Never Yours

Lost that loving feeling by any chance?

SWINGING OPEN the doors of the bar and stepping inside, I can't quite tell you what hit us first, the smell of the alcohol and sweat or the loud, pumping music that echoed round the room from the speakers embedded in the walls. Mind you though, this was expected in a bar environment obviously so naturally, the both of us took it all in our stride. I turned to Goose, and slung my arm over his shoulders, a large grin clearly evident.

"Now this!" I gestures around the room with my arm. "Is what I call a target rich environment!" I grinned happily. Goose looked back at me, in silent question, amused smirk playing across his lips. "You live your life between your legs Mav!" He replied. "C'mon you know it's true! I'm telling you Goosey boy! Even you could get laid in a place like this!" I retorted, grin widening.

"I can't tell if that's an insult or a compliment Mav! But just a quick pointer, I'm already taken but I spose I'd be happy to find a girl who'd talk dirty to me, just so I'm not left out of the game you know?" He laughed. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the sleeve of his dress whites. It felt starched and taught beneath my touch. "Did you iron this thing or something?" I said brows raised in disbelief. Goose nodded. "Well obviously gotta look smart for the ladies now haven't I?" He chuckled. Perfectly timed, a group of women walked past, cheering and whooping excitedly. Out of instinct, I smiled and did that weird British wave thing where your fingers move around and your palm stays still (frankly I don't know what to call that so let's go with my description shall we? The British confuse me as a natively born American). The women giggled and ran away toward the corner of the space, presumably to discuss my effortless charm.

"What. In God's Name. Was. That?" Goose asked, mouth agape like a fish out of water. I closed it for him. "Just saying hello to the ladies. Making sure they're doing good you know? Just my effortless charm as a gentleman." I grinned and tried not to snort at the look of bewilderment on Goose's face. "Yes well, let's not dwell on that any longer. Let's go get a beer!" He sniffed and pushed his way through the crowd ahead of me. Completely forgetting I'd let go of his arm when I waved at the ladies, I had to jog behind him to keep up with his long strides. Thankfully, it was a very short distance over to the bar from where we were standing. After locating him at the bar, I sat down next to him.

"Two beers please buddy." I said to the man behind the bar. He nodded and leant down, pulling two Budweisers out of the mini fridge. Paying him, I cracked open the bottle and took a sip, the cool yet fiery, liquid within burning my throat slightly.

"Hey, Mav. Earlier you wanted to know who the best was did you not? See here, that's him there." Goose pointed across the glossy, cherry wood bar top at the blonde man I'd seen earlier on in today's initial briefing. "Really?" I asked, taking another sip of my drink. "Mmh hmm yep! That's him right there; Iceman. The call sign comes from the way he flies; ice cold no mistakes. He just wears you down. You get bored frustrated, do something stupid and he's got you." Goose finished, matter of factly. I nodded, trying to look like i had actually comprehended the information he'd just provided me.

"Right, I'll be sure to remember that then." I said dryly. Of course what I actually meant was I'd do the exact opposite however, Goose was too distracted by a guy that sauntered past us to notice the hidden subtext of my words. "Hey, hey Slider! I thought you wanted to be a pilot man. What happened?" Goose asked, mockingly. The man looked increasingly familiar. It took a while for the penny to drop before I quickly noted him to be that of Frosty's RIO, although I hadn't known his name up until this point where Goose had struck up conversation with him. Slider rolled his eyes. "Real nice, ain't ya Goose?" He paused and chugged what was left of his drink before continuing. "So, who did you suck up to get in here? This bar is for adults not immature school boys you know." He smirked. I found his attitude to be much like that of his pilot's; cold, inconsiderate and cocky.