Duty(23)

Lindsey turns and leaves the museum, leaving me stunned for a moment. I watch her nearly run from the room before I follow, finally catching up with her on the walkway outside, the one that leads deeper to Central Park. She's crying, but I just don’t understand why. I step in front of her and wrap my arms around her, trying to offer what comfort I can.

“Lindsey,” I whisper in her ear as she cries, “I don't know what's wrong. I don't know why you're sad. This is the best weekend I've had in months. What’s bothering you?”

Lindsey sniffles and wraps her arms around me, hugging me tightly. “It hurts, Aaron. I didn't say anything because it hurts too much.”

“What does?” I ask, stroking her golden hair. “That we're going to be apart for the summer? It’ll be okay. It’s what, eight, nine weeks at most? That first chance we get to spend some time together, we're probably going to have to be careful we don't start making out in the middle of Buff Soldier Field.”

Lindsey shakes her head, stepping back. “There won't be eight or nine weeks from now, Aaron. This . . . this weekend is it for us.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, even more confused. “Are you . . . what happened?”

Lindsey wipes at her eyes and touches her jeans pocket. “You're going to Benning . . . and yesterday, my orders came in. Come my June promotion, the Army's decided that there are too many Specialists in the S-1 shop. I'm being sent to Fort Lewis, Washington.”

I swallow, understanding. Transferred across the country, to a real unit. No more bike rides together, no more walks, nothing. “But . . . we can do a long-distance thing, can't we?”

“How?” Lindsey asks, crying and smiling in agony at the same time. “How am I supposed to be able to write you? You know the damn Goldcoats read your email. They snoop the system all the time. They keep you guys on a tight leash, Aaron. We've been pushing our luck as it is. So, we can't see each other. We can't talk.”

“But . . .” I whisper, reaching into my pocket and taking out the box that's been poking me since we left the hotel. “I got this for you, just because . . .”

I hold the box out, and Lindsey opens it, blinking at the necklace that's inside. It's not much, I know that, but it was all I could afford. “Aaron . . .”

“Lindsey, I'm not saying that this is good news. But it’s not the end either. And if it is, don’t you want to make it a weekend to remember?”

She nods, and I take the necklace out of its case, unfastening it and putting it around her neck. It lays on her blouse, the same color of her hair, glowing mellowly in the late afternoon sunlight. “I made sure to buy it thin enough that you can wear it in Class Bs or in ACUs.”

Lindsey fingers it, then smiles. “It's beautiful,” she says softly, then looks at me. “Thank you. It’s the first gift a boyfriend's ever given to me.”

I hold out my hand, and we entwine our fingers. “Let’s not let any news ruin this weekend.”

We walk through the park, sharing some hotdogs from a vendor on a bench as the sun goes down. I know that they say Central Park's not as safe after dark, but it doesn't matter, and as we walk back to the hotel, a sense of fate overtakes me. Going up to our room, Lindsey goes quiet again, and as the door closes, she walks to the bed, unbuttoning her jeans. “Come here, Aaron.”

“Lindsey, I didn't mean to pressure you,” I start, but she ignores me, pushing her jeans off and letting them fall to the floor. She's wearing just a satin thong underneath, and my words dry up as she unbuttons her blouse to reveal the matching bra underneath.

“I bought these two weeks ago, ordered them off the Internet,” she says, shrugging off her blouse and revealing the wine-colored lingerie fully to me. She's angelic, seductive, but I want nothing more than to rip those things off. “I didn't know then. I wanted to wear this because I wanted to tell you something. But I can't say those words. I'm not strong enough. It hurts too damn much to say them right now.”

“Then why are we giving up?” I ask, and she comes over, unbuttoning my shirt and sliding it off my chest, kissing my collarbones as she does. “Why?”

“Because you're going to be an officer,” Lindsey whispers, kissing lower on my chest. She licks my left nipple, making me moan in fear and arousal. I know what she's doing, and as much as my body yearns for it, what she is saying is at the forefront of my mind. “You're going to be a fine leader, a man who can be the sort of platoon leader that soldiers will follow into some silly battle because they know that you're going to pull them out of the shit when they need it. Because you're going to be the sort of officer the Army needs.”

Lindsey gets down on her knees, kissing my stomach and smiling when she rubs my cock through my jeans. “I'm going to miss this,” she whispers, unbuttoning my jeans and pulling my cock out of my underpants. She wraps her fingers around my shaft, pumping me slowly. “We both have our duties, Aaron. I've still got years left. I signed up for a long hitch to get my GI Bill and my college loans paid off. You get commissioned, and I'm still in service. But take this with you. You will always be in my heart, and I will always be in yours, supporting you.”

Before I can answer, she licks the head of my cock, sucking it into her mouth slowly, swallowing me until her nose is pressed against the hairs at the base. She draws me out carefully, letting her tongue wrap devilishly around my shaft and around the rim of the head, my body surging despite the heart breaking inside me. She pulls her lips off and looks up at me. “Let me give you this gift. These memories. For one more night, be the man of my dreams.”