"Rae!" He greets as I slip past the crowded bar counter. I could feel my mom's eyes on me at the mention of my name, but I chose to ignore them.
"Hey, guys." I greet, approaching the group. Placing my hand on Rooster's shoulder, I stood up on my tiptoes and pressed a kiss on his lips. "You look beautiful." He smiles, pulling away slightly to look at me. "Thank you, so do you." I beam.
"Nice to see you out from behind the bar." Phoenix jokes, nudging my side as I pulled away from Bradley.
"I know, right. Nice to see you out of uniform." I laugh, backing away from Bradley and sitting down next to a blond haired man with glasses. "This is Bob." She introduces us. "Rae, nice to meet you." I beam, leaning back in the seat. "You too." He brightly smiles, turning towards us.
"Up for a game, Rooster?" A blond next to Rooster quips, who I recognize as the guy who flirted with me shamelessly a couple weeks ago.
"That would be Bagman." Phoenix crosses her arms.
"Hangman." He turns to us, his eyes landing on me. "You must be Rae." He smirks, leaning on his Pool Cue Stick.
"Guilty. Any one up for a drink?" I ask, placing my purse down on the table beside Bob. "I'll get it. You're off, you shouldn't have to get us drinks." Bob smiles. "Thank you." I beam as he passes me.
Phoenix continues introducing me to the group as they begin a game of pool. "So uh, Rooster told me to watch out for you tonight." Phoenix slides onto the chair beside me as Bob returns to his seat, setting down various bottles and cans.
"Did he tell you why?" I ask, nodding at Bob before grabbing a can of Busch Light Apple. "No, just to make sure no one bothers you." She shrugs, grabbing the bottle from Bob's outstretched hand as the guys played around us.
Glancing at Bradley, his eyes lift to mine as a soft smile displays on his face. Sending a soft smile back to him, I take a sip of the beer in my hand.
Motioning for them to lean in, I cleared my throat from the fogginess the drink left in my throat. Bob and Natasha lean in, waiting for me to speak.
"I found out Maverick's my father." I shrug, taking another swig out of the can. Phoenix's eyes widen as she backs away, looking over my face.
"I see it." Bob shrugs, taking a swig of his beer. "I knew you looked familiar." She laughs, opening the bottle before taking a sip.
"It just pissed me off because my entire family knew and didn't tell me. He knew and still left before I was born so." I shrug, watching Bradley play. "Are you serious? He left before you were even born and then came back years later?"
Nodding, I took a swig. She shakes her head, glancing back at the bar. Following her gaze, I find my parents talking at the bar as they glanced over at me. Shrugging, I took a swig and turned back to the group.
"Phoenix, your turn." Fanboy nods, motioning to the table. "Watch this." She hands me her drink before making her way over to the table. Natasha positions herself beside Rooster, sending me a mischievous smile before retracting her pole, hitting Rooster right in the gut.
Stifling a laugh, I covered my mouth with my hand. He cowers, holding his side as he looked over at Phoenix. "Whoops." She shrugs, straightening her posture as she finishes her turn. A short laugh leaves my lips, earning a look from Bradley as Phoenix joins me again.
Shaking his head with a small smile, he turns his attention to Payback.
"We're going to be great friends." I chuckle, watching Rooster begin making his way over to me to grab a beer.
"Speaking of which, let's exchange numbers so we can talk shit about other people." She leans over, grabbing her phone from her back pocket.
As she pulls up her contacts, I notice Bradley leaning down so his lips are level with my ear. "Let me know if you want to leave." He nods over to my mom and Maverick as he pulls away. Shrugging, I watch him open the beer bottle on the side of the table.
"It's whatever. I'm having fun." I smile as Phoenix hands me her phone. Typing in my number, I save my contact in her phone before handing it back to her.
"Alright, just let me know." He presses a kiss on the top of my head before joining the guys again.
"I say we make a group chat, just us three." I laugh, motioning to the three of us that were sitting down. Bob nods as he takes a sip.
"On it." Phoenix nods as I stand up.
"Do you wanna play?" Rooster asks as I approach him during Hangman's turn. "I've never even played pool before." I shrug, crossing my arms as I watched Hangman play.
"I'll teach you. Here." His large hands place the pool stick in my hand before moving me so he was standing directly behind me with his hands on my hips. He gently pushes my back so I'm bending over the table, his body following mine as he positioned my hands to take a turn. His body engulfs mine in warmth. Nerves settle in my stomach as I feel everyone's eyes on us.
"Just pull back and shoot the ball I lined up for you when you're ready." He smiles, straightening his posture so I can take his turn. Taking a breath, I took my shot.
The group cheers as I straighten my posture. "Did I get points?" I laugh, brushing my hair off my shoulder. "Yes, babe. Thank you." Bradley laughs, gently taking the stick from my hand. Nodding, I take the beer from his outstretched hand before taking a short sip.
Taking a glance at the glass, I see it was a blue moon. Should have known, it's his favorite. "How did Rooster bag you?" Hangman teases, but I could tell he was just messing with Bradley. Rooster sends him a glare before focusing on the task at hand.
"No comment." I laugh, taking another tiny sip before focusing on my boyfriend.
"Phoenix, you're doing a terrible job." Rooster laughs, taking his shot and straightening up. "She doesn't need someone watching her every move." Phoenix shrugs, turning back to her conversation with Bob.
"Here." I hand him his drink back before making my way back to my group.
•••
"Here, I'll get the employee discount hold on." I laugh, pulling my card out as we finished cleaning up. Phoenix nods as Bob follows me to the counter.
"Did I actually get the right ball in or we're they just trying to be nice?" I ask Bob as we approached the bar. Hopefully my mom was too busy and one of my coworkers were cashing us out.
"No, you actually got the right one in." He laughs, leaning against the bar.
"Oh, hi." My mom's voice speaks up. Sighing, I glance over. "Hi." I tightly smile, handing her my card. "Employee discount?" She asks, glancing at me as she clicked through the system, looking for our tab.
"Yep." I nod, awkward tension filling the air between us. She nods, cashing us out.
"Can we talk-." She starts, but a familiar song begins playing.
"You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain," Bradley's voice clears the air as she hands me my card back. A laugh leaves my lips as I glance back to see Bradley playing the piano.
"Too much love drives a man insane." Bob and I sing along as we approach the group. Placing my hands on Bradley's shoulders, I listened to him sing.
The bar joins in singing as Bradley glances up at me briefly. His big brown eyes bore into my own before looking back down at the keys to make sure he wouldn't mess up.
"I'ma tell the world that you're mine, mine, mine, mine." He sings, leaning back into me.
All of us lose ourselves in the music. It was incredible. In such a short amount of time I made a ton of friends, but the only catch was there was a chance I could lose them.
"Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire!" We all finish off the song. Bradley smiles as he turns around in the seat, pulling me into his arms amongst the laughs of our friends.
"Kiss me, baby." He teases, puckering his lips. Shaking my head, I placed a quick kiss on his lips in respect for everyone in the bar.
"Let's get you home." He wraps an arm around my waist as he stands up.
YOU ARE READING
•clueless•
Fanfiction"Why did you make me fall in love with you when you're about to leave for a mission you may not even come back from?" I exclaim, my throat burning as I fought the urge to cry. "Do you seriously think I wanted to fall in love right before I left? Fa...
