Heaven in Your Eyes || Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw

Chapter 5 - Dogfight Football

Emily's POV
As usual, pretty much all of us messed up on our training. We all came back together and sat in our respected seats. My dad began to pull up the videos of us one by one to ask us how we messed up.

My dad looked at Phoenix and I first and asked us why we were dead.

"The SAMs got us, sir." Phoenix said. My dad frowned. I sighed.

"We flew above the 300 foot ceiling, sir." I added.  My dad looked around the room.

"No. Why are they dead?"

"I slowed down and didn't give warning sir. It's my fault," Coyote said. My dad frowned.

"Was there a reason why you didn't communicate with your team?"

"I was focused on —"

"What excuse is their family gonna accept at the funeral?" My dad asked, cutting Coyote off. Coyote looked down at the ground, his feet now more interesting than my dad's judging face.

"None, sir." He muttered. My dad then looked at me.

"Why didn't you slow down your aircraft?"

"I would rather get myself killed than take the chance of both of us being taken out. I didn't anticipate it sir," I explained.

"You didn't anticipate the turn? You were all briefed on the terrain of the mission," my dad argued. I rolled my eyes. Sometimes I just couldn't stand my dad.

As Phoenix went to open her mouth, my dad stopped her.

"Don't tell it to me, tell it to his family." He said, pointing at Bob. Bob looked a little shocked, but brushed it off.

My dad then directed his attention to Hangman's group. Hangman had gotten through the entire course quick enough but had left his team members behind. Those members being Payback and Fanboy.

"What happened?"

"I flew as fast as I could like my life depended on it," Hangman replied with a shrug.

"And your wingmen are dead," Bradley muttered. Hangman shrugged.

"They just weren't fast enough,"

"Nice to know that we can count on you, Hangman." Phoenix said. My dad then directed his attention to Bradley's team.

"Why is your team dead?"

"Sir, his team is the only one that made it to the target." I said. My dad shook his head.

"A whole minute late. He gave the enemy enough time to shoot them down. He's dead,"

"You don't know that," Bradley said with a frown. My dad shrugged.

"You're not flying fast enough. You don't have a minute to waste," he replied.

"We made it to the target," Bradley argued.

"And superior enemy aircrafts intercepted you on the way out," my dad said. Bradley shrugged.

"Then I guess it's a dog fight,"

"Against fifth generation fighters?" My dad asked.

"Yeah. We still have a chance,"

"In F-18s?"

"It's not the plane, sir, it's the pilot." Bradley replied. My dad nodded.

"Exactly!"

"There's more than one way to fly this mission," Bradley added. Hangman then butted in.

"You really don't get it," he muttered. "You have to either fly like Maverick or you don't come back. We're going into combat on level that no pilot as ever seen. Not even him. Now's not the time to be thinking of the past,"

Bradley looked over at Hangman and frowned.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That's enough," my dad said, knowing where the conversation was going.

"I can't be the only one who knows that Falcon's dad, Maverick, used to fly with Rooster's old man," Hangman said. Then he began to continue. "— and that it was Maverick flying when he died."

Bradley jumped up from his seat, ready to punch Hangman in the face. I ran over to Bradley and held him back. My dad got between them to try to diffuse the tension.

"He's not cut out for this mission. And you know it," Hangman muttered, looking over at my dad. Hangman then shoved people out of the way and walked away.

Bradley was still fuming as I held him back. His dad was a touchy subject and Hangman obviously knew it.

"You're all dismissed!" My dad shouted, sending everyone out of the hangar. I let go of Bradley and he began walking away, still angry at Hangman.

*

The next day, my dad took us all to the beach. He told us that we were going to have training out there.

I was wondering what kind of training it could be until my dad held up two footballs. I smiled, realizing what we going to be doing today.

"We are going to play dogfight football. Rooster and Falcon know how to play so they are team captains. This is like normal football but offense and defense is played at the same time. Rooster, Falcon, go ahead and choose your teams." My dad explained, handing Bradley and I the footballs.

"You're going down, Bradshaw." I said with a mischievous smile. Bradley laughed.

"Oh really? We'll see about that, Mitchell." He said, putting his sunglasses on.

"Alright you guys, quit flirting with each other." Phoenix shouted with a smirk. I blushed.

We chose our teams and began the game. Bradley and I stood in front of each other, the footballs in our hands. I admired Bradley's six pack as we stood there waiting for the whistle to blow. Hondo blew the whistle and we tossed the footballs to our quarterbacks.

At some point, one of my players tossed the football to me. I could see Bradley out of the corner of my eye as he was running towards me and I tried to dodge him, but he grabbed me, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Phoenix! Phoenix!" I called. Phoenix sprinted towards me and I tossed the ball to her. She winked at me before tossing the ball to Bob and everyone began shouting at him to run.

As Bob crossed the touchdown line, everyone on my team cheered. They picked Bob up and put him on their shoulders as they cheered. I cheered along with them and then screamed as Bradley tossed me into the ocean.

"Bradley Bradshaw!" I shouted, partially angry. Bradley laughed and walked over to me, holding his hand out to help me up.

As Bradley grabbed onto my hand, I pulled him into the water and he got a face full of salty ocean water. Bradley wiped his face and splashed me in the face with the water. He then sprinted away.

"Bradley Bradshaw, get back here!" I shouted, running after him. My dad was standing off to the side, laughing.

"Alright you two. I'm glad everyone had fun. Training's over for the day. Go home," my dad said with a smile.

Bradley and I walked back to the locker rooms together. He removed his sunglasses and looked over at me.

"Hey, uh, Em, do you want to go out with me to dinner tonight?" Bradley asked. I smiled.

"Sure. Where did you have in mind?"

"How about I surprise you," Bradley replied with a smirk. I shrugged.

"Ok. Just let me get changed and you can come pick me up from my house. What's your phone number? I'll text you my address," I explained. Bradley smiled and told me his number.

After getting my phone from my locker, I texted him my address. He thanked me through text as I was getting into my car to drive home.

As I drove home, I got more and more excited about the date. I wondered what Bradley had planned for tonight.