Her Soldier

Chapter 8

Don't panic, Dudu, don't panic.

 I kept chanting to myself in my head over and over as I stood with the laptop in the most perfectly lit room in the house. I rushed to look at myself in the reflection of the mirror, to make sure that I looked decent. I've never felt so insecure in my life.

Suddenly I noticed small details about myself that I didn't like. Like how wide my eyes are, like what's the deal with that? Why are they so wide? I noticed the four pimples on my forehead that just magically appeared this morning and I noticed the way my right eye was smaller than my left.

Everything felt like it was going wrong as I tried to breathe through my nose and out of my mouth. Zack has asked to Skype and I didn't want to say no, so I just agreed to it because I really wanted to see his face. But now that I'm about to call him, I'm terrified.

He's probably going to see my face and stop sending me letters because I'm so ugly. I groaned, closing my eyes tightly for a few moments to compose myself, "you can do this," I told myself over and over, "it's just a video call with some strange man. Don't worry, he's probably really ugly and won't judge you."

I comforted myself with those words as I approached my laptop again; making sure that the angle was at a point where it would flatter me most. It was paralyzing just looking at the screen loading as I waited to see his face appear on it.

I couldn't help but wonder about what he looked like. I didn't have a romanticized view of him, I kind of expected him to have scars all over his face and maybe an eye patch. It would be pretty cool if he had an eye patch, or if he had one giant scar across his face.

I imagine Zack Ryder to be a stern and hardened man. That's why I pictured him with scars because to me, that matched the description of a damaged man. I know that sounds rich coming from me, but it's true.

I sucked in a breath and my heart stilled as there was some activity on the screen. I wanted to say something, but what? I couldn't trust my voice at this point. I could hear static before I heard someone's voice in the background and the dark screen made way for someone.

I was not expecting to be met with the face that I was met with on the other side. It seemed today was the day that the screen was clear and spotless, and the connection was amazing as I saw a very handsome male on the other end of the video call.

"Hey," I squeaked out as I shyly ticked my hair behind my ear and waved at the camera, I didn't want to look at him because he was too handsome to be speaking to me.

I could see him as clear as day. He had captivating green eyes that I could see all the way from here and his face was covered by a manly beard. He had a semi-long heart facial shape that was pronounced. His lips were slightly plump and pink and he looked like a movie star. 

"Hi," he responded after a few moments, waving back at me as he chuckled and I wanted to bury myself into a hole and die because he was so good looking. 

"Um, I'm Dudu," I regrettably told him, "wait, you already know that," I wanted to slap myself upside the head, "sorry, I'm just really nervous," I told him when he started to laugh. 

"It's alright, I'm Zack Ryder." 

I smiled, my cheeks hurting from the wide smile, "it's lovely to finally meet you," I told him honestly, as I tried to tame the excited curls that seemed to want to be all over the place. 

"Likewise," he told me, and I could feel his eyes scanning my entire face as we looked at each other. 

I let out a nervous laugh, tucking my hair behind my ear, "so, uhm, how's the base?" I asked him, pushing aside my nerves. 

Get a grip of yourself, Dudu. This is a grown man.

"Well," he began turning to look behind him and then back at me, "it’s like it always is every day. You're very beautiful by the way, Dudu," he told me as he smiled at me and I felt butterflies in my stomach and I couldn't help the instinctive action to immediately bury my face in my hands, trying to stop blushing. 

"Thank you," I said, struggling to calm my laugh that always came out whenever someone told me something nice and I got all shy, "you're not too bad yourself," I told him and he chuckled at that. 

"So, how are preparations for your matric dance coming along?" he asked me and I couldn't help the excitement that came through. 

I was smiling so hard, that even though my cheeks hurt, I couldn't stop, "they're coming along really well," I told him honestly, and happily, "you should see my dress, it's beautiful," I thought about the beautiful gown that my mother had spared no expense with. 

"I'm sure it is," he agreed as though he trusted my style in clothing even though he didn't know me like that. 

"What about you?" I asked him, "Aren’t you supposed to be going home in two weeks?" I asked as though I didn't know the answer to that. By answer I mean, I did know that he was supposed to be going home in two weeks, he'd told me in one of his letters. "What are you going to do when you go home?" I asked him, wanting to keep the conversation flowing because we had half an hour and I was enjoying seeing his face. 

