Snuck in Through the Garden Gate

“Okay, I think I’m sober enough to go home” Luna stood decisively and gathered her purse, stretching her arms and lingering as she made her way towards the garden gate. 

“I’ll walk you out” Alex stood hurriedly and pushed his chair in. Luna nodded and turned to the others, offering a gracious smile,

“Lee, Rodrick, Bennett, nice to meet you. Have a nice rest of your night”.

The men exchanged knowing glances and grinned as they gave their parting farewells to the woman who had just hours ago cleaned their pockets of any spare cash at poker. Alex shot the trio a look and then followed Luna out towards the garden gate. Rodrick took a long sip of his beer as he watched Alex disappear beyond the garden gate, then turned to the others with a smile,

“So boys, what did we think of Alex’s ‘friend’?” Lee grinned and shook his head,

“C’mon man, that woman just sat through 6 hours of us yapping about our drunken college days, no ‘friend’ would do that” Bennett nodded,

“I thought she was nice, plus she offered for us to ride her horse!”

“Oh please, we all know the only one who’s gonna ride that woman’s horse is Alex if you know what I mean” Rodrick retorted with a a smirk. 

“Besides, just because she’s nice, doesn’t mean she’s got what it takes to be with Alex. Military life isn’t for everyone” Rodrick continued, 

“Sure, but I do know that Alex hasn’t talked about a woman damn near as much as he’s talked about this one, least not for a long time” Lee added. 

“Yeah and I thought he was ‘just going to walk her out’” Bennett chuckled and took a swig of his beer before meeting Lee’s eyes with a mischievous glint.

“Say, he’s been gone for a while now…” Lee said,,

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Bennett offered, turning to Rodrick who set his beer down, “looks like we’re going on a stealth mission tonight, I’ll lead of course.”

“You?” sputtered Rodrick, “please, you barely spend any time in, you’re practically a civilian now, I’ve got this” Lee shoved Rodrick playfully as he polished off his beer, 

“Slow down there Cadet, I think you forget we’ve got a real LT here and it ain’t you. I’m pulling rank, we gotta sneak out to the wall and we should be able to see what’s going on from there” the others nodded and Bennett giggled as they army crawled their way to the garden gate, shoving and shushing each other along the way as they tried to decipher Luna and Alex’s voices in the distance. 

“Stay low” warned Lee using his most serious officer voice, but Bennett snuck a peak over the garden gate against his commander’s orders. It wasn’t long before the men heard a booming voice call out from the other side,

“Bennett, I see your glasses” which sent them all into a fit of laughter. Tumbling past the garden gate, Lee, Rodrick, and Bennett faced the voice that rang out from the ever stoic Alex. His sea glass colored eyes pierced through their hjinks, sobering them instantly and cutting through their escapades like a dagger. Luna’s expression was unreadable, serving as a reminder of just why she kicked all their asses at poker earlier. Her whiskey colored eyes were fixed on the men as she calculated what was to be done with them. Yet there was something about the way the pair stood there that suggested an energy shift, like they were on the precipice of some great discovery until they were rudely interrupted by some intrusive outsiders. It was Rodrick who clocked this and made the executive decision to pull back the troops, collecting Bennett and Lee, he gave an awkward nod to Alex, saying, 

“Sorry to interrupt, we’ll just be back at the house, don’t keep him up too long Luna” he added with a quick wink, daring her to give anything away with her expression but she just looked away. 

As the trio left, Luna exhaled a breathe she didn’t know she was holding and turned back to Alex who’s expression was distant despite his body language suggesting he was far from ready to say goodbye.

“Always an adventure with those three huh” Luna attempted to break through, Alex smirked then turned his attention back to the woman who stood in front of him, willing himself to look at her with all the importance and priority he had to give her, if just for this moment. 

“Sure is, thanks for being such a good sport about them. They can be a handful but they mean well.” 

“I”m sure they do” she glanced fondly towards the garden gate, seemingly unphased by it all. That was one of his favorite things about her, her enduring ability to go with the flow. The way he could trust her to see every corner of his life and accept it with a smile and take it in stride. He had to tell her. 

