Jade felt so guilty. She knew she had been to hasty in her decision to take it a step further with Dylan. She couldn't help but wonder what it meant. Before Cole cheated she never dreamed of kissing another man let alone full blown cheating. She didn't even look at other men for the most part. She blamed him entirely for her actions. If he hadn't of cheated she would still be perfectly faithful, Right? Things between Cole and Jade were more of a facade. Jade and Cole both knew the love they shared had faded but neither of them were willing to let go. They held on grasping at what was left.
Cole was scheduled to leave for Iraq that following October. Jade was prepared to wait faithfully for his return. With every scheduled tour over seas the soldiers were allotted block leave to have time to say, what could be, there final good byes to their families and loved ones. Cole had told Jade that he wouldn't be going home to see his family but that he would be staying in town with her. Jade felt so bad about that and encouraged him to go home to see his family offering to go with him so he could have the best of both worlds and knowing that it could be the last chance he had to see his parents, brother's, nephews and old friends. He insisted on staying claiming he couldn't afford the plane ticket home anyway.
Jade called him the Friday his block leave started and got no answer and no return call. Days went by and she still hadn't heard from him. She called his friends and still no answer. Sick with worry she sat by the phone waiting for him to call. She called the hospitals and found no answers. A week went by and finally she got a hold of his best friend who informed her that he had gone home to see his family. The rage she felt was comparable to a tropical storm. She didn't understand why he would leave with out telling her. Did she mean nothing to him? She was after all still his fiance. Jade called his parents house and got no answer she left a message for him to call her as soon as he could. He never returned her calls. Jade could only assume that he was spending what would be his last weeks with April. She wouldn't be wrong.
Jade decided that him leaving with out having the decency of telling her was the last straw. Why should she wait for 18 months for him to just come back and continue to be unfaithful. She was so angry and hurt. She was finished, done, over it. She was now going to start living as if she was a young single 21 year old woman so she did. Her best friend Katrina and her started going out. Jade started living her life like any normal 21 year old does. One particular Saturday night Jade ran into Cole's best friend and a few of the other guys from their squadron. Instead of hiding the fact that she and her girlfriend met a couple of good looking men that night she flaunted it in front of them. Knowing of course that they would take what they saw and tell Cole about it. They looked at her puzzled as she stood talking to them with the strangers arms around her. She told them about how she was done crying over Cole and that her and Cole would no longer be together as a couple. The guys praised her saying "good for you". Then Jade grabbed her new admirer and went off to the dance floor.
Several days later Jade was out and about at a local night club when Cole walked in. She was dieing on the inside. The emotions ran through her like a river cutting mountains. She wanted to cry and yell at him for being so thoughtless but instead she smiled in his face saying how was your trip? He asked her to go out side with him so they could talk. Wanting some closure she agreed. The two sat in his car and he told her about how he was hurt to come home and find out that she had dumped him with out him even knowing it. Jade naturally laughed at him and said "Well maybe if you had called me I could have told you personally. Maybe if you had been a normal human being and told me you would be leaving the state for two weeks none of this would have happened but no you chose to run off with out a word and you chose to ignore my calls. How do you think I felt? So don't sit there and tell me how hurt you are. Yes we are done. I am not going to sit here and wait for you to come back from war so you can just do this to me again. I'm worth a lot more than this. I don't deserve to be treated with such disregard." He admitted to her that him running off was wrong and he told her how sorry he was. Then Jade asked him what she really wanted to know. "Did you see April while you were home?" Cole hesitated for a few moments then said "Yes." Jade asked him "Did you sleep with her?" Cole turned his head toward the front of the car and nervously said "I saw her at a party I was drunk and don't remember a lot about the night. The last thing I remember was her being naked so I don't know." Jade said "Really, that's the best you can come up with? I don't know. So in a nut shell you cheated on me, again, with her. I don't feel so bad for her now. She knew you and I were still together and she knowingly fucked you. At least I didn't have any prior knowledge of her when you and I first got together. Oh unless you told her that we were finished." Cole said nothing he just sat there. Jade reached for the door handle to get out then turned toward him and said "Have a nice life and don't die in Iraq." Jade stormed across the parking lot and back inside the night club. She wanted to start ripping off heads.
