Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45785 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45785 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
He was on the front line of the drug war, and he was so used to being an essential part of their daily operations. So the way he’d phrased himself mere seconds ago… He was feeling less accomplished. He wasn’t as proud anymore, because we weren’t hunting down smugglers in the Pacific.
And I’d called him useless.
2000
Joel really wanted to get away from all the people. By the time he sat down in the sand with his food, we were almost at the water’s edge, and we’d been reduced to contrasts in the dark.
I sat down next to him and dug my beer into the sand a little.
This was insane. Piper could be at home right now, wondering where Joel was. Unless he’d told her? I’d gone home earlier to take a shower and twiddle my thumbs for a while before meeting up with Joel again, and Piper hadn’t been home then. It wasn’t like she didn’t have other friends.
“Did you say anything about us meeting up to Piper?” I asked.
When he tilted his face my way, I could make out his expression. He was confused. “No? I don’t know where she’s having dinner either.”
He really was clueless.
He grinned a little. “You’re not on the same train your folks are, are you? About me and Piper, I mean. Your mom’s not subtle—but we’re just friends.”
Okay, so at least he heard the chatter.
“I can’t say it’s a topic that’s kept me up at night, but I guess I assumed for a while that you’re…you know.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Hell no. She’s not my type. She’s just my best friend.”
Oh.
I knew someone who’d be crushed to hear that…
I didn’t know how I felt about it yet. Was there a code I should abide by? Piper and I didn’t exactly run in the same circles. She thought my buddies were…well, I didn’t know, but she was a champ at rolling her eyes at them. And I found her friends ridiculous.
Maybe not Joel.
“Can I ask you something?” He spoke with his mouth full of food, reminding me to dig in. “It’s about college.”
Safe topic was safe.
I nodded and chewed on my first quesadilla.
“Do you regret not doing college before enlisting?”
Huh. No, but my mom wished I did.
I shook my head and swallowed. “No, this was my plan from the get-go. If the Navy isn’t for me, college is always there.” I did plan on taking courses later on, but it was more important to me to be with my peers in the service. “I don’t wanna enlist at twenty-one with a bunch of high-school graduates.” I had four friends who’d enlisted at the same time, and I was lucky enough to end up on the same ship as two of them.
Joel sighed. “That’s what I figured.”
I finished another bite and grabbed my beer. “I thought you were going to Florida.” I could thank Piper for that knowledge. Joel’s dad had been from Florida, and he’d attended UF on a football scholarship before he’d joined the Coast Guard instead.
“I was. I am. I’m gonna go—I’m just…I don’t know, I’m thinking in the same terms you are,” he admitted. “I wanna be a Coastie like my dad was, and going to college is… For every day I get closer to leaving, I realize college is for my mom’s sake. And to be honest, I don’t think she’ll be happy when I tell her I wanna join the Coast Guard.”
Probably not, no. Although, Joel had lost his dad in a car accident, on base but technically unrelated to his job.
“A semester or two won’t make a huge difference,” I reasoned. “You’re going on a partial scholarship, right?”
He nodded. “I have two jobs lined up waiting for me.”
That was good.
“So give college a try, and if you decide you wanna enlist…” I trailed off with a shrug.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll do that.” He picked up another taco, and he chuckled. “When I was little, I used to be jealous of Piper for having a big brother. I wanted you to be my brother too.”
Oh jeez.
I smirked. “If it makes you feel any better, you always annoyed me like a kid brother.”
He laughed.
I felt way more relaxed now. We ate in comfortable silence for a moment, and he guzzled his beer like it was the first ever. Or maybe his thousandth, rather.
I took a swig of my own and then finished the last of my food. Fucking delicious as always.
One of the few things I missed out on at sea was definitely good food. Mom’s cooking or whatever San Diego had to offer. But it was gonna be nice to ship out again soon. I had a whole world to see.
“I don’t do that anymore, do I?” Joel blurted out suddenly.
I felt my forehead crease. “Huh?” Do what?
“Annoy you like a kid brother,” he clarified.