Like Fathers, Like Daughter | Bradley Bradshaw

2

   There's a bar, near the base called 'The Hard Deck'. It was a couple days after I arrived that we decided to go. Have a drink before we get ready for training. Both of us dressed in our uniforms, we head to the bar. I pulled up in my truck and parked it. Both of us getting out of the car. The moment I walked in the door, I see a sea of tan uniforms. More pilots. I'm guessing the other pilots being trained. But then, I see my dad. Sitting on the bar and talking to the woman behind the bar. Penny. I haven't seen her  her in a while. Apparently they used to go out before I was born. They seemed to have a friendly conversation.
   I kept scanning the bar. Spotting a group playing pool. With, thank god, another female. I walk over, Texas close behind me. She spots me and leans on her pool cue. I nodded as a greeting.
    "Thank god there's another woman." She smiled and nodded as a greeting.
     "Someone has to show these boys who's boss." I smirk.
     "I'm Phoenix." She introduced herself. Her black hair was slicked back in a bun as the normal hairstyle. Her name tag read 'Trace.'
    "Athena." I greeted.
    "Athena? You're Lieutenant Commander Christina Mitchell-Kazansky?" She asked. It is a mouth full. You have no idea how many times I've had to correct people because they just use my first last name. How my dads agreed on who's name went first was beyond me. I would assume Ice would want his first.
"That's me." Out of the corner of my eye, I feel someone's gaze on me. I turn to see him, Bradley. Or Rooster now I guess. But he's much more handsome in person then in the pictures I saw the other day at dad's hanger. I look back at Phoenix. "And this is my back seat, Texas." He just waves. He isn't much of a talker when it comes to large crowds.
"Fellas you're looking at the first female to ever win the Top Gun Trophy." Phoenix brags.
I chuckled. "And hopefully not the last." I added.
When I was invited to Top Gun, ice came back to teach. He tells me it's because he missed being an instructor but I know it's because he wanted to teach me combat first hand since he wasn't able to when I was in flight school. Man did he push me and my limits. And there isn't a day that goes by where I don't thank him for it.
She introduced to everyone. I can remember call signs easily.
"And this is Rooster." Phoenix gestured to the him. I grew up seeing pictures of his dad and by god, he has grown up to look exactly like him. We just nod as a greeting. The call sign is perfect. I wonder if it's an homage to his father.
It's been so long since I've seen him. I wanted to leap into his arms. Hold onto him and say how much I missed him. But I can't. We are surrounded by our fellow pilots. But I've missed him so god damn much. When Ice was working on climbing ranks, we started to move around a lot. We moved for the first time the summer between 7th and 8th grade. When we left, Bradley hugged me and held onto me so tight I felt the air slipping from my lungs. He kept saying how I could move into his bedroom at home. But I couldn't leave my dads. We moved around so much to the point where one year I moved three schools in one year. Just for us to end up back in San Francisco my senior year.
The song playing on the jukebox changes to one I haven't heard. Bob steps up to shoot a round, lining it up. But another male, comes up behind him and takes the cue.
"Bradshaw, as I live and breath." He says.
"That's Hangman." Phoenix whispers.
"Don't tell me, arrogant, self centered, cocky bastard?" I asked.
"Yup." Phoenix chuckled.
"I see..." I mumbled. My eyes darting him up and down.
"Hangman." Rooster greets him back. "You look...good." I sense some tension here. What kind, I can't exactly tell.
"Well I am good Rooster." He bends down over the pool table and hits the ball without looking. Of course it goes in. "I'm very good. In fact I am too good to be true." We all glance at each other annoyed.
"So..." Payback speaks up. "Does anyone know what this special detachment is all about?" He asks.
"No, a missions a mission." Hangman says. His eyes looking over the balls on the pool table. "They don't confront me." He bends over to shoot again. "What I want to know, is who's gonna be team leader. And which one of ya'll has what it takes to follow me." He looks at Rooster. I roll my eyes. I've dealt with too many of his type.
"Hangman the only place you'll lead anyone is an early grave." Rooster remarks. We all fall silent.
Hangman walks around the table. Past me and Phoenix to get to Rooster. "Anyone who follows you is just gonna run out of fuel." He leans back. "But that's just you ain't it? Rooster."
I lean over to Phoenix. "The amount of Testosterone in the air is choking me." I said. She stifled a laugh.
"You're snug on that perch, waiting for just the right moment that never comes." He slowly stepped closer to Rooster. "I love this song." He smiled a cocky smile. Turning and leaving.
"Well he hasn't changed." Phoenix said to Rooster.
"Nope, sure hasn't." He replied.
"I hate him already." I mumbled.
Rooster looked over at me. Phoenix goes to chat with the others. "It's been a while, Chris." He said.
I looked over at him. "It has Bradley. Since when? Middle school?" I asked.
"Middle school." He nodded. Agreeing. "You actually do...look good. And a Lieutenant Commander? You're higher than all of us." He smiled.
"Thank you Rooster. You look good too." I smirked. He did. He just chuckled and looked at the group playing pool.
