One month later...
 
Date: Fri, 6 Mar 2009 13:45:41

Subject: Captain's Log

To: freckles_21@yahoo.com

From: desertrat@mail.mil.gov

Freckles,

How's California been treatin ya?  What's this about you thinking about moving back home?  I thought you said you were going to give living in Cali a year.  You haven't even been there six months and you're giving up?  Come on!  Mom and Dad didn't raise quitters--don't you be the first one!  Besides, I thought you liked living with Grams and you told me your classes were going good.  And you know there's nothing waiting for you back home.  If you really want to follow your dreams you have to keep moving forward, not take huge steps back. 

But enough about you, let's get down to the real reason I'm emailing you: to complain!  Afghanistan is...hot!  Don't they know it's supposed to be winter?  And the sand?!  I keep finding it in places I didn't know existed!  Remind me again why I'm doing this?  No, in all seriousness I know why I'm doing this.  Yesterday we were doing a patrol and we came across some village kids playing a game of soccer.  The guys and I asked if we could play with them.  We put down our gear and just had fun for about an hour.  When we left the kids all had the biggest grins on their faces and it made me realize why I'm over here.  I'm here to help ensure that these kids grow up in a safer world and that they have every opportunity that God intended for us to have. 

Well, Sis...my time is up for today.  Keep out of trouble and give Grams a hug for me!  I love you,

Michael

P.S. Any more star sightings?

Twenty-one year old Aubrey Davis smiled as she finished reading the email her brother, a captain in the United States Army and currently stationed over in Afghanistan, had sent her.  She hated the fact that he was so far away and in a place where anything could happen to him, but she was grateful to be living in the day and age where communication was so easy and literally instantaneous.  She didn't have to wait weeks and months for a letter from him.  He emailed her at least twice a week--sometimes more--and his emails always made her smile and helped her get through the day.

A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and she looked up from her computer, prepared to greet the visitor--as per her job description as the receptionist at Adams & Richards Interior Design.  Instead she smiled as Rachel one of the company's designers was preparing to leave. 

"Have a good night." Aubrey offered.

"Thanks." Rachel smiled back as Aubrey turned her attention back to the computer screen in front of her, preparing to reply to Michael's email.  "You too."  Rachel paused with her hand on the door.  "Do you...Do you have plans tonight?" Rachel asked her.

Aubrey looked up in surprise.  "Not really.  Why?" She asked.

"JC is out of town right now." Rachel said walking up to the front desk.  "I was going to go get something to eat but it's not really fun eating by yourself.  Do you...do you want to come with me?  I'd love some company." Rachel smiled.

"Really?"  Aubrey asked, her eyebrows rising slightly.  "I mean.  Yeah, I'd love to." She smiled.

"Great." Rachel said.  "Let's go."

Aubrey felt her spirits dampen slightly as she turned to look at the clock on the wall.  "I can't lock up for another ten minutes." She replied.

"No problem." Rachel said.  "I've got a few things I can still do at my desk. 
Come get me when you're ready to leave."

"Okay." Aubrey smiled excitedly as Rachel walked back to her desk.  As soon as the other girl disappeared Aubrey hurriedly typed out a quick email to her brother in her last couple minutes at work.

Date: Fri, 6 Mar 2009 14:53:37

Subject: Secretary Diaries

To: desertrat@mail.mil.gov

From: freckles_21@yahoo.com

Dear Desert Rat,

Sadly, no.  There have been no more star sightings.  But I'm convinced it wasn't really him in the first place.  Do you really think Justin Timberlake, of all people, would show upon a Sunday morning at the park by Grams' house?  I don't think so and you're crazy if you do!

Thanks for the pep talk and you're right (as usual, dang it!).  I did promise I would give California a fair chance and I really have been enjoying my classes.  I can't wait for the day when I will be a teacher.  What better way is there to leave a lasting impression than to teach a child?  I can't wait!
I'm sorry this email is so short.  A co-worker just asked me if I wanted to go to dinner with her!  She's really nice.  Hopefully, it will be a nice evening. 
I will give Grams a hug for you on the condition that you take care of yourself and come back home soon.  I miss you! 

