The night following the next day, Lavi was sitting at the table in the corner, reading a letter from his father and sipping at the beer in his hand. Just like all the other nights in the Officers Club, several of the personnel who were off duty were dancing with their dates to soft jazz music coming from the jukebox. The door opened and revealed Lenalee in a sweatshirt that was mailed to her from her parents. Behind her, came Allen in his Class-A uniform, complete with slacks and a tie. He was overdressed compared to everyone else, but he felt that appearance was very important on a first date.

Once they both stepped inside, they were greeted by whoops and wolf whistles. Lavi looked up at the scene and laid his eyes upon the two. Curious as to what’s going to happen, he set the letter down on the table. Lenalee asked the young man, “So, Allen, you want to dance?”

Allen was blushing already, but when she said that, he turned even redder. “Uh, no, I don’t think I’d better. You know, my bad knee.”

“Allen, I’m a nurse. If anything happens, I can take care of you.”

“Well, yeah. I guess in that case, I can take a chance.”

Lenalee held her arms out, eagerly waiting for him. Then Allen took her hand and waist.

“Ready?” she asked.

“Uh, yeah, for anything.” Then they started dancing.

Lenalee glanced at the other couples and asked, “Why is everyone watching us?”

“Oh, are they? Well, I guess it’s, uh, because I come in here with a lot of girls and they always like to see who I’m with.”

Uh-oh, thought Lavi.

Luckily, Lenalee just smiled and said, “Allen, not again.”

The silver-haired young man quickly looked at Lavi. The redhead was smiling. Allen focused his attention back on her, looked her right in the eyes, and said, “Or maybe it’s just because I’m here with the prettiest girl in camp.”

Lavi lifted his beer bottle to Allen. Nice save, kid.

He returned to his letter and his beer while nodding his head to the soft beat of the jazz music. Allen and Lenalee danced the rest of the night away.