Sleep, I Hardly Know Her
BRANDY SCROLLS BORED through her instagram feed, she hated that she once again was right about not being able to sleep, she has now accepted that for the next week and half this will be her life. Train during the day and then come back to her apartment, either have a drink and watch tv, sometimes she would go to the hardeck by herself and sit on the deck just drinking away her pain. Brandy knew that if she were home someone would make the remark of her starting to remind them of her father Frank, she was far from being him having the chance of not being alcoholic because she has more control than him, she knew that she did get one thing from him and that was anger.
She sighs, her eyes dart to the teal blue alarm clock on her right reading ten-forty, even after a day that was fun to her she still wasn't able to fall asleep,She sits up in her bed looking around her quiet apartment. Her thumb glides to the icon in the bottom of her screen opening her texts clicking on the bird icon for Rooster.
You up??? She types, she patiently taps her thumb on the side of the phone as she waits for a reply, the screen stays the same as the bubble for type dont appear, she tries the other contacts to see if anyone else she knew was up.
"Seriously, no one!" Brandy exclaims in a whisper, she rolls her eyes leaning her head on her wall in defeat.
"I'm so done with this detachment shit." She grumbled.
"I'm freaking twenty nine years old and i'm missing home like some kid at camp, I should be fucking fine not waiting to go home." She states out loud to herself.
She grabs her phone again looking up the nearest convenience store near her, getting cravings for pretzels and sprite, a pop would be better for her then a beer at ten.
Brandy in huff grabs a pair of grey sweatpants and an black athletic jacket with the Sox semblable on the breast. perfect outfit for a quick run for snacks, she quickly slipped on her Black nikes and grabbed her lanyard with her can of pepper spray and taser. She stuff in her pocket.
The brunette could feel her heart pounding in her ears as she begin to run down the street, no exact destination but an idea of when she was gonna stop and slow down, she grunts through her pants as the sweat trickled down her back and her muscles begin to tense up from her lack of a stretch.
⍧⍧⍧
The beeping from the register can be heard as she opens the cooler door to the sodas, she reaches for the green sprite can before letting the door close behind her, she walks down the aisle of candy picking up the winter green extra gum, she found that the gum was helpful for her in the morning before her debriefings. Brandy lets her fingers graze over the the other candies as she makes her way to the chip aisle.
The brunette grabs her snack of choice as she hears the sounds of the bell to the gas station open up, the sound brought back her memories of working on the Southside when she was fifteen till she turned eighteen quitting her job for college.
Brandy sighs again as she messes with the bag before turning to go to another isle only stopping feeling herself bump into something.
"Oop-Im sorry." A voice apologizes to her, she shakes her bending down picking up her bag of pretzels. She was thankful her can had not fallen from her hands.
"Daredevil?" A male voice ask's.
She knits her brows looking up from the ground to see a familiar dirty blonde man looking down at her, she can see feel herself wanting to curl up into a ball and hide away, she clears her throat grabbing her stuff standing back up.
"Bob." She say's outloud.
"Not the place I thought I would see you at." Brandy adds. he nods his head looking at her up and down/ if she had known she was gonna run into someone from work she would have worn something that didn't make her look lazy. She was more thankful that she was wearing a sports bra rather than no bra.
"Well..uh I couldn't sleep, I was driving around thought I get a snack." Bob explains to her she nods her head. "Makes two of us." She grumbles.
"What?" He wonders, she shakes her head. She smirked looking him up and down.
"Nothing, You know I thought seeing you in that yellow shirt was all I was gonna see of you in civilian clothes." Brandy joke's.
He feels a heat of red rush to his cheek's at her comment. He was wearing a white graphic t shirt of San Diego paired with black joggers and A maroon athletic jacket with his signature glasses, nothing to write home about. Though to Brandy she think's he make's it all work.
"Well you expect me to wear my uniform to sleep." He ask's her.
"Maybe." She joke's laughing softly, she bites her lip for moment before pointing at the counter, he moves out of the way letting her go ahead of him making her nod her head thanking him. She places down her items down letting the graveyard shift cashier ring up her items.
"6,78." The tired cashier says to her.
She nods her head pulling out her wallet from her pocket and placing down the amount required, she takes the bag from the cashier as she turns on her heels, only turning around looking to her crewmate as he rings up a smartwater and a pack of gum.
"Twenty on pump two." He politely tells the cashier who boredly rings up the gas pump for him. He pays the tired girl before he looks to Brandy, she turns around walking outside as the door rings. The brunette sighs feeling the summer air hit her cheeks as she steps out she can feel the door leave her grip, he takes a step in front of her in almost protective manner to her as she digs her bag.
