THE MARINES HAVE LANDED

All the girls were sitting outside at lunch under a tree on the grass. They were talking about what to do for spring break.

" I have an idea. But we would need to see if everyone can go or not." Jan said biting her lip.

"What? We are open to any suggestions. I personally don’t want to sit around waiting for the guys to call." Chloe said.

"Well, my stepbrother is a marine. He’s a fighter pilot. So, what I was thinking is that he is stationed in Pensacola, Fl. And we could go to Pensacola for spring break. The beaches are beautiful. The water is this awesome blue. You can see all the way to the bottom. Oh, and did I mention that there would be marines?" Jan said with at devilish grin.

"Oh yummy. There is nothing like a man in uniform." Belle said dreamily.

"Oh yeah. I’m there already. Lying on the beach or playing volleyball. With a big hunky marine next to me…a girl could get used to that. Plus its warm. It is still chilly here. Which reminds me why are we sitting out here?" Mimi said.

"Well, unless we want the guys looking for us…." Jan said pointing at the guys who wouldn’t step outside.

It was 60 degrees outside. And there was a breeze that made it cooler than it actually was. The girls were smart though. They were sitting in the sun.

"Man! What are they talking about? I want to know what everyone is doing for spring break." Jason said peering at the girls from the doorway of the cafeteria.

"Why don’t you go find out man?" Brady said trying to shove Jason out the door.

But Jason was too quick he turned around and started wrestling with him.

"Let’s just sit down." Shawn didn’t want a crowd.

"What are we doing for spring break men?" Philip asked them as they all sat down at a table nearby.

"Let’s wait and see what the ladies have come up with. Ok ?"

"Well, well, well, here they come now." Jason said rubbing his hands together.

"Afternoon ladies. Ya’ll like to sit down here with us?" Brady said in a thick southern drawl.

"Why of course." Mimi said batting her eyes at Brady and sitting in the seat in front of him.

" So, what were ya’ll talking about out there ?" Shawn asked. Looking directly into Belle’s eyes.

"We were discussing spring break plans. Like to my stepbrothers in Pensacola, Fl." Jan said with a smile.

"Are we invited? Or is this a chic thing?" Brady asked.

"Oh no. Your invited. We need all your guys’ muscles to carry our luggage." Belle said looking back into Shawn’s eyes.

"Great! Bellmen!" scoffed Shawn.

"So Florida it is?" Jan asked.

"Florida it is!" They all said at the same time.

"Great! I am going to call my brother right now. He is going to flip." Jan said dialing on her cellphone.

"Yes. I need to speak with Spoon please." Jan told the person on the other end of the line.

"Spoon? What kind of name is that?" Jason asked.

"He’s a marine you dork!" Chloe said slapping Jason in the back of the head.

"Spoon I said. Captain Henry. Captain Tucker Henry. Yes! Now you got it? What?

Burner quit messing with me! Let me talk to my brother! These marines I tell you." Jan said looking at the girls.

"Hey Tuck, what’s up?" Jan asked her older brother.

"Well, nothing much. Burner still trying to get a woman that is about it. What is up with you? Did you need something? Is my mom ok?" Spoon asked instantly wondering if the phone call was bad.

"Oh no! Your mom is fine. I was just calling to say hi and that I was coming for spring break next week. Oh and I am bringing some friends, so could you please rent us a condo and I’ll give you the credit card number?" Jan asked.

"Cool! Your coming! Hey Burner! Jan is coming and she is bringing friends!" Spoon told this to Burner and Burner started yelling in the background.

"Ok. How many friends are you bringing and what are their sexes? And do they like sex?" Burner asked on the other line.

Jan was laughing hard at this.

"There are 8 of us in total. 4 girls, 4 boys. And no none of us are hooked up! So, I want to meet some guys!" Jan growled into the phone.

"Well, Jan you know…." Burner began.

"SHUT IT BURNER THIS IS MY BABY SISTER WE ARE TALKING ABOUT!"

"She didn’t look like a baby in that last photo ya’ll took." Burner said. He knew he was getting at Spoon. Which he lived to do.

