Rogue Launch by Cara Dee

Author:Cara Dee [Dee, Cara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cara Dee

2000

Joel really wanted to get away from all the people. By the time he sat down in the sand with his food, we were almost at the water’s edge, and we’d been reduced to contrasts in the dark.

I sat down next to him and dug my beer into the sand a little.

This was insane. Piper could be at home right now, wondering where Joel was. Unless he’d told her? I’d gone home earlier to take a shower and twiddle my thumbs for a while before meeting up with Joel again, and Piper hadn’t been home then. It wasn’t like she didn’t have other friends.

“Did you say anything about us meeting up to Piper?” I asked.

When he tilted his face my way, I could make out his expression. He was confused. “No? I don’t know where she’s having dinner either.”

He really was clueless.

He grinned a little. “You’re not on the same train your folks are, are you? About me and Piper, I mean. Your mom’s not subtle—but we’re just friends.”

Okay, so at least he heard the chatter.

“I can’t say it’s a topic that’s kept me up at night, but I guess I assumed for a while that you’re…you know.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “Hell no. She’s not my type. She’s just my best friend.”

Oh.

I knew someone who’d be crushed to hear that…

I didn’t know how I felt about it yet. Was there a code I should abide by? Piper and I didn’t exactly run in the same circles. She thought my buddies were…well, I didn’t know, but she was a champ at rolling her eyes at them. And I found her friends ridiculous.

Maybe not Joel.

“Can I ask you something?” He spoke with his mouth full of food, reminding me to dig in. “It’s about college.”

Safe topic was safe.

I nodded and chewed on my first quesadilla.

“Do you regret not doing college before enlisting?”

Huh. No, but my mom wished I did.

I shook my head and swallowed. “No, this was my plan from the get-go. If the Navy isn’t for me, college is always there.” I did plan on taking courses later on, but it was more important to me to be with my peers in the service. “I don’t wanna enlist at twenty-one with a bunch of high-school graduates.” I had four friends who’d enlisted at the same time, and I was lucky enough to end up on the same ship as two of them.

Joel sighed. “That’s what I figured.”

I finished another bite and grabbed my beer. “I thought you were going to Florida.” I could thank Piper for that knowledge. Joel’s dad had been from Florida, and he’d attended UF on a football scholarship before he’d joined the Coast Guard instead.

“I was. I am. I’m gonna go—I’m just…I don’t know, I’m thinking in the same terms you are,” he admitted. “I wanna be a Coastie like my dad was, and going to college is… For every day I get closer to leaving, I realize college is for my mom’s sake. And to be honest, I don’t think she’ll be happy when I tell her I wanna join the Coast Guard.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.