The Ballad of Bonita

Today...

"Why do they call it a chow hall?" Will asked as he and Theo searched for a place to sit in the crowded military lunchroom. "It makes me think they are throwing buckets of food into a trough for us."

"Some days the food doesn't look much better than that," Theo said as they quickly moved toward a four-top table they fortuitously discovered. "But at least we are in the Air Force. Remember eating at that Army post?"

Will grimaced. "Point taken. I'll shut up now."

Theo smiled as he sat across from Will. Theo then looked behind his friend as several Airmen moved through the cafeteria line. He paused just as he was about to take his first bite of food. Will stared questioningly at Theo. Theo then nodded toward the cafeteria line. Will turned around and saw her. He suddenly felt like he couldn't breathe.

"What is she doing here?" Theo asked. "We won't be called to the Load Team for another month."

Will softly shook his head, continuing to gaze at her. Theo smiled as he looked at the back of his friend's head. "You won't hurt my feelings if you go talk to her."

Will nodded. He then stood up, which drew the attention of the young lady on whom his eyes were fixed. A soft smile eased onto her face as she began walking toward him.

"Hi," she said, standing in front of Will.

"Hi," he said, wearing a smile a bit bigger than he intended.

After a few seconds, Theo said, "Hi, Bonita."

She glanced at Theo. "Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't see you sitting there."

Theo gave a wave as Will's eyes remained on Bonita. Will then asked, "What are you doing here at Onore?"

Her smile lessened as she said, "I had some business to take care of."

"It was business you couldn't take care of at your base?"

"You know how tiny Naeb is," Bonita said as Will nodded. She then said, "I was hoping I would see you here today."

Will chuckled. "Well, I had no idea I was going to see you today... but I'm glad I did."

Bonita nodded. Her smile then completely faded. After averting her eyes for a moment, she looked directly at Will and said, "I need to tell you something."

********************

17 months ago...

"Load Team augmentee?" Will said as he and Theo walked down the side of the flightline. "Who in the hell came up with the name augmentee?"

"Well, we are augmenting their normal staff during overseas deployments, so..."

"I understand what it means. It's just such a goofy way to put it. Why can't we be Load Team assistants? Or back-ups?

"It's the military, Will. You don't use two words when you can use seven."

Will smiled as he and Theo approached a trailer that faced an area on the flightline where sat a couple dozen different vehicles. They entered the small trailer, already occupied by five other people, including Tech Sergeant Brockman, who was speaking to the group.

"Please make sure you are wearing both the ear foamies as well as the earmuffs when you are on the flightline," Brockman said while pointing Will and Theo to two empty seats on either side of two female airmen that were sitting together. Will and the young lady he sat next to smiled at one another. As Brockman continued, he tossed both Will and Theo their gear. "Without double hearing protection you stand a good chance of ear damage. Don't fuck with me on this."

Brockman then looked at Will and Theo. "What unit are you two from?"

"We both work over at ECM," Will said.

"ECM?" Brockman said. "Well, you're not going to use any of your electronics training out here on the flightline with us. We do grunt work out here. Loading, strapping down, and plastic wrapping pallets of cargo. Transporting the cargo across the flightline. Loading and securing the cargo in planes. Those circuit cards you play with at ECM aren't very heavy. Are you two sure you're up for this?"

Will and Theo nodded.

Sergeant Brockman shook his head. "Fuck," he said softly as Will's eyebrows arched. Brockman then looked at the two women sitting between Will and Theo. "Airman Rose. Airman Ross. Take these two out front and start training them. We'll be out here for a week and we have a lot of work to do so make sure they know their shit."

"Yes, Sergeant Brockman," The two women said before standing up and leading Will and Theo out of the trailer.

********************

"I guess I'll see you later," Will said to Theo as he realized they were being led in opposite directions by their respective instructors.

"Later, man," Theo said.

Will then turned to Airman Rose, "So, I've got you for a week?"

She shook her head. "I'm just here today for training. My unit is short-staffed so I won't be on the Load Team for the full week."

"That's unfortunate," Will said, trying desperately to glimpse the shape of Airman Rose's body through her bulky uniform.

"Don't worry," She said looking back at him. "We can have a lot of fun a day." She then winked at him, as his jaw dropped.

Airman Rose brought Will to a one-seat vehicle that looked like a raised bumper car with a long arm on the front of it.

