Casualty of Love

Joe's Brother

The next morning Demi went to the beach to surf before her classes. There was no sign of Joe yet and she thought he was probably late. But what she didn’t know was his base was shipped out at 4 in the morning and it was almost 7. Demi’s classes didn’t start until 10.00 every morning, after she finished her morning surf she got ready for college on the way to her locker a guy came over to her and started talking to her.

Nick: “Hey are you Demi?”

Demi: “Yes, why?”

Nick: “I’m Nick, Joe’s brother. He asked me to give you this.”

Demi: “Oh.”

Nick gave Demi a letter and a red rose, she smelled the rose and opened the letter and started to read it. She then sat down on the bench to keep reading it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Demi Demi

Hey I’m sorry I couldn’t make it this morning, we had to get shipped out somewhere. I’m not allowed to say where exactly. I’m guessing you have already met my brother Nick. Well he’s in the army also but he stays on base and does all the office work there. So he is the only one that has some kind of contact with me. I’m also really happy that we met at the beach I’m just sorry that I had to leave. I hope to hear from you soon.

Joe

~~~~~~~~~~

Demi looked up and saw that Nick was still there; she then looked to her left and saw the waves crashing along the shore.

Nick: “It’s gonna be Ok.”

Demi: “I know.”

Demi got up ready to leave when Nick stopped her by placing his hand on her arm.

Demi: “What?”

Nick: “Well we need to exchange numbers so if you want to reply to the letter from my brother.”

Demi: “Oh sure.”

Demi and Nick exchanged numbers and later became friends that sometimes hung out. The weeks went on and Joe was still gone and Demi still wrote to him every day. Her and Nick became a little close during that time that Joe was away. One afternoon Demi was at the beach thinking about Joe, she missed him so much but she was thinking that she didn’t really know him all that well. They only met twice and in that time she knew that she felt something for him. But she wasn’t sure on what she felt. Nick came over to where she was sitting and gave her a hug; he had started to like her a lot and was kind of hoping she would move on from Joe.

Demi: “Hey Nick; what are you up to these days?”

Nick: “Hey nothing much, just busy working and before you ask I haven’t heard anything about if Joe is returning yet.”

Demi: “I wasn’t going to ask.”

The truth was Nick did lie to Demi about Joe’s return because he didn’t want Joe to get in between him and Demi. He had strong feelings for her and he knew the moment she knew Joe was back she would forget all about him.

Joe was coming back to see her before he had to leave again, Demi was still sitting on the bench when Nick decided to sit next to her. Demi noticed it was a little too close then the next thing was Nick leaning into her and kissing her on the mouth, she was shocked and pushed him away.

Demi: “What the hell was that Nick.” (Shocked)

Nick: “I’m sorry.” (Hurt)

Joe: “Hey don’t stop on my count.” (Not happy)

Demi looked behind her and Nick and saw Joe standing there not happy that his brother was making the moves on Demi. Demi got up and walked over to him and stood in front of him.

Demi: “Joe; your back.” (Happy)

Joe: “Yea didn’t Nick tell you?”

Demi: “No he didn’t.”

Then Nick got up and walked over to them and stood next to Demi.

Joe: “So what’s going on with you too?”

Demi: “Nothing, he kissed me and I didn’t kiss back.”

Joe: “Why?”

Demi: “What do you mean why?”

Nick: “Yea Demi why didn’t you kiss me back.”

Demi: “Because I don’t feel anything for you Nick. God Nick you know how I feel about Joe.” (Starts to yell)

Nick: “I’m sorry.” (Yells back)

Demi: “You should be.”

Joe: “What do you mean about how you feel about me?”

Demi: “Umm…I like you; God who am I kidding your hot.”

Joe: “You think I’m hot.” (Smirks)

Demi: “What I didn’t say that.” (Lying)

Joe: “Yea you did Dems.”

Nick: “Well I’m gonna go.”

Nick left hurt once again his brother got the girl, he also wanted. Demi walked over to the bench and sat down, Joe came and sat next to her and pulled her into a hug, she hugged back.

Demi: “So what do we do now?”

Joe: “Let’s go out for dinner and see where it takes us.”

Demi: “Sure.”

Joe and Demi went out for dinner to a small restaurant not too far from the beach. They had a good time together that they decided to go back to Demi’s apartment for coffee. When they got there she noticed that both her roommates were out and that the place was quiet.

Demi: “Well make yourself at home and I’ll make the coffee.”

Joe: “Sure.”

Joe sat down on the lounge and looked around the room; he noticed a lot of art stuff along with text books for law and design were lying around. There was also a lot of material lying around on the floor and dining table. Demi came in with 2 cups of coffee and placed them on the coffee table.

Demi: “Sorry about the mess.”

Joe: “It’s fine.”

Demi told him which cup was his and sat down next to him and they started talking.

Demi: “So how long are you staying until you get shipped out again?”

Joe: “3 months then I’ll get shipped out again and it’s always a different or sometimes the same.”

Demi: “Oh is it scary?”

Joe: “Sometimes.”

Demi: “Oh ok.”

Joe: “So did that ex of yours come back?”

Demi: “Oh you mean Wilmer, no he hasn’t yet.”

Joe: “Ok, I’m sorry about my brother, he’s always been like that even in high school. He would like a girl and she would always pick me and he would get the shits about it or at me.”

Demi: “Well in this case you saw me first and I’ve liked you since our first meeting Joe.”

Joe: “Oh really? Well I liked you too that’s why I wanted to write to you and let you know what happened that morning I didn’t show up at the beach.”

Demi: “Oh.” (Smiles at him)