AFTER YESTERDAY'S SQUABBLE, Maverick suggests some 'team bonding' time, because clearly we are not a team. So here we are on the beach playing dog fight football, offense and defense at the same time. Did I mention all of these hot military men are not wearing shirts? It's hot and sweaty.
Of course we had no idea that this would be going on today, so no one was prepared. Heck, Phoenix and I are wearing sports bras and shorts. We separated into teams, Hangman and Rooster being the captains: Hangman, Bob, Fanboy, Yale, Omaha and me vs. Rooster, Phoenix, Payback, Fritz, Harvard and Coyote. Hondo was the ref.
I'm a pretty competitive person, but not really when it comes to football, I've never been interested in it. But today was fun. Everyone was running around, catching and throwing the balls, tackling each other, and just laughing. It was a good time.
Of course there was a little rivalry between Hangman and Rooster, but isn't there always? Being on Hangman's team, of course I had to play into being super competitive to Rooster.
"Suck my dick, Bradshaw!" I yelled as I ran past him, making a touchdown for my team.
"Don't worry I'm trying, Austin."
I threw the football at his head, wiping that shit eating grin right off his face.
My team threw their hands up in celebration, Fanboy high-fiving me as we got back into position. We played a couple more rounds, each team scoring some more, but after a while we stopped counting. We were too busy enjoying each other's company.
Phoenix was running with the ball, so I ran after her and tackled her to the ground. We laid on the sand in a fit of laughter for a while, having too much fun.
"I think we're ready to go pro." I say as I help her up.
"Totally."
Rooster's team scored a point. Coyote and him did a celebratory chest bump, then Rooster did a little victory dance that was incredibly attractive. I found myself staring a little bit, but I couldn't let myself get distracted by his really hot and sweaty, shirtless-
"Riot, Heads-up!" Hangman yelled. Somehow I managed to catch the ball and get my head back into the game. I ran through Phoenix and Payback, dodging their attempts to tackle me. But when I ran past Rooster he grabbed me around my hips, causing me to go down with him. But more like on top of him.
"You literally just fell for me, didn't you May?" He smirks at me.
"Because you pulled me down with you!" I shout, grabbing the ball and running away. And boom, I made another touchdown.
"WOOOOO!" Hangman yells running up to me. "I think we won, Rooster." He says looking down at Rooster, just laying in the sand. He picks me up over his shoulder. And starts heading to the water.
"Oh my god, Hangman, what are you doing?" I shriek as he wades into the ocean. He says nothing and just smiles.
"Hangman put me down!!"
He drops me into the water. When I come back up for air, he looks so pleased with himself. Damn you, Hangman. Now I'm wet and a little less hot and sweaty. He offers a hand and I take it, but I pull him back under with me.
"Oh it's on now, Riot." He says as I run away from him out of the water. Let me tell you, it's hard to run in water. When I get back to the beach everyone's laughing, except Rooster. He looks pissed off. I pick the ball up that I left earlier and I throw it to Hangman who is emerging from the water.
Everyone runs around some more, throwing, catching, dodging, tackling. But this time, Bob makes a touchdown for us. Everyone starts cheering as we run over to him. Hangman lifts him up onto his shoulders as we all crowd around chanting Bob's name.
It was a great day. It was nice to have a break from flying and the stress of the mission. I wish everyday was like this, and not just because of the insanely attractive views.
-¯'★'¯-
AFTER OUR FUN DAY ON THE BEACH, we went to the Hard Deck for a drink. A well deserved drink. After all that running around, I am parched. Most everybody is here, hanging out. We've been drinking and chatting and enjoying ourselves. I'm sitting on a stool next to Phoenix watching the boys play Pool.
"Don't you think it's time we show 'em how it's done?" Phoenix smirks looking at me.
"The duo is back together." I grab a pool stick and hop off my stool. "Boys, I think it's time Phoenix and I have a turn."
"Be my guest." Hangman says cockily. "But just warning ya, we're not gonna go easy on you, sweetheart."
Phoenix and I exchange a look. "Game on."