Aubrey

Aubrey sent the message then went about her daily routine of locking the front doors, turning off the lights up front and making sure the phones had been forwarded to voicemail for the night.  Once her computer had been shut off she grabbed her purse and headed back towards Rachel's desk.  She smiled when she heard Rachel gasp, then laugh.

"You better be careful." Rachel said to whomever it was she was talking to.  "I don't--"

"Rachel?" Aubrey asked as she stood at the doorway to her cubicle.  Rachel turned in her chair at Aubrey's quietly voiced question and smiled at her as she held up a finger.  Aubrey watched as Rachel stood and grabbed her purse--still talking on her cell phone.  "I gotta go." She said.   "Aubrey and I are going to dinner."  Rachel was quiet for a moment and Aubrey watched as her cheeks reddened, making her wonder who she was talking to and what they were talking about. "You mean talking?" Rachel asked then giggled.  "You are shameless." She replied with a shake of her head.  "I gotta go." She said again as she looked at Aubrey in apology.  Aubrey smiled to show her it was okay-she wasn't in a rush.

After a few more minutes of playful bantering-leaving Aubrey to assume it was JC she was talking to-Rachel ended the call.  "I love you too." She told him.  "I'll talk to you later.  Sorry about that." She said to Aubrey, as she put her phone in her purse and slung the bag over her arm.  "Ready?" Rachel smiled.

"Yeah." Aubrey replied as the two girls walked out towards the lobby. 

"Do you have a craving for anything in particular?" Rachel asked as they exited the building and walked out into the parking lot.

"Nope." Aubrey shook her head.  "I'm really not picky when it comes to food--obviously." She chuckled as she gestured to herself.  While she wasn't overweight, Aubrey knew she was a lot heavier than most of the girls who lived in L.A. and couldn't help feeling just a tad self-conscious about the few extra curves she had.

"Oh, stop." Rachel shook her head.  "You're gorgeous."

"And you're a great liar." Aubrey responded with a smile.

"It's a gift." Rachel replied with a shrug and a teasing smile making Aubrey laugh.  "Do you like sushi?" Rachel asked as they approached her dark grey Jetta.

"I've never had it." Aubrey responded and Rachel pulled up short, looking at her in shock. 

"What?!" Rachel exclaimed.  "How can you have never had sushi?"

Aubrey shrugged her shoulders.  "I don't know.  I've just never really had a reason to try it." 

"Well, you've got a reason now.  Get in." Rachel said. 

"I can just follow you if you want." Aubrey said pointing to her blue Ford Escape parked a few spaces away.  She didn't want to make Rachel have to drive all the way back to the office when they were done so she could get her car. 

"Nah.  Get in." Rachel said.  "Your car'll be fine.  My favorite sushi place isn't that far away."

"Okay." Aubrey said as she got in a buckled her seat belt.

"Okay, seriously." Rachel said, putting the car into reverse.  "You've never had sushi?  You've never lived, till you've had it.  It's like the best thing ever!"

Aubrey chuckled.  "Sorry.  I'm from the country.  Not a whole lot of sushi in the sticks." She replied.

"Where are you from?" Rachel asked, curious.

"All over." Aubrey replied, giving her customary answer as she tucked her hair behind one ear.

"Like where?" Rachel asked, turning out of the parking lot and onto the main street their office was located on.

"Um..." Aubrey thought for a second.  "Well, I was born in Hawaii and then we moved to Washington, then Colorado, North Carolina...um, Germany for three years...and then Virginia.  That's where I tell people I'm from because it's where I went to high school and my parent's still live there." 

"Well look at you travel maniac."  Rachel looked at her in amazement. 

