A Soldier in Love (22 page)

Much to her delight
Bock brought her a box of canned foods.

“Luckily, your food
isn’t considered a delicacy here. It wasn’t too hard to bargain for,” Bock said
with a shrug of his large shoulders.

Michelle shifted
through the box there were spaghetti noodles, canned tomato sauce, mushrooms,
and a packet of seasoning. She grinned when she realized there was also a
bottle of wine. She didn’t know if she could have better luck, spaghetti would
be a perfect meal for the two of them.

Michelle smiled. “Bock,
this is amazing. Thank you. How will I ever repay you?”

“No need to repay me,”
Bock said waving a hand in the air.

“But this must have
cost,” Michelle rebutted.

“Just make my old
friend happy that is the only payment I require from you.”

Michelle nodded and
went upstairs to put the things in her pack. She returned to the living room to
see Serik had come back in.

“Hey, you’re back,”
Michelle smiled.

“Hey,” he smiled. “I
am. I’m all done now so if you want I’d like to take you around the city,” Serik
replied warmly.

Michelle smiled.
“Of course.”

“I’ll leave you two
lovebirds to it,” Bock winked.

Serik rolled his eyes
and took Michelle’s hand as he led the way.

***

“
Mmm
,
this is delicious, Serik,” Michelle replied between bites of the frozen,
custard like confection. It had a sweet taste that she couldn’t quite place.
She had never tasted anything like it.

“I knew you’d like,” Serik
replied warmly.

Michelle took another
bite. “It reminds me of a food we had on Earth, it was called frozen yogurt.”

“I’m glad I could give
you a taste of home,” he smiled.

“Gosh, I’m going to
weigh a ton if I keep hanging out with you,” Michelle sighed putting a hand
over her full stomach.

“What is a ton?” Serik
asked.

Michelle smiled. “Eh,
it is a lot.”

Serik shook his head. “You
are so thin. I don’t know why you worry.”

Michelle took another
bite.

Serik furrowed his
brow. “So, this frozen
youbert
, you had to travel to
the frozen areas of your planet to obtain it?”

Michelle laughed.

“No, no, we had
freezers that we could make it in.”

He let out a chuckle as
well. “That makes much more sense.”

“Bock told me about the
time you changed the ink out with berry juice in his desk when you were kids,”
Michelle said.

“You should have seen
him! It took him at least ten minutes to notice. He was there smelling the
paper, like this,” Serik held his napkin all the way to his nose. “He was a big
sticky mess in the end with juice on his nose.”

Serik began to chuckle
infectiously causing Michelle to laugh as well.

As their laughter died
down, Serik took a more serious tone.

“Michelle, do you
..
do
I…”

“What?” Michelle asked
furrowing her brow. Serik was a quiet one but he always spoke eloquently.

“Are you happy with
me?”

“Of course, Serik.
You are real good to me… too good, I don’t know why
you are,” she replied softly.

“Because you deserve
it,” he replied taking her small hand into his large one.

She smiled as his
golden blue gaze met her green one.

“We
had better go back. Bock will be expecting us soon,” Serik said.

Michelle
nodded.

***

“Sit my friends! I just
opened the prasna,” Bock exclaimed.

“Great!” Michelle
exclaimed as she sat down at the table.

“Dinner will be done in
a few minutes,” Bock said with pride in his voice. “I will get us some glasses,
yes?”

Michelle gave Serik a
look.

He shrugged his
shoulders. “I guess you are going to get closer to be a ton.”

She rolled her eyes and
gave him a smirk.

Bock returned with the
glasses and poured them each a plentiful serving.

“You know when we were
children me and Serik used to get into all kinds of mischief,” Bock said.

“Oh, really?”

Bock nodded.

Serik let out a small
laugh.
“Ah, the days of our youth.”

“Yes, remember the
time…” Bock began as he recounted stories of their youth and they began to
laugh.

Michelle couldn’t help
but start to laugh as well. She wasn’t exactly sure what they were talking
about at all times but their laughter and happiness was infectious.

They were all laughing
so hard they were crying.

Michelle had enjoyed
the pink planet, Kano, immensely but their time had come to end. They had spent
several days enjoying the city and hanging out with Bock. Michelle enjoyed
listening to Bock’s stories and trying the different delicacies Kano had offered.
She watched as the pink planet slipped farther and farther away from them. She
wondered if Serik ever missed any of the planets he visited after he left.

She turned her
attention to Serik. She watched over him as he looked at what seemed to be a
map and configured the controls into the shuttle’s computer system. He had been
quiet ever since they had returned.

He probably wants to be rid of you,
a snide little voice whispered from the back of her
mind. She wondered where she would go and what she would do without Serik. With
no news on the Earth Army or the Cabaka she felt out of place. Where did she
belong? What was she to do?

