InsaneJournal

They Made a Statue of Us
Who: Rylee & Charlie
What: Rylee deploys
Where: Camp Pendleton
When: December 30th, 9 a.m.
Notes: Photo Reference.

“Now you remember to call me as often as you can and answer my emails,” Mrs. Ekholm said with sincerity, her hands cupping Rylee’s cheeks as she looked up at her son and made a weak smile. “And don’t tell me that your job is one of the safe ones. I know. But I can still worry about my baby.”

Rylee kept all commentary to himself, giving a short nod before his mother threw her arms around him and pulled him close for another hug and a hard kiss on his cheek. He embraced her back, memorizing how it felt to hug his mother and the scent of her perfume. When he was a child the smell of her perfume was always comforting. She pulled back, wiping at her eyes, and squeezed Rylee’s hand. “Now, I’ve said my goodbyes and I’m going to go wait with the rest of the families so that you can say goodbye to Charlotte. Remember that you will call me as often as you can.”

Rylee made a small smile that didn’t reach his eyes and gave a nod, “I promise, Momma.” She smiled and backed away, touching Charlie’s shoulder gently before disappearing in the crowd. Rylee’s shoulders slumped and he waited for a breath before turning to his girlfriend. Licking at his lips, he shuffled his feet lightly before turning his blue gaze to Charlie’s face. “Hey, baby,” he greeted quietly, despite that no greeting was needed since they had been together every day for the previous two weeks and driven together to the base. He reached out and took her hand, holding it lightly in his as he shyly gazed at her. She wrapped her fingers in his as well, a deep frown cutting her features.

At first she hadn’t wanted to get out of bed that morning, latching onto Rylee as though she could will the event away. Then her motions through the rest of the day had been robotic, her face a stoic mask. Even now, despite the frown that always seemed to be present on her face, there was little recognition of just how she was taking this farewell. Her mouth opened and closed, words drying up in her throat.

“Yah call me, all right? An’ I’ll try to figure out that stupid Skype thing.” Her tone was harsh, as though she were scolding him. There wasn’t much to say, aside from what Mrs. Ekholm had already touched on. Slowly, her features fell into a less harsh relief.

“I’ll miss you,” she half mumbled, taking a step closer into his personal space, her other hand coming up to wrap around the one already tangled in her fingers.

With his free hand, Rylee reached to touch Charlie’s face. He remained silent for a moment, rubbing his thumb gently against her cheek as he looked at his best friend. “I’ll miss you too, Lee,” he replied just as quietly. “I promise I’ll call ya and answer any emails. If we’re lucky maybe we can talk on Skype every day. We’ll have to figure out the time difference and when we’ll both be free.”

His thumb continued making small circles on her smooth skin as his other hand gripped hers. This was the hardest part; he finally had Charlie in the way he had hoped and now he had to let her go for a year. “Now, you got my car keys and the keys for the apartment, right? You promise to drive my car if the weather is ever too bad for you to ride your bike, right? And...and you’ll be careful and take care of yourself and remember to water my plant in my study, right?”

Charlie nodded, her voice lost to her again for a beat. Then she pulled out an attempt at a smile, which was more gruesome than her frown. Her eyes brimmed with tears, and she pulled one hand away from his in order to wipe at them so that nothing would be betrayed.

“Yeah, yeah, though it’s not like the weather gets that bad aroun’ here. Not like back home; no snow or nothin’. An’ I’ll water yer plant, but don’t be surprised if it’s good an’ dead when yah get home.” A sniffle let loose, despite her attempts to quiet herself, and the hand returned to grasping his as though to tell everyone around them ‘this is mine.’ With the smile came a shudder, as though something in her were about to break loose. “This is my punishment, innit? I ignored yah for that long and now I gotta let go of yah an’ hope yah come back, like yah did with me.” Her words had fallen quiet, whispered tones between only her and Rylee.

The smallest frown appeared, pulling down the corners of Rylee’s mouth as he saw Charlie’s attempts at hiding her tears. He knew her well enough to know when she was about to cry. Giving her a quick kiss on her forehead, he moved his hand from her cheek to her hair and ran it through her brown locks. “Babe...” his words dried up in his throat and he gave a gentle cough to clear his throat. “You know I’ll come back, I want to come back. I don’t even want to leave. It’s just...bad timing...and luck.”

He brushed her hair over her shoulder and ran his hand down her arm. His other hand gripped hers, not letting go, and slowly he made a tiny smile. “Maybe we still have time to sneak off into a closet or something and have a quickie, eh? We definitely didn’t get as much playtime as we hoped with my Momma staying over. I’m...I’m sorry about that. But it was nice to have you both with me.”