"Army brat." Aubrey admitted with a shrug. 

"Ah." Rachel replied.

"What about you?" Aubrey asked, wanting to get to know more about Rachel. 
"Are you a native?"  Ever since coming to work at A&R Aubrey had wanted to become friends with Rachel but until now the opportunity for them to get to know one another hadn't presented itself.

"Of Arizona." Rachel said with a smile.  "I grew up in the same house in Phoenix that I was born in and my dad and step-mom still live there."

"You're lucky." Aubrey sighed wistfully.  What she wouldn't give to have grown up in one place.  She'd hated the constant moving her family had done as her father had been stationed all over the country and world.  It was hard, always starting over in a new school, never having a steady group of friends, constantly feeling like an outsider.  Aubrey had promised herself she'd do everything she could to make sure her own kids wouldn't have to go through what she did; that they would have the stability in their life that she never had.  "What made you decide to come to California?" She asked Rachel.

"Well, after I graduated I was offered an internship with a company in New York and the one here at A&R."

"I'd have thought you'd have chosen New York." Aubrey said.

"Really? Why?" Rachel asked.

"You're always so chic and fashionable.  You just seem like a New York kind of girl to me." Aubrey said.

"Really?" Rachel asked with a smile.  "Wow.  Thanks."

"You're welcome."  Aubrey offered.  "So, why did you choose California?"

"The weather." Rachel replied honestly.  "I don't do winter well." She confided in an exaggerated whisper.  "Plus, JC was here in California."

Aubrey looked at her in surprise.  "You knew him before moving here?"

"Mmmm...sort of." Rachel said pulling her bottom lip between her teeth then chuckling at Aubrey's confused look.  "It's a long story."

"I've got time." Aubrey said as Rachel pulled her car into a particular parking lot.  Rachel laughed. 

"Alright, come on." She said getting out of the car.  The girls walked into the restaurant and were shown to a corner table.  Aubrey left the ordering up to Rachel and as they waited for their food to arrive Rachel began telling her the complicated story of how she and JC had first met at her best friend's wedding about a year and a half ago and had subsequently made out in a back room at the reception hall where he'd then asked her to come back to his place with him.

"Wait." Aubrey said after taking a sip of her coke and placing the cup back on the table.  "You guys made out at your best friend's wedding then he asked you to go home with him and you said no?!"  Rachel shrugged.  "So what happened?  I mean, obviously you guys stayed in contact, right?  You said he was part of the reason you moved back here."

"No." Rachel shook her head. 

"No, what?" Aubrey asked confused.

"No, we didn't stay in contact.  He didn't know I moved here."

"Then why..."

Rachel sighed.  "Okay, I'm going to let you in on a little secret.  I'm ridiculous."  She stated pointing a finger at herself.  Aubrey laughed.  "No, I mean it." Rachel insisted.  "I moved here on the off-chance that I would somehow, one day run into him again.  But deep down I never thought I'd see him again.  I knew I'd blown my chance.  I mean, hell!  Who says no when a famous musician you've been lusting after for years asks you to go home with him?"  Rachel rolled her eyes and both of the girls laughed.

"You're lucky." Aubrey said and Rachel looked at the girl.  "You got a second chance with the man you love."

"Yeah I did." Rachel smiled.  "But enough about me." She added quickly.  "Tell me more about you."  She straightened as their waitress brought the sushi she'd ordered and grinned.  Picking up her chopsticks and grabbing a piece of the Vegas Roll Rachel continued.  "Tell me about your family."  She placed the sushi in her mouth and chewed, closing her eyes briefly.

"Well," Aubrey answered looking at the sushi hesitantly.  Why did I agree to this? She wondered thinking of the nice, safe chicken enchilada casserole she'd made last night and was currently sitting at home in her Grandmother's refrigerator.  But it was too late now.  She was just going to have to bite the bullet and at least try the sushi.

