"Reunion"

She was the one that got away. The one person that got me through the cold, dark, lonely nights on the front-line. Her thick blonde hair, curled to perfection around her sculpted face, and her dark blue eyes that called out to me across the seas. I couldn't wait to hold her Betty Grable figure in my arms, and tell her that she'd been the only one. Her full lips played on my mind, as I remembered the way she talked – her accent strong, but to remove it, would be to take something integral from her.

She was still in school when I left, but she would be a working woman now, if I knew her at all. I could picture her, with dungarees, and dirt on her button nose. Her curves would be accentuated by the denim, but she'd look even better after-hours, when she slip into the red dress I'd imagined for the past two years.

I had avoided all thoughts that she would be with another man – that I'd missed my chance – but now I was on home soil, and I couldn't help but wonder. She'd always had a soft spot for the bigger men, and I'd grown since I'd left. My arms were so much bigger now, and I could imagine picking her up off the ground as I hugged her.

I think about her slender legs, being shown as I set her back down. I envisage her womanly fingers, her red-dress-matching nails, as her hands fit perfectly into mine. I imagine the touch of her soft skin, but am only reminded of the raggedness of my own war-torn hands and face.

I wonder if she'll like me? I know she did, briefly, before I left. But I was different then. Now, I was messed up, bloodied and broken.

She's late. A mutual friend of ours set a date, time, and place for us to meet. I hadn't been able to get hold of her easily, so I asked someone I knew she would see. It was hard to get back into normal life. In the army, if you needed someone, you went to your superior, and they sorted it... unless it was too hard.

“Hello!”

I jumped from my thoughts, as I rounded to see her. My dreams were shattered as I laid my eyes upon someone I'd never known. My arms ached at the thought of lifting her into that hug. Her sculpted face was rounded, and her chin had never been pluralised in my mental imagery. Her deep blue eyes were sunken into a face I didn't recognise. Had she always been this way?

“Hello,” I forced out, as I remembered the smirk on our friend's face when I'd asked about her.

Her legs were stubby, and she literally wobbled towards me. I involuntarily took a step backwards, but she didn't seem to notice.

“You look well!” she announced, pulling me into her voluptuous, yet unappealing bosom.

I coughed a little as I tried to return the sentiment. I honestly couldn't form words in my own head, let alone out in the world. Had my stupid mind created that goddess woman from this?! Or had she been much more beautiful two years ago?

She was wearing a blue dress, that enveloped her curves, accentuating them in a way that was not flattering. Her lips, which had once been something I longed for, now crashed unwaveringly onto each of my cheeks.

As she stood back and took my image in, I looked at her, and in her smile, I saw the woman I used to know... but this would take some getting used to...