Free Yakima Nights by Archie Kennedy

THE
SETUP

    While standing in the motor pool, Andre
Stillwell was in a daze. Andre, a Specialist in the US Army, had a
thought. What if she was the one for me? His mind was on Taylor or
2nd Lt Cole, his platoon leader. Sitting there thinking about her
was a scary thought. Scary, because she was his boss, younger, more
mature and very relaxed. Taylor Cole was a fresh faced 2nd LT who
was just assigned to his section. Andre didn’t think too much about
it at first. She was just another person to him, nothing special or
surprising. Andre started to remember when he met her, during
summer training. Taylor was forced to jump into training
immediately after coming to base. She had just finish OCS a few
months earlier and was excited about coming into the army. When she
came to the FTX she met Andre first, probably because everyone else
was too afraid of saying two words to her. Around this time, the
military had a sexual assault problem. In if you was a male looking
or talking to a female soldier the wrong way, it meant the end of
your career and possibly your freedom. He did not care though,
because he had a lot of female friends. She would stand by herself
away from everyone else. For the first two mornings, she was alone
until Andre spoke to her. It seem like he had to break the ice
first as she was so shy and overly protected by the command group.
She was having a hard time putting her tent together and Andre
decided to speak to her “Good day, Ma’am need help with that”.
Taylor looking stunned that somebody was actually talking to her
replied “Yeah, I don’t know what I’m doing”. The next day she woke
up, Andre was outside taking in the scenery. Taylor decided to get
some coffee for the both of them. Taylor approached him with the
coffee before he could say anything to her. “Here, I got you some
coffee”. Andre looked around with a smile on his face “Is this a
set up”. They both laugh and talk while enjoying their coffee that
morning. They would talk for hours before anyone else awoke. After
that they were thick as thieves, and every morning for that week
they woke up to each other. After the field problem they talk, but
mostly about work and nothing personal. Now, Andre is starting to
realize that he has feelings for her. He knows that it will be
almost impossible to find out if the feeling is mutual.
    While at the motor pool he is stopped by his
BC (Battery Commander) Capt. Shawn Meads. They never got along; as
Andre sees it he does not care for or like him. With a stern voice
he asks about his work relationship with Taylor, and how she is
doing in the section. Before he can say a word Meads turns away to
talk to Mason, a high-speed specialist who Meads has taking a
likening too. Mason was also a Specialist and the kind of soldier
Meads wanted. Mason was good at PT, smart and always took his order
to the heart. Most stayed away from him, because he was a
definition of a blue falcon. Andre and Mason never talked but he
never spoke about anything around Mason, fearful that he would make
up or tell Capt. Meads about his daily life. Andre’s daily life did
not consist of any wrong doing; he was just a private person. While
they had their side conversation, Andre hears Taylor calling him
from the other side of the motor pool. She wants him to come back
to the office with her to type up some plans for a future training
event. They decide to take one car and while riding Taylor started
to tell her back story. While Andre is listening he starts to
notice small things about her. Her shitty car that needs an overdue
cash wash and cleaning inside, but he likes it. It shows him that
she is human and down to earth. Andre can’t help but to notice a
faded neck tattoo and he ask her about it. Taylor says that its
nothing and she is getting it removed soon. Now, he is intrigue but
she will not budge from her previous response. Although Andre
tries, Taylor changes the subject back to work.
    Arriving at the battery, Andre