From Fins to Wings

I should have known better. Pacing in the room I found myself entranced with the faded colors caused by the recent attempt to remove a wine stain. I finally plopped on the bed and stared at the rising full moon. "Silly girl, gorgeous men do not simply show up, play the knight in shining armor and then treat the girl to a parfait. At least if the girl looks like you"

The bitter words were spoken in less voice and more breath. Finally grabbing the phone I did the only thing I thought to do. I called my best friend Tabitha Catherine Michaels or Tabby Kat as I have grown to call her. "Come on Tabby, answer the phone." One ring, two ring, three ring, four. Finally she decided to answer although in a very lethargic sounding voice.

It was two in the morning, I wasn't tired, and neither should she be. "Tabby I can't believe I fell for it. Maybe I dreamed him up, I don't know. I wanted to believe that for once my knight in shining armor had come." Yes I sounded pathetic. No tears though, I swore never again to shed tears over a man, especially one I did not have more knowledge than his great smile and seemingly nice body.

"Come on Danny," she was the only person alive to ever refer to me as that name, "Maybe he was in a catastrophic wreck leaving him pining away on highway 224." Leave it to Tabby to try to make me smile or laugh by weaving a tale only a romance novel would be proud of. "Tabby, I am very doubtful he would pine over a stranger sitting like a duck half drenched in the middle of the night."

"Alright, well if that is settled, why are you calling me in the middle of the night to pine over Mr. Right if he is dreadfully wrong enough for you to leave you standing. This isn't like you Danny." Of course she was right. Tabitha had known me for most of my life. She had been there for the ups and the downs of childhood depression and anger.

We had plotted escapes together of running out and getting our own apartment, eating junk food the entire time, and studying teenage soap operas every afternoon. Of course it never happened. Tabby went off to college and then married a very prominent lawyer then divorced and is now in the FBI as a profiler. Talk about a change of pace between friends.

"Your right, and maybe it's for the best or else you might be investigating my own death. He could have been a psychotic killer, slashing and dashing." Ok a really bad pun, but hell it made us both laugh. Talk about horrible senses of humor, but then again she was half dead to the world and practically snoring, I bet Tabby would have laughed at anything if she was able to go back to bed.

"Ok Tabby, thanks for the talk, go back to sleep and call me in the morning." After a few nice words I heard the click and hung up the cell by flipping it closed and then fell back against my pillow. Truthfully I wouldn't have minded being sliced and diced by this stranger. At least I would have had a big smile on my face, would probably be like those old guys with young wives dying during, well you know what I mean.

Across town, he sat on the barstool thinking to himself about the girl he met. He was out of uniform and now watching the people around him. This wasn't Edwards type of place, but it was better than sitting in the almost empty hotel room thinking about the upcoming tour he was about to face. Afghanistan, it was a shock to his mom when she found out, and having just recently gotten out of a relationship he really had no one.

He had taken this trip to luxurious Hollywood because of a friend. He had told him it was worth it, to get the leave used up before they had to ship out. The lazy music poured from the speakers and caused the bodies on the floor to move either off beat or to the beat. Looking down into the glass of copper liquor he thought about last night and the girl in the pool.

One of the first lessons in the Army for a soldier is never leave a fallen comrade; he heard some heavy sounding breakage behind the house and took off to see if anyone was hurt. Finding her was interesting; she appeared to be struggling and uncomfortable though her sense of humor was what caught him. At least that was until he had a good view of her eyes.

Edward was never one for romance in any way shape or form. Actually he had been told in the past that it avoided him. It wasn't his fault. Her eyes though, they stopped him and caused him to think about more. As a Private First Class in the Army, he had no intentions on thinking about dating or even considering it before heading back to Ft Carson in Colorado before his Tour of Duty.

That is why he was sitting here in this bar, instead of out when he had asked her and even said he would pick her up at six. He didn't even have a name for her. Oh well, she would forget him and he would forget those brown eyes. Taking another drink, he realized that he held no interest for the other girls in the bar that night and for some reason the other one stuck out in his mind.

Never had he dated a girl who was plump, or large in any way. He always dated either the cheerleader types or those who stood out from the crowd. Shaking his head he glanced to the door and found an interesting situation forming. Taking another drink and finally seeing the bottom of the glass he turned with his back to the bar and leaned against it seeing a familiar face coming toward him.

I couldn't sleep, it was that simple and I needed to get out and clear my head, so I went to the only place I knew, the bar. Low and behold my knight in shining armor was growing rusty at the bar drinking something which resembled a darker version of whiskey. I couldn't really tell, but by his change in stance I knew he recognized me.

"So nice of you to invite me," I knew the venom was dripping from the already coated sarcastic statement even before it left my mouth. Alright, we have already considered that I have a rather nasty temper, and to find the one who had me up half the night wondering why he stood me up simply nursing something at a bar. Yeah it upset me.

