19 DAYS UNTIL MISSION
They failed. And Jenna felt like it was all her fault.
They were sitting in the briefing room, waiting for Rooster, Fanboy, and Payback to get back from the tarmac. They failed too.
The door opened and the three pilots came into the room, immediately finding their seats. Rooster slid into the same chair next to Jenna from earlier this morning and let out a big sigh.
"At least you made it to the target," Jenna offered in an attempt at positivity.
"Yeah, but Mav won't say that it's good enough," he responded back.
Maverick walked into the room and headed straight for the screen at the front. He pressed a couple buttons on the computer and the simulated flight path from Jenna and Phoenix's attempt started playing. Everyone watched as the little blue plane marked with Jenna's callsign moved through the canyon, with Phoenix on her tail. Jenna's plane sped up, then hit the breaks to go around a corner. Phoenix's plane veered upwards to avoid hitting both Jenna and the canyon side, and entered the SAM's radar. Her plane turned red. If this were the real mission, she and Bob would be dead. Maverick turned to me, a stern look on his face.
"Killshot, why did Phoenix and Bob die?" he asked.
"Because I hit the breaks and changed speed, and she had to avoid running into me," she responded.
"No, Killshot, what did you fail to do that caused them to die?" Maverick asked again.
"I didn't communicate with my wingman," Jenna said glumly.
"That's what you're going to have to tell their families at their funerals," Maverick said. "And it's not good enough." He turned to Phoenix.
"Phoenix, why didn't you anticipate what your leader was doing? I briefed you on the terrain," Mav said. Phoenix opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off. "Tell that to his family."
Phoenix turned to Bob, a somber look on her face, and Bob just nodded his head. Maverick moved back to the computer and pulled up the second simulation: Rooster's.
"Rooster, you got to the target," Mav started. "But you ran way over the time limit, giving 5th generation enemy aircraft enough time to intercept both you and your wingman. In a head to head with those aircraft in your F-18s, you're dead."
Rooster stared at Mav angrily, but said nothing in response.
Jenna leaned over to him and whispered, "If Mav says it can be done, it can be done. They wouldn't send us if it was a suicide mission."
Rooster slumped back against his seat and turned to Jenna. "You so sure about that?"
Maverick finished up teaching and dismissed the pilots for the day. Jenna stopped Phoenix and Bob on their way out and apologized.
"I'm really sorry guys, that'll never happen again," she said.
"Don't worry about it Kill," Phoenix said. "We all learned something from it, and now we keep moving forward." Bob hummed in agreement and patted Jenna on the shoulder.
"We'll see you tomorrow, Harrison. Don't sweat it," he said with a small smile. They walked out of the briefing room, and Jenna sat back down in her chair, her head in her hands. It was possible that someone wouldn't come back from this mission, and she could not bear it if it was her fault. She had to fly perfectly, and prove that she belonged here.
~
After her quick drive home, Jenna hopped in the shower and threw on some leggings and an old Naval Academy t-shirt. As she mindlessly scrolled through Netflix, her phone dinged. She looked down and saw a message from an unknown number.
Unknown Number: hey kill, it's bradshaw. got your number from the groupchat. You busy?
Jenna quickly saved his number as 'Rooster' and shot him a text back.
Hey Rooster. No I'm not busy. What's up?
Rooster: Odd question, but any chance I can come over right now?
Yeah I guess so. Let me share my location with you, one sec.
Rooster: got it, thx. be there in 15!
Jenna sat there, stunned for a minute. Did he just invite himself over? She jumped off the couch and tried to quickly tidy up the apartment. She ran to the bathroom to check her appearance, but heard a knock on her front door before she could fix her hair. 15 minutes, her ass.
She walked over to the door and opened it, not sure what to expect at all. Rooster was standing outside with a paintball gun in each hand, smiling widely.
"Surprise!" he said.
"What the fuck are you doing with those?" Jenna said, laughing.
"Don't you mean, 'what the fuck are we doing with those?'" He responded, laughing with her
"Okay, okay. What the fuck are we doing with those?" She asked again.