“Serik?”
Michelle called.

“Yeah, baby?” he
replied looking up from his work.

“When you were out
doing your deal, Bock helped me to find some Earth food,” Michelle smiled.

“Really?” he grinned.

She nodded. “Yeah, I’m
going to make you a special dinner tonight.”

“I’ll help you,” he
said as he got to his feet.

Michelle shook her
head. “No, it’s my turn to do something for you. I just hope you like the taste
of Earth food.”

“I bet I will,” he
offered.

Michelle poured him a
glass of wine. She wished she had wine glasses but the regular ones would have
to do.

“What is this?” he
asked as he sniffed the cup.

“It’s wine. It’s kind
of like prasna but maybe not as sweet,” she explained.

He took a big gulp and
furrowed his brow giving the cup a strange look. “This is strong!”

Michelle giggled. “Ah,
take small sips.”

He nodded and took a
smaller drink. “It isn’t bad. It may take some getting used to.”

Michelle began to
prepare their meal. It was a simple thing but it was amazing being able to cook
again. She hadn’t known it but she missed Earth food. She missed a lot of
things.

“It smells really
good,” Serik said putting a gentle hand on her shoulder as he observed her.

Michelle looked up at
him and smiled. “Good.”

“Anything I can do to
help?” he asked.

“
Hm
,
you could set the table?”

He nodded and retrieved
the eating utensils.

“Oh, but we will have
to use these,” Michelle said revealing forks and knives.

“What are these
things?” Serik asked with an arched eyebrow.

“They are called forks
and knives,” Michelle replied.

Michelle set the food
on the table and gave Serik a quick tutorial on how to use a fork and a knife.
She guessed if you used chopsticks your entire life a fork might throw you off
a little bit.

“This is amazing,” he
said as he stabbed his plate with his fork and took another bite.

“I’m glad you like it,”
Michelle beamed.

“Will you teach me
about combat from your planet?” Michelle asked.

“You really want to
know?” Serik responded.

She nodded. “On Earth,
I trained a lot before the call up. I trained for a little while with my squad
mate Bryce too, on Redex.”

“I am skilled fighter,”
he said with a serious look in his eye.

“I am too,” she said as
she crossed her arms over her chest.

“You don’t understand,
Michelle. I had to be tough,”

“I did too,” she
replied. “When did you learn how to fight?”

“When I was a child, a
family friend taught me. Then I learned more advanced fighting skills in the Baat
army,” he replied.

“But you’re so big who
would pick on you?” she asked.

He grinned. “Well, I
did only get picked on until I was the biggest in the class.”

Serik handed her what
looked like electrodes.

“What are these?” she
asked.

“You didn’t have these
in the Earth Army?”

Michelle shook her
head.

He gently began to roll
up her shirt sleeve. Michelle blushed as his fingertips touched her skin. He
placed the sticky electrodes on her skin and she watched in amazement as a
light surrounded her body.

“What is this?” she
asked unable to take her eyes off of her body.

“It is a suit that will
protect you,” he explained.

“This is amazing,” she
exclaimed as she studied it.
 

“It should absorb most
of the shock in a spar. It absorbs energy,” he offered.

She nodded and waited
for him to suit up as well.

“Well, come at me,” he
grinned.

Michelle rolled her
eyes and took to her feet. She pivoted back and forth on the balls of her feet.
He moved in closer to her. She stepped back shocked by his speed.

“How are you so fast?
You are too big to be that fast,” she breathed.

“Baat speed,” he said
lunging towards her.

She ducked down.

“Too fast,” she said as
she hopped around on the balls of her feet.

He dove for her again
before she hit his neck with a sharp blow.

“Fatality detected.
Restart spar,” the suit chimed.

“For someone so small
you are a very strong fighter. You know all the right points to hit for a kill,”
he mused as he restarted the suit.

“On my planet I wasn’t
small and I’m pretty sure you let me win that one. You are just too fast for me,”
she called out breathlessly.

He gave her a confused
look. “You mean there are females on Earth who are smaller than you?
Impossible, you are tiny.”

She grinned. “I keep
telling you, I wasn’t tiny on Earth. Maybe to you I am small but I was taller
than the average woman there.”

“Are all Earth women as
strong as you?” Serik inquired.

Michelle let out a
small laugh. “No, most are not and I suppose my fighting abilities come from a
combination of training and modifications.”

“You told me some about
the training but what modifications?”

“Earth Army injections…
My brother-in-law, uh, my sister’s mate, he was in the Earth Army, he was high
ranking so he injected me with a compound that makes me stronger, more
resistant to getting sick, a better soldier.”