"The trick is to not think about what you're eating." Rachel confided.  "Just put it in your mouth quickly."  Aubrey looked at her for a moment then bravely placed the piece of sushi in her mouth, chewing carefully. 

"So?" Rachel asked eagerly.

Aubrey swallowed and was quiet for a moment as she finished processing the taste and texture of what she'd just eaten.  "Not bad." She finally admitted.

"Try one of these." Rachel said, pushing the plate containing the New York Roll she'd ordered towards her. 

"I don't know..." Aubrey hesitated. 

"Oh, come on." Rachel chuckled.  "It's not going to kill you.  Live a little." She smiled.

Aubrey picked up one of the pieces and put it in her mouth then bobbed her head back and forth as she chewed.  "Alright, those are pretty good.  Don't know that I'll ever love them like you obviously do...but it's alright."

Rachel smiled.  "Which of your parents is in the military?"

"My Dad." Aubrey said, eating another piece of the California Roll.  "He served in the first Gulf War and now works at the Pentagon." She replied proudly.  Even though being a part of a military family had been hard, she'd always been proud of what her father did for a living. 

"Doing what?" Rachel asked.

"Secret government projects." Aubrey said then chuckled.  "Actually I have no idea what he does there."

"Probably better that way." Rachel said and Aubrey laughed, nodding her head in agreement.  "But that's awesome.  Do you have any siblings?"

"One." Aubrey said, taking a sip of her coke.  "Michael's four years older than I am.  He's actually over in Afghanistan right now."

"Like father like son, huh?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah." Aubrey chuckled.  "It's been like that for generations.  To quote my dad, ‘we're a military family and we always will be.'  What about you?" She asked, turning the conversation back to Rachel.  "Do you have any siblings?"

"No." She replied quickly then paused.  "Well...sort of, I guess."

"Sort of?" Aubrey replied, an amused expression on her face.  "How can you ‘sort of' have siblings."

"They're step-siblings." Rachel said.  "My dad remarried about ten years ago and Sherry's kids are both several years older than I am.  We've never really spent anytime together so...I don't really count them as siblings.  Is that mean?" Rachel asked, with a grimace.

"No." Aubrey chuckled.  "It's not mean.  So did your mom remarry or do you only have step-siblings with your dad?"

"My mom died when I was seventeen." Rachel said.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Aubrey said, sympathy filling her eyes she couldn't imagine what that must have been like. 

"Thanks." Rachel smiled.

"Can I ask you something?" Aubrey asked as her curiosity finally got the better of her.

"Sure." Rachel replied as she ate the last piece of sushi on the plate in front of her.

"It's kind of personal, so you don't have to answer." Aubrey told her, not wanting Rachel to feel pressured.

"I'm pretty much an open book, Aubrey." Rachel said.  "You can ask me anything.  If I don't want to answer I'll tell you."

"Okay, that's fair." Aubrey tucked her hair behind her ears and leaned forward. 

"What's it like...dating a guy who at one point in his life had almost the entire world lusting after him?" She asked, curious about the dynamics in the relationship Rachel had with her boyfriend, JC Chasez.

Rachel laughed.  "It's...well it's not as easy as I thought it would be." She admitted.  "And I thought about it a lot. After all, I was one of the ones lusting after him back in the day." Aubrey chuckled. "How old are you?" Rachel asked.

"Twenty-one." Aubrey answered.

"So you were...twelve when they were huge?"

"Yeah." She nodded.  "I knew who they were but I wasn't obsessed like a lot of the girls at school were." She laughed.  "I didn't ever have any of their albums or anything.  I remember when I was thirteen--we were living in Germany at the time--it seemed like all the girls on base had N SYNC fever.  They were all excited because the group was in the country and anybody who was anybody had tickets to the concert."

"And were you anybody?" Rachel asked, finishing her water.

"No." Aubrey shook her head as she remembered back.  "No, I was a nobody.  I didn't go."

