Awkward Situations

[Junes]

"And then he asked the other man: 'what's worse, apathy or ignorance?' He just leaned back, sighed and said 'I don't know and I don't care.' Bwhahahaha!"

Layla, too, started laughing uproariously, just like all the tough men at the bar would do after duty, only that she was no man, but a woman who was living almost her entire life in a club of men. This club was the Armed Forces and it had hardened her during her time of active duty. Almost unconsciously, she had lost the important traits of womanly tenderness and compassion, because they could prove hindering in the execution of her daily appointments, so many recruiters used to drum into her. But she started to feel it now, that lack of earnest affection towards people, especially beloved ones. She had hardly contact with her parents anymore and in an uncomfortable way she was gradually growing tired and weary of the company of Johnny. His retirement didn't seem to do either of them any good on the long run. Having drowned such urges of lightness and vulnerability in the masses of coffee and beer, Layla had become numb and saggy, both on the inside and the outside. She was sick of bossing around and displaying forced dominance over her male peers, she really was. Oh how she'd want to be able to play the innocent victim again, like back in the day when she first met Johnny.

Returning her focus from her crowded mind into the rather dull reality of the late-night atmosphere of the underground bar a local had recommended her, she inadvertently caught sight of a man wearing a BAF uniform standing at the counter. Layla's tired eyes eventually identified the man as Fleet Admiral Mike Havering, a rather good friend of hers, as numerous admirals during her career had been.

"If you'll excuse me, mien Herr." Layla turned away from the young Police aspirant she had been talking to for the last 20 minutes and made her way towards Mike.