Songbird

SIX

Over the next 10 weeks Delilah and Bradley snuck out a lot. During Pete's overnight training which became more and more common, the young couple would hop into Bradley's Bronco and drive up to the local make out spot. There they would get lost in the bliss of each other. Soft moans of their names radiate into the night air. Up on the cliff, the rest of the world did not exist. It was only them. But tonight, tonight was not like their normal trips to this cliff. In 24 hours they will be high school graduates.

"Ya know I've been thinking." Bradley finally says. They had been laying silently on the hood of the Bronco staring at the stars for the last 30 minutes.

"About?" Delilah turns to him.

"About after graduation." Bradley sighs. "I know we said we wouldn't talk about the academy until after graduation but, I think..."

"What is it, Rooster?" Delilah sits up.

"I think I'm gonna go to UVA in the fall." Delilah's face drops. "But you should still go into the Academy, ya know? We both have a lot to prove and can't be the best if we go in at the same time."

"Right." Delilah stayed really quiet, just staring off into space.

"You okay?" Bradley asks.

"Yea. Can we... can we go home?" She asks, jumping off of the hood.

"Yea, of course." Bradley climbs down pulling off the blankets and pillows, dumping them into the back. He walked back over to the passenger side only to find Delilah already in the car. He sighs, walking around and climbing into the driver seat.

The drive home was silent, Bradley rests his right hand on her knee and she shivers at his touch, her focus not leaving the passenger window. Bradley sighs as they pull into the driveway. Delilah jumps out of the car and runs into her room. Bradley slowly follows behind her and stops outside her door. He listens for a few seconds before he hears her soft cries and knocks on her door.

"Songbird?" He waits for her to call him in but her voice never reaches his ears. He sighs, turning around and walking into his room. He couldn't tell Delilah the real reason why he wouldn't be going to the academy with her. Pete was all she really had in her life besides Bradley and he couldn't risk jeopardizing their relationship with his own grievances with her father. Bradley had called the academy earlier the previous day when he noticed he never received any information from them. That was when he was informed that his application was pulled. His face contorted in confusion. Surely he never pulled his papers. He had asked Pete about it that night before Delilah got home from an after school rehearsal with her choir for graduation. When Bradley brought it up, Pete just nodded with a simple,

"I know."

"You know?" Bradley questioned in confusion.

"Yea, I spoke with one of the officers about 2 weeks ago." Pete admits.

"Why would you...?"

"I called in a favor."

"You pulled my papers?" Bradley asks in shock. Pete doesn't respond. "You son of a bitch." Bradley shoves Pete back. "You called up an old buddy and pulled my papers?! Now Delilah has to go by herself! Because of you!"

"It's what's best for you Bradley."

Bradley walked away at that point. Pete's final words replaying in his head. Bradley had hardly spoken to him since that conversation, too pissed to even look at him. But he had to behave, for Delilah's sake.

He lays down on his bed trying to fall asleep when he hears the piano coming from Delilah's room. He quietly opens his bedroom door and leans against her's listening to a new song he hadn't heard before.