My Soldier (*Completed*)

Chapter 1

This dinner had better be worth it with the prices the chicken is at now a days. My parents were coming to town, and I decided to make them fried chicken, as a running joke in the family that I will never lose my Ketucky roots while living in L.A. Scanning some more of the other chicken, the prices only seemed to increase as I searched some more. Groaning again, I whip around quickly to leave, when my clumsy body makes a full on body check with something rock solid, making me fall right down on my ass

'When did that wall-' I look up at a hand reaching towards me.

"Shit ma'am. I am so sorry. I should've been paying attention." A deep voice says, whom I assume is the owner of the hand that's waiting for mine. I look up to see a tall figure all in camouflage staring down at me with concerned eyes. Gorgeous concerned eyes at that. I can't help but stare at the certain shade of amber they are. Almost gold....

"No it's fine." I say, shaking out of my daze as I grab his hand. He yanks me up with such force and ease, "I'm just too clumsy for everyone's liking." I explain as I begin to balance back on my feet.

He chuckles, and lets go of my hand, "What's so dreadful that deserves such groaning?" He shoots me a killer smile on a tanned, beautiful face.

I jerk my thumb behind me, "Chicken prices are too high and my parents are coming to town." I playfully roll my eyes and he chuckles with me. It gets a little quiet, and I continue looking at the meats while trying not to seem as though I'm analyzing this man in front of me. He's tall and from his uniform, I credit his strong build and grand muscle phisique to life in the military. Although gorgeous, his face looks a little exhausted. Not just  tired, but run down. His golden eyes almost seem to have this haunted look about them.

"So you Army?" I say, breaking the awkward silence that was forming, and gesturing to his outfit.

We start walking after I grabbed a random package of chicken, forgetting the prices and coming more interested in the camouflage wearing, beautiful man walking beside me.

"Yupp," he replies, "just got back from Afghanistan actually. My....I was supposed to pick dinner. So here I am."

"Afghanistan? Wow. Welcome home. Thank so much for your service."

"The pleasure is all mine." He says with a gentle smile. We stop for a second to pick up some potato and macaroni salad, making some small talk as we scan our options.

"What's the time difference there?" I ask.

"It's a little more than 12 hours. So when I'm over there it's the next day. It's pretty cool actually. Like I'm time traveling." He jokes, causing me to throw my head back and laugh. 

"Damn. Must be some pretty heavy jet lag." I say, still chuckling.

He chuckles, "Oh you have no idea." He involuntarily rubs his tired eyes, shaking his head. "It's good to be back though." The soldier says with a small smile on his face as he looks around the supermarket like it's an old familiar place.

I stick out my hand, "Annalise Torres. Call me Anna"

He grabs my hand with a firm grip and shakes my hand, "Sergeant Matthew Starks. Call me Matt."

We stop and realize we just went in a big circle, and ended up back at the meats. Matthew looks at the options, and grabs two packages of steaks. We continue walking around the store, picking up a few things here and there, and chatting about things: past life, present life, deployments, my job, the army life, the college life.

"So are you from around here?" Matthew asks.

I shake my head, grabbing some more grocery essentials, trying to think of my mental grocery list. "No I graduated from USC last May. I'm originally from Kentucky, but they had a really good psychology program and I wanted to travel some, see the country a little." I reach for something on one of the higher shelves with great difficulty.

"Why California?" He asks, grabbing the item I was trying to reach and places it in my cart, giving me another one of those dazling smiles.

I give him my thanks, cursing myself for blushing a little. "It's sunny, big, beautiful. I'm not too far from the beach but also not too close. So I said 'why not?'" I laugh, shrugging my shoulders.

"It is pretty here. I do hope you get to travel more and see more of the world. There is so much to see." He smiles and I love the way he talks about his job so happily. 

We finish up our shopping and both agree we are ready to head to the cashiers. Matt gets checked out first...by the cashier and for his groceries. Either he's ignoring it or he doesn't seem to notice, and I can't help but being slightly happy over it. But I can't blame her. There's just something about a man in uniform. He waits for me to get checked out and we walk out the store together, chatting away. As we exit, I jump at the sound of a car horn that's extremely close to the entrance. Matt chuckles and we stop.

"That's my ride, actually," he jerks his thumb to the car thats continuously honking non stopped, "can't drive yet while just getting back into the country."

I nod, "That makes sense." I stick out my hand as we get ready to part ways, "It was very nice meeting you Matthew. Again, thank you so much for your service and sacrifice."

He grabs my hand and shakes it hard, but nicely, "I wouldn't want to be doing anything else." He turns to walk towards his car when he shouts something over his shoulder, "but don't worry, I'll be seeing you again." he flashes me a dazzling smile and a wink

"How do you know that for sure?" I jokingly question him.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." He says with a wink.

And soon, he's off.

**********READ****???*********

I'm writing this story because my dad and two brothers are in the military, and my brother just recently came home from Kuwait but I just really love the military life, and I just felt like writing.
Please understand that there are going to be a bunch of military terms and references, so if you get confused, please don't be afraid to ask questions, but please try not to correct me unless you know for sure you're right. I know what I'm talking about when it comes to this.
Now I'm thinking two things:
1) I sound like a cocky bitch. Sorry!!
2) 98% of you are not reading this so why do I even try??
3) I know I said two things but now I'm saying three: PLEASE VOTE AND COMMENT!! I WOULD LOVE IT AND LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!
I ALSO TRY TO FOLLOW BACK AS SOON AND AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!! <3
~QuackingDuck~