"So... Airman Rose...what the hell is this?"

She smiled. "My name is Bonita... and this vehicle is called a jammer. It loads bombs onto planes."

"It is. There's nothing like having something so long and powerful under your control."

Will paused. He wasn't sure if that was a sexual innuendo or if it was his hormones reacting. The sly smile Bonita gave as she turned to face away from Will gave her away.

"Are you ready?" she asked Will.

"Yeah," Will said as he climbed onto the jammer. "This seems like it's going to be a good time."

*****

"You're better at driving this than I am," Bonita said, sitting next to Will as he swiftly maneuvered a loaded forklift backward through several staggered orange cones.

"I worked at a warehouse for a couple of years before joining the military."

"Good. Then I don't have to teach you much with this vehicle."

"No," Will said as he continued to drive. "Just lay back and enjoy the ride."

"You promise?" Bonita said with a coy smile.

Will's eyes bugged.

*****

"Do you like your job?" Will asked Bonita as they sat over their finished lunch in the base cafeteria.

She nodded. "It's better than my last job. I used to work in EGRESS."

"EGRESS?"

"I know, right? Emergency Global Rescue, Escape and Survival System. I mean, who would even know what that means by the acronym?"

"What is the job?"

"I mainly worked on things like the ejector seats for the fighter pilots. Why does the Air Force have to come up with the most convoluted names for things?"

Will smiled at Bonita. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing. I completely agree."

She then returned the smile.

"So, what do you like to do when you're not driving around strange military vehicles?" Will asked.

Bonita chuckled. She then shrugged. "I like movies. Nature. Interesting conversations over lunch."

"That's exactly what I like," Will said.

"No kidding," Bonita said in a sarcastic voice.

"Yeah. In that order, too. It's amazing how much we have in common," he said as Bonita laughed.

*****

"So what kind of job is electronic countermeasures?" Bonita asked Will as he drove around the flightline in a vehicle that looked like a pickup truck with the bed chopped off. "What do you do?"

"We do maintenance on the countermeasures pods that are used on the planes stationed here. Mostly swapping bad circuit cards and replacing bent and malfunctioning hardlines. A lot of tedious work."

"Sounds like you have to be good with your hands," Bonita said.

"Very," Will said, briefly looking at Bonita with a raised brow and evoking a giggle from her.

He then asked, "So, you work in transportation?"

"Yes. At Naeb Air Force Base."

"They brought you all the way over here for this? That's almost a two hour drive."

"It's a big deployment," Bonita said. "We come over about twice a year to help out the Onore Load Team. And, yes, it's a long commute."

Will shook his head as he returned the vehicle to the flightline parking area. "So how many different vehicles did you train me on today?"

"Seven," Bonita said as she studied Will's training chart. "I'm updating your records to show that you are competent to operate all of them."

Will smiled. "I told you I was good with my hands."

Bonita finished her notations before opening her door. She then looked at Will. "What else are you good with?"

"Airman Rose!" Sergeant Brockman called out to Bonita from the Load Team trailer.

She glanced at Brockman before looking back at Will. "You can tell me when I get back."

Will grinned as Bonita left the vehicle. He then reached into his pocket to retrieve his phone. He quickly pulled up the add contact screen so that he could input Bonita's phone number when she returned.

"Will!" Theo yelled from behind him as he approached Will's vehicle. "We've gotta get back to the unit for a meeting."

"I thought we still had a couple more hours out here today," Will said, exiting the truck.

"We did. Now we don't."

As they began walking down the flightline back toward their unit Will turned toward Bonita. She was also looking at him as she and Airman Ross were shuttled in the opposite direction. Will and Bonita continued to stare at one another, vainly wishing to bridge the ever growing space between them.

As Bonita and Airman Ross entered their vehicle and drove off, Will turned toward his destination and said, "Damn." He then looked down at his phone.

"What's wrong?" Theo asked.

Will exhaled as he closed the add contacts page on his phone. "A missed opportunity."

********************

11 months ago...

"Why are you walking so damned fast?" Theo asked Will as they headed down the flightline and toward the Load Team trailer.

"Am I?" Will said, not slowing his pace.

"Yes, you are. I'm almost jogging trying to keep up with you."

"Maybe you're walking slow."

"Maybe you're in a hurry to see Bonita."

Will slowed his stride and looked at Theo. "I have a girlfriend."