"Don’t you have to be at the base in like 30 minutes. You are flying today man!"

" Oh damn! Bye Jan! I’ll see ya when you get here!" Burner said blowing a kiss into the phone.

"You guys crack me up! Can you get the condo Spoon?"

"Of course. Just leave everything up to me. I have the day off and I’ll go looking around. I’ll call later tonight for the credit card number. Just hurry up and get here."

"Alright! Well, I am going to go and I’ll talk to you tonight. I love you Tucker."

"I love you too Janice!"

They always hung up calling each other by their birth names. It was a little thing they had.

"So? What’d he say?" Jason and Brady asked.

"He said he is going to look for a condo today! We are in baby!"

Everyone cheered as they dreamed of what their spring break would be like. Jan showed them pictures of Spoon , Burner, Capone , and Ice. And all the girls dreamily thought of the marines they would meet. While the guys were thinking of these girls in their bikinis.

Different ideas lead to different things. This was going to be a vacation none of them would forget!

Chapter 2

They are all on the Black’s Jet and are almost to Pensacola.

"This was really nice of you dad to let us use the jet to come all the way to Pensacola. I don’t know how you swung it but it is great!" Jan told Belle.

" Oh it was nothing really. When I told him how much he would have to spend to send us by plane commercial he said this was cheaper." Belle told her.

"Still it must be nice." Jan told her enviously. Her family is rich. But not that wealthy to have their own jet at their beck and call.

"I guess. So, your brother is meeting us at the airport right? Is he going to have room for us all in his car or is he renting something?"

"No. We are getting a suburban to rent for the two weeks we are here. We get to pick it up at the airport. We will follow Spoon to our condo. I can’t wait to see him. I haven’t seen him since Christmas." Jan said sadly.

"So, what are his friends like? Are they all guys? Tell me all about them!" Belle wanted to know everything about these guys. It was going to be so much fun to be around these marines, who were a few good men, that were way different then Shawn and the rest of the guys.

"Yeah, I want to know about them too." Chloe and Mimi said at the same time.

The guys just rolled their eyes and pretended to be asleep. They were listening to every word that was said by the girls so they would know what to expect. After all these were ‘their’ girls. Not for the marines picking.

‘I’ll be damned if any of them are going to get Belle,’ thought Shawn.

"Well, Burner lives with Spoon. Burner is sexy in a rugged kinda way. He is very loyal to his friends and if you need him for anything he will help you. He has got a great body. Muscles ladies! Let me tell you. Blondish brown hair and nice sky blue eyes. Oh and he flies hornets with my brother."

"Wow! Sounds like a movie star." Mimi told them dreamily.

"Then there is Capone. He is Italian. Kinda has a connection to organized crime. His family, not him. He is a pilot. He flies Cobras. It’s a helicopter. This guy is just gorgeous. He looks like a movie star. Wait till you get a load of him."

"Wow! Sounds like my type." Chloe breathed.

"Then there is Ice. She flies hornets with my brother too. I think they kinda had a thing. But they won’t admit it. Kinda like Belle and Shawn." Jan said waiting for a reaction.

"Me and Shawn! Are you crazy?" Belle said throwing her pillow at Jan.

"She is awesome. Wait till you meet her. There are some others but I don’t know all of them as well as I know the ones I told you about."

"A female fighter pilot huh? That is pretty cool." Belle told her thinking thoughtfully.

‘Oooo! Big wow! A female fighter pilot. I bet I could probably break her down in an hour.’ Brady thought.

"Yeah she is tough. She doesn’t put up with what anyone says. She refuses to date pilots. Except I still think her and my brother had a thing. But other than that no other pilot can get close enough to date her. Hence the call sign Ice Queen. Which they shorten to Ice."

"Wow! My kinda lady. I’m definitely going to have to take a few pointers from her." Mimi said.

‘Whatever will give that girl more self confidence,’ thought Jason. ‘She doesn’t even realize how beautiful she is.’