We were solids, Rooster and Hangman were stripes. I was fairly confident we had this in the bag. From what I remember from Top Gun, Rooster sucks ass at pool. And we all know Hangman is all bark no bite.
"Good luck, Ladies." Rooster says as he bends down to hit his ball. I raise my eyebrow as I watch it come no where close to the pocket.
"Wanna take that back, Bradshaw?" I ask looking at his flustered face.
I go next, knocking not one but two balls into the pocket. Hangman of course, had to make a snarky comment before proceeding with his turn.
Phoenix lines her stick up with the ball, knocking it into the pocket. We high-five in celebration. We have a significant amount of fewer balls on the table than our opponents. Hangman pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration, Rooster was up next.
"Hey, try and actually keep the ball on the table this time, Rooster." I say with mock sympathy and rest my hand on his arm. He rolls his eyes and bends down to line up his pool stick with the white ball.
"Riot quit trying to get into his head." Hangman pulls me away from him. I shrug going back to my beer. A miracle happened because somehow Rooster made it in the pocket. The boys cheered and high-fived.
"That's what I'm talking about!"
"You should try and do that again," I tease Rooster picking up my pool stick. "It's cute when you celebrate." I aim my stick, hit the white ball, and two balls fall into the pocket.
"Hey, whose side are you on?" Phoenix jokes.
"Yours, of course."
After a few more rounds it's evident Phoenix and I won.
"That's game fellas." I say patting a very disappointed looking Rooster on the shoulder. "How about you go buy us some beers?"
"I never agreed to that." Rooster smirked, leaning on the pool table to face me. Our eyes were on the same level, and our faces...were very close.
"It's only right to repay us after having to play against you guys. It was kind of pathetic for you to lose that quickly." I raise my eyebrows.
"Is that so?" He leans forward. My heart is beating out of my chest and suddenly I'm really nervous.
"Mhm."
"Sorry, darlin'. You're gonna have to pay for your own beer." And with that he walked away. I knew my face was probably red after that nickname. What a tease.
I walked over to the bar with Phoenix.
"It's on me. To celebrate our win." I offer, she happily accepts her beer. We sit and chat for a while. It's nice to talk to her again. I didn't realize how much I missed her.
"Don't pretend I didn't see that little exchange with Bradshaw earlier." She raises her eyebrows at me.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I move to face the bar.
"Oh come on, you were practically devouring each other."
"Nat, shut up. We were not."
"Looked like it to me." She shrugs.
"Okay let's stop talking about me." I turn back to face her. "Let's talk about your love life."
She didn't get a chance to answer because Rooster and Hangman appeared behind us.
"Hi, miss." Rooster says to me. I furrow my brows, confused.
"Don't worry ma'am I've got this." Hangman says pushing Rooster out of the way, but then he turns around and starts singing, holding his whiskey bottle like a microphone.
"You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips." I laugh when I realize what's happening.
"And there's no tenderness like before in your fingertips" Rooster sings to me, just like old times.
"You're trying hard not to show it, But baby, baby I know it" He reaches out his hand as he dances. I take it and join in.
"You lost that lovin' feelin'" We sing together as we start slow dancing. I look over my shoulder at Phoenix who just smiles at me as she sings along.
"Whoa, that lovin' feelin'" Pretty soon the whole bar starts to sing along. I laugh and look at Bradley, he smiles at me and I feel a thousand butterflies erupt in my stomach.
"You lost that lovin' feelin'" He sways me back and forth. I laugh when I see Hangman slow dancing with Bob, who looks very confused. Bradley keeps staring at me and the way he sings to me makes me actually believe what Phoenix was telling me earlier.
"Now it's gone, gone, gone, whoa-oh"
-¯'★'¯-
"You cannot tell me you and Bradshaw do not have a thing going on." Phoenix says, leading the way to her car.
"Well if we do, I didn't know about it until now."
A/N
i hope you guys got my reference to the og Top Gun. I had so much fun writing this chapter :)
please don't be ghost readers!! if you could vote and comment that would help me out a lot, and I would deeply appreciate it!
also thanks for favoriting the lady may soundtrack on spotify! I'm glad you guys like it because I had so much fun making it