OBSESSION

Obsession.



-----------------------------

Wow....Thank you to everybody that’s taken the time to read and review....You don’t know how happy these reviews make me, lol......



-------------------------------



Chapter 6.





Passing through the gateway, walking behind the great General Zaphara in amongst his troop of men, I felt a huge sense of euphoria wash over me. Yay! No more early morning wake up calls. No more boring marching practises. And no more damn annoying Commander Jake to piss me off…..well, at least not for a few weeks, at any rate!



Oh, I couldn’t believe that the gods had been kind to me for once, and had detained everyone until I got there. Normally, with my stupid luck, I would have gotten to the parade ground and found it empty, deserted. Today was looking like it was going to be a very rare, lucky day for me.



I glanced up nervously at the tall pair of soldiers marching in front of me, only too aware of the equally tall pair of soldiers marching behind me. All of them were powerfully built, their triceps and biceps bulging and straining. I gazed at them with apprehension, and also a touch of jealousy too. I really hoped I looked like them one day.



Huh! But judging by my puny frame, it was going to take me years to get anywhere near to their physical perfection. And that was if I could stand the course! Even at this gentle jog we were keeping, I could feel myself getting a little short of breath, and the straps of my backpack were beginning to rub.



“Bath or shower?”



I looked blankly at the boy jogging next to me. The button boy. He was taller than me. Not by much, about a head or so taller. His eyes matched the colour of his short brown hair, and I looked in envy at the way his muscles had developed. I always seemed to pull the short straws in life. It was so unfair.



“Bath or shower?” he repeated again, smiling. “Which do you prefer?”



“Ummm, depends,” I answered. What a stupid question!



“On what?” he pressed.



“On how much time I have,” I replied.



“Oh, so you do like having a bath then?” he said, grinning at me. “Do you use bubbles?”



“NO!” I denied quickly, feeling my cheeks redden. “Of course I don’t.” Of course, I did…..but there was no way I was telling my bathroom secrets to him. He just grinned wider, and winked at me. I frowned at him….why would he do that?



“Cat or dog?” Another random, stupid question. I guessed he was just making small talk, to help our journey go quicker. Well, if it helped to take my mind off my chaffing shoulders, I was game.



“Dog,” I said.



Someone ran past us, a very large, muscled bound someone. He turned his head to look in our direction as he passed by. I was quite taken aback by the sight of the mans grey blue eyes. They were huge, and girly looking, and so out of character with the rest of what I saw of him. Then, just as suddenly, he was gone, continuing onwards and upwards towards the front of the troop, up towards where General Zaphara was.



“You know who that is, don’t you?” the boy next to me whispered, in a conspiratorial tone of voice. I didn’t have a clue, so I shook my head. “That’s first class soldier, Lieutenant Pike….our leaders boyfriend!” he informed me, knowledgably.



“Boyfriend?” Intrigued, I turned to look forward, trying to peer in between the massive bodies in front of me, trying to get a glimpse of the General and his ‘boyfriend’ together. But all I caught were occasional flashes of long, silver hair, or the back of Lieutenant Pikes bald head……



I don’t know why, but I was amazed that someone like the General would choose a man for a lover….and such a beefy, meaty man at that! Lieutenant Pike certainly wasn’t someone I envisioned the General making love to. Although, what would I know about it?….Me, someone who had never, ever, even had a lover!



Although, I had gotten close, once, to one of the local girls. She had actually let me touch her, below the waist! But I had blown my big chance of being with a girl…. by giggling. Oh, I still felt the shame of that night, even now. I don’t know what came over me, why I couldn’t do the things that she was begging me to do to her…..I guess it was because I could hear the cautionary words of my mother echoing in my ears….. ‘Son, you NEVER touch a young lady….not unless you love her, and are prepared to marry her if she falls pregnant.’….I certainly didn’t ‘love’ the young girl I was with that night, and I definitely had no intention of marrying her…..



So I guess it was the voice of my mother, ringing round and round in my head, that had stopped me from discovering the joy of losing my virginity that night….‘Don’t do it son…..Don’t do it son’……



A sharp nudge in my side snapped me out of my morose thoughts.



“Looks like they’ve had a lovers tiff. I just saw General Zaphara slap at Lieutenant Pikes arm,” the boy told me. How the hell had he seen that? Even straining on my tip-toes, I couldn’t see past the man-wall in front of me.



“Utt….No….it’s alright….They’ve made up! Zaphara’s smiling at him now.”



We jogged along in silence for while, until…..



“Favourite colour?”



I sighed, resigning myself to another round of his stupid question and answer game. Why would he want to know what my favourite colour was?….What I liked to eat for breakfast in the morning…..Or even what I preferred to wear in bed?….My mind raced at that question. Should I tell him the truth, that I preferred to sleep naked?…Or should I lie?….But I didn’t like lying. I’d never been any good at it anyway, my face always seemed to give me away.



“You sleep in the buff, don’t you?” he said grinning, guessing anyway. “Don’t worry. I’ll let you in on a little secret…….SO DO I!” He looked at me for a long time. Even though I kept my face staring forward, I could feel his eyes upon me. I thought that, at any minute, he would trip over if he didn’t watch where he was going!



“Favourite season?”



“Spring.”



“Something you always wanted to be?”



“A soldier”



“Name of your boyfriend?”



“I don’t have a boyfriend…..” I stuttered indignantly, turning now to look at him.



“Nooooo?” I wasn’t sure about the weird look on his face as he said it.



Luckily for me, the ones in front seemed to have upped the pace of our jog, and soon we were both too tired just trying to keep up to continue talking to one another. I wondered how long I could maintain the faster pace, my calf muscles were beginning to kill me.



“Want me to carry your pack for you?” the boy asked, still grinning despite the gruelling run we were doing. “Looks like you’re struggling a bit there.”



“I can……manage,” I panted out through a dry mouth. God, I needed a drink! I could feel my heart pounding, my head felt fuzzy…..and the straps of my backpack seemed to burn into my shoulders. But I was determined to prove myself worthy of being asked here on this mission. Someone had faith in me, and I wasn’t going to let that person down.



Finally!



At last, we were able to stop the mad march, the troop pulling up before a couple of military trucks that appeared to be waiting for us. I was sweating buckets, and could feel my clothing sticking to my back. I looked up at the burning sky, taking my cap off to wipe the sweat out of my eyes. I really, really, needed a bath.



The huge ranks of men in front of me broke apart, affording me a view of my General and his lover, and I watched as the big, burly man offered the General his water flask, licking at my lips a little, wishing he were offering it to me. I continued to watch, bemused, as the General refused his offer, pushing him away and walking off, leaving the big man looking like a heart-broken child, staring after him.



Ha! The dark haired boy had been wrong! They hadn’t made up, like he’d thought they had. The General was obviously still very annoyed, and I wondered what had been the cause of their argument.