A Second Chance Love: My Marine

A series of goodbyes

He grabbed my hand and looked me straight in the eyes. I couldn’t pull away. There was a want that was emitting from them, love. Something that I have never seen before. He pulled his other hand up and cupped my face and brought me closer to him and he kissed me. Nothing like the first kiss on the ice, but this was more passionate, more want, more need. He pulled away and tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ears.

“I have wanted to do that for the longest time.” He pressed his forehead against mine and closed his eyes. “And it kills me to tell you what I am about to say.”

I cupped his cheek and made him look at me. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

He nodded and let out a breath that he was holding in. “I am leaving tomorrow morning Lena.”

“What do you mean leaving?”

“I made a choice and I have been hiding it from you, Kyle and Mia. Hockey is not in the cards for me. Kyle, yes, but for me, it is not something I want to make a career out of. About 4 months ago, I enlisted in the Marines. I leave tomorrow for basic training.”

I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to be selfish and tell him to stay with me, but I know it was already too late. Who am I to make him stay when this is what he picked to do with his life? “please, say something…”

There was only one thing I could say. “I love you.” He pulled me into him again and kissed me, this time, with everything that he had. We heard laughter from behind us and we pulled apart and we continued to just look at each other.

“About freaken time!” Kyle laughed, sitting down next to me and Mia next to him.

“Too late bro. I’m leaving tomorrow morning…” Lucas spilled everything to Mia and Kyle. For a few moments, there was nothing but silence and sniffles. Lucas finally spoke “Lena, lets for a walk, there are some other things I want to talk to you about.” I nodded and he grabbed my hand, leaving a stunned Kyle and Mia to their thoughts. Before we got to far I heard Kyle yell out.

“What time tomorrow?”

“9am.”

“We will be there.”

We walked further down the beach until we were completely alone with no one in sight. “Did you mean what you said?” he asked me. I couldn’t speak, because speaking would be the first outlet to the tears that I have been trying to hold back. My best friend is leaving for the Marines tomorrow and he didn’t tell us. I nodded. “Wait for me?”

I looked up at him. “What?”

“Wait for me Lena. I should be gone no more than a year with schooling. I want to come home to you. I love you. I have loved you for so long, but I was stupid enough not to say anything. I should have said something earlier. We would have had more time.” I kissed him to stop him.

“I will always be waiting for you. As soon as you’re done, come find me and I will be there.”

We spent a magical night together, a night that I would never forget. The next morning was one of the hardest mornings of my life.

We went to Lucas’s house, the three of us and there he stood, one bag in hand, waiting for the car to pick him up. We just kept talking to make time pass and then finally the car pulled up, ready to take Lucas away from us.

“Well, I guess this is it, I will see you guys in about a year if everything works out.”

Mia was the first to go up to him and hug him “Take care Luke, I love you, write, keep in touch please.” He nodded. She pulled away and Kyle came next.

“I am proud of you man. Take care and make sure you come back to us soon.”

“Of course, dude. You guys are my family, and we will always come back to one another.”

He turned to me, staring at me in the eyes. I couldn’t hold the tears anymore. He dropped his bag and walked up to me and held me for a couple of minutes. He looked down, cupped my face and pulled me into a deep kiss. “I love you Lena. Wait for me.” I lost it.

“I love you. Be safe.” He kissed me one more time, pulled away, picked up his bag and went to the car that was waiting for him. He opened the door and he looked up at us one more time before going into the car. As we watched him pull away and I watched my heart shatter.

That was only the beginning to everything. Once we watch him pull away, Mia went to her house to finish packing her clothes for our plane to NY.

Kyle and I went back home to our angry mother.

“Where in the world have you two been? No call, nothing?” she screamed when we got home.

“Where’s dad. I need to talk to him.” I simply said.

“Where were you.” She glared at me.

“Where is dad?” she still wouldn’t answer me.

She walked to me and looked me right in the eye. “Who did you sleep with?” My eyes went open in shock. “I did not raise you to be a little slut. First you plan to go to NY and go against my wishes and then you go sleep around and are out all night?”

I didn’t have any words to say to her. I turned to talk away from her when she grabbed my arm and stopped me. “Where do you think you are going? Answer my question.” I ripped my arm away from her.

“No.” I simply said. She raised her hand at me and smacked me across me cheek. Kyle’s eyes went wide, and I didn’t utter a word.

“What the hell mom!” he screamed at her.

“Don’t you dare talk back to me you ungrateful child. You have been nothing of a bad influence on your sister for years. “

“You don’t know what you’re talking about! He has been nothing but supportive of me and what I want to do. Dad has been too! You are the only one that tried to change me. And where we were last night? We were with Luke who left for the Marines. So what if I did sleep with him? I have loved him for the longest time, and I do not regret it. I am done with this conversation; I need to pack.”

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“I am going to NY.”

“If you leave this house, you will no longer be welcome back here, do you hear me?” she screamed.

I didn’t say anything, and I went to my room, Kyle following in my steps towards his. He packed last night so he came to help me pack.

“You have two hours to get your stuff packed and out of this house, away from Kyle and I!” she came storming into my room.

“I’m leaving too. I am going with her to NY!” He yelled. “I don’t get why you have to be like this, why you have to treat her like dog s**t! A mother is supposed to support their children no matter what they want to do. A mother is supposed to be there for them, to hold them when they are sad and going through difficult times!”

“You, out, too! I do not know who you think you are talking to!”

“Apparently, to our mother who does not care about us. We will be out of your hair and you won’t have to see us again, because you are no mother of ours.” I hissed.

I grabbed as many clothes as possible that I can and threw them in my bags and stormed out of the house with Kyle to my car. I sat in the driver seat, ready to pull out of the driveway when she came running out and those words, those final words, confirmed something that I have always felt deep within my heart.

“I am no mother of yours! I never have been. Good riddance.” She spat and went into the house.

We started to pull out of the driveway and headed to Mia’s house “Call dad” I told Kyle and he did just that.

It was that moment when everything came out into the open. Our father was apparently out of town for business, and we told him everything that happened and all he could do is apologize. What he told us made our whole world come crashing down. I guess our mother passed away after giving birth to us and the women that we called our mother for years started to become our nanny when we were about 1.

We have been lied to our entire lives and at that moment, I vowed to detach from my father and “mother” and focus on me and my future and count down the days until I can see Lucas again.

We flew to NY that night, not looking back. On the plane, I got a text from Lucas with the address where he was in training, so we can start writing each other. His last text said he loved me, and he couldn’t wait to see me again and in that instance, I knew things would be okay. I saved that text, reading it over and over whenever I needed a little pick me up to make me smile.