Update...

Hey guys, I just wanted to let you know that I will not be posting a chapter this weekend because I will be spending it with the greatest man alive, the man that my character Michael Johnson is based off of, my husband, Howard. He will be helping me to write the next chapter and it will most probably be up next weekend. Thanks guys for reading, oh that reminds me... I'd love to know who all is reading, so comment, PLEASE! Thanks guys.

Chapter Four

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Johnson said releasing her. “Bye.”

“Bye.” Smith turned towards her room, a smile on her face and gently biting her lower lip. She sat back down on her bed and started talking to Johnson again. ‘We probably shouldn’t tell anyone in class, at least not for a while.’

‘Agreed.’

‘Which means we can’t put it on Facebook.’

“We should probably start calling each other by our first names,” Johnson said the next day in class.

“I agree, Michael.”

“So first date tomorrow?” He asked.

“Sounds good to me.”

***

The next day, Friday Michael and Sam met up to go to the chow hall to go to dinner for their first date. “So you’re going to get the best friend talk from Cassie, it’ll be something like ‘No means no and she’s my best friend you hurt her I hurt you.’”

“Oh, okay.”

There was hardly a line at the chow hall when they arrived, most people were already off base, getting ready to go off base, or had already eaten. Sam and Michael made their way through the line, Sam getting shrimp scampi because it was a Friday in lent, and Michael . They sat down at the table and started eating before Sam texted Cassie asking if she wanted to give the best friend talk. Moments later her phone rang and Sam handed the phone over the table to Michael.

The conversation went just as Sam had said it would; short, sweet, and to the point. Michael talked to Cassie for a little longer before hanging up and handing the cell phone back across the table. They finished eating the mediocre chow hall food before heading to the dayroom to sit down and watch a movie.

The couch against the back wall, where they had sat during The Notebook, is where they chose to sit. The movie of choice was Slap Shot, one of Sam’s favorites. Michael put the disc in before sitting down on the couch next to his girlfriend. Girlfriend. It sounded so right. ‘I can’t believe she’s mine,’ he thought and scooted closer. Sam rested her head on his shoulder and after a while slipped his arm around Sam, she snuggled closer and rested her head on his chest.

Sam smiled, she felt safe, really safe for the first time ever with a guy. Everyone always says that they feel safe in a relationship, but this time it was real. Sam felt as if nothing could happen to her as long as she was in Michael’s arms.

Michael was surprised that the night was going so well, he was sure that he would have screwed something up by this point. When the movie ended he got up to change the DVD, when he sat back down and tried to put his arm back around her his ‘hot streak” ended. The worst thing that could have happened, happened. He elbowed her in the head.

‘Fuck,’ he thought, ‘She’s going to smack me and walk out.’ “Oh my God I’m so sorry.”

Sam looked at Michael and laughed. “It’s fine, really.”

He put his arm around her before saying, “I really am sorry.”

“Seriously it’s fine,” Sam said and cuddled close again.

‘Holy shit I’m lucky, anyone else would have walked out after that, or at least not laugh about it and cuddle back up. I have to be careful though, one more dumbass move like that and she’ll dumb me.’

It was like being in middle school again. Sam wasn’t tired at all, she hadn’t felt that way since before high school. They watched movies cuddled up until five in the morning, it had definitely been a long day, almost twenty-four hours had passed since they had left for class. “You tired?” Michael asked when Sam yawned and buried her face in his chest.

“A little,” she smiled.

“Okay, let’s go.” He put the movie they had been watching away before putting his hoodie back on and walking Sam downstairs to the white line by her room. “I had a good time tonight,” he said when she was back in his arms again, her body pressed against his. ‘I want to kiss her, but I don’t want her to push me away because she think I’m moving too fast.’

“I had a good time too, thanks,” her head rested against his chest, listening to his heartbeat. ‘I really want to kiss him,’ she thought.

They stayed like that for at least five minutes, in each other’s arms, feeling right, feeling safe. ‘Maybe I’ll just kiss the top of her head and see what happens.’ So that’s what he did, he pressed his luck and placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head. Sam smiled on the inside and out. She looked up into his brown eyes before their lips met for a short yet spark filled kiss, it was like an electric current ran through them for those brief seconds.

‘Finally!’ Sam thought, she had wanted him to kiss her all night, just as Michael had wanted to kiss her.

When they looked back at each other they were both smiling. ‘That’s a good sign,’ Michael thought. “Well I’ll see you in the morning.”

“It is morning,” Sam being her usual smart-ass self said.

“Fine, I’ll see you later today.”

Sam smiled, “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” And with that Michael turned to go upstairs to his room.

Sam turned towards her room with a smile on her face and pulled her phone from her pocket to text Jesse and Cassie saying, ‘I got a kiss!’ before changing and falling into bed. A perfect first date.