"ATTENTION ALL PASSENGERS OF THE BLACKS JET. PLEASE FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS WE ARE ON OUR FINAL APPROACH. AND I HOPE YOU ALL HAD A GOOD FLIGHT. AND THANKS FOR THE VACATION BECAUSE I GET TO STAY HERE TOO UNTIL YOU LEAVE." The pilot said to them laughing.

All the rest of them laughed too.

MEANWHILE AT THE AIRPORT

"Spoon you are going to embarrass her. She’ll get right back on that plane and leave." Ice told Spoon for what he was planning.

"Don’t you worry Ice. She’ll flip but she’ll love it." Spoon had a smile the size of Texas on his face. He couldn’t wait to see Jan. He hadn’t seen her since Christmas.

"Ok guys they are coming get ready!" Spoon called out to everyone.

"This is gonna be great! But we gotta hurry if you want me to make the linguini tonight Spoon." Capone said.

"Man forget about your pasta for one second ok? Everything will be fine."

"Ready? 1,2,…..3…." Spoon started.

"Aten Hut!" Ice sounded out loud.

The gang from Salem just stopped in their tracks when they heard the command.

"Bear Arms!" Ice continued.

All the Marine men put roses in front of them. They each had four roses. All different colors. Spoon had the red ones. He didn’t want any of his buddies giving his sister red roses. No way! Burner had pink ones to give to them. He felt he was special enough to give the color closest to pink. Since there was one time him and Jan kissed. Spoon didn’t know of course. And Capone had white roses. He wanted to give the girls something that was pure. And what other color is pure but white. And by the looks at the short brunette, she was as pure as they come. He was instantly smitten with her.

"At ease men. Give the ladies their roses." Ice instructed.

The girls were turning red. They had developed quite a crowd around them.

"Alright there ain’t nothing to see around here people be on your way." Ice told the crowd that had formed.

The women had tears in their eyes, while the men looked on in awe. They all dispersed and went on their ways to their separate destinations.

Meanwhile, the guys started handing out the roses. They all started with Jan since she was the first one. Jan was getting overwhelmed with all the hugs and kisses. She quickly sat down . Spoon hugged his sister and kissed her on the top of the head. But he quickly moved on to the gorgeous blonde. He handed her the rose and she blushed shyly. "Thank you. I’m Belle."

"I’m Spoon. I’ll be right back." He said with a wink.

The guys continued handing out the roses. Each had an interest in one of the girls.

Capone stood with Mimi the longest. He was just mesmerized by her.

"Hi. I am Edward Terrelli. But you can call me Capone." He said handing her a rose and kissing her hand.

"I am Miriam Lockhart. But you can call me Mimi."

Burner looked at Jan and couldn’t believe how pretty she had gotten since the last time he had seen her. But the tall brunette caught his eye also. She had amazing blue eyes. When she looked at you, you could see all the sadness and the pain as well as all the joy and the love. She had eyes just like Burner. Both had been through some stuff in their lives. They looked at each other and just knew.

"I’m Butch Barnes. But they call me Burner."

"I’m Chloe Lane Wesley."

The guys were standing off to the side getting all bent out of shape. Who were these marines taking over their ladies like that? Ice saw the tension on their faces and went over to talk to them. "Hi! I am Alexandra Jensen. You can either call me Alex or Ice."

"I’m Brady Black. This is my cousin Shawn and my uncle Philip. And This is Jason. Oh and by the way Belle is my little sister."

"Well, you are just related to everybody just about huh? What do you say we go and get the suburban? That way ya’ll can follow us to the condo Spoon rented for ya’ll." Ice suggested. She knew they had to be tired.

"That sounds great! I need to get some fresh air anyways." Jason said moodily watching Capone with Mimi.

"Hey loverboys. Let’s get out of here." Ice told her roommates.

"Oh yeah! Ok! Lets go. Uh we’ll go to our car and wait for ya’ll to get out of the car rental place." Spoon said letting go of Belle’s hand.

"Bye."

"Bye." Everyone said to each other.

As soon as they marines had left all the girls squealed with delight.

