∞ With a Pink Bow in Her Hair ∞

Two days past eighteen, he was waitin' for the bus in his army green.

Thea tried to zone out Stella's rant about some girl in her science class, they had been working at The Red Booth Diner together for three years and Thea had learnt sometimes it was just better to agree with everything that Stella says, and then she might shut up.

The bell chimed as a man walked into the store dressed in an army uniform, he had light brown hair in a buzz-cut, looked too young to have joined the army and sat alone in one of the far corner red-leather booths. Thea, desperate to avoid Stella, walked over to the man, tying a pink bow in her black hair as she went.

'Hello, can I help you sir?" she asked, in her fake-cheerful tone saved especially for customers. The man looked up with his piercing grass-green eyes and forced a smile.

"Um, hello..." the man trailed off as he squinted at Thea's name tag "Thea. I'm Nathan, could I just have a coffee, white, one sugar, please?"

The smiled and nodded, taking down the order on an old notepad she kept in her blue apron.

"Of course, anything else"

The man, Nathan, looked like he wanted to say something but shook his head and Thea left to get his coffee.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

He's a little shy so she gives him a smile and he says 'would you mind sitting down for a while?'

Thea returned with his coffee and placed the white mug in front of him, Nathan looked up at her smile and she swore his face was getting darker.

"Would you mind sitting down for a while? Talking? It's been one hell of a day"

Nathan looked down at his twiddling thumbs and Thea snuck a peek at her phone.

"I'm off in fifteen minutes and I know a place"

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

He said 'I bet ya' gotta boyfriend but I don't care, I got no-one to send a letter to'

Thea sat on the edge of the pier, her legs dangling, her shoes threatening to fall off her feet into the endless blue.

"So, you're in the army?"

"Yeah, I leave tomorrow. I know this is dumb and you probably have a boyfriend, but, I don't really have anyone I can send a letter to while I'm away. Would you mind if I sent you one, maybe?"

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

So the letters came from an army camp, in California then Vietnam.

Thea tore open the creamy-coloured envelope addressed from somewhere in California and read the familiar scrawled handwriting. Nathan.

They had been sending letters back and forth for months now, she told him she was in her last year of school and saving for college, he told her he finished school last year and signed up for the army two days after his eighteenth birthday. She told him he looked too young to be in the army and he told her the story of his Dad, an admiral in the Navy that went down with his ship, the reason he wanted to join. He told her he loved the pink bow in her hair when they first met, she told him she played the violin in the school marching band. He told her that whenever it got too hard over where he was he closed his eyes, and saw her deep chocolate-brown eyes, and it got him through the day.

Don't worry but I won't be able to write for a while.
- Love Nathan

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I cried, never gonna hold the hand of another guy.

"Mum! I'm not going to stop talking to him!"

"You're too young to be waiting on a soldier halfway around the world!"

Thea sighed at her Mum's only argument on why she shouldn't talk to Nathan.

"No! He won't be for long; I got a letter from him last month saying he's coming home!"

"Thea Lee White! Don't talk to me like that! Last month! Anything could've happened to him in a month!"

Thea ran up the stairs muttering to herself, the practically broke down her door and flopped on her bed, cream coloured envelope in hand.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

One Friday night at a football game, the Lord's Prayer said and the anthem sang.

Thea straightened her blue and gold marching band uniform, tightening the pink bow in her hair. The football match was at half-time and she was on soon, right after the local announcements.

"Ladies and gentleman, would you bow your heads for a list of locals, who have made the ultimate sacrifice to help our great country"

Thea stood in position, she didn't know anyone on that list, she didn't need to listen.

"Nathan Tambroke"

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

'Cos one name read, and nobody really cared. But a pretty little girl, with a bow in her hair.

Thea felt like she couldn't breathe, her heart was on fire, her brain was overloading on pain. She sobbed silently under the stadium stands long after the football game had finished.

Because Nathan was dead, and nobody seemed to care,
But a pretty girl with brown eyes and a pink bow in her black hair.

Based off the song 'Travelling Soldier' by Dixie Chicks. Review, please! I really appreciate every one!

StealingChristmasLights xxx