"What?" Rachel asked, sounding shocked.  "Why not?"

Aubrey shrugged.  "It just wasn't a big deal to me.  Plus, money was always tight.  There are a lot of benefits in working for the government, but money isn't always one of them." She said.  Aubrey was quiet for a moment.   

"Did you have a favorite of the guys?" Rachel asked.

"Justin." Aubrey said without hesitation then ducked her head as her cheeks warmed.  "Oh my gosh, I can't believe I just admitted that out loud!" She laughed nervously.

"You think I'm going to judge you for that comment?" Rachel asked with a laugh.  "Remember who you're talking to." She winked at the younger girl.

"I'm not into him now." Aubrey rushed to assure Rachel.  "In fact I don't even listen to his kind of music anyway."

"What kind of music do you listen to?"

"Country, usually." Aubrey answered, her eyes focused on the plate in front of her. 

"Why was Justin your favorite?" Rachel asked.

"He was the cutest." Aubrey replied.  "And the closest to my age."  She shrugged. Even though there's seven years between us...  "I always thought he had a cute smile and...he just seemed like a really nice, normal, down to earth guy even with all his popularity."

"He is." Rachel replied and Aubrey smiled.  The girls talked for a few more minutes.  When it came time to pay Rachel grabbed the check before Aubrey could look at it. 

"Hey!" Aubrey chuckled.  "Wait a minute."

"My treat." Rachel insisted with a smile, sliding her debit card into the holder and handing it to the waitress.  When she returned with Rachel's receipt the girls left.  "This was fun." Rachel said as she drove back into their office parking lot and pulled in next to Aubrey's car.

"Yeah." Aubrey smiled.  "We should do it again."

"Definitely." Rachel nodded.  "With Jace going out of town more often now I'm going to be needing someone to keep me company."

"Well, you know where to find me." Aubrey said, getting out of the car.  "I'll see you tomorrow."

"See ya." Rachel smiled as Aubrey shut the door.  She walked the few steps to her SUV and got in, waving as Rachel pulled away, then following her out of the parking lot.  Aubrey turned on the radio in her car and listened to her favorite country station as she drove the twenty-five minutes that separated the office from where she lived with her grandmother in Buena Park. 
Finally, pulling into the driveway in front of an older, single story white house, Aubrey got out of her car and walked inside.

"Aubrey?" Her grandmother called out as she shut the front door.  "Is that you?"

"Yeah, Grams." She called out as she walked back towards the family room. 

"I was starting to get worried." Her grandmother said, turning to look at her with a smile--her short, curled white hair forming a halo around her head.

"Sorry." Aubrey replied.  "I ended up going out to dinner with one of the girls I work with." 

"That's nice." Her grandma said, turning back to the baseball game she had been watching.  "Did you have fun?"

"Yeah." Aubrey nodded as she leaned down over the back of the couch and gave her grandmother a hug.  "That's from Michael." She told the older woman.

Aubrey stood, watching the television for a moment, chuckling to herself when her grandma began yelling at the umpire for something he'd done.  With a smile and a shake of her head Aubrey turned and walked into the kitchen to get a drink of water.  She hadn't ever been a big fan of baseball.  "I'm going to go work on my homework." Aubrey told her grandma as she walked out of the kitchen and down the hall to the small bedroom that had become hers. 

When her grandfather had died a year ago her parent's had tried to convince her grandmother to sell her house and move to Virginia so they could take care of her.  Her grandmother, never one to be taken care of, flatly refused.  She didn't want to give up her life in California and move clear across the country--away from everything and everyone she knew.  During this same time, Aubrey had decided she wanted to get away from her parents for a little while and break away from the military lifestyle she'd always known.  So, she packed up her things and moved to California to live with her grandmother--giving her parent's some peace of mind and giving her a chance to spread her wings a little.  So far it was a situation that had worked out great.  Aubrey loved her grandmother and the time they were able to spend together but there were still times when she wished she could afford to live on her own; to have her own place and not have to be responsible for checking in with anyone.  She lay back on her bed and stared up at her ceiling. 

