Rooster Top Gun A Love Story

O L D E N E M I E S

"She's not here," Ava greeted the stranger in sunglasses. She was counting and placing the money in the register.
Amelia turned to see who she was speaking to. Her heart raced but not for happy reasons.
"Ava, Amelia," he smiled, taking his sunglasses off and taking a few awkward steps forward.
"Maverick," Ava said.
"Wow, you girls have grown a lot," Maverick told them.
"Yeah, time flies when people aren't in your lives," Amelia pointed out.
Ava laughed softly. "Amelia, can you go look for your mom?"
Amelia dropped her pen and nodded. She stepped away from the counter and left.
"What brings you back?" Ava wondered.
"Oh, you know, the wings," Maverick was never as awkward as he was now. He was used to being alone.
Ava smiled. "It's good to see you, Maverick," she stared at him for a moment. When nothing was said between them. Ava decided to voice her thoughts. "If you hurt her again, I'll break your nose," her tone of voice changed.
Maverick nodded softly. That was a response that caught him of gaurd but quickly he comprehened.
"Take a seat, I have to get back to work." Ava placed her phone next to the counter. "They'll return shortly," she left Maverick alone and went out toward the back.
"It was good to see you," Maverick called out.

**********
When Ava didn't answer his text, Rooster went over to the bar. He had just driven over to see what she had been up to. Who he saw there wasn't exactly who Rooster wanted to see to start off his day.
Ava hummed softly to hereslf as she squated down to pull a box of beer out the freezer and counted them as she walked out. The front of her baby hair kept sticking out, getting on the way of her eyes, so she decided to do a top pony tail. It never failed how it turned into heart on the back when doing so. A few chills ran down her body. The freezer was cold. Ava was wearing a white cami dress with a light sweater. Her body quickly started to defrost once she stepped out into the regular temperature.
She thought about her Aunt Penny and hoped that this time around, she wouldn't get so infatuated with Maverick. Ava loved her aunt. She would worry if her aunt wore her heart on her sleeve this time. Though Ava was only nineteen at the time. Her aunt was someone she always spent a lot of time with. Ava had seen how hurt Penny was after her uncle decided to finalize their divorce, and when Ava was fourteen at that time and Amelia just five. Her Aunt Penny used to lie about crying hereslf to sleep.
Ava began to head towards the front of the bar, stopped on her feet, and placed the box down. When she turned around, she saw Rooster and Maverick standing there.
"What are you doing here?" Rooster asked venomously.
"Last I checked, a bar belonged to the pubilc during opening hours," Maverick responded simply. He couldn't help but get nervous around the kid. He didn't know how to handle one, especially one who hated him.
"Hey, Rooster," Ava greeted her boyfriend she was surprised to see him. It was early.
"Hey, baby," he said. Then his eyes averted back to Maverick.
Maverick eyes slightly turned to Ava. Baby? He thought.
"Don't look at her..." Rooster warned darkly.
Okay. Ava thought this was getting a little too real. She stopped what she was doing, sensing the tension between those two. Completely confused as to what was happening and made her toward them.
"Um hi..." she came up between both men. "Bradley," she said, his real name softly placing her hand over his strong arm. "Hey," she breathed, staring up at him. She didn't understand what was going on.
Rooster looked down at her and realized what he was doing. His eyes softened. He didn't want to freak her out, let alone scare her. Rooster pulled her in and kissed her forehead. "Sorry," he mouthed against her warm skin. She smelled of coconuts.
"Come on," he told her.
"I can't I'm covering for..." Before Ava could finish her sentence, her Aunt Penny walked in and saw all three at the entrance. Her eyes gazed over to Maverick, then over at the tall pilot. "Oh no," she breathed. Her face said it all.
"Ava, you can take the day," her aunt told her.
"I had asked permission to have you for the rest of the day for your birthday," Rooster turned to look over at Ava.
"I had Ameila pack you some clothes earlier," she handed her the bag. Ava was filled with confusion as much as she wanted this she needed answers. "Aunt Penny..." she began following her Aunt.
"Go enjoy your early birthday," Penny kissed her on the cheek. Penny had brought the stuff because Rooster had texted her.
Ava's birthday wasn't until Saturday it would make sense why Rooster wanted to celebrate it early. But still, Ava wondered. She went to grab her phone, and Rooster took her by the hand and guided her out. Once outside, Ava dropped Roosters hand.
"Rooster, what the hell was that?" Her heart was pounding. "Que piensas!"
"You know him?" Rooster hissed instead.
"Maverick?" Ava said his call sign. "Yes," she nodded.
This irritated him. "Wait? How do you know him?" Rooster was still trying to understand. Maverick had just returned.
"I'm confused. What is going on here?" Ava asked.
Rooster held a serious face. Both were completely lost.
Ava was waiting.
"His... unfortunately, my teacher," he mouthed. "And my God father," he clenched his teeth when saying this.
Ava nodded. "I see, but you can't just... geez, you nearly killed him in there,"
His eyes softened when he saw Ava slightly aggravated.
"Baby,"
Ava shook her head. "No, me tienes que explicar you need to tell me now!"
"Ava, please," he pleaded. "I'm sorry about that," he meant it. He couldn't think knowing he was still in there.
Ava wasn't moving.
Back inside the bar, Maverick stared at Penny. "You couldn't have told me that day at the bar that Beaus kid your neice is my godson girlfriend?"
Penny gave him an apologicaly look. "Sorry."
In the parking lot, Ava and Rooster still argued.
"Fine, let's go down to the beach." The couple went toward the beach pathway and headed toward the water.
"He...knew my father," Rooster told Ava as they walked down the shoreline. Ava didn't interrupt him. She listened for as long as it would take him to explain. Rooster looked down at his feet. She knew how much Rooster loved his father and how only once since they had started dating, he had only brought up the accident. "My father was killed that day they both went up in the air..." his eyes strained, into the distance.
Ava shook her head. "Rooster, I know about the accident, I just didn't know it was with him, Maverick is your God father?"
"They were supposed to be a team. He let my father die," Rooster clenched his jawline. "I only had my father for five years, I only have pictures of his memory. He didn't deserve to die in the hands of someone he trusted,"
Ava couldn't stand to see Rooster this way.
"I don't understand why I grew to hate him... if it was just an accident, then why do I feel like he let my father down?"
"Hey," Ava cupped his face, holding his head still. Rooster looked down to meet her eyes. They held pain and waves of frustration. How could she make him see past all this old enemies' feud?
"I love you," she whispered. "And whatever past memories haunt you now know that we can get through them together," Ava meant it, every single word of it. She searched his eyes, trying to find some clarity from his end.
Rooster's heart skipped a beat. He pulled her in for a hug and held her. Ava rested her cheek on his chest and listened to the beat of his heart. It began to slow down, and the feel of his lips on her head calmed him. Just the feel of her body alone could do that.
"I love you," Rooster whispered.
Now, it was Ava's heart that made a leap. She loved it when he repeated those words.  How many times had they made love? How many times had they walked romantically down the beach while the sun set? Still, those words always held a tub of gold with starlight colors that filled her with joy, desperation, determination, and, more importantly, warmth.
Rooster cupped her face now.
"Say it again," Ava murmured in a whisper, looking up at him.
Rooster dropped his arms around her small waist. "I love you, Ava," he told her, his voice a liquid gold.
Rooster then lifted her chin upward and leaned in to kiss her. And somehow, everything that had seemed so wrong at the moment now didn't matter. Nothing but their need for one another.