Honestly, ladies.  What better time of the year is there for New York girls than Fleet Week?  Hot, cute, polite sailors are in town for a solid week ready to charm with their “Yes, ma’am”s, make out with you and then head off into the sunset and leave you with only good memories before they ruin a perfectly sweet, brief relationship.

I, myself, had never experienced a Fleet Week such as this one.  I had never taken full advantage of all that this wonderful event had to offer until last Wednesday, when fortunately I was thrown full throttle into the joys of being a military girlfriend…if only for a few nights.  I was bartending at my sometimes job (I like the tips and the free booze) when my manager warned me that it would be a busy night.  Girls were drinking for free and Navy boys would surely be trickling in any moment now.

I was in no way prepared for what would occur next.  Suddenly, the bar was swarmed with dozens of adorable midwestern young guys with adorable accents in crisp white uniforms.  And they’d be gone in a week!  TRUE LOVE.  It was in my shelling out Long Island Ice Teas during the night that I met Jake, a super cute 19 year old from Ohio who was cute, shy and my new target for the night.  I couldn’t abandon my post behind the bar to flirt like a girl really should, but I think I made it clear (by ignoring all the other customers) that I was really into him. 

He asked for my number, so I wrote it on a napkin (how 1954!) and sent him on his way so he wouldn’t miss curfew.  The next morning, slightly hungover and still smelling like a bar room floor, I was actually shocked to see that Jake had texted me wishing me a lovely morning and asking if “I don’t mind me textin’ ya”.  No, I did not mind at all.  Throughout the day we exchanged flirty text messages and I found out that he was leaving the following day bright and early.  I had to beat the clock!  I couldn’t let the poor boy go back out on duty without showing him just how wonderful New York could be.  It was my patriotic duty.

I met up with Jake wearing espadrilles and a dress, trying my best to do an impression of a WW2 army wife.  Jake and I spent the night in one of the best bar crawls in history, drinking martinis (me), whiskey (him) and making out as if he was going off to war (both of us, because he actually was).  Finally, after a few hours of this, we realized that Jake’s curfew was creeping up on us.  I walked him way back to the west side, and watched him walk of into the darkness, just like a good military girlfriend is supposed to.  And I’ll be waiting for Jake the next time he drops in, ready to show him a good time.  I just can’t promise that I won’t have kissed a few sailors and negotiated a few peace treaties with other entities of my own in the mean time.