"You know I thought I was the only one of the crew still awake." Brandy comments as she opens the tab of her pop, taking a sip. Feeling the sweet taste go down her throat.
"Well I took nap when I got home, I thought it was later then it was." Bob tells her, she nods her head.
"Oh you took one of those after school naps, those are the best." Brandy remarks as she sips her drink popping her lips, Bob looks to the brunette.
She seemed less closed off than she was during the training sessions that the both of them endure, it could be that it was late and the both of them dropped their masks for once.
"You might wanna pump the gas." Brandy points out, he shakes his head realizing she was right as the both of them step down walking towards his now working red Camry. She nods her head sipping her drink.
"Who helped jump start it?" Brandy asks him as he grabs the nozzle filling the car with gasoline, he looks up at her as the sound of the tanking filling begin.
"Uh Rooster, he helped me." He tells.
"Good for him." Brandy say's, she smirk's.
"I'm at least happy you didn't pay someone to do it." Brandy adds, he nods his head, he looks around the parking lot for sites of her motorcycle only seeing four wheeled vehicles instead, he furrows his brows.
"Hey..uh how did you get here?" Bob asks her, she gulps looking around her trying to think of a creative lie to get him off her back, why should I lie, Brandy thinks before she finally speaks up.
"I ran." Brandy tells him, his eyes widens. "You ran?" He says in disbelief, she nods her head chuckling softly.
"Yeah, that's about say six miles from my apartment." Brandy explains, he blinks in disbelief at the idea of running .
"My legs hurt." She mumbles.
"Wow, you ran all the way here." He say's impressed, she nod's
"Yeah, it's no worse then the two hundred push ups we did." Brandy tell's him. "Still have nightmares." He joke's. She chuckled
"You have nightmares, my arms still hurt." Brandy jokes making circular motion with her arms, she sighs heavy just as the sounds of the gas nozzle stop. He looks to her before he removes it, she looks around her before she finally clears her throat.
"Well see you tomorrow Bob." Brandy mocks salutes with her fingers before turns on her heels and begins walking away from the rest stop. He watches her turn to walk away.
"Wait!" He shouts to her making turn around looking to him with her brows knitted. "What?" She ask's him.
"Im sorry its just uh...I dont think its a good idea to be walking alone especially at night." He points out, her lips form a thin line as she nods her head.
"Aww." She say's, she take's a step forward.
"Trust me Bob, I'm no stranger to walking alone at night." Brandy tries to reasures him, he shakes his head at her statement.
"What..uh, Im sorry but I can't let you walk alone." He say's.
Brandy chuckles softly at his concern for her safety, when she was nine she was carrying a homemade shiv from old toothbrush, and when she was fourteen she was followed half a mile from the EL train by a an older man. She had turned around around on the guy and pulled out the shiv, he took off not without calling her a bitch.
"I can choke someone out in less then a second." Brandy reminds him, he licks his lip trying to come up with something to tell the stubborn woman, she crosses her arms.
"Look, I wouldn't want it on my conscious if something bad were to happen to you and I wasn't able to prevent it when I knew I could." Bob tells her. She laughs softly at his concern, she looks between him and the darkly lit road.
"Okay if you insist." She concedes putting her bag to her side as she walks to his passenger side door as she feels him staring at her. She leans on his roof looking to him briefly.
"Are you hungry?" She asks him, he furrows his brows at the sudden change in topic, he bites his lip. "Little bit." He answer's.
"I saw a 24 hour diner down the way." Brandy informs him as her mouth waters at the thought of food, " I can murder some hashbrowns right." She remarks.
"I dont think its a good idea, we have training in the morning." Bob reminds her, she groans quietly leaning her head on the top of the car pouting, she looks up meeting his gaze as he remains unsure.
"Bob, its not like we are getting shit faced." She states, his eyes widen at her remark laughing softly still remaining at odds. "I'm simply offering to buy you late night breakfast." She tell's him.
He closes his eyes shaking his head, he licks his lips before nodding his head making her smile in victory at him yielding, That was easy, she thinks.
"It's your call Daredevil." She opens the door to his car looking up at him.
"Okay, you have helped me out many times now, and have seen my ghost tattoo, you have earned the right to call me by my name."
Bob leans against the roof looking into her blue irises as she keeps a mischievous grin looking to him.
"Okay..uh what do I call you?" He asks. She smiles looking around her as debates with herself, she once again meets his eyes.
"Call me Brandy." She shrugs her shoulders, he blinks in surprise at her name as he sits in the driver's seat. .
