Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
❝Sammy just got his ass handed to by the drill sergeant! Oh god, you should have seen it.❞
el paso, texas ( fort bliss army base ) july 9, 2007
TRAINING FOR deployments were always tiring. Especially when new missions were assigned to Josiah's unit. But due to only having a nine month deployment, training would only be taking two weeks instead of the usual four to six weeks. After the two weeks of pre-deployment training, the 4th infantry division would be deployed to Iraq.
Making his way to the showers, Josiah made sure to have all of his belongings to have a nice, calming shower after the brutal fitness training their drill sergeant had them do around the whole base.
"Ugh," Josiah was just washing his hair when Liam came in, groaning in pain, "I feel like crap."
Josiah chuckled, washing off the soap from his head. A couple of feet away from him, the soldier could hear his best friend letting out a sigh of relief as he, too, began showering his stress away.
Finishing up his short lasting shower, Josiah wrapped a towel around his waist before making his way out towards the barrack where he and many other soldiers slept. He walked over to his bed and pulled out his uniform, quickly changing and collapsing onto the small bed. Sighing, Josiah placed his arm over his eyes and tried to relax but all he could do was think about the girl he left behind ― Leah Clearwater. Every time he closed his eyes, all he would see were those dark brown eyes he loved.
Couple of minutes passed, or that's what it felt for Josiah after closing his eyes, before he woke up to someone entering the barracks.
"Sammy just got his ass handed to by the drill sergeant! Oh god, you should have seen it."
Not hearing a response from his friend, Liam glanced over, frowning at the sight of Josiah, "Jay, you okay?"
"Yeah... I just... I miss Leah."
Looking down at his friend, Liam could see the sadness glazing behind his light brown eyes. Liam had never seen his friend like this. And it honestly bothered him.
"Just nine months Jay," the soldier pointed out while getting dressed, "Nine months and you get to see her again."
Josiah could only nod, "Yeah."
"You should call her. " Liam suggested, sitting down on his own bed to face his brooding best friend.
Taking Liam's suggestion, Josiah now stood outside the barracks with his phone pressed against his ear, listening to the ringing until the person on the other side picked up ― the soldier patiently waited.
"Hello?"
A smile spread across Josiah's face, without him even noticing, at the sound of Leah's soft voice over the phone, "Hey Leah..."
"Eli! Hey, are you okay? Did you finish training for today?"
Chuckling, the soldier answered Leah's questions by telling her about his day and what he did for training. On the other side of the phone Leah listened with the same smile on her face as Josiah had and began telling her about her day as well. Both imprints just needed to hear each other's voices to feel better about their long distance relationship.
Silence was heard from the other line, making Josiah frown, "Leah, you still there?"
"Yeah I'm still here... I just..."
"What is it? You okay?" Josiah sent Sammy a smile as he walked by and towards the barracks behind him.
"You're leaving the day after tomorrow aren't you?"
The young soldier looked down at his feet, suddenly finding them more interesting, "Yeah... tomorrow is our last training day." Leah didn't say anything after that which brought an empty feeling at the pit of Josiah's stomach. "Hey, I'll make sure to call and skype you as much as I can while I'm over there, alright? Don't think I won't try to call you," Josiah reassured, trying to make Leah feel better knowing the pain she must be feeling from being away from her imprint.
"It's not that Eli... it's just," Leah paused, her voice cracking. Josiah's heart broke at the sound, knowing she was holding back tears. He felt horrible knowing his girlfriend was hurting in another state and he couldn't do anything about it.
"I know baby... I'll be okay."
Sniffles came from the other side of the phone, telling Josiah that Leah was crying ― he couldn't help but feel worse.
"Leah," Josiah sighed. "I lo-"
Before those three words left his mouth, the soldier stopped. It wasn't because he didn't mean them but because he was afraid of what would happen after he said them. He was a soldier that was going on deployment in Iraq, anything could happen to him. Josiah didn't want to burden Leah with that feeling in case anything did happen to him while on duty; not that he would voice any of his thoughts to the girl.
"I uh.. I got to go, but I'll talk to you later, okay?"
Saying goodbye to her was hard, especially after almost confessing his love to her. Leah appeared to not have noticed or she ignored what he almost said because she said her goodbye's and I love you before hanging up. Josiah Lahote sighed loudly before making his way back inside the barracks where Liam and Samuel laid in their own beds and appeared to be talking. Once they saw him walk in, they immediately stopped and asked him how his call went. Josiah just said it went well without giving them too much detail.
***
That night Josiah laid awake in his bed, thinking back to his conversation with Leah. He couldn't help but think about what would happen to her if something did happen to him while he was overseas. He worried more about her than he did about himself.
Rubbing his eyes, the soldier turned to his left side and closed his eyes ― trying to go to sleep. He didn't want to think negatively, so he made a promise to himself to do everything he could to make it back home to Leah Clearwater.