"OMG! Did you see Capone? He couldn’t stop staring at me? How come no other guy looked at me like that?" Mimi said walking with everyone else to grab their luggage on the way to the car rental place.

"I did but you never seemed to notice." Jason said quietly. But just loud enough for the guys to hear. They were all feeling his pain.

"Jan your brother is so cute! He just was so sweet and nice. And the way he looked at me." Belle sighed.

"What is it with these marines?" Shawn said bitterly.

"Sorry boys. The marines have landed. And you know what that means?" Philip told them.

"This means war!" Brady cried out.

Chapter 3

They were all sitting around a big table eating the dinner that Capone had made. The guys were unusually quiet but he girls hadn’t noticed. They were too busy fawning over the marines. Shawn was getting quite annoyed. After all this was their condo for the next 2 weeks. Not the jar heads. They had a home on the beach. But unfortunately it was just next door to the condo. So, the girls were even more accessible to them.

All Shawn was looking forward to was being alone with Belle and telling her how he felt when the sun set. Looking into her eyes and kissing her at exactly the right moment. Now he was going to have to do a sneak attack on Belle to get her away from Jan’s brother. Spoon was definitely becoming a pain in his ass. Just then Belle and Chloe started laughing at something that Spoon and Burner were telling them. And it wasn’t any kind of laugh. It was a flirty laugh. Shawn looked over at Philip and rolled his eyes.

Ice noticed the exchange between the gentleman, she wanted to get their attention off of the girls. So, she struck up a conversation with them. Now, this didn’t go unnoticed by Belle and Chloe. They noticed how animated the guys were at talking to her. Belle raised her eyebrows at Chloe as if to ask ‘ what is up with them?’

Ice gently leaned over and laid her hand on Shawn’s shoulder. This did not go unnoticed by Belle. She shot daggers at both Shawn and Ice. ‘What in the world was Shawn up to?’ thought Belle. She knew she had no claim on him. She couldn’t get jealous over Ice. She was just being friendly. After all , she was a Marine fighter pilot and she had the pick of any of the guys she could want. Belle decided to focus back on Spoon and forget about these feelings she just felt.

"Well, did you all like the meal? I had been planning on it since the day that Spoon here told us that you were coming to visit. I wanted to do something special to welcome you to Pensacola." Capone told the group.

"It was magnifique! Thank you Capone." Mimi gratefully thanked him.

Capone was delighted to have gotten the attention of the young maiden. He was taking a strong liking to her.

"Well, you are quite welcome. Is everyone done or would you like some more? Guys?"

"Oh no. I never thought I could ever say it but I am actually full for a change." Brady said with a slight laugh.

"Get the camera! This is a day to document! My brother actually admitted that he had had enough to eat!" Belle joked.

Everyone laughed. The guys cleared the table quickly. It was all on styrofoam plates and it was quick and easy clean up. The rest of it would go back to the marines place. They all wanted to go out since it was still early enough the marines had nowhere special to be the next day so they decided to stop by the bucket. When they got there they had to be introduced to Kate.

"Ladies and gentleman I would like to introduce you to the most beautiful lady in Pensacola, Kate. Kate, you remember my sister Jan right? And these are her friends that she brought all the way from NYU. Belle, Mimi, and Chloe." Spoon didn’t mean to leave out the guys. It just happened that way.

"Great and what are we chopped liver?" Jason growled.

Kate knew she needed to keep the peace here. And she needed to do it quick. "Why yes I do remember you Jan. How are you? Ladies…it is nice to meet you. And just pray tell who are these handsome young men over here?"

"Well, as Spoon so mistakenly forgot to mention. I am Brady, this is Jason and Philip and Shawn."

"Well, it is nice to meet you all. The first round is on the house. And I that we can all keep the testosterone in check. Ok guys?"

"Yes ma’am. Kate is the woman. Don’t cross her gentleman and she will fight on your side for life." Burner told them. They didn’t seem like bad guys to him.

"That’s right Burner. Now show these people some tables while I bring the drinks baby." And Kate said this and planted a kiss on Burners’ mouth. She was always doing something like kissing one of these marines.