With a sigh she sat up, pulled the laptop computer she'd saved up for and finally purchased last month so she wouldn't have to always be using the old desktop computer her grandmother had, and logged into the online class she was currently taking through UCLA.  Lifting her backpack up on the bed beside her Aubrey opened it and pulled out her algebra textbook.  She'd found it difficult to find a school that offered an undergraduate degree in Elementary Education in California, so she was just focusing on getting all her generals out of the way right now.  Opening the textbook in her lap she looked up the teacher's posted assignment and began working. 

~~~~~~

Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:29:18

Subject: Captain's Log

To: freckles_21@yahoo.com

From: desertrat@mail.mil.gov

Dear Freckles,

I just got an email from an old friend of ours.  Do you remember Andrew Johnson?  His troop is getting sent home at the end of next month.  His email said he was going to be stationed in San Diego.  You should call him when he gets back into town.  He was asking about you.  I told him you were living in L.A. and that you weren't dating anyone.

Ooops.  Time is up!  Do you want me to give him your number?

Michael

"No!  I do not want you to give him my number." Aubrey spoke out loud to her computer screen at home that night.

"What?" Her grandmother poked her head out of the kitchen.

"Huh?" Aubrey turned and looked at her grandmother.  "Oh, nothing.  Sorry."

She turned back to her computer.  That's going to give Andrew the wrong idea.  "Michael..." She grumbled under her breath then sighed as she closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the couch.

Andrew Johnson.  Of course she remembered him.  Tall, broad shoulders, dark hair, clear blue eyes, adorable smile, deep voice with a slight southern boy drawl...and the list went on and on.  Andrew Johnson was perfection in a uniform.  He and Michael had become friends when Aubrey and her family had moved to Virginia.  Andrew had been in the same class as Michael and they'd graduated West Point together.  Her father had made it more than obvious from the day Andrew had been introduced to the family that he was the only man he would give his consent for her to marry and so, in an effort to make her father happy and to get him off her back, Aubrey agreed to be Andrew's date to the Officer's Ball when she was seventeen. 

She and her mother had gone shopping and after days of searching for the perfect dress Aubrey had picked out a beautiful aqua colored gown with silver embroidery around the neckline and hem.  Her mother had spent hours doing her make-up and curling her hair--the whole time going on and on about how she couldn't believe how "grown up" Aubrey was and how she couldn't believe her little girl was going to her first ball.  Aubrey had tried hard to feel something--anything--for Andrew.  He was a great guy, but there just wasn't anything there.  The only thing she could admit to was the fact that he definitely knew how to wear his uniform.  She had caught several envious glances throughout the evening and knew she should feel lucky for being the one dancing with Andrew Johnson, but...it was like being with her brother--except she at least felt a familial connection to Michael.  With Andrew there was...nothing.

Aubrey sighed again as she sat up on the couch and began typing a response to her brother.

"Is that Michael you're emailing?" Her grandmother asked as she came into the family room.

"Yes." Aubrey looked up at him.

"Tell him I'm waiting for my letter." She said.  "If he has time to be sending you emails he has time to write to his grandmother."

"Okay, Grams." Aubrey smiled.  "I'll tell him."

Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2009 19:17:23

Subject: Secretary Diaries

To: desertrat@mail.mil.gov

From: freckles_21@yahoo.com

Dear Desert Rat,

I appreciate the thought, but as I told Andrew the last time I saw him: I'm not sure who I am yet and until I figure that out, I can't be in a serious relationship.  With anyone.  However, I know what it's like to be in a new city where you don't know anyone and while San Diego is about an hour's drive away, I'd be open to maybe meeting for lunch...or something...one day...

Aubrey

P.S. Grams said to tell you she's waiting for a letter.