Fraternizing by C.C. Brown Page A

her was joining the Marine
Corps, even when she repeatedly belittled me, telling me how much of a failure
I would be.
    Those words were
banging loud and clear. For the first time in a long time, something she had
said to me was actually welcomed. Not in the sense that she was right, but her
words were my reality check. Failure was not an option for me, but while I
didn't have nearly as much to lose as Cruz, I did stand to lose something that
I valued--my burgeoning career. As much I told myself that my career came
first, I couldn't deny the pull that Cruz had on me and my
body . When he spoke so brashly, my body responded, pleading with me to
cure the ache and just let him ravish it. I had to work double time to stop the
thoughts, to stop the feelings, and as difficult as it was proving to be, I was
determined to get it done.
    "Hey
dreamer. You about ready?" Dalton asked, standing in the doorway of my
room. He looked so much different out of uniform with his skinny jeans, black
t-shirt, plain black slide-on Vans, and nerdy glasses. I couldn't help but
smile at him.
    "Yeah, I'm
ready. Just let me lock up my locker."
    "Shit. I
heard about that. Sorry. Newsome can be kind of fucking crazy."
    I laughed while
locking up the locker and double checking to be sure
that I wouldn't have another repeat of Field Day night.
    "You're
telling me. I thought he was going to put me through these brick walls in
here."
    "Well, his
buddy isn't much better. Sergeant Smith chucked an apple at some Private's head
today in class, then was on him like a bad rash after
that, screaming in his face because he had dozed off. I thought he was going to
pop a blood vessel."
    My mind drifted
to Cruz who had fallen asleep in class today. I couldn't be sure that anyone
else had noticed, but I had, only because I kept stealing glances at him.
    "So anyway,
what about Sgt. Cruz?"
    "What about
him?" I asked, my voice stiff and defensive.
    "He looked
like he was going to smash my face in earlier today. What's his deal?"
    I sighed. The
last thing I wanted was for anyone to definitively find out that something had
been going on between us.
    "He's just
intense. He's always telling us how our first priority is passing this course
so that we can get to the fleet. That's all."
    Dalton didn't
look like he was buying a word of my lie. His eyebrows shot up, and a faint
smile traced his lips, but I didn't feed it. As far as I was concerned, I was
going to have nothing more to do with Sgt. Cruz than to listen to him teach me
about radio communications so that I could get to a unit and do my job.
    "Anyway. Transformers.
What is this about?"
    Dalton stopped
walking and held his chest, breathing hard and pretending to be in shock.
    "You're
fucking kidding, right?"
    "No. I
don't know anything about it."
    He took my hand
and placed it on his chest. His heart wasn't beating any faster than normal,
but he was playing up the part, trying to hit home the fact that I was
desperately out of the loop.
    "They were
only my favorite action figures as a kid. I had every single Transformers toy
ever made."
    "Okay. So
what is this movie about?"
    "Robots,
good and bad, caught in a battle for Earth." I looked half amused. "Trust
me, it's kick ass. I've seen it twice already."
    "Then why
would you want to see it again?" I asked, laughing.
    "Because of
the pure awesomeness of it. You're going to love it too, rock girl."
    "Rock
girl?" I asked, confused by the nickname.
    "Yeah, rock
girl. You must have lived under a rock to not know what Transformers are."
    I blushed, then awkwardly laughed. I had been living under a figurative
rock with my mom, and not one that I'd wanted to come out from under either.
    "Thanks to
your depravity as a child, I'm treating you tonight. Movie,
popcorn, aaannnddd a drink. Don't thank me, it's the least I can
do."
    I hit his
shoulder and laughed again. "Don't splurge on me or anything,
Dalton."
    He folded and
stiffened his arm, holding it out for me with a goofy grin on