We," he said, handing one of the guns to her, "are going paintballing!"
"Right now?" She asked.
"Right now!" he said excitedly.
"Okay give me 5 minutes to change, and I'll be ready!" Jenna said, matching his excitement. She invited him inside and Rooster sat on her couch as she rushed into her room to change into an old pair of shorts and a t-shirt that she didn't mind getting ruined. Jenna stopped at the mirror over her dresser to pull her hair up into a ponytail. She grinned at my reflection. She had always wanted to go paintballing, but never had the time. This was going to be so much fun.
Jenna stepped out of her bedroom and walked back to the living room to see Rooster holding a picture frame from the side table. She sat down next to him and smiled at the picture.
"That's me and my mom," she explained. "She was in the Navy too, ya know. That's what inspired me to join."
"That's awesome," Rooster said. "Where is she now?"
Jenna sighed and faced him with a sad smile. "She died when I was really young. And my dad was never in the picture. All she told me was that he was in the Navy, too"
"I'm sorry, Jenna," he said "I know what that's like."
Before she could ask him what he means, Rooster stood up and put the picture back down.
"Ready to go?" He asked in a much more cheerful voice.
"Born ready," Jenna said, hopping off the couch and heading towards the door. Rooster grabbed the paintball guns off the counter and followed her out. They decided to take his car, and he opened the passenger door for Jenna.
"Quite a gentleman, aren't you?" Jenna teased him.
"Momma raised me right, what can I say," Rooster said with a wink. He climbed into the driver seat, exited the parking lot, and took off down the road.
"You alright if I play some music?" Jenna asked.
"Whatever you want," Rooster replied as he handed her the aux cord. She hit shuffle on her playlist and looked out the window, watching everything go by in a blur. Before she knew it, Rooster was slowing down and pulling into the parking lot of an outdoor paintball arena. They got out and headed inside. Rooster paid for them both, despite Jenna's arguing. It was the middle of the afternoon, so they are the only ones there.
"Aright," Rooster started, "Me vs you. I'll give you 20 seconds to find a starting spot. First to get hit loses. Fair?"
"Fair," Jenna agreed. He immediately started counting and Jenna sprinted away from him into the arena. There were tires and giant concrete slabs everywhere, perfect to use to shield yourself. Once she found a good spot, Jenna crouched down, put her helmet on, and got her gun into position. Rooster yelled "Fight's on!" and she started to slowly move around the arena, peaking her head out from behind the obstacles in search of him.
As she looked around a tire, she headr a whizzing sound go past her head. She turned and saw fresh blue paint splattered on the wall behind her.
"That was a warning shot, Harrison!" Jenna heard Rooster yell. She looked around for him, but couldn't see him anywhere. The paintball came from in front of her somewhere. She didn't want to step out into the open, so she ducked back behind the tire and crawled to her left, attempting to find a way to sneak up behind Rooster. As she turned the corner, Jenna spotted him leaning back against a wall, gun at the ready. She took aim and pulled the trigger, and just missed. Rooster was startled, and immediately set his sights on Jenna. She screamed and ran through the arena, trying to lose him. Just as she was about to duck behind a large empty barrel, she felt something hit her shoulder. She looked back and saw a large pink paint splatter all over her back.
"And that's a killshot," Rooster said, pulling off his helmet to reveal a big smile on his face.
"Hey," Jenna whined. "That's my catchphrase!"
"Use it or lose it, darlin" He said laughing. Oh it's so on, Jenna thought. She pointed her gun at him and pulled the trigger, hitting him directly in the chest. Rooster had green paint all over his shirt and some of it even sprayed his face. Jenna burst out laughing when he went silent.
"You're dead, Harrison," He said, grinning evilly, and Jenna took off in a sprint. She cut right and left, trying to make it hard for him to follow her. She turned my head, looking behind her to see if Rooster was chasing her, and then she smacked into something at full speed. She heard someone say "ooof" and wasn't entirely sure that it was her. Jenna put her arms out to catch herself but she fell right on top of whatever she smacked into. She picked her head up and came face to face with Rooster. He was on his back, and she was sprawled out on top of him, her hands on either side of his head, their faces just inches from each other.