Edward wasn't a liar, he couldn't lie and say that he was lost, or he couldn't find the place. He remembered it with a photographic memory. "I realized it wouldn't be the best thing for me to get involved." Two strangers, talking about a stood up date, which was sabotaged approximately six hours later, slightly uncomfortable. I could not believe my ears at his words.

"Then why would you ask, attempting to be nice to the chubby girl who looked like a drowned rat?" I think I did well, I didn't yell though I was hurt and truly I had no reason. Oh well, back to humor. "Besides, it isn't like you asked me to marry you. You asked to go hang out somewhere. I tend to think we are both adults and can realize that love at first sight and all of that mumbo jumbo is not real."

I noticed something in his eyes which helped me realize he understood that I was not trying to trap him into anything. Actually his smile is what caught me off guard, it was gorgeous. There I go using that word again to classify this man, but he was everything I could imagine myself wanting and not ever deserving.

"Alright, let's try this again," His hand came out to him and I slid mine into his feeling a slight tremor inside and my breath hitch, "I am Edward Twedell, U.S. Army and you?" Alright, so now I began to feel my heart pound as I imagined this man in uniform. Oh yeah, I bet he looked good. So I felt my hand squeeze his and he looked down and I quickly pulled my hand back feeling a bit nervous.

"Danielle Cole, daughter to the overdramatic, larger than life soap star Alexandrea Cole." I made certain to exaggerate the name and emphasize the overdramatic and larger than life part. Hey, you can pick your friends, but you're stuck with family. I rubbed my hands on the thighs of the jeans and motioned for the bar tender.

"Shirley Temple." A transaction paid by credit, and then the virgin drink was before me. His look said it all and I clarified why I chose what I chose. "When I drink I get dumb and not the quiet type of dumb," I took a drink and nearly fell from the chair from the hit of the brain freeze, too much ice at two thirty in the morning.

Silence began to seep around us, well at least the sort of silence caused by two people in a bar surrounded by completely knackered, I love that word, people. Looking up I caught his eyes, and the born in them reminded me of a nice thick Mocha Frappuccino. I wasn't in love; it doesn't happen that way does it? Of course it has never happened to me like that.

"So what do you do in the Army?" Dumb question but I hate silence. I tend to talk too much at times when I should learn to shut my mouth. Then he looked at me like he was shocked that I was interested. Maybe I opened a door for a friendship, who knew. Before he had a chance to start his spill the first few strands of 'You had me from Hello' began to play from the juke box.

His voice overtook the music and drew my attention even though the song played in the background. "I'm an eighty-eight mike," I guess my confused glance gave away that I was pretty lost from what he said so he clarified things for me. "I am a driver." Ah, Layman's terms, much better. "There are truck drivers in the Army?"

Yeah I was as clueless about the Army as I was about show-business. I felt like my face was on fire when he started to laugh at my expense. "See, now you are laughing at me and not with me and that isn't very funny Mr. Twedell." I heard a bit of laughter in my voice though when we both began to lighten up.

"Actually it is Private First Class, or PFC Twedell." The correction took me by surprise. I knew nothing about rank or the Army in any way, but I knew there was something special about this guy sitting with me. He didn't seem judgmental though he did stand me up. Watching him drink the ice water he had order gave me a sense of comfort knowing he wasn't a heavy drinker.

"Yeah, there are cooks, and drivers, and radio operators, as well as medics and veterinarians in the military. We are like a little community." The warmth in his voice and the smile given in the words were enough to make me feel foolish but comfortable. "I learned something knew tonight. Cheers to knowledge gained from new people." A wink, yeah I was nervous, and I was looking back around the bar.

He watched her closely with the knowledge that he was nervous, and kicking himself for not getting her name sooner and keeping the date. Thanks be to luck that his path crossed hers again. She offered him a sense of belonging in a place he was beginning to grow further away from with each moment. Then he broke the news he needed to tell her, the reason for standing her up.

"I won't be here much longer. In another week I leave for Ft Carson and then Afghanistan." It felt like he was a traitor for not letting her know sooner. They weren't even really friends yet either, so he couldn't even understand the reasoning behind his guilt. "I would like it though if we could hang out, you could show me the sights you know, from a native's perspective."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, and I knew I should have shaken my head, thanked him for the nice evening and strolled out, but I nodded and smiled. "That would be fun, how about we meet tomorrow around ten in the morning, we can walk down and have a bite to eat them enjoy the day." His smile said it all and I planned on not getting my hopes up that he would show.

It wasn't that hard to say goodbye, but I noticed how comfortable he had made me when I was walking home and when I slipped inside. A soldier managed to intrigue me after I had sworn off any contact with a relationship in any way. This would make for an interesting day tomorrow. Though when I fell into bed all I could think about were his eyes, his voice, and what he would look like in a camouflage thong.