𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍, bradley bradshaw

chapter thirteen

IMPORTANT A/N AT THE END

The two girls sat at the bar of the Hard Deck, swirling around the concoction of alcohol that was in their glasses with their thin straws. Dakota had texted Penny asking if it was possible that she closed early, just so they could have some sort of 'quiet time' and to her surprise she agreed. So the usual chaotic and crowded bar was at a comforting silence, the soft bass and treble of a Rihanna song reverbing throughout the small building.

The barmaid was in the back storage room, saying she needed to take inventory before she relaxed with the two pilots.

"So about ten minutes after you left Rooster came in," Natasha sipped through the straw of her drink, listening to her friend catch her up to date with her 'situationship'. "And he claimed that he quote, 'heard I had a shit sequence' and literally made me ride his thi-" "Okay okay okay I would prefer if you didn't tell me about what he did to get you off." She interrupted Dakota loudly, a playful smile on her lips as she covered her ears.

The curly head laughed at her best friend, "Sorry, sorry, that was my fault." She placed a hand on one of her thighs, which was in between hers. Dakota took a sip of her drink, the alcohol calming her frazzled mind.

"It's just whenever I'm with him I remember what we had before that night," A light tint of pink sparkling on her cheeks, "The way he would hold me, and we would just literally watch tv," A deep inhale, as Natasha interlaced her fingers with her hand that was placed on her thigh. "I mean we literally baked cookies one night and had a Hunger Games marathon for the love of god."

Her heart clenched at the memories, "I just don't even know if he remembers the stuff that wasn't sex y'know? 'Cause that's what made me fall for him and I-" She cut herself off, blowing a raspberry through her lips, "I don't know if my heart can handle just sex with him." Her stomach felt like a knot was forming, just from talking about it.

Phoenix gave her a sympathetic look, "Babe," she started as Penny walked through the door of the back room, gaining the attention of the two females.

The older sighed, heading behind the bar top and started making herself a drink, "Okay sorry girls, what'd I miss?" She smiled at them, leaning her elbows on the counter.

Dakota turned in her chair towards Penny and Phoenix did the same, "Just saying how I don't know if I can handle just having sex with Bradley." She took another sip of her drink. "Babe, Penny and I were there when he broke your heart, we remember how broken you were," The barmaid reached a hand out to her forearm, rubbing comforting circles into her skin, "And we know how your brain works, if you continue this with him, it'll eventually break you again. Do you think you can go through that again?"

A beat of silence.

"I dunno," She deeply sighed, "Like it's fine right now, since I hate him and vice versa," the slight feeling of tears stinging behind her eyes as she held them back, "But I just know during these few weeks 'm gonna go back to how I was when it wasn't just sex."

Penny furrowed her eyebrows, "Well I know you don't wanna hear from me, even though I totally know what you're going through," A teasing tone hinting at her voice. The two pilots chuckled at her.

"What I did with Pete, since I kept on falling for him, was eventually," She inhaled sharply, "I told him how I truly felt. Because I knew the pain of rejection would be better than the pain of 'what ifs'."

She took in the older's words, as Phoenix traced patterns on her back. Her mind felt a thousand pounds heavier as she thought about her conflicting feelings.

Did she want to go through that pain again? The pain of Bradley not caring for her? Talking to her? Still, she smiled internally as butterflies erupted in her stomach each time he entered the room. How the weight of his gaze on her gave her a sense of calmness, the feeling of his skin against hers making her brain fuzzy with a euphoric-like feeling.