Tailspin: A Top Gun Love Story

Chapter 10

"Cut the crap, Maverick," Tom says, shaking his head.

Goose makes a face at Tom as if he's offended him rather than Maverick.

"What would you do, Kazansky? Pray the ground away?" Maverick eyes him moodily and takes a swig of his drink.

"I would eject, obviously." Tom sneers, looking over at Ron who nods in agreement.

"And there goes your plane." Maverick holds up his glass and then brings it down slowly to demonstrate a crash landing.

"It's the plane or us, asshat," Ron retorts. "Hypothetically."

"But it isn't!" Maverick exclaims passionately, leaning into the table. "That's what I'm trying to tell you!"

Tom watches him irritably; it's obvious that Maverick infuriates him with his mere presence. He moves forward so that he's facing Maverick directly. "It's called an unrecoverable flat spin for a reason."

You sigh, bringing your hand up to your face and rubbing your forehead. They've been going at it for nearly two hours and you're about ready to get up and leave. You see Goose watching you sympathetically from across the table.

"You're not walking away from that," Tom snarls, shaking his head. "You eject, or you die."

Maverick leans back into his seat and smirks, crossing his arms over his chest. "Have you heard of the plane that brought itself out of a spin after the pilots ejected?"

Tom watches him coldly but doesn't respond.

"It's true," Maverick says with conviction. "And do you know why it's true?"

"I have a feeling we're about to," Ron says flatly.

"Look at that, you got one right, Slider!" Goose pipes in.

Ron gives Goose a cross look.

Tom is glaring at Maverick. Neither one of them has looked at you all evening and you're starting to wonder if perhaps it's better this way. Let them argue about planes, as long as they leave you out of it.

"Ejecting out of the cockpit tipped the plane's center of gravity, you see," Maverick says with a smile.

"Rockets will do that," Tom says sourly.

Maverick ignores him and continues, "Disrupting the gyroscope effect and bringing it out of the spin."

"Of course, the plane crashed anyway," Tom says. "Pilot was gone."

Maverick nods. "But," he says excitedly. "Think about what this means, Ice." He's smiling widely and you can't help admiring how handsome he looks when he's trying to prove a point.

Tom sighs skeptically. "What does it mean, Mav?"

"It means," Maverick says with a broad grin. "That all you have to do to bring the plane out of a flat spin is shift its center of gravity."

"Oh, is that all?" Ron quips.

Tom gives Ron an approving smirk, then turns back to Maverick. "How would you do that without ejecting, genius?"

Maverick tightens his mouth, pausing for effect. "I'd climb onto the glare shield."

Tom stares at him like he's crazy. "You would fucking not."

"If that doesn't work, maybe shimmy down the nose until it drops," Maverick adds.

Ron is watching him in disgust. "You're full of shit."

Maverick laughs. "It would work!"

Tom shakes his head. "Your recommendation to a pilot who's lost control of his aircraft is to unstrap and leave the cockpit in midair?"