That pulled out a laugh, a real smile gracing Charlie’s features for a moment. “I dunno, yah know how much trouble yah could go into, doin’ stuff like that.” She scooted in even closer, setting her face on Rylee’s chest, nose pressed into the starch-stiff cloth. It smelled clean, smelled of laundry detergent, and then his smell underneath coming up through the soap, which soothed her. “An’ I don’t mind that yah had yer momma come down. It’s better that she gets to see yah too, before yah leave.” She turned her head up to look at him, a glimmer of a smirk riding over her features.

“Besides, I’m sure there’s plenty of naughty things we can do with that webcam. I’m gonna give yah blue balls fer a year, yah better believe it, mister.” Her free hand came up to clutch at the edge of his jacket, pulling at it a little.

Slipping his hand down Charlie’s back, he kept her close as he rubbed his hand up and down, finding it hard not to touch her and try to memorize the exact feeling of her. A year was a long time, he was frightened he’d forget. Bending his neck, he gave her a brief kiss then pulled away with a smile. “If you’re going to do that, you better be at the airport and ready to deal with me the moment I come back. In the car, against a wall, maybe right on the tarmac.”

He laughed slightly, the conversation was amusing but his laughter was still stunted. He still felt his heart dropping. Returning his hand to cupping her face, his smile was almost sad, but his eyes sparkled with adoration. “My girl, my pretty girl. A year is a long time...but we’ve gone longer without even talking. At least with this we still can talk and sort of see each other.”

“Yeah, this won’t be that bad,” she quietly agreed, though she would still argue that it was unfair. Four years apart, six months together, then another year apart again? It was almost cruel. But she certainly wouldn’t ignore him this time around. Lifting her head, she closed the space between their mouths with a quick but fierce kiss, as always her actions speaking louder than her words. It was nothing more than a liplock, nothing less, and it spoke of her fears regarding this event. One hand came up to cup his face in return, her thumb sliding over the smooth expanse of his skin. Rylee turned his face towards her hand, playfully biting at her fingers and smiling.

“When I come home, maybe we could go on a vacation before I go back to work,” Rylee offered. “We could go campin’ or on a road trip or something. Whatever you’d want to do. So long as you could get off work and stuff...maybe we could plan that? I think it’d be nice. Just a week of being together and not having to deal with anything.” He glanced around the crowded area filled with different Marines and their family members. His mother lingered on the edge of the crowd talking to, what Rylee assumed to be, a few other mother’s of Marines. He frowned, gripping Charlie’s hand a little tighter before looking at her. “Could you call my momma every once in awhile and see how she’s doing? I know you were a little nervous about her coming to visit and what she’d think of you...but she really does love you. I think she’d be happy to hear from you.”

She nodded. “I can do that. Be nice to keep in touch, instead’a everybody who jus’ drives me crazy back at the apartment.” Charlie tried to laugh, her sore attempt at a joke failing hard.

“But a vacation sounds good. Real good. Campin’ or somethin’, an’ we could take Jack with us. I’ll be sure tah ask fer time off in advance, though I don’t know if they do the schedulin’ a year out,” she continued, keeping her hands on him the entire while, as though once she moved away he’d disappear into thin air. The time was already growing too short, and she was dreading the drive back home. For Mrs. Ekholm’s sake, she’d keep up a strong pretense, which was something Charlie would like. It would give her a reason to remain strong, even if it was only an act. But the moment the woman left, she’d be alone with her thoughts, and that was always the worst.

Rylee grinned, giving another brief plant of his lips to Charlie’s forehead. “Remember the treats I got Jack; I put them in the cabinet under the sink. Don’t forget to give them to him,” Rylee continued, trying to prolong his departure. Behind him, he could sense the movement of superior officers and his stomach dropped. They’d be calling for formation soon and Rylee wasn’t quite sure how to say goodbye to Charlie. They had both deployed before, at one point they were even stationed at the same base in the Middle East, but it was somehow so much different.

Glancing over his shoulder, Rylee frowned at his superiors and turned his gaze back to Charlie. “You’ll be all right, right Lee?” A nervous quiver appeared at the corner of his lips before a slight blush rose on his cheeks. Letting go of her hand, Rylee cupped her face with both of his hands, forcing her to look directly at him and looking for the honesty of her answer to his questions. “You’re going to be okay for the next year, right? I just...want to make sure that you’ll be fine. If you need anything you won’t be stubborn, you’ll ask for help, right? Or just...just tell me if anything is troubling you.” If there was anything that stressed Rylee about his deployment it was Charlie. He worried about her more than he was willing to admit (or would admit, at least to her) and if she was all right...well, he would be much more able to concentrate on the tasks at hand.