***

Sam and Michael met at the bottom of the steps to go to ‘breakfast’ later that day, it was more like lunch though because it was eleven o’clock. After getting their food and sitting down to eat they started talking. “I really did have a good time last night.” Sam said before taking a bite of her eggs.

“I did too.”

“I really like you and I don’t want to screw things up like in past relationships, so I want to take things slow.”

“Okay, we can take things slow.”

Chapter Three

“All weather coats!” Everyone that was still inside the loop of the dorms said as more people came out of their rooms. Everyone was in blues and it was supposed to rain so instead of wearing light weight jackets like they usually would, they would be wearing the long dark blue trench coats.

“You guys start block one tomorrow and you’ll be on A shift, so you’ll be going home early tonight I’m just not sure when.” SSgt Bradley said.

Smith was sitting next to Johnson again and they talked until they were finally released at seven. The chow hall was closed already and they were told to ‘smu’ (Small marching unit) back to the dorms. Everyone decided to smu in twos, Johnson and Smith were of course together. Since the chow hall had closed already and neither Johnson nor Smith had food in their rooms they decided to stop at the shopette to get something to eat. Frozen dinners were their final choice, pasta of some sort and chicken nuggets with smiley potatoes.

“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” Smith said, they were at the bottom of the steps, about to go their separate ways. Smith was now living on the same side of the building as Johnson, she had moved a week earlier.

“Yep, see you in the morning.”

***

“Free day!” The MTLs said and everyone started to scatter, instead of normal structured PT everyone was allowed to do whatever they wanted for the hour. Some went to play basketball, others push-ups and sit-ups on the PT pad, however most either ran or walked around the track.

“Walk?” Johnson asked.

“Yep.” Smith and Johnson started towards the track when someone behind them called Smith’s name. She stopped and turned around to find Majors and Biancardi, two girls in her class.

“We’ve got a question for you,” Biancardi said.

“Johnson leave,” Majors added.

“Okay,” Smith looked to Johnson, “I’ll meet you on the track.”

Johnson headed for the track when Biancardi asked, “What’s up with you and Johnson?”

“We’re friends, he likes me but I don’t like him.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.” And with that Smith went to the track and met up with Johnson.

The next day after class when Johnson and Smith’s class were cleaning up, Majors approached Johnson in the hall. “Hey Johnson, I have a question for you.”

“Huh?”

“What’s up with you and Smith?”

“We’re just friends.”

“So you don’t like her?”

“Only as a friend.”

***

“Movie this weekend?” Johnson asked.

“Um, what movie?”

“You said you wanted me to watch The Notebook, so I got it from Netflix, so?”

“Sure, Saturday?”

Saturday Smith braided her hair and threw on a Pens shirt before waiting at the bottom of the steps for Johnson. “You look nice today,” Johnson said when they met up.

“Thanks, you too.”

“So movie?” Smith nodded and they headed up to the third floor dayroom. The couch against the back wall would be their spot for the day and no one else was in the room. The couch was more of a loveseat but once Johnson put the disc in the DVD player he sat down on the very end of the couch, as far from Smith as he could. He wished that he could sit closer, that he could put his arm around her and have her rest her head on his chest. He really liked her but he would take what he could get, and for now that was watching a movie with her on separate sides of the couch.

The movie started and as Noah and Allie were getting closer relationship wise, Smith wanted to get closer to Johnson physically. She wanted him to hold her hand, had she started to like him? ‘I can’t, I promised myself that I wouldn’t date anyone in the military, and I made that clear to him too.’ She thought.

“This is my favorite part,” Smith said just before Noah said, ‘It wasn’t over, it still isn’t over.’

***

Tuesday after dinner Johnson walked Smith to the white line to say good-bye. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Johnson said.

“See you tomorrow.” With that for some reason they hugged. They had never hugged before and for some reason it felt right.

Wednesday night Johnson and Smith were going to dinner at the chow hall, just like every night, and while in line Smith was texting both Jesse and Cassie. ‘I think I like him, what should I do?’ Johnson looked over at Smith and she thought he might have seen her text. “No looking at my texts.”

‘Tell him that you like him, the worst that can happen is that he says he doesn’t like you.’ Cassie responded.

‘Go for it sis,’ Jesse said.

So after dinner Smith was talking to Johnson on AIM when for some reason she decided that she would give up on her promise to herself, that is if Johnson really did like her. ‘Can I ask you a question?’

‘Sure, what’s up?’

‘Okay, in all seriousity. Haha’ She never thought she would use that word, it was a word that someone in their class had used and they had made fun of her for. ‘Okay, seriously though, do you like me?’ When she hit enter her hear stopped for a moment.

The question popped up on Johnson’s screen and he froze. ‘YES, YES!’ He thought. He tried to type something romantic but ended up erasing it and in the end just typing a simple, ‘Yes.’

