Private First Class, Ruiz, MWSS-374, Twentynine Palms, California.”

Envy shot through me as Angelica received word that she would be staying put in Twentynine, the place that I couldn’t wait to get away from when I‘d first arrived. The place that had stolen my heart. The place that held Alex.

“Eighth Comm has quite a few people leaving, so that’s why so many of you got assigned there. Go out to your new units and kick ass. You are well trained, and you should serve your units well,” Jensen said, shutting the binder that held that goddamned roster. “We still have some things to cover for your final exam that will be coming up soon. You all graduate next week, so we have to make sure you pass the big test before shipping you off to some unit where you’ll be expected to perform.”

I sat in my seat, pissed that I was so entrenched in Twentynine, but would be uprooted soon, and there was nothing I could do about it. Newsome took over where Jensen left off, taking us clear back to chapter one and outlining exactly what it was that we would be expected to know for the final. I couldn’t concentrate, instead focusing on how Alex would react to the news when he finally got wind of it. The thought hurt, like a piercing stab with sharp knife, twisting and turning until it could go no further. I tried hard to block it out, but everything led back to it, and I was beginning to feel sick.

After a while of note taking, which I did very little of, Newsome released us for lunch. I was never so thankful to get out of the suffocation of the classroom and outside, even if it was above one hundred degrees and no breeze. The room and the confines of the four walls seemed as if they were closing in on me.

Like they were crumbling, leaving me standing in the middle of the debris.

Like they were killing me.

My heart ached in the worst way, and as anger and sadness began to pile up, so did the anxiety of having to share this news with Alex.

Dalton walked over to where I stood, his usually infectious smile plastered to his face. “Guess where I’m off to?” When I didn’t say anything he blurted out, “Third Light Armored Reconnaissance. I’m staying right here in Twentynine and going to Third L.A.R. I’m so fucking excited about that. What did you get?”

I looked Dalton in the eye, the misery shining through me erasing his smile.

“Uh oh. This isn’t good.”

“I’m going to Eighth Comm.”

“Noooo….”

The hairs on the back of my neck began to stick up as I felt a presence near me that was wholly unwanted. Allen was passing by with the idiots that made up his crew. Not only was I pissed that I was being ripped away from Alex, but I’d have to go and join a unit with a guy that I didn’t think belonged in this century, let alone in a purely technological unit.

“Dalton, did you just say you got Third L.A.R?” Allen asked, his face pinched and angry.

“Yeah,” Dalton answered back, giving him a dirty look.

“This is fucking unbelievable. Your weak ass gets Third L.A.R., a fucking combat unit, and I get to run off to some pussy ass unit like Eighth Comm with a bunch of bitches.”

I wanted to let it go, but I couldn’t. I was already in a rotten mood, and he was spoiling what little positive I could possibly salvage from this day.

“I guess you just aren’t cut out for infantry, Allen,” I said, turning to find his red face filled with throbbing blood vessels that looked as if they would pop at any second.

He moved closer to me. “Maybe going off to North Carolina will be good for you. No instructors around. Just fleet Marines, not giving a fuck about bitches and their issues. Maybe then I can teach you how to stay in a bitches’ place. On your fucking knees with my dick shoved down your throat so you can’t run your fucking mouth anymore.”

I was about to say something to him when Newsome’s voice came bellowing through the corridor. He stridently walked over to where we were, his face stiff, eyes low, yelling, “Private Allen, Private First Class Bennett, over here! Now!”

I turned and walked his way, meeting him halfway. I swallowed hard, afraid of whatever was to come. This day was horrible, and it seemed to be getting worse and worse.

“What the fuck was that bullshit I just heard?”

Allen stood quiet, staring Newsome in the face like he was ready for battle. He looked like he had lost it, much more so than any other time I had seen him go crazy.

“Don’t look at me like you’re fuckin’ crazy, Allen. Answer my fuckin’ question.”

“You heard whatever you heard, Sergeant,” he lowly grumbled, not talking his eyes away from Newsome’s. The look was scaring me.

“Devil Dog, you’ve lost your motherfuckin’ mind. I know female Marines in Eighth Comm that will fuckin’ destroy you. That shit you just said is grounds for sexual harassment, and I won’t fuckin’ tolerate it. Especially not from one of my students. Go stand-by in Gunny Chavez’s office right the fuck now. He’ll decide if this shit goes up to First Sergeant.” Newsome’s face was nearly touching Allen’s—deep red, and full of rage. His finger looked as if it would poke Allen’s eyeball out, and to say that I would be glad to see it happen would have been an understatement.