We used to run around the backyard. Getting grass stains on our pants. Studying all night for tests that we felt like it would be the end of the world if we failed. Mav would drive us places and we would ask him to crank up the radio. Both of us singing loudly and mostly out of tune. More yelling than singing. When we were little, Mav or Ice would push me on a swing and Carol would push him on the swing next to me. I would always make my dad push as hard as he could to make me go higher than Rooster. Everything was a friendly competition to us. I would end up winning a lot. Or he probably let me win a lot. I remember one time, he tripped on the edge of the asphalt and skinned his knee bad. I was determined to help him. Not letting Ice even come near him as he sat at the kitchen table. I cleaned him up, bandaging his knee and wiped his tears. We settled on watching a movie after that. With a blanket over our shoulders and a bowl of popcorn on our laps.
Phoenix walks over and held out the cue. "Care to take this shot?" She asked.
I grabbed it and walked over to the table. It was a difficult shot. "Stripes or solids?" I asked.
"Stripes." Phoenix said.
My mind began to map out the course I needed to take to win Phoenix the points. Who, I must say, I'm liking a lot already.
"You're setting her up for failure Phoenix." And Hangman is back.
I shot him a look before bending down. Like usual, the math began to show in front of me. The numbers and the angles calculating as usual. It's something I got from my mom. The woman with the PHD in Astrophysics. The one who gave me the brains. I focus, biting my tongue like I do when I'm concentrating. I moved the cue back and hit the ball. It hits the wall and bounced to hit one of the stripped balls. Making it go in the pocket and stop at another perfect position.
I stood back upward and looked at Hangman. "It's simple math." I said with a light shrug before handing over the cue back to Phoenix who smirked. I glanced over at Rooster who chuckled and looked proud. "I need a drink." I announce. But as soon as I did, Texas walked up with two bottles of beer. He hands me one and takes a seat at a nearby stool. "My savior, as usual." I smile. We clink our bottles and take swigs of the cool beer.
"You did the same thing you did back then." Rooster said stepping over to us.
"What? Proving men wrong?" I asked with a chuckle.
"You bit your tongue when you were concentrating." He smiled.
"It's an old habit." I smiled. Taking another sip of my beer.
"Check it out, more patches." Fanboy gets everyone's attention.
"That's Harvard, Yale, Omaha..." Payback makes more pilots walking in. "Shit...that's Fritz."
"What the hell kind of mission is this?" Fanboy asked.
"That's not the question we should be asking." Phoenix turns to us. "Everyone here is the best there is. Who the hell are they going to get to teach us?"
I had a feeling I knew who. I glanced over ay my dad. Still sitting on the bar. Suddenly the music stopped and everyone started to grumble. I glance around, where's Rooster? A piano starts to be played and I glance over to see him playing. I rush over with Phoenix and a couple of the guys. Standing to Rooster's right and watching him riff. Suddenly the bell rings in the bar and everyone cheers. I look around confused.
"If you disrespect a woman or the navy then she rings the bell and you have to buy everyone a round." Phoenix explained.
"Oh I like that rule." I take another swig. And of course my father was the one to get the bell rung.
Everyone starts chanting "Overboard! Overboard! Overboard!" My voice joins with them. Hangman and Payback both grab my dad by the arms and started to drag him outside. On his way out, we make eye contact and he gives me a 'help me' look but I just laugh.
"Great to see ya Pete!" Penny calls over him.
Rooster turns and watched as my dad gets carried out. He starts to play a very familiar song after Mav gets tossed into the sand. Great balls of fire.
"You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain! Too much love drives a man in sane." He sang. And he has a pretty good voice. Him playing the piano is his mothers doing. I assume Goose would have taught him. She also taught me. "You broke my will, what a thrill."
"Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire!" We all joined in. "I laughed at love cause I thought it was funny."
For a moment, everything felt like bliss. This team, this group of the best of the best, was different than the other teams I've been apart of. Even though the others had a past that I wasn't apart of, it seemed like I was apart of it for years. Even though it seemed like me and Tex were the outcasts of the team.
"But you came along and you moved me honey."
Not to mention the chemistry I felt between me and Rooster. As if it hadn't been since we were both teenagers. It was as if we never parted. We made eye contact every so often as he played the song. The music flowed through me and I dance. Careful not to spill my beer. He would look up at me, over those sunglasses of his.
"I changed my mind, this love is fine. Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire!"
My head turned to Phoenix as we rocked out. I had a feeling, this would be a mission to remember.
"Kiss me, baby. Ooh, that feels good, baby. Hold me, baby." We sang. "I wanna love you like a lover should."
By now it wasn't just the ones around the piano singing. It was the whole bar. The Hard Deck rang out with the song. Every pilot, civilian and otherwise singing on the top of their lungs. Filling the building with their voices. The piano barely even being heard over the noise. It was amazing. Adding other whoops and cheers into the mix of the lyrics.
"You're fine, you're so kind. I'ma tell the world that you're mine, mine, mine, mine."
And Rooster played flawlessly. As if it was in his blood that he knew the song. Then I realized.
It was.
Another realization came to mind. From the outside looking in, we must be the spitting image of Maverick and Goose.