It had seemed like forever to Smith when an answer finally appeared in the window, and she could breathe again.

‘Do you like me?’

‘Yes,’ she typed quickly, Johnson was relieved when he read her answer. ‘So what do we do?’

‘If I ask you out will you say yes?’

‘Only if you come downstairs, I’ve never been asked out in person.’

Smith went outside her room and waited for Johnson to come downstairs. Johnson wasn’t nervous anymore, just anxious. “So,” Johnson said when he got to the bottom of the steps. “Will you be my girlfriend?”

“I will.” They both smiled, Johnson pulled Smith into his arms, and she felt safe.

Chapter Two

As time went on Johnson and Smith started spending more and more time together; they ate dinner together every night and talked. Talking about what they had been through before joining the military and what Johnson had done while in EOD school. They were becoming better friends.

Friday night there wasn't much going on in class; Smith had decided to move to the other side of the room to the empty seat next to Johnson. King, Johnson, and Smith talked about pretty much everything and eventually it came to Smith bringing up that in high school she was a vocal major. "You know the really, really high note in Phantom of the Opera?" Smith asked.

"Yeah."

"It's an E flat, I can hit that."

"E natural."

They argued back and forth for a while until their class leader Chief Wade stood up in the front of the room and said, "I don't care if it's an E or an E flat, shut up."

The continued to talk about musicals among other things, but more quietly for the rest of the night.

***

The next afternoon Smith and Johnson met up for lunch, they decided to 'mix it up' and instead of going to the chow hall like they normally would they went to Subway in the BX. After getting their sandwiches they sat down at table along the way and for some random reason they started talking about Smith's likes and dislikes, she had a list that she had made while she was still at basic training for a guy that she had had a crush on from back home. Things hadn't worked out between them and for some reason she had kept the list.

The topic of musicals came up again when Smith mentioned that her favorite was Les Miserables. Johnson pulled out his iPod and they listened to Les Miserables while continuing to talk about what they liked. And then the topic of Phantom of the Opera came up again. "E flat."

"E natural and somehow I'm going to prove it."

"How?"

"Maybe Crossroads has it, want to go see?" They threw away their trash, Smith put her list in her pocket, Johnson his iPod in his, and they made their way across the street to Crossroads. "They have it." Johnson checked it out and they started towards the dayroom to watch it.

No one else was upstairs; they put the movie in, and sat down on complete opposite sides of the couch. Smith and Johnson both sang throughout the movie. Every once in a while Smith would look over at Johnson, but as soon as he looked back she looked away. She had to admit he was attractive, dark brown hair and brown eye, but she had promised herself that she would never date anyone in the military, especially not during tech school. They were friends and that's all she wanted to be.

Johnson on the other hand had started to have feelings for Smith, but he knew that she didn't want a relationship with anyone in the military. He wouldn't deny that she was cute though; light brown hair that she had told him used to be dark but was bleached by the sun and ice blue eyes. Even though she was slouched down on the couch she wasn't that short compared to him, for once, after all he was over a foot taller than her, she stood at five foot and half an inch and he at six foot three.

They were both pulled away from the movie when Johnson's phone went off, a text from his phone. "Ha I win, it's an E natural!"

"Cheater," Smith said looking at the picture his mom has sent. "Dammit there's a fucking key change. Fine." They finally agreed that it was a D double sharp.

They ate dinner together before agreeing that they would see each other at some point the next day.

The next morning Smith made her way to the Event Center to watch the last Penguins game before the Olympic break. The game was scheduled to start the same time that the EC opened so as soon as the doors were unlocked Smith practically ran inside, plugged in her computer while it was turning on, and sat down to enjoy the game. Her team was sporting their baby blue jerseys to take on the Nashville Predators. During the first commercial break Smith checked her Facebook and was reminded by everyone's statuses that once again she was alone for Valentine's Day.

At some point during the game Johnson arrived and sat down next to Smith. He was messing around on Facebook and talking to Smith on AIM, even though he was right next to her. They talked about random things. A few days earlier Smith had brought up that she attempted to write every once in a while, while they were talking she gave him the link to a one of her stories about a hockey player. Having someone else to read her work made her happy.

***

Saturday Johnson decided to hang out with King off base and Smith stayed in her room watching TV on her computer. 'So having fun?' Smith asked in a text.

'Kind of boring, there's not a lot of people here yet. What are you up to?'

'Watching The Notebook, I love this movie.'

'Never seen it.'

'You should watch it. It makes me cry every time.'

Johnson continued to text Smith for most of the night as well as laughing at King as he got more and more drunk. While they were at the first bar though King pulled Johnson's attention from his phone for a moment when he asked, "You like her, don't you?"

"Huh?"

"You like Smith."

"Yeah, but I know she doesn't like me."

"Then why do you keep texting her?"

"I-- I don't know."