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"Can’t She’s working," I said But she hadn’t been working two hours ago, or thethe past week The truth was that I was a coward Facing Grace Sullivan after nearly two years of no contact was hanistan At this point, I’d rather face down ten angry insurgents than one 5’ 6" girl I could probably pick up and toss with one hand

But back then, I had been through ninety days of basic training and was surrounded by my buddies, all of us armed to the teeth while ere deployed Here my only weapons were e that she had written to me, once a month, for four years

I justified the teeks since classes started by telling myself I first had to do soence

I had to find exactly the best tiht way to let her know I had landed back in her life

I found out she had all early classes and was done by noon every day I learned she lived in a swanky house two blocks away from campus Bo had chatted up some chick down at the library desk and learned that Grace did her required weekly hours of service on Thursday nights and Sunday afternoons The one thing I hadn’t ed to obtain was her cell phone nu her around ca Grace has turned you into a quivering pussy, they wouldn’t believehis arive their left nut to be ht now," I shot back

After a few es, Grace had become our unofficial mascot When the boxes from Grace arrived, the unit hovered around rab stuff out of the box They weren’t jackasses enough to take the letter, though Everyone knew that was hands-off But I hadBo her prom picture, and then everyone wanted to see "their Grace" My CO even made me pin the picture up, as if she were souys jacked off to that picture of Grace than to the chick on the cover of Juggs I guess I was doing my part to benefit unit cohesion, but fuck me, the next picture she sent I kept for myself

About two years into uys and so of a enerous and, after the inclusion of her prom picture, we knew she was, hot, too She was curvier than the average coed, but I liked that In her prom dress, she looked like a ‘50s pinup model, with her dark hair curled and a flower pinned near her forehead While it could have been the padding of her dress, I suspected that she was stacked

You couldn’t tell the color of her eyes from the picture She said they were hazel, aon what she wore I may have fantasized a few times about what color they would be when I went down on her or when she was strokingcasually back in his chair "After she’s done working," I told hi to convince him or myself I’d wait until she was off work and then walk her ho wraparound porch of the house she lived in, and try to explain my complete silence for the past two years Automatically, I wondered what color Grace’s eyes hen she was angry

I hadn’t ever been good at explainingto be any better I was, however, good at doing Only this time, when I went to the circulation desk to actually do soone

Chapter Two

Dear Grace,

Thanks for the care package It eso me the extra bottles of nail polish that you and Lana received fro fan of nail polish ood incendiary device with it Don’t paint your nails near a fire, or maybe even a candle

Today was hot--like yesterday and the day before I don’t rerees feels like It’s either brutally hot (day) or freezing cold (night) I can handle the hot I’s in teet used to

We’ve been going on a nu froents or handing out aid I always think that it’s ridiculous to be handing out paper and pens and candy while we are carrying assault rifles, but everyone here treats it like it’s normal

Yours,

Pfc Noah Jackson

PS You can just call me Noah

Grace

Lana and I lived in this aoing to a pricey and old private college was that the surrounding apartments weren’t run-down shitholes owned by slumlords We lived on the top floor of a renovated Victorian

It had high ceilings and oversized doors The lights were reproductions of late 19th Century Victorian decorations,to the apartether too beautiful to be housing college students, but I guess when the annual tuition at Central was more than the price of a luxury car, the landlords expected a higher caliber tenant Those were silly expectations We were college students

When I cas and treated the apart the heavy wood structure open with a bang, not caring that the newly plastered walls ht be dented by the antiqued brass doorknob

"Lana!" I called as I burst through the doorway, placingmy camera and laptop on the floor She shot up from the sofa as if electrocuted and a cararoaned inwardly when I saas Lana’s boyfriend

"Hey, what is it?" she asked, s her hair out of her face I waved my hand in front of my chest to indicate that her shirt was unbuttoned and her camisole askew, and then averted ht themselves Too bad I couldn’t cover my ears to avoid the sounds of zippers and snaps It’s not like I’m a prude, but I just didn’t like Peter He didn’t treat Lana right, and I didn’t like knowing they exchanged body fluids She deserved better

Thankfully, interrupting their intihts in otten into at the library Looking down atI pressed h rab a water bottle I busiednoises frooodbye

"Even God rested on the seventh day," I told Lana after she closed the door

She grinned unrepentantly at ht when I screwed my face into a fake offended expression