Fly Away - a fighter pilot story

Chapter 12 - You Don't Own Me

"Long time no see, my two lovebirds.", I can hear Hyde's excited voice on my right side. Without even asking, he puts his plate down on the table and sits down next to me.

And I thought that I could go a day without talking to him. So far, this has worked out well. I sat in the briefing this morning where I didn't have to exchange a word with him. While he and the other instructors got ready to start their flight training session, Dave and I were already thousands of feet high in the air. We were up there for almost two hours. I didn't pass out and I can remember everything. Which is another huge step for me. Now we are eating lunch and going through our work e-mails on our phones.

"I wish it would have been longer.", I say as I scoot with my chair a little bit away from him, because this dude is bulky. While Dave is muscular, Hyde looks more like Hulk. I still wonder how he fits into a fighter jet, but I am not questioning that.

"I can't leave you two unsupervised, who knows what else might happen."

"Dude, come on.", Dave says annoyed and puts his phone away.

"What? You are the topic, especially after what you two apparently pulled this morning at the gym." I am not even surprised that the whole base already knows about that. We didn't really hide it as Dave wanted to protect me from all the lustful starring. On one hand I am grateful for it and on the other hand, I should have done it myself. I should have said something this morning to lay out some ground rules for everyone who doesn't know me yet. I look down at my half-eaten food and start to poke around in it.

"Dave the two of us know, that almost every single female officer here on base has tried to flirt with you. Even the ones that are in a relationship or married are looking at you. Even some of the guys envy you for all the attention that you are getting."

"Jealous?", I ask Hyde and look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Why would I be? I am happily married."

"And I would cut off his balls if he would ever try to flirt with another woman.", a woman says, who stands next to Dave. She looks straight at Hyde giving him a warning look and then she turns to me and smiles.

"Hi, I am Daphne this douche's wife and from what I have heard you must be Taylor." I look at her uniform and can tell by the golden leaf that she outranks me and even her own husband. I nod at her surprised as I am not used to such informalities.

"Hi Daph, I am glad to see you again. How is my godson doing? Still teething?", Dave asks her as she sits down next to him. Even though I have only known him for a few days, I can tell that he is relieved about her being here and the change of topic.

"Don't start. I am so glad that my mum is here to help me with him this week. I always wanted to have at least three kids, but now I think he will never have any brothers or sister. The word sleep doesn't exist for me anymore. It's a pain in the ass. I rather go back and redo medical school and my internship as I got more sleep back then.", she sighs. Oh, she is a doctor. That explains her rank.

"It can't be that bad."

"That's so sweet of you offering to watch him for a few nights when my mum is gone, so I can get some rest, Dave.", she says and pats his back. I can see the color of his face drain. I feel bad for him but at the same time: You go girl!

"I would love to; however, I need to be in the air and teach my fellow pilots. Therefore, I need to get enough sleep to be able to stay focused."

"If Jake can do it, you can do it hands down." Why do I just get the feeling that he just dug his own grave?
"But I won't be that cruel. Anyways, Taylor, how are you feeling today? I heard that you threw up yesterday.", she asks me and gives me a once over with that look that a doctor has when they try to figure out if everything is okay with the patient.