“Sounds dangerous,” Serik
remarked.

“So, is your planet
being
attacked.
I figured I would have died anyway but
somehow I am still here,” she gave him a weak smile.

“It seems like you know
about danger,” Serik posed.

“Maybe, I tried to
train combat…” she paused. “I had to be strong. I didn’t want to get hurt
again,”

“I won’t let anything
bad happen to you anymore,” Serik promised. “But I understand. Bad things
happened to me too.”

“What do you mean?” she
asked.

Serik hesitated for a
moment realizing that he had said too much.

“I suppose I should
tell you, I’m bad luck. I’m evil,” he admitted.

Michelle let out a
small laugh.

Serik shook his head at
her laughter. “It is true Michelle. On Baat, two colored eyes are a sign of bad
luck, a sign of evil. They don’t kill you for being different on Baat instead
they just make your life a living Hell. Bock is one of my only friends. He
never judged me based on my looks.”
 

“Well, good thing I’m
from Earth because I don’t believe that. You’ve always been lucky to me,”
Michelle grinned.

“You don’t know what you
mean when you say that,” Serik said in a low voice, an almost whisper. It was
true she didn’t. He wished desperately like he did during the days of his youth
to be normal so that she could accept him. He knew it could never be. He could
only have her for this small moment in time.

Michelle stared into Serik’s
blue and golden gaze as he came closer. Before she realized it his mouth was
against hers. It was surprising at first but it felt so good, so right.

He deepened the kiss as
she thought he might devour her whole. Although surprised she kissed back. His
mouth against hers just felt right. His mouth was hot and forceful and his lips
were soft and inviting.

Suddenly Michelle realized
what she was doing and she pulled back. She couldn’t, she was a soldier.
Soldiers didn’t kiss.

“I… uh, I should get
changed,” Michelle said as she felt the familiar heat rise to her cheeks. She
quickly got up, leaving Serik alone with his demons once again.

He silently cursed
himself for getting to close with her. If she knew the truth she would be repulsed.
He knew it was wrong to love her but he just couldn’t help himself. Once you
love someone with such intensity how did you ever stop?

***

“What kind of music do
you listen to on Baat?” Michelle asked as Serik wrapped his arms around her on
the couch.

Serik felt nervousness
pitted deep within his stomach. He had held Michelle, held her hand, watched
her laugh, and he had watched her cry but he had never kissed her. Well, before
last night that is but she had shied away. He would have to give her up soon,
very soon. All he wanted was to enjoy the last few moments he would have with
her. He prayed that she would forgive him.

“Music?”
Serik repeated.

“
Mmhmm
, music.”

“Well, I can play some
for you,” he offered.

Michelle nodded
eagerly.

Michelle watched as Serik
fumbled with a few controls. A few moments later a melody began to play. It was
soft and it reminded Michelle of an old fashioned waltz type of tune.

“Do you know how to
dance?” she asked.

He shook his head.

“They don’t have dancing
on Baat?” she asked.

“They do,” he replied.

“But you don’t know how
to dance?” she inquired.

“I never learned to
dance because I never had anyone to dance with before,” he explained.

Michelle smiled. “Well,
now you do. You taught me combat so it’s only fair I teach you how to dance.”

She rose to her feet
and gave his arm a tug to pull him up. He slowly got to his feet as well.

“Put your arms around
my waist,” she directed.

“Step, step, now back,”
she gently instructed. At first his steps were labored and difficult. Their
differences in stature also came into play. He towered over her, having to
hunch over to reach her.

She smiled warmly.
“Step back,” she instructed. He stepped back as she stepped forward.

“Step, step, now back,”
she said as his steps slowly began to mimic hers. They swayed across the room.

“This feels nice,” he
said softly into her ear.

His blue and golden
gaze met her green one.

“I would have never
learned if it wasn’t for you,” he grinned.

She smiled.

“I’m glad, Serik,” she
said as they gently swayed across the room.

“Did you do a lot of
dancing on Earth?” Serik asked as the song ended and a new one begun.

Michelle shook her
head.

“Why not?” he
asked as they changed their pace to a slower one.

“I,
uhm
,
well, I guess I didn’t get asked very often,” Michelle replied awkwardly.

“That’s hard to
believe,” Serik said rubbing his chin.

“Why’s that?”

“Because you are
extremely beautiful of course,” he replied.

“Serik, I’m not,”
Michelle protested.

“Michelle, you are.
More than maybe you will ever know,” he insisted.

He wanted to kiss her
again but he stopped himself. Instead he just held her in his arms as they
swayed around the room.

It would be enough just
to dance with her, to hold her, to love her for that moment in time.