I stood in line with the rest of the recruits as Axel and the many privates paired off the troops in accordance to size and/or ability.

I was getting impatient and couldn't refrain from dishing out the odd sigh here and there. Two by two people around me disappeared until I was left standing alone.

"Ahh, Williams." Axel said, looking over his charts God only knows why since it was plain to see I was the only one left unpartnered. "We seem to be oddly numbered. That is a conundrum."

"I could partner with her Lieutenant Sir." One of the privates offered. Axel glanced at him.

"No need Private. I suppose this will be a good chance for me to flourish her skills. She needs a lot of work."

I pursed my lips.

Don't answer back.

Don't answer back.

Don't answer back.

I didn't miss the amused twitch on Axels lips.

"Left, right left, left, right left!" Axel called out, indicating for me to March. I stepped in line beside him marching straight towards the lake. Once we were out of sight of the privates I stopped marching and just walked by his side. "Did I tell you to stop marching solider?" He asked in his normal voice.

"No but apparently I need a lot of work." I replied sarcastically.

He spluttered a laugh out loud. "Get in the raft dummy." He pointed towards a small, orange two-man boat that floated on the river. I didn't have much confidence in it but I stepped in and cautiously positioned myself on one of the seats. He climbed in opposite me.

"I can't believe I got stuck with you. I bet everyone else is just sunbathing on the bank. You're actually making me get into this death trap and float up the river."

"You will be rewarded by improved fitness and harnessed skill." He said with a shy smile, that sweet blush peppering up his neck until it reached the tips of his ears.

"I would rather be rewarded with a golden tan." He picked up the ore and handed me one, rowing up the river. It took me a few tries to get the hang of it and my arm ached but thanks to his strength we actually moved at a decent speed.

"Uh, Axel?" He looked over to me, looking relaxed and carefree. His dark blonde hair blowing in the wind and his eyes almost seeming golden in the sun.

"Shouldn't the water be outside the boat?" I splashed in the growing puddle that surrounded my feet. His eyes looked down at the floor and suddenly he wasn't so carefree anymore.

"Shit." He muttered under his breath, looking around for the source of the puncture.

I could physically feel the raft sinking into the water as more and more water gathered inside. Then the thrust of the water overpowered the boat tipping us into the lake completely. I rose to the surface and coughed out the water that invaded my lungs.

"You okay?" Axel asked, looking as serious as ever. I nodded, clinging onto a rock so I didn't get washed upstream. "We're going to have to swim with the current, there's a cave up ahead. Someone will come looking for us eventually."

Sunbathing on the riverbank was looking really good right about now.

It didn't take us long to reach the cave and the swim wasn't too exhausting because we were working with the current and not against it.

I pulled myself up on the rocky bank and started stripping off my cold, wet clothes, laying them out in the sun to dry. He stood awkwardly, not knowing where to put his eyes.

"There's room for yours." I pointed out.

"I can't take my clothes off in front of you." I rolled my eyes at his coyness.

"Axel we've literally showered together." He took off his boots and his T-shirt, laying them out in the sun.

"Not by choice and besides I'm on duty." He sat down on the floor leaning against a large rock and tried to squeeze the water out of his army slacks.

"What's that from?" He traced his thumb over a scar just above my ankle. I pulled my foot away.

"Can you not look at my body? It makes me self conscious." His eyebrows raised to the roof and a smile grew on his face.

"You feel self conscious about your body?" He asked, baffled.

"Is that so hard to believe?" I arched one brow, challenging him to reply with caution.

"Uhm, yes. You literally take off your clothes any chance you get. I've seen you naked more times than I've seen myself naked." I started laughing at his over exaggeration.

"I do not!" I defended. "I didn't know you stole my shower when I stepped in naked. And the other day I was drunk, I would never have done that if I wasn't drunk."

"And now?" He motioned his fingers over my body.

"Now, I'm wet. I kept my underwear on!" I protested, tugging at the waistband of my underwear. "How long do you think it will be before someone finds us?" He glanced at the cave entrance.

"Could be a while, bootcamp doesn't end till five." I sighed, pulling the hair tie out of my hair and freeing the wet strands.

"Can't you just get on your walkie talkie thing?" I gestured down to his pants where he usually kept it, I didn't know if it would work after being submerged in water but it was worth a try. Except there was nothing in the slot, confusion dressed my face.

"I left it on the bank." He explained causally.

"You left it on the bank?" I questioned slowly, my lips curling at the edges.

"Well, I... uh... set it down and forgot to pick it back up before getting into the raft." I bit into my lower lip to stop an enormous smile spreading across my face. This was intentional.

I stood up and walked over to him, positioning myself straddled on his lap. His eyes roamed my face, stopping for longer than normal on my lips.

"What are you—" he began to say but I lowered my lips down on his, feeling the soft warmth of his two beautiful pink pillows. He sat incredibly still, not puckering up or making efforts to kiss me back.

I pulled back to at look at him. "I don't understand." I confessed. "You orchestrated all of this, me not having a partner, the boat sinking on the one day and time the current would bring us to this cave, you purposely forgot your walkie talkie so you couldn't call for help. You wanted us alone, why if not to fuck?"

"Harper—" I climbed off his body and moved myself across the cave. "I can't." He muttered pathetically.

"Then why?" He stood up, his trousers dripping water all over the floor.

"I don't know why." He admitted and I sighed, sitting myself down on a near by rock.

"I just... like you." He admitted quietly, seeming confused within his own mind.

"I like talking to you, being around you. It was a lapse of good judgment. It won't happen again." He clarified, as if explaining it and reassuring himself, not me.

And then a thought plagued me, Axel was lonely.

"You don't have any other friends?" I questioned quietly.

He shook his head.

"You don't talk to any of the other ranking officers?"

He shook his head again, rubbing his index finger along his stubble.

"You can't be their friend and their boss at the same time." He pointed out. "But then I can't be your Lieutenant and your friend at the same time either, so I made a mistake with all of this. I'm sorry."

"You didn't need to create all of this just to spend time with me. You could have just asked me." He gave me a nervous smile.

"I'm not allowed to spend time with you Harper, don't you understand that? I'm to give you orders and deal with your punishments. I'm to train you to become a soldier. I'm not allowed distractions, I'm not allowed to express human emotions. I took an oath. The way the commander sees it I'm up here" he held his hand out above his head "and you're down there." He lowered his hand to just below his knees. "You're a criminal, you held a store up at gunpoint. You've continuously broke the rules since your arrival, why would I even want to be friends with someone like that?"

"Nobody is asking you to be." I spat out, folding my arms across my chest in defiance.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean—" he said regretfully, pacing over to me. "Maybe I did." He added. "No." He argued with himself. "What I mean is... I don't know why I would want to be friends with someone like that. But I do, so badly I do."

"That's not much better." I said coldly, he cast his eyes downwards. "But it's a start." I added.