"Girlfriend?" Brady asked.

"Kate? No! She is always like that. She has every guy here like that. Her husband was a stunt pilot and he died during one of the air shows. So, she adopts all of us and plays shrink from time to time. It helps her. She loves the Marine Corps. And she feels its her duty to help us all out. In any way she can." Burner told the Salem guys.

"Wow! Tough woman and beautiful too." Philip said.

"Yeah, but she don’t get involved with any of us. The most she does is just kiss us. She kinda has a thing for our C.O. So no one bothers with that." Ice informed them.

"Did I hear my name in vain Ice?" Col. ‘Raider’ Kelley asked her.

"Skipper! Uh…No! No! We were just telling them about Kate and your name came up. That is all, Sir." Ice said hoping he didn’t hear what she said in case he didn’t know what Kates’ feelings were for him.

"That is all right Ice. Just messing with you. So, just who are your friends here?" Raider asked with a kind smile on his face.

"This is Spoon’s sister Jan and her friends. They came down here for spring break Skipper, so we thought we would introduce them to The Bucket.

"Well, I’ll tell you one thing you won’t find a better place in Pensacola. And Kate will take care of you alright. Just don’t let these guys tell you anything bad about me. " Raider joked.

Everyone laughed. Kate came with beers for everyone. And her eyes lit up at the sight of Raider. Everyone looked at one another with knowing looks.

"Bill! When did you get here?" Kate asked.

"Oh…Just a few minutes ago. Just decided to give my marines a hard time."

"Well, come up to the bar we can catch up. So, now guys you are on your own." Kate told the group.

Everyone laughed and begin little conversations in the group. The Salem guys noticed a group of girls that had walked in. There was one girl in particular that caught Brady’s eye. She was beautiful and looked like the girl from the Doritos’ commercial. She looked at Spoon with such sadness and eyed Ice for a moment before settling on Brady’s stare. She returned the stare with a smile. ‘This night could be good after all’ she thought to herself.

"Terri! What are you doing here?" Spoon asked quickly.

"Oh , well I live here now. Didn’t you know that? So, who are your friends?" Terri asked.

"Well, this is my sister Jan and her friends. They came here for spring break." Spoon quickly explained while giving Ice apologetic stares.

"Hi. Nice to meet you all. I am Terri. And you are?" She asked looking directly at Brady.

"Brady Black. Would you like a drink?"

"Sure."

Brady immediately got up and walked with Terri to the bar to continue their conversation.

"Whew! That was a close one." Spoon told Ice.

"Yeah… whatever you say." Ice responded back.

Philip and Jason immediately found some other women around the bar to entertain them. If the girls could be with the marines all evening then they could find themselves someone to talk with.

Shawn was the only one left. And he had taken a liking to Ice. Who in turn took a liking to him. She decided to teach him the wonderful game of Crud. In which the two looked like they were made for one another.

Belle saw this and her heart sank a little. Chloe and Mimi saw the other two guys with girls. And they didn’t like it at all. While Jan was eyeing the busty Terri who had Brady all wrapped up in a conversation.

"Hey girls lets get to the bathroom. And no jokes about girls going to the bathroom together please!" Jan instructed the marines.

"What’d we do?" Burner asked Spoon and Capone.

"Who knows? Women!" Capone said into his beer.

MEANWHILE IN THE BATHROOM

"Ok now why are we in here together? Its not like we are in high school anymore!" Mimi complained.

"The guys are hooking up with other chicks." Belle pouted.

"What if we lose our chance with them forever over this spring break?" Chloe asked.

" I don’t know girls. But if Brady keeps eyeing that girl any longer I’m going to pull the silicone out of her breasts and beat her with them!" Jan told the other three girls.

Everyone burst out laughing at Jan’s outburst. But deep down they all knew this was serious. They couldn’t lose their guys. They had to find a way to get them jealous to want them back. And that they would do. They began forming their plan and they would put it into affect tonight!

"And tonight it is!" They said at once.

To be continued…