Her eyes dart around the vehicle, it was surprising clean with a few drinks laid around in the cup holders with the smell of black ice car freshener fills her nostrils. She looks to his consoul picking up the card she flips it over reading the front, Greetings from San Diego, the painted picture of the beach with orange overlay. Her mind fills with thoughts she tries to shake out before she hears the car door open next to her.
⍧⍧⍧
She taps the counter of the bar looking to the blonde who fills a mug with a auburn substance, she looks to the brunette grinning at the appearance of her.
"Back again Daredevil." Penny says in surprise. Brandy laughs looking around at the other bar patrons, she looks to the pool area seeing her friends playing a round they wave to her which she returns before looking back to the kind bartender.
"Well what can I say, I cant resist this place." She smirks looking to the small planes that hang above. "No shit."
"Yes, and I have a tab to keep filling up for you." Brandy remarks, Penny laughs softly at the young women as she stands in front of her. "Well I appreciate that." She say's.
"What can I get you?" Penny asks her, she looks around her thinking for a moment. "Old Style if you still got it."
"Same thing every time with you." She says, Brandy nods her head tapping the counter with nails with a gleeful grin, she bends down under the bar pulling out one brown bottle of Old Style for the women.
"I will say you are my second favorite bartender." Brandy tells her taking the drinks, Pennys eyes widen as she realizes something. "Hey Daredevil."
She turns around looking to her, she leans to the other counter pulling out yellow postcard with a brown liquid stain on the font of San Diego, she furrows her brows as she walks to the top taking a look at the paper.
"What is this?" Brandy asks her.
"Some ditzy blonde came in here this afternoon looking for you, she said to give this to you. "
Brandy can feel her heart stop for a moment as her body fills with a heated rage at the mention of a blonde, her once gleeful grin now turned to a stern look as she leans against the counter. "Tell me something Penny."
"Did this blonde happen to seem like she was off her rocker talking like she just did a straight line of coke and looked higher than a fucking kite?" Brandy demands from her with the postcard in her hand, Penny think's nodding.
"Take it you know her."
Brandy scoffs shaking her head biting hip hard feeling the taste of nickel enter her mouth, she looks around. "Know her, you can say that."
"Are you okay?" Penny wonders furrowing her brows,Brandy closes her her eyes nodding her head. "Peachy."
"Do me a favor, if she comes in here when I'm also here." She orders her as she looks to the pool area feeling the stares of rooster on the back of her head. "Throw her crazy ass overboard."
She turns in a huff on her heels with both the the postcard and her drink in hand, a simple balance between what she was trying to run away from and what she was hoping to enjoy. She sits on the chair across from the pool table looking to the paper in her hand.
𝙱𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚢, 𝙸 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚊 𝚊𝚙𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚒𝚣𝚎 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚔 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎, 𝙼𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚌𝚊. The writing reads, her noses crunches in her anger as she shakes her head folding the card into her bomber jacket pocket. She brings the bottle to her lips taking a swig of the fruitful drink.
"Hey." A deep voice says to her, she looks to Rooster his brown eyes looking to her grim blue ones. "Hey." She says back.
"You Alright?" He asks her, she swallows hard sitting up looking to the taller man, "Little annoyed.
"Those for me." Brandy points to the shot on the pool table, he nods his head just as she grabs the shot glasses leaning her head back as she downs the liquor in a moment's time, she scrunched her nose and closed her eyes shaking her head. She exclaims placing it back down on the green.
"Nine ball,Daredevil." Phoenix says to her, Brandy grins walking to the ebony hair woman taking the pool stick from her hands. "Thank you firebird."
"Crappy nickname but I will accept." Phoenix says back to her, Brandy scoffs softly. At least you dont have my name, she thinks as she aims the pool stick at the cue ball before taking her shot hitting the solid green into the corner pocket.
"Nicely done." Brandy says standing up leaning on the stick looking on the two pilots as she tries the best she can to mask her anger and irritation that was following all throughout her body , she had tried so hard to get away from the reason why she needed to be in the military and now it was here, she grips the pool stick in anger before leaning down again taking the shot once more.
⍧⍧⍧
"Okay you were right, I needed this." Bob says back to her, she nods her head cutting through her porkchop before stabbing her fork with it, she smiles at his reaction watching him cut into his omelet. Only a few late night patrons remain in the small beachside
"I told you, everything tastes better at night." Brandy says to him biting into food, she had debated on whether or not to get waffles with her hashbrowns deciding that probably having sugar in her body at midnight was not the wisest decision, well neither was running in the middle of the night.