"Your girlfriend isn't on the Load Team," Theo said with a sly smile. "And I'm not going to tell."

Will shook his head. "I'm not that type of guy."

"We all are... given the right circumstances."

Will looked at a smiling Theo as they reached the trailer. They then entered and greeted their fellow Load Team members as Will quickly scanned the room for Bonita. She wasn't there. A quietly crushed Will sat down in silence.

"Sorry, man," Theo said.

Will shook his head. "I have a girlfriend."

"Yeah. But she isn't who you've been talking about for the past six months."

Will looked at Theo, who raised his eyebrows and smiled.

Just then, the door opened to the trailer. Will's head snapped toward the front and his heart felt like it was beating out of his chest. Sergeant Brockman walked in and looked directly at Will and Theo. "You ladies are back?" he said to giggles from the other Load Team members.

Theo nodded and said, "Yes, Sergeant."

A dejected Will's shoulders slumped.

"Good," Brockman said. "Let's go."

As everyone followed Sergeant Brockman out of the trailer, Will remained seated, staring at the floor. Theo patted his friend on the shoulder. "Come on, let's do this."

Will looked up at Theo. He then forced a smile as he stood up and followed Theo onto the flightline, attempting to shake off his surprisingly strong emotions about Bonita.

*****

Will impatiently looked at the time on his phone. "How long are they going to have us waiting out here?" he said as he and Theo stood in front of a flightline staging area that held several wrapped pallets as well as a dozen vehicles ready to be loaded onto their assigned cargo plane.

"You know the Load Team is all about hurry up and wait," Theo said. "In fact, that should be the Air Force motto."

Will nodded. "I know. But it's been almost an hour since Brockman told us he would be back."

Theo sat on the ground with his back rested against one of the pallets and tilted his hat forward. "Well, we are on the far side of the flightline out here. And it's not like we can walk around."

Will exhaled. "Our phones don't even have reception out here. We're just... we're just out here."

Theo lifted his hat and looked at his friend. "I don't know what to tell you." He then lowered his hat as he closed his eyes. "Too bad your girlfriend isn't out here with you instead of me. You could hop in one of the trucks with her and have some fun."

"Girlfriend?" said a female voice. When they looked around they saw Bonita approaching with another uniformed woman.

Will began to smile, though he couldn't form words.

Bonita walked up to him and said quietly, "That's too bad. I never got to see how good you were with your hands."

Will chuckled, though he still couldn't speak.

Theo stood up. "So... do you know what's going on?"

Bonita stared at Will for a couple more seconds before turning toward Theo and saying, "Yeah. Sergeant Brockman sent us out here. He said it will be at least another half-hour."

"What the hell is going on?" Theo said. "They rushed us out here to finish staging this area and the plane isn't even here."

Bonita shrugged her shoulders. "Hurry up and wait. You know how it is."

Bonita then turned her attention back toward Will, who appeared to be in a trance. "So is she hotter than me?"

"Uh..." Will said, awkwardly chuckling.

Bonita shook her head. "I didn't think so." She then introduced them to the young woman with whom she had arrived as Will attempted to pull himself together.

"What happened to the other Airman who was with you the last time we saw you?" Theo asked.

"Angie?" Bonita asked.

"What's wrong with me?" Della said with a hand on her hip and a mock glare.

"Oh, nothing," Theo said. "I'm just wondering where the guys are in your unit. Or are there only women working in Transportation at Naeb Air Force Base?"

"Yep," Bonita answered. "Nothing but hot, sexy military women." She then looked at Will and said, "You should come by sometime. You would like it."

"Why?" Will said. "When you're right here?"

Bonita smiled. "Yeah, I'm pretty much the hottest woman in Transportation."

"I didn't need to go to your unit to know that," Will said, causing Bonita to blush.

Della then asked Theo, "Are they always like this?"

Will looked back at the twosome. "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot you were there."

Theo shook his head and smiled before asking Della, "So what do we do now?"

"There's nothing we can do but make the most of the time."

Bonita then looked at Will with smoldering eyes and asked, "So... how do we do that?"

Before Will could answer, Della said, "For god's sake, would you two get a room, already?"

After a brief pause, Will said, "You know... that's a good idea."

He then grasped Bonita's hand, leading her away from the group as he told them, "We'll be back."

"Not too quickly, I hope," Theo said with a chuckle.

