I sit at my desk, pen in my hand as it hovers over a blank piece of paper. I've been sitting like this for the last ten minutes, unsure of what to write. My letter to Zeke is already done, addressed and stamped, but he wanted me to write to one of his friends too. According to Zeke, his friend Four never gets any letters from his friends or family so he thought I'd be the perfect person to write to him. I decide to just jump right in.

Four,

My name is Beatrice Prior, and I've been writing to your friend Zeke for the past 3 months as part of a "write to the military" project. I've been living in base housing at Camp Lejeune for the past 3 years with my father General Andrew Prior. I've traveled all over the world with him, staying in places like Japan, Hawaii and California.

I currently attend the University of North Carolina in Wilmington where I'm a sophomore. I'm studying nursing to follow in my mother's footsteps. I don't remember too much about her, since she died when I was 5, but she actually met my father when he was injured during a training session and he was her patient.

So tell me a little about yourself, Zeke hasn't told me much about you except for your nickname, which I'm sure has a very interesting background story.

Stay safe,

Beatrice

I put my pen down, satisfied with my letter, and remember my first letter from Zeke. I had written a very similar letter to him and his response was telling me about him and his brother Uriah who had both enlisted, but his brother was still training on base at the moment. I ended up meeting Uriah in person a couple weeks later and he instantly fit in with my group of friends, he even starting dating my one friend Marlene.

I look at my clock and realize that I'm actually supposed to be meeting them in an hour. I grab the letters, intending to mail them on the way, as I get my stuff together to meet them at the beach. One of our favorite places to go is Topsail Island and luckily since it's September, the peak tourist season is over. I hop in my jeep and drive across the base towards the barracks to pick up Uriah.

"Hey, Tris," Uriah says as he hops in my jeep. "Is that another letter for my brother?"

"Yep. Him and a letter for one of the guys on his team. Some guy named 'Four'. Have you ever heard of him?"

"I think so, but Zeke didn't say much except that he's from Chicago."

"Well I guess we'll see if he actually writes me back. I feel weird writing to someone that didn't ask for a letter. Your brother had requested a pen pal which is how I got his name."

"Yeah well..." Uriah says with a smile. "I'm pretty sure he was just hoping for a girlfriend when he came back to the states."

I roll my eyes at him. This isn't the first time that Uriah has suggested I should date his brother. I think he just feels bad because I'm the single one in our group. My best friend Christina, and fellow nursing major, has been dating Will for about 6 months now. They had been paired up as lab partners in a genetics class. Will is majoring in Biology with hopes of working in a research lab one day, so a few of our classes overlap. Right now we're all trying to conquer organic chemistry together along with Marlene. She too is a biology major and Uriah jokes all the time that she is too smart for him. Finishing up our group is Shauna. Christina and I had met her during some of our nursing classes and she quickly fit in with our group. She's dating some guy named Eric, another Marine, but we don't see him much. None of us are huge fans of his, but we're polite to him.

Uriah and I stop by the post office so I can mail my letters then we head to the beach. We pull up next to our friends' cars and make the short walk. I see the girls sitting with their arms around Shauna while Will is down by the water. We walk by the girls and I see tears in her eyes.

"What's wrong Shauna?" I ask.

"Eric broke up with me. He said he put in to transfer to Camp Pendleton and he doesn't want any loose ends," she says with a sniffle.

Christina and I make eye contact and I immediately know we're thinking the same thing. We've been hoping they'd break up for a while, especially with the way he treated her. He never hurt her, he just wasn't very nice.

"I know you guys never liked him much, but were just too nice to say anything. To be honest, I'm not really that upset we're not together. I'm just hurt that he cast me aside so easily."

"I know, Shauna," I tell her as I hug her too. "We'll find you a guy worth your time though. There's a base full of hot marines," I say with a wink.

"Oh yes!" Christina adds. "I'd love to help you hunt for a hot marine!"

"I can hear you!" Will yells up from the water so Christina blows him a kiss.

"Uriah, you know any hot marines?" Marlene asks getting up to hug her boyfriend.

"As a matter of fact, I do! The Pedrad's are known for our hotness. My brother comes home in two months."

Shauna gives him a skeptical look, and we all laugh. At least he'll be off my back to date his brother.