"How's the weather up there, Harrison?" He teased, color coming to his cheeks. Jenna blushed and quickly stood up, trying to get off of Rooster as quickly as possible.
She cleared her throat, a feeling a little awkward that they were just that close to each other. She could've moved her head slightly forward and they would've been kissing.
"Killshot," Rooster said, snapping her out of her daydream. "Wanna play another round?"
"You're so on!" Jenna said. They played a few more rounds, and Jenna won a couple. By the time they decided to leave, their shirts are barely visible under all the paint splatters.
"I'm gonna have some major bruises tomorrow," Jenna said laughing.
"You and me both," Rooster said, looking down at the places he got hit.
"We can't get into the car with wet paint on our clothes," Jenna pointed out.
"That's why," Rooster said as he opened the trunk of his car. "I brought extras!"
He tossed Jenna a shirt and grabbed a few things for himself, while she headed to the bathroom to change. Jenna noticed that her shorts were surprisingly paint free, so all she had to do was switch out her shirt with Rooster's. She pulled it on and laughed at her reflection in the mirror. His shirt was about 3 sizes too big on her, but it was comfy and smelled good, so she didn't mind.
Jenna walked out of the bathroom and went back to the car, waiting for Rooster in the passenger seat. Shortly after, he came out and climbed into the car.
"Nice shirt," he said, smirking.
"Oh this thing?" Jenna teased. "Some dude gave it to me like, forever ago."
"Well he must have had to be pretty cool for you to keep it," Rooster flirted back.
Jenna blushed and looked him right in the eyes, "Yeah, he's not so bad," she said with a smile. Rooster grinned and started the car, pulling out of the lot and back onto the road. They drove in a comfortable silence until he spoke again.
"So was that not the best apology ever, or what?" He asked.
"You are so forgiven, Bradshaw," Jenna said, laughing. "How did you even come up with that?"
Rooster glanced over at Jenna, grinning, and then back at the road. "We'll I figured that we both had a pretty tough day today, and could definitely blow off some steam. Seemed like the kind of thing you'd be into."
"Well it was perfect," Jenna smiled at him.
A little while later, they arrived back at her apartment.
"You wanna come up and hang?" Jenna asked. "I was gonna make pizza for dinner."
"Yeah, sure!" Rooster said. They walked into her apartment and Jenna headed to the kitchen, pulling the pizza out of the freezer. She put it in the oven and grabbed a couple bottles of water, and tossed one to Rooster. They sat down on the couch next to each other, and started to argue about what to watch.
"I wanna watch Game of Thrones," Jenna said, grabbing the remote and pressing the button for HBO Max. Rooster snatched the remote out of her hand.
"Oh no. The Phillies are on right now. We gotta watch the game," he replied. Jenna leaned over and took the remote back.
"Nice try. My house, my rules, Lieutenant," She responded.
"Yes ma'am," Rooster said, saluting her and they both laughed. Rooster had never seen GoT, so they started on episode one. Jenna grabbed the pizza when it was done, and they spent the next few hours engrossed in the show. Jenna was really tired from the day, so she leaned her head on Rooster's shoulder. She felt his shoulders relax a bit and she smiled to herself. The warmth radiating off of him made her feel really sleepy, and she could feel her eyelids start to close. She fought to stay awake, but after a few more minutes, sleep claimed her.
~
Jenna woke up sometime in the middle of the night, alone in her own bed. She got up to get a glass of water from the kitchen. As she entered the living room, she saw Rooster passed out on the couch. She smiled to herself and realized that he must have carried her to bed at some point after she fell asleep. Jenna tiptoed over and turned the TV off, then headed to the closet to grab Rooster a blanket. After laying it on top of him, she snuck back to bed, silently closing the door behind her.
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AN: Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! A little more Rooster/Killshot for ya! Thanks for reading!