Will looked over his shoulder and said, "Really?"

He then led Bonita to the back row of staged trucks. They sat in the cab of the truck parked furthest from where Theo and Della were standing.

"Well..." Will said. "...it's not the Ritz Carlton, but..."

"So, you're just going to fuck me right here on the flightline?" Bonita asked.

Will's mouth hung open as he gave a slight chuckle.

"What's wrong? You're speechless?" Bonita asked.

"Oh, no. Not at all. I have plenty I want to say. I'm just..."

"... trying to be good?" Bonita said.

Will half-smiled. "Yeah. Something like that."

"I get that. You're a good guy. That's good."

"I don't feel like a very good guy right now."

Bonita briefly ran her fingers over the back of Will's hand as it rested between them. "You feel pretty good to me."

Will smiled.

Bonita then said, "Don't beat yourself up. How were you going to resist someone as hot as I am?"

"Not very well," Will said. "But it's not your hotness."

"Oh, so I'm not hot?"

"You're smoking hot," Will said, causing Bonita to blush again. "But there's something about you that's much more alluring."

A doe-eyed Bonita looked at Will. "Something about me?"

Will nodded. "I was only around you for one day six months ago. But I haven't been able to stop thinking about..." Will paused as he averted his eyes. "I meant to ask you for your number... but we got... "

"... separated. Yeah. I meant to give you my number."

Will quickly looked up at Bonita. "Really?"

She smiled as she nodded. She then said, "Though it would have been easier if we were stationed at the same base. It's a long drive between Onore and Naeb."

Will, staring at his lap, said, "I would have driven two hours to see you."

Bonita kept her eyes on Will while he could not bring himself to look back at her. Instead he moved his hand resting on the seat over to hers, slid his upward-facing palm beneath hers, and interlocked fingers with her.

Will's heart was beating as hard as he'd ever felt it. He could feel Bonita's hand trembling as it rested on top of his. They sat together in silence for a few minutes. Will's every impulse was to pull Bonita to him and kiss her. He resisted.

"Well... if you're intent on being a good guy then we should probably go and join the other two," Bonita finally said.

Will nodded. "Yeah." He then briefly glanced at Bonita, who's eyeballs were moist. He let out a deep sigh. "OK. Let's go."

Bonita opened her door. When she attempted to release Will's hand, he gently pulled her back into the vehicle. They then clumsily kissed one another as they both attempted to control their rapid breathing.

As their lips separated, they rested their foreheads on each other's. "Good guy, huh?" Will said.

"It's OK. Let's go."

Will wanted, for all the world, to feel her lips on his once more. Against his wishes, they released their grip on one another's hands and exited the truck.

As they walked back toward their co-workers, Theo and Della studied them before looking at one another in shock. Theo then asked, "What did you two do back there?"

"Nothing," Bonita said. "Have we heard from Sergeant Brockman yet?"

Della shook her head, still intrigued by Will's and Bonita's flush appearance. "Not yet."

"Something happened back there," Theo said.

"Nothing happened back there, Theo," Will said as he and Bonita increased the space between one another.

As Theo joined Will and Della stayed with Bonita, Theo quietly asked, "What happened, man?"

Will looked over at Bonita, who briefly glanced at him before returning her attention to Della. "Nothing happened... I have a girlfriend."

********************

5 months ago

"God, it's hot out here!" Bonita said as she and Will worked together to fasten the last strap on the cargo pallet.

"Yeah, the one thing that the Load Team has taught me is that I never want a full-time job working on the flightline. It's always ten degrees hotter out here than it is anywhere else."

"You just think that because you're always around me when you're out here."

"Hey, you said you were going to stop doing that," Will said, playfully pointing at Bonita.

"Oh. I'm so sorry," she joked.

Will looked at her as he stood next to the pallet. "What are the odds that I break up with my girlfriend and now you are dating someone?"

"Pretty good... since we are clearly the Romeo and Juliet of the Air Force."

Will laughed. "That is exactly who we are. Star-crossed lovers. Well... we never got to the lovers part."

Bonita feigned studying one of the straps on the pallet as she said, "Well, if you hadn't gotten cold feet in the truck last year... "

"I had a girlfriend," Will said with his hands up and a slight smile.

"I know, I know," Bonita said, pretending to be agitated as she continued to look away from Will. Her mock expression then faded to somber as she repeated, "I know."