He sat at the bar, sipping his whiskey. Lately, he had been thinking a lot about the past. The history of experiences that had finally led him to this bar stool. Wondering how things would have been if only...
The juke box blared to life, old songs mingling with new. He got up and paid his tab. He drove home, tooling on the radio, not truly hearing any of the songs until one in particular caught his attention. "Blaze of Glory" began its soft intro as he pulled into his driveway. He was suddenly taken back eleven years. Taken back to the last time he had seen her, the one that had gotten away.
They were supposed to have met at a hotel after they graduated Basic Training. A surprise visit from her fiancé quickly derailed any plans they had arranged. The look of sadness in her eyes mirrored the sharp pain he felt in his soul. They were well aware that any meeting they would have had would have been for the one night alone. Their friendship would have lasted, but any romantic aspirations, they were well aware, would not.
He entered his home and went straight to his bar. It wasn't much, just an odd assortment of bottles for whenever friends decided to drop by. The words to their song echoing in his head, he reached under the bar and withdrew an old, dusty bottle.
It was an old bottle of tequila. It wasn't the best brand out there, nor was it the cheapest. But it was the one that he had kept since that sorrowful night. It was dusty, having rarely been pulled out into the light. He had managed to keep it, still sealed, through ten long years in the Army. This bottle had been meant for her.
He put the bottle back, half tempted to finally open it. He poured some whiskey instead and sat down. He thought back to those days, her smile making the hardships bearable. He fell asleep thinking about her.
He was back in Basic Training, graduation completed and the dress uniform hung back up with the same care that the drill sergeants had hammered into them all for the last eight weeks. He saw her there, with her family. The smile on her face was radiant, warming him to his soul.
Only, here in this dream world, her fiancé never arrived. He never came along to surprise her. She smiled and hugged him, whispering into his ear that she could not wait until dinner with their respective families were over. He whispered back, telling her the hotel and the room number. Telling her that he could not wait to fulfill the many promises he had made to her. She grinned and blushed slightly, her mother's eyes filled with questions she would not get any answers to, nor would she want them.
Dinner dragged by for them both. But finally, he was freed. His parents dropped him off at the hotel, questions they knew they did not want answers to remaining unspoken. He rushed in to prepare. He did not know how much time he truly had and he could not afford to waste a second of it.
The room was not much. Even after having saved almost all of his pay for the last two months, there was not much to save. And this town, catering as it did to the military and to graduating soldiers, did not have much to work with.
He turned down the lights after lighting as many candles as he could find. He filled the room with soft music. He placed the tequila his family had brought for him, once again with questions unasked, in the ice bucket. Wishing he could have done more, he had nothing left to do but wait.
It was not a long wait. Less than fifteen minutes, fifteen excruciatingly long minutes, there was a knock at the door. He rushed over, but stopped himself. He did not want to seem too desperate. Did not want to scare her off. Opening the door, he opened his mouth to say something witty but got lost in her beautiful eyes once more.
She giggled as she pushed her way into the room. Any witty remarks of her own were, much as his had been, lost to thought as she saw the effort he had made. She turned quickly and pulled him into a deep passionate kiss.
