One in a Million (Book 3 in the Four of Us Trilogy)

26 | Tag, You're It

You know I never meant to let you down, let you down
Woulda gave you anything, woulda gave you everything
-Post Malone, "Better Now"

One Month Later
Fallujah, Iraq

Miles

Landing in Iraq was easily one of the most terrifying moments of my life. If Dale hadn't been with me, I don't know how I would've handled it. The heat, the sand, the general feeling of unease – it was just not something I had ever felt before.

But I have to admit, over the past month, I had started getting used to being there. The work itself wasn't terrible; building and designing bridges was easy since the Army had trained us on exactly what we'd be doing. I was good at it, and the days passed by rather quickly since we were so busy.

The only thing I could not get used to was being away from Rachel. Every day without her felt longer than the last, but I told myself that the harder I worked, the shorter the days would feel, and the faster the next eleven months would go by.

Dale and I ended up on the same team, so we were working together every day. It helped to have a friend right there with me – one who knew what I was going through with missing the person I loved.

"Miles?" Dale's voice broke through my reverie.

"Yeah?" I asked, looking up from the document I'd been holding – one I was supposed to be analyzing – for the last five minutes.

"Have you figured out how wide this bridge needs to be yet?" he asked, a twinkle in his eye.

I scoffed. "I didn't even read it," I admitted, handing it over. "Sorry, Dale," I apologized.

He took it and started to read. "That's okay, bud. I know how you feel, trust me. But like we talked about before, I was much more prepared for being deployed, so I'm coping a little bit better. But it'll get easier," he assured me.

I nodded. "I sure hope so because this fuckin' sucks," I said, laughing humorlessly.

"It does," he agreed. "But at least you get to spend all your time with aaaalllll this," he joked, gesturing to himself.

I snorted. Well, at least I have a friend, I thought for the millionth time this month.

Tallahassee, Florida

Rachel

"No, Jessica. I don't want to go out," I moaned, rolling over and throwing the covers over my head.

"Come ON, Rachel," she insisted, yanking the covers off of me and laughing when she exposed my underwear and bra clad body. "Look, you're already partially dressed!"

I groaned and tried to grab the covers, but she threw them on the chair in the corner. "Jess, please," I begged. "Leave me be!"

"No way. I'm tired of watching you wallow around in self-pity. It's been a month. Miles is over there working his ass off, so Imma need you to get up and do the same. You don't want your grades to suffer, do you?"

I glared at her, angry that she was using that against me – because it was going to work. "I'm going to class... most of the time. Besides, you're not supposed to betray me like this – this is Brittany's job!" I wailed.