𝐅𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐔𝐒𝐀 [𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫]

04

Maverick let them all go. Rooster practically sprinted out to his car to leave with Sydney hot on his trail. She followed him passed their living quarters and down to the Hard Deck. She waited in her car as he did and when he got out, she gave him a few second head start then chased after him. He had walked around the building and onto the sand and at this point had her breaking every rule she had about being in public in her uniform.

"Rooster." she called out with no response, "Bradley!" he stopped and waited for her to catch up before continuing walking to a less crowded spot before sitting down.

"I can't stand him." he said as they got comfortable.

"I don't think anyone can." Sydney agreed as the wave crashed onto the sand. Bradley look out over the ocean and wished they were anywhere but where they currently were. He wished his dad was still around to tell him how to handle this and he wished his mom was there to wrap him in her arms one last time. He had been hurting for so long and didn't know how to cope with any of it. He had thrown himself so far into his work that he didn't know which way was out for so long.

"If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose?" Bradley asked catching Sydney off guard with his outlandish question.

"Right now?" she repeated earning a nod, "Montana on a ranch with some cows and the nicest view Naval Aviator money can buy." Bradley chuckled at her response. She had always talked about owning cows one day. "What about you?"

"On the property right next to yours. Or in the chair right next to you. Whichever is more feasible." she hid her smile as she turned away from him. "Can you please tell me what happened with Jake?" he asked once more.

"No." There was no hostility behind it. Just a simple no.

"Why? I feel like that's half his problem with me." Sydney giggled at the thought of Jake being upset that her and Bradley were friends after what happened between her and him.

"You can read it. I'm sure its better written out anyway." Sydney reassured, "Besides, its quite embarrassing. Nat doesn't even know the story." He couldn't believe that Natasha didn't even know. But at this point he had finally calmed down and wanted to walk the beach.

"Thank you." he said after minutes of silence.

"For?"

"Following me. After this morning, I thought we were completely done." Sydney shook her head as they reached the back of the bar.

"We aren't ever completely done." She threw a wink to him before opening the back door and going in to get two sodas for them. Inside she saw all kinds of people dressed up in different costumes and was confused as to why.

"Hey Penny!" She yelled over the loud music to get her attention.

"Hey honey, what can I get for you?" To Penny's surprise, she asked for two sodas. "That's it?"

"Yeah." Sydney smiled and waited for her to finish pouring them, "What's all the costumes for?"

Penny laughed at the question, "It's Halloween, Syd." She nodded and walked back out to the picnic table where she left Bradley. He nodded as she handed off the drink and they sat in a comfortable silence, the only thing they could hear was the loud music from inside.

"What exactly is going on inside?" Bradley wasn't aware of the holiday either.

"It's apparently Halloween." Sydney sat in a not-so-sure tone.

"Huh," Bradley said in realization and sat his cup down. He looked over their outfits and gave them a negative score for originality, but figured it would do. "Come on." He urged Sydney to get up.

"What are we doing?"

"Obviously celebrating."

"We're in our work clothes."

"Our 'work clothes' are probably about 60% of the costumes people across America are wearing tonight. So, we might as well join them." he made a valid point and convinced her to grab her drink and come in the bar with him.

They spent the next 5 hours dancing and drinking, well at least Sydney was drinking. Bradley took it upon himself to be assigned the title of Designated Driver so she could have a good time. Although she kept trying to get him to do shots with her and he kept having to fake doing them every time. It had reached the point where Penny was just putting water in the shot glass. Sydney was getting to be too trashed to notice so he took her home.

"But I don't want to leave." she pouted like a little kid, making Bradley believe even more that she was absolutely trashed. "C'mon Brad, this was your idea. No need to ruin the fun for me now."

"You can't operate a Naval aircraft if you wake up still drunk. And that's exactly what you have to do in 8 hours." Sydney shrugged and looked out the window at the lights of San Diego. She hadn't been downtown since she got here and really wanted to see it.

"Hold on." She said out of no where. Bradley was quick to pull the car over to avoid any throw up in his car. Sydney opened the door and clutched her stomach as she felt the last 3 shots of Tequila make their way back up. He hurried around to her side to hold back her hair. They stood on the side of the road for 20 minutes before Sydney was ready to get back in the car.

"You're going to be so hungover tomorrow." Bradley laughed as they pulled up in front of her place. He walked around to help her out and in the house. He left her in her room to get water and a few tylenol.

"You okay?" He asked walking back in and immediately turned his back to her, seeing as she had dropped her clothes and only had a bra and underwear on. "Geez Sydney." he said scaring her because she thought he had left.

"I thought you were gone." she replied as nonchalantly as possible as she covered herself up with her blankets.

"Here. Take these and drink this. I'm leaving now. I'll see you in the morning." he directed and made his way out.

Sydney's polaroids-