He nodded his head, "I am supposed to be going home, you're correct about that," he agreed, "but I'm not. I'm just going to stay here at the base, I always do." 

"What? But don't you need some time away?" I asked him softly, approaching the camera directly now because I felt comfortable. He was making it feel so casual and relaxed. I felt silly for having been nervous and shy. I could slap myself for how I've acted. 

"And go where?" he asked me before he chuckled, humourlessly, "it's alright, I can stay here at the base and carry on working." 

I shook my head, my wide smile turning into a frown, "but you need to relax. You deserve a break." 

He shook his head, disagreeing with me, "there's nothing there for me. My whole life is here. Really, it's-" 

I gasped, struck by a genius idea, "oh, my God!" 

"What?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows, probably wondering what had me gasping and my eyes wide open and my jaw dropped. 

"I just got an idea!" I whispered in an excited voice as my frown turned into a huge grin. 

"What?" he asked me, running his hand through his hair and I had to quickly bring myself back down to earth away from the sexy yet minute action. 

"You should come here," I told him like the answer was so obvious before I clapped my hands, finding myself to be a genius, "you should come visit me," I continued. 

"Uh, I don't know about that-" he disagreed. 

I shook my head not wanting to hear a single thing he had to say for himself, "Really, Zack, you should come here. It's not any kind of inconvenience to both my mother and I. We have a spare bedroom in the home, but if my mother disagrees then we can get you a hotel room and I can show you around Johannesburg and Pretoria whenever I have spare time. "

"I don't know, Dudu," you would think because of his thick American accent he'd be the one to mispronounce my name but that's not true because he pronounced it perfectly and I loved it, "I really don't want to be a burden of any sort," I shook my head with his every word, "I really don't think it's such a good idea."

"Please, Zack. Really, it won't be a problem at all. You've helped me so much this is the least that I can do," I pleaded with him, "you could be here in time for my matric dance and you can see my dress, ok if that doesn't appeal to you I'll just show you the life around here and I promise you'll love it," I know I was making a decision without having asked my mother first and I would no doubt get into a lot of trouble for this. 

He didn't seem too convinced about it, "are you sure, Dudu?"

I nodded my head, smiling widely at him, "yes, Zack I'm so sure. I've never been so sure about something in my life." 

"Maybe you should talk to your moth-" 

"She won't mind it," I lied I wasn't too sure but I knew damn well she was going to lose her mind. Or maybe she'll surprise me and be all for the idea. I did tell her that he was an orphan who's always had it rough. She liked him enough, but it's different when I bring the man here. My mother probably won't feel comfortable with him being here so there's a big chance we'll have to book him a hotel room at a nearby hotel but it's fine because we're surrounded by five star hotels and he'll be ok.

"I'm so excited. This is going to be so much fun, Zack," I sighed coming down from my happy high and my wide smile becoming smaller to just a mere stretch of my lips, "I promise I'll give you the best time ever in this country," I promised him with conviction, "you're going to have so much fun..."

He tilted his head, watching me with a small smirk before he nodded his head, "ok, I'll come, but for a short while only."

"Yay," I breathed out, feeling like I had achieved something great, "you won't regret it. So, you'll be here?" I asked him, wanting him to say yes and promise me because I didn't want to get all excited about something and have him cancel at the last minute.

"Yes."

"You promise?" I gave him the most pointed stare I could and he chuckled, nodding.

"Yes, I promise I'll be making my way to South Africa in two weeks," he turned again to look behind him and I heard several voices speaking in the background before he turned to look at me, "ok, Dudu, I have to go," he told me with a smile and I waved goodbye at him, feeling both elated and deflated. 

Elated because Zack was coming to visit me in two weeks and even though my mum doesn't know yet I know she'll eventually come around. Deflated because the call was ending and it had been fun for me. It was exhilarating for introvert me who didn't even answer voice calls from my best friend. 

"Stay safe," I told him sternly and he nodded, "bye..." I whispered as the line suddenly ended and I was left looking at the black screen. I couldn't even be sad because Zack is coming. 

Zack is coming. 

I closed the laptop and stepped out of one of the spare bedrooms and looked around the empty house before I settled down on the sofa in the TV room and switched on the TV. I was trying to calm myself down and get my thoughts together about how exactly I was going to bring this up to my mother without having her snapping my neck in half. 

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