Knowing that it was really over this time Jade locked herself in her apartment and mourned the relationship that had just died. Cole called her and asked her to come and spend his last night in the United States with him at his Barracks room. Since the men and women would be leaving the next morning they were restricted from leaving base. Jade knew it would be her last opportunity to see him and so she went feeling like if she didn't go see him she would regret it for the rest of her life. Jade and Cole embraced each other all night. The two hugged and kissed and cuddled and made love and talked and cried and laughed. Neither of them wanted the night to ever end. They stayed up all night not wanting to miss a second. Jade and Cole didn't really want to loose each other. They still shared so much love despite all that had happened. So Jade promised to wait for him and he promised to return to her.
Since Jade found out the truth about April she had stopped caring so much about Cole's feelings. She had met a new friend at work named Dylan. The two of them had become great friends a little harmless flirting but never crossing the line. Cole and Dylan knew about each other and had met a time or two. Dylan had become Jade's dearest friend. Truth be told Jade and Dylan had the hots for each other pretty bad but Jade wasn't the cheatin type and Dylan wasn't the type to mess with a girl that was in a relationship. They drove each other crazy with their flirting and sexual innuendo's but for the most part never crossed the line.
Jade told Dylan about her proposal to Cole. Dylan thought she was crazy but emotionally really strong for being able to do something like that and he told her so. The night came of Cole's big date with whomever she was. Jade was feeling anxiety over it not knowing if they were having a good time or if they were hooking up. She hoped they were having an awful time. Dylan took Jade out that night to a spot over looking the ocean. The two sat in his truck and talked for hours she told him of her anxiety and all her fears. He told her the obvious that it was her fault and how she didn't have to let him do it. She knew he was right. She didn't know if she was trying to teach herself a lesson or if she was trying to teach Cole a lesson. Maybe it was just her way of testing the relationship. It was late and since she hadn't heard from Cole she figured he was definitely hooking up. The deal was he was supposed to call her as soon as the date was over. Dylan made his move. He kissed her under the moon light sitting in his truck over looking the Ocean. She didn't stop him either. The two began making out heavily and it didn't stop there. He slowly slid down her pants revealing her panties. He then pulled them down throwing them on his dash board. Jade lay back against the door. Dylan put his left arm under her right thigh then his right arm under her left thigh. He eased his head toward her inner thighs and began kissing her softly and slowly. He proceeded to lick her clitoris gently sucking and kissing. She moaned in ecstasy. Grabbing the back of the seat with her left hand and the back of his head with her right. Arching her back. She screamed with release. Oh how she wanted him to take her, she wanted to make love to him or rather just have a good ol' fashion romp session. But neither of them would take it that far because Jade was still very much in a relationship with Cole. Even if it was kind of a screwed up one.
Dylan dropped Jade of later that evening. The two kissed before she got out of the truck. She felt so ashamed. She wasn't a cheater she didn't do things like that but oh it felt so good. She walked into her apartment to find the light blinking on her answering machine. She listened intently wondering who it was. It was Cole!! He left her a message saying to call him back as soon as she could he sounded drunk. Her heart beat with anxiety and she wondered why he didn't just call her cell phone. She picked up the phone and called him. He told her how he didn't really go on the date because he just couldn't do it he said. How he sat in his barracks room all night getting drunk with his friends. She believed him based on how drunk he sounded on the phone. Oh shit!!! Shame slapped her in the face. She couldn't believe it he had a one time free opportunity to sleep with another woman and he didn't do it. What did that mean that he really wanted to be with her that he was ready or that he couldn't do it knowing that she knew. Damn it, this did not go at all like Jade planned. She wanted to tell him how she slipped up with Dylan but decided not to. In her mind he cheated on her so now they were even. Except they weren't really cause at least Jade knew and he never would.
