Bellwether

3.

Standing at Kelsi's door Broadway frowned. "You're really leaving aren't you?" She looked at Kelsi sadly.

Kelsi hesitated then answered, "I am, but that doesn't mean that I'm gonna stop talking to my best bitch in the whole world! I promise after this mission I'll be back with you ok?" Kelsi turns and faces Broadway and hugs her "I love you, Blakely"

"I love you Kelsi, but I HATE when you call me by my real name." Kelsi laughs and pulls away, an alarm on her phone goes off and she looks at it. "that's my cue." She hugs Broadway one last time. tells her she loves her then walks out to the top deck where she sees the commander standing next to a jet.

"I expect you'll be on your best behavior Smokin," he says.

"Jesus since when did you become my fucking dad? Just get me on the jet, I'm about to be late if I don't board." she goes up and gets into the plane and gets seated.

Commander mutters, " I'm not gonna miss you one bit" He puts on a fake smile and waves as the plane takes off.

Once she's in the air, she looks around the jet in awe, and mutters. "Holy shit this is boujee as fawk I feel like the Queen of England or something like that."

 She looks around for a while making sure to not miss a single accent on the walls of the plane or a single thread of the seats.

After a while, she sits back in her chair.  "Might as well sleep for all I know this could be hours." she closes her eyes letting the darkness take over her.

***

The darkness however was overtaken by the blur of people running towards her yelling her name. She couldn't move and was stuck under what seemed like a giant piece of metal. 

Heaving for breaths she looked at who was above her. Usually, someone would be relieved to have a savior but she looked up and saw them. Them meaning; Jack, Broadway, her family, and every person she ever loved. They pointed at her and told her all of her worst fears. 

Her parents saying the worst of it all. They were disappointed in her and that crying wasn't for pretty girls. They jabbed on and on that she was a waste of sex and how they wish she was never born. 

She sobbed from the pain of her skull getting crushed by the tons of weight slowly breaking her body and the feeling of regret and sorry that dug into her skin after every word that was yelled at her. 

For what seemed like hours she lay there taking all the hate, crying through it all. She was shaking like a leaf and couldn't seem to get herself out of this horrible trance. Looking up at everyone her heart broke more and more until she heard the words.

***

"Ma'am? are you ok? ma'am? wake up?"

Slowly opening her eyes, Kelsi looked at the poor flight attendant who had found her. "W-what?"

"Ma'am you were crying want sounded like you were in pain...I-is everything ok?"

"Y-yes" she gains her composure and then asks. "When are we going to be in California?"

"We are fixing to land so make sure everything is ready"

***

(TIME SKIP)

Sighing, Kelsi walks into the apartment she will be using for the time that she's there. She drops all of her stuff on the floor and mutters. "I need a drink."

Having just turned 21 she was now legally allowed to drink. Did that mean that she didn't have a beer or two before... no. 

She pulls on her favorite jeans, white converse, a white tank top, her bomber jacket, and her aviators. 

Everything in this town was within walking distance which was good. Kelsi had barely enough scratch to pay for an apartment, let alone a car. Besides driving wasn't always her thing, now flying was a whole other story.

She checked google maps and found a bar only a few blocks down the road from her. She smiled softly as she read the name of it, 'The Hard deck'.

'oh hell yeah' she thought. 

The hard deck was like her second home while she was a student with Top Gun. Especially the owner, Penny. She was like her Guardian angel and that is no joke. Her parents weren't able to move to Cali with her, so Penny quickly became the cool aunt figure in her life. 

'I wonder if she's still working here... welp guess I'll just figure it out.' She smiled contently and walked the short distance to the bar. With every step, she took toward the building her nerves grew slightly bigger and bigger.

Her mind started going frantic.

'what if she doesn't remember me?'

 'what if she left and I'm going to make a big ass fool of myself,'

 'what if I get there and some of my classmates are there- lord knows that one would be hell.'

Without even knowing how fast she was walking, she ended up at the door. Hesitantly she opens the door and goes into the slightly crowded building. The smell of beer and the slight hint of jest fuel hits her nose and she smiles softly.

This is home.

 This was the closest feeling of home she'd had in a long time.

She slowly started to look around the room and see if she could find Penny. Her face slowly dropped when she didn't see her. Sighing she moved over to the bar and ordered a beer from the older male who was bartending. 

She started observing the place while she waited for her beer. Her eyes landed on a group of people over by the pool table. They look to be around her age maybe a bit older. They're wearing kaki colored uniforms. Curiously, Kelsi started looking around to see if anyone from her graduating class was there. To her pleasure but also discomfort none of them were. 

"Ma'am you ordered the corona right?" a sweet voice asked her. Turning her head quickly she made eye contact with her, Penny.

"Y-yeah uh that was me," Kelsi smiled softly and took the beer from Penny.

Making a face, Penny looks at her "... do I know you from somewhere?" she questioned.

"It's uh me, Kelsi Williams. I was here pretty much every night when I was in Top Gu--" she gets cut off.

Penny gasps her eyes light up, "Oh my! Smokin! You've grown so much! Wow, I wish I looked like you at your age!" 

Kelsi giggles quietly. Penny was always one to compliment, especially with Kelsi. 

 The funniest thing is Kelsi hasn't grown up a single inch. She was still stuck at an amazing 5'4. On the other hand, her voice got deeper and her country accent had gone away, not to mention her body matured a lot more.

"Yeah I'm not flattered than a board anymore that's for sure." she laughed

"Oh, nonsense hon. Anyway, how has life been treating ya?" Penny leaned onto the bar and looked at her.

"Uh well, I'm not gonna lie. It's been treating me like shit. I uh lost my RIO a few years ago in a really bad accident. Since then I've kind of gone into a crazy work mood. It's what keeps me grounded in the air I guess." she chuckles dryly and takes a drink of her beer.

"Oh no. I hate that for you." she hesitates. "How about we meet up sometime later, I wish I could talk but It's rush hour." Kelsi nods and stands up, "ill see you later then." She smiles softly and starts walking around the building looking at all the pictures on the walls.

***

Authors Note; sorry for the crappy chapter, this was the awkward stage of the story and I promise it will be better!!!! Don't forget to vote and comment!! ANNNNYYYYYWAAYY have a good day or night!!!!