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“I didn’t even know you owned a dress.”
“Did you want me to come down here so we could discuss my fashion choices?”
“And I had no idea your hair was that long,” he said with a chuckle.
He was teasing me, and I knew it, so I decided to play along.
“Yeah, Luke. There’s been a beautiful princess inside of me all along,” I joked, rolling my eyes for emphasis.
“You’re pretty, Cindy. Don’t pretend you’re not.”
I scoffed but hearing him say that gave me butterflies.
“No, I mean it. There’s, like, a dozen guys after you,” he told me. “Andy Hauserman kept going on about wanting to ask you out.”
“You said you wanted to talk,” I repeated, eager to change the topic. “What’s going on, Luke?”
“I, um, I finally made a decision. You know, like,thedecision.”
I blinked a few times.Thedecision had been on Luke’s mind for the past few months, and I knew it was weighing on him. We had just graduated from high school and Luke had no idea what he wanted to do with his life. He had all kinds of options available to him. He graduated second in our class and had his pick of colleges. He had a full ride to one of the state schools. Hank Kane, Luke’s father, owned a successful construction business and nothing would make him prouder than to groom his son to take over someday.
Or maybe he was going to stay in Blue Creek and marry Emmeline.
I shook that thought away quickly. The point was that Luke had options. Too many options.
“So, what did you decide?” I wondered.
Instead of answering with words, Luke pulled out a letter and showed it to me. I recognized the USMC letterhead immediately.
“You’re going into the Marines?” I blurted.
“Yeah.”
“Wait, what? Why? I mean, how did this happen?”
“I’d met with a recruiter a while back. Kind of on a whim. I wasn’t sure they’d take me.”
I almost rolled my eyes again. Of course the Marines would take Luke Kane. Who the fuck wouldn’t? Everyone wanted a piece of him. He was just tooaw, shucksto say it out loud.
“Why the Marines?” I wondered. “Is this because of your dad?”
I’d almost asked:Is this because of me?
“Sort of. I mean, my dad was a Marine and talks about it all the time. But it’s kind of because of you,” Luke admitted with a shy smile. “You make enlisting in the military seem all cool and badass.”
I cringed. “It’s not about beingcoolandbadass, Luke. We’re not characters in an action movie or something. This is real life. Real-deal shit. I mean, you could…” I stopped myself before I told him that he could die. Before I recited to him the exact same speech that everyone was always giving me.
“I know, I know. I’m not the Terminator,” he said firmly. “But this is the only decision that feels right. Like, when I say it to myself, I feel really proud.”
I drew in a deep breath, not knowing what to say.
“I know it’s really sudden, but I’m doing this.”
Part of me wanted to smile, but most of me was at a loss for words. I had about a million questions for Luke. But the first one that came out was…
“What about your girlfriend?”
Luke sighed. “I haven’t told her yet, but I know she won’t be happy. I mean, it’s probably going to lead to us breaking up.”
