Heaven in Your Eyes || Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw

Chapter 2 - Great Balls of Fire!

Emily's POV
Present Day
I walked into the Hard Deck, a local bar that all the pilots went to. I was wearing my uniform along with some of the others who were there. I sat down at the bar and asked the bar tender for a beer. The lady slid the beer across the counter towards me and I grabbed it.

"Thanks," I muttered with a smile. She nodded.

"Of course,"

I looked over to see a couple of guys I went to the Naval Academy with along with Phoenix, a woman I was good friends with. The two of us became such good friends because of being one of the few women who had gotten through to Top Gun.

I also recognized Hangman at the pool table. He was an extremely cocky pilot I had been in the academy with.

I left the bar and walked over to the pool table to see them.

"Hi Phoenix," I said with a smile. Phoenix smiled.

"Hi Falcon. What's up? You here for the special Top Gun assignment like we are?" She asked. I nodded.

"I guess so. Who's this?" I asked, nodding towards a guy who was sitting off to the side, watching the rest of the guys play pool.

"I'm Bob," he muttered. I nodded.

"What's your call sign?"

"Bob," he replied. I shrugged.

"Ok. I'm Falcon. Or Emily. That's my given name,"

"When did you get in?" Coyote asked. He was another one of the guys I had worked with.

"I've been here the whole time," Bob said with a smile.

"He's a stealth pilot," Hangman joked.

"I'm actually a weapons system officer," Bob corrected.

"With no sense of humor," Hangman muttered as he sat on the pool table. "Hey good looking. Haven't seen you in a bit,"

I turned around to face Hangman and gave him the best smile I could muster.

"Hi Hangman," I muttered. Hangman made a face.

"What? You're not excited to see me?"

"Nope. My life would be so much better if you didn't exist," I said with a smirk.

"Isn't that the truth,"

I spun around and smirked when I saw who it was.

"Rooster. It's good to see you. Is this how I find out that you're stateside again?" I asked. Bradley nodded.

"Yeah. I thought I'd surprise you,"

As Bradley walked behind Phoenix, she hit him in the stomach with her pool stick. He groaned and doubled over, holding his stomach. Phoenix looks over at me and winks. I was trying to hold back a laugh at seeing my friend in pain.

"I probably deserved that," Bradley whispered under his breath.

"Thanks Phoenix. I would have done that myself, but you had it covered." I said with a smirk.

"Bradshaw, as I live and breath." Hangman said with a smirk.

"Hangman, you look good." Bradley said, greeting him. Hangman shrugged.

"Well, Rooster, I am good." Hangman says, pausing. "I am very good. In fact, I'm too good to be true."

"So, does anyone know what the special detachment is?" Coyote asked, trying to change the subject. Hangman shrugged.

"A mission's a mission. I wanna know who'll be team leader, and which one of you has what it takes to follow me." He explained with a smirk. All the pilots groaned in response.

"The only place you'll lead anyone is an early grave," Bradley said. Hangman frowned as the rest of them agreed with Bradley.

"Anyone who follows you will run out of fuel. You're snug on that perch, waiting for just the right moment — that never comes," Hangman explained. I rolled my eyes and walked back to the bar. I sat down and asked the bartender for another beer.

As I sipped it, I looked over to see someone I had not seen for a couple of years. My dad.

When he saw me, my dad walked over and sat down next to me.

"Hello Maverick," I muttered, staring straight ahead. I saw my dad's face out the corner my eye and he was frowning.

"Since when do you call me that?" My dad asked. I shrugged.

"Since you decided to pull Bradley and I's papers from the academy ten years ago," I replied. My dad sighed.

"I did it for a reason, Emily. And, evidently, you ended up becoming a pilot anyway. Bradley got here too," he explained. I rolled my eyes.

"We did finally become pilots, but you set us back four years in our careers." I said. I shook my head. "You know what, I can't deal with this right now. Good bye Maverick. Why don't you go ruin someone else's life,"

My dad clenched his jaw, watching me walk away from him. I knew he was hurt, but I didn't really care.

Bradley's POV
I unplugged the jukebox and everyone in the bar groaned, mad that the music had stopped. I sat down at the piano and began to start playing the tune to Great Balls of Fire.

A couple of the other pilots stood next to me as I played on the piano. As I start singing, the pilots listen until it's their time to sing along with me.

"You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain! Too much love drives a man insane! You broke my will but what a thrill!" I sang.

"Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire!" Everyone shouted along with me.

I saw Emily out of my corner of my eye. She was smiling as she listened to me sing. The two of us had loved singing this song. The song reminded me of my dad and I loved to sing and play it on the piano.

As I finished the song, someone plugged the jukebox back in and I walked over to Emily.

"Hey, Em, are you here because you were called back here for the mission?"I asked. Emily nodded.

"That I am, Bradley. Or should I say Rooster," Emily said with a smirk. I shrugged.

"Yeah. That's my call sign. It's a bit of a momento to my father I guess. You know, since it's a bird."

"Cool. At least you can look up to your father. Mine's just a huge douchebag," Emily muttered. I sighed.

"Yeah,"

"Well my call sign is Falcon so you'll know what to say when we're in the air," Emily said with a smile. I nodded.

"Sounds good. Anyways, it was good seeing you again. I haven't seen you since Top Gun to be honest," I explained. Emily shrugged.

"Well now we'll be working together. I mean, we were best friends our whole lives and now we even get to work together. I think that is awesome and I am so excited to work alongside you," she explained. I smiled and nodded.

"Yeah. I'm excited too,"

"I think I'm going to turn in. See you tomorrow, Rooster." Emily said as she stood on her tippy toes and kissed me on the cheek. I smiled warmly.

"Yeah. See you tomorrow, Falcon."

I watched as Emily left, forgetting how much I had missed hanging out with her when we were kids.