“Hey listen… ummm, there’s been a bit of a change of plans, but I’m uhhh deploying in the fall”. His words came out more disjointed than he had planned them to and perhaps these weren’t exactly the words he meant to tell her, but nothing ever seemed to go as planned when it came to Luna. Her eyes widened but her tone was steady as she turned this new piece of information over in her mind, the implications sinking in as she responded,

“Wow, that’s soon. Where are you going? And ummm will I see you again?”

“Bulgaria, and I’m not sure… I won’t be back here again since my family is moving and I still have to go to Virigina after that…” Alex’s voice trailed off as the sobering realization that this might be the last time he saw Luna for awhile, possibly ever was hitting. Luna seemed to realize this too as she took a deep breath and picked her words carefully, 

“So… I guess I have to ask then, what’s going on with us? Where does that leave our friendship” she picked her words carefully and diplomatically, studying Alex’s expression as she said the word friendship for any sign that that was not what this was. Alex met her gaze and replied,

“I don’t know, I’ve been a bit of a mess lately. I really like talking to you, I like spending time with you, and I’m so glad we reconnected and made amends. You were there at a really difficult time in my life when I needed someone. When I needed a friend.” He paused at that word, friend, glancing at her expression before continuing,

“I’ll admit that I find myself thinking about  you during the day, thinking ‘what would Luna do in this situation?’ and I-I spent time looking up things you might like to do near where I am and thinking about living in the same city as you again.” Alex’s voice started to trail off as he caught his tone dancing dangerously close to boyish whimsy. Luna smiled to herself, savoring the way his eyes dared to wonder about a world where they lived in closer proximity to one another.

“Well I certainly feel a little less crazy” she said in an attempt to encourage Alex and to reassure herself,

“Why do you think I said all that stuff about traveling and wanting to be more independent? Telling you I could go anywhere in this world and that I’m open to going anywhere. I don’t know if I could live the life you do, Alex, but I suppose if there’s one person that I’d give it a try for, it would be you.” She spoke with such earnesty, shocking herself as the weight of her feelings spilled out in her words. 

“Wait, so what are you saying Luna?” Alex needed a nudge, some reassurance that he knew exactly what she was talking about because he couldn’t afford to be wrong, unfortunately this need for reassurance set Luna backpeddling as she shook her head,

“Nevermind, it’s dumb I just think it’s cool sometimes to imagine the life you live now. It’s so different from mine. It’s-”

“I want to give this a try too” Alex summoned the courage to lay his cards on the table.

“You do?” Luna’s hopeful eyes focused in on his words, daring them to be real this time.

“Yeah, I think we need to treat this like a real relationship… I mean that’s what this is, isn’t it?” Luna smirked and said,

“Well I have an idea of where we could start… but nevermind,”

“Are you asking me to kiss you?” for once, Alex seemed to have understood the assignment. 

“Uhhh yeah” Luna said matter of factly, worrying that her tone came off condescending, these worries quickly swept aside as Alex closed the distance between them, wrapping her in his arms,

“Well I can’t promise it’s going to be the greatest thing in the world-”

“It’s fine” Luna pulled him in closer, arms flung around his neck and for a single moment she knew exactly what they were so scared of. Losing this. Losing the person who everything felt right with. As her lips met his, she didn’t care about the long stretches of time he had been away, the drunken texts, schoolboy banter, or nights spent with much easier to love individuals. In that moment, all she cared about was him and perhaps, this time, he felt the same. 

As they pulled away, a jovial cheer could be hear from the other side of the garden wall. The pair turned to see Rodrick looking smug as he fistbumped a whooping Bennett and a humbled Lee. 

“Told you they weren’t just ‘friends’ and I told you I’m the better leader” Rodrick puffed his chest at Lee who just shook his head,

“Whatever man, I’m just glad our boy Alex finally said what we were all thinking”

Alex’s expression softened, Luna still wrapped in his arms as the tension of the unknown began to fade,

“No thanks to you knuckleheads that’s for sure,” Luna smiled up at Alex, nestling into his embrace as she sighed,

“It only took us a decade”

“But was it worth it?” asked the trio,

“Yeah, I think it was” Luna replied as Alex pulled her in once again.