"I actually worked a place like this for a year." Brandy remnises looking around her, when Fiona was owning patsy's she offered her a job which gratefully accepted from her sister, she hated the jerks that took advantage of her and made her do stupid things just for the sake of doing it.
"We were open for twenty four hours and one time we had a speakeasy theme and my sister she took a hammer in this beam and made a sign that said Al Capone's gun shot there."
"Did people believe it?" Bob asks her, she chuckles nodding her head. "People will believe anything."
"So is that what you do when your not here?" Bob asks her, she bites her lip thinking of answer. "Sort of."
"I dont work at Patsys anymore but I do work at a diner, when Im not here I'm usually roped into something stupid my siblings have done." Brandy recalls.
"Like what?" He wonders, she can feel her heart stop briefly.
"Like my sister throwing a block party because a lady pulled some racist shit on my little brother." Brandy recalls to him, he furrowed his brow at her words trying to understand what she meant, she realizes.
"Oh uh yeah my little brother is black, it's a weird thing our grandma and some sax player I dont know it was a whole thing anywho, my sister ended up punching her in the face." Brandy recalls with a smirk, his eyes widen at the new information while being shocked at her bluntness.
"She punched her?
"Yup, straight in the face, multiple witnesses." Brandy says before putting her food into her mouth, he chuckles lightly as she just smirks at his amusement and shock, she knew she had other things that she could tell him but she didn't feel like scaring him off.
"I.I dont know what that's like." Bob admits, she nods her head. "What about you got any siblings?" Brandy asks him drinking her water.
"No I'm an only child." He tells her, she does a quiet dramatic gasp. "What."
"Tell me Bob, what was it like not having to rat race to take a shower?" She asks him as she squints her eyes in fake intimidation.
"Great actually." He admits, she shakes her head laughing thinking about how she was always screwed on hot water and always had to wait till her siblings were not home to take a shower. "Ugh, lucky you."
"Well actually my mom she likes to take her time with getting ready so whenever she goes somewhere it takes her about twenty minutes on her hair and fifteen on makeup and clothes." Bob recalls with a soft smile, her lips form a thin line at the mention of a mom.
"I mean it's not a rat race but more of waiting for the bathroom to be open."
she could feel a slight ping of jealousy forming in the pit of her stomach, she didn't know why she had to be jealous of, she knew everyone else's experiences were different her own. She sighs looking at her hashbrown.
"So Where are you from anyway?" She asks stiling looking down.
"Small town,California." He tells. "Wow, small town boy."
"Well I say small but really it's a small city." He corrects himself making her chuckle softly, from his demeanor she could tell that he was beginning to relax more, still keeping his nature that she had known him for.
"If you dont mind me asking." Brandy says making him look to her, she pushes her brown hair out of her face as her gaze meets his.
"How did a small town boy end up joining Top Gun?"
His lips form a thin line at her question as he looks around the small diner, the few night eaters talking quietly among each other while the sounds of the kitchen filled her ears, he sighs sitting his fork down.
"I've always been pretty good with learning things, I was always ahead of everyone when I was younger and I always tried to do the right thing, even if it did get me into a bit of trouble sometimes, not always." Bob recalls, her brows knit together as she listens intently.
"So I think I wanted to put that all to use where It would matter, where I would matter." Bob says solemnly, she looks down seeing his finger nervously tapping his silverware.
"You wanted to prove yourself basically." Brandy puts it, he nods his head,I understand that, she thinks, maybe the two were no different than what she had thought before.
"Can I ask you something?" Bob reflects, she nods her head. "How does a city girl with a big family end up a fighter pilot."
"An entire summer of studying and dumb luck." She states, she facepalms at her bluntness wanting to kick herself for her own words.
"If you have a big family why would you wanna take the profession where you could." He stops himself realizes what he was going to stay only halting seeing the blank look on the brunettes face.
"Well you see Bob, I've always had a hard time finding a place in this screwed up world and I didnt want to end up like one of the girls in my neighborhood who would walk down the streets in fur coats smoking a joint."
"I'm like you I wanted to matter and I didnt want to end up ...screwing my life up." A silence falls between the two of them, unsure of what to say to the other. Brandy sighs heavy rubbing her eyes as she can feel the tiredness she had been lacking finally begin to creep on her, she wanted nothing more then to not have said what she just said, I made it awkward, she thinks before she clears her throat.
"You gonna eat that?" Brandy asks him breaking the silence pointing to his plate of french toast, he smile softly dividing into three other pieces sliding them to her, she smiles thankful to him stabbