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."