Charlie did her best to fight to put a smile on her face, a convincing one that would allay Rylee’s fears.

“Of course I will be, dummy. When haven’t I?” The joking was inevitable, though a waver in her voice gave away the fear she felt. Swallowing, she turned her full, serious attention to him, her hands rising to settle against his. “I’ll be fine. Don’ worry about me, all right? Yer gonna have enough to worry about without addin’ me to the mix. We’ll talk, we’ll see each other with that weird lil’ webcam thing, it’ll be like yah never left.” Her thumbs rubbed into the tops of his hands. Tears were threatening her eyes again, but she made no move to wipe them away.

“I love yah, I promise things’ll be fine. I won’ ignore yah this time, I promise. I’ll drop anythin’ to talk to yah, jus’ make sure yah come back to me in one piece.”

Rylee looked distressed as he noticed Charlie’s eyes growing shiny as tears attempted to make way. But he had to take her words as a promise, he convinced himself that this was just an emotional moment (it was) and that Charlie was being honest (she had to be). She’d be all right and they would talk and the year would pass quickly and effortlessly. They’d be back together in no time. But for the moment he pressed his lips to hers in a hard, rushed manner; a kiss that was desperate and eager to take note of every detail. Her knees nearly buckled underneath her, and Charlie had to lean forward into him in order to remain standing.

A throat being cleared caught his attention and Rylee froze, his eyes opening as his lips were still pressed to Charlie’s, and quickly he pulled back and spun around on his heel in a precise manner that he had acquired through intense training. His Major stood behind him, looking serious and completely unmoved by the expression of affection he had just witnessed. Immediately, Rylee was at attention with his hand up in a salute.

“Ekholm, get your men in formation. We’re leaving shortly,” was all the Major said before he gave a nod, releasing Rylee from his stance, and turned away as he added, “Finish your goodbyes.”

Rylee’s shoulders slumped as he turned back to Charlie. He looked pained as he stared at her for a moment before bending and wrapping his arms tightly around her, pulling her as close to him as possible and breathing in the scent of her shampoo. “I love you, Charlie. I love you so much and I’m sorry I have to go away. I don’t want to leave you, babe,” he muttered quickly with obvious sadness hanging heavy on his voice.

“I know. I don’t blame yah or anythin’. I’ll still be here when yah get back,” she reassured him. It would be so strange - for him to walk off, for her to be left behind. It echoed of past memories that she wanted to forget, but they kept being drudged up from the past no matter how hard she tried to kill them. “I love yah, too. An’ we’ll talk soon.” She pressed her lips to his again before forcing herself to step back. It caused an almost physical pain in her chest, her eyes wide as her tongue flicked out over her lips as though to soak up every last taste of him. Hands rising to her face again, her fingers made quick work of any tears as she took a few paces backward, in the direction of Mrs. Ekholm.

Rylee didn’t move, his eyes large as he watched his girlfriend pulling back, taking his breath with her. He closed the distance once more, two long steps with his boots thunking against the ground, and he grabbed her hands in his, squeezing them hard as he kissed her once more. Pressing his forehead to hers, he stared at her eyes. “We’ll talk as often as possible. You’ll tell me stories about the idiots you run into at work and how Jack is doing. I’ll tell you about infestations of sand fleas. We’ll be able to do this and then I’ll come back. I promise I’ll come back. I love you, babe, I love you so much.” His hand reached for her cheek, catching her hair as he quickly ran his fingers over her skin, and with one final kiss he pulled away. One more look, a moment’s pause to study her face, and a glance towards his mother in the crowd, then Rylee was gone; slipping into the crowd to gather his men and call them into formation before they flew to Afghanistan.

She watched him disappear, her hands left in midair as though to catch him back. But then he was gone, and there was nothing more to be done than for her to gather up his mother and drive home. Though it would be a few more days before Mrs. Ekholm would fly back to Missouri, Charlie realized that, at that moment, she wanted to be anywhere except back at the apartment.

Turning on her heel, she looked to Rylee’s mother with a wavering smile, she walked toward the woman but made no move to touch her. Mrs. Ekholm made that decision instead, pulling Charlie into a warm hug, before the two walked off to disappear into the crowd themselves, pulled in a separate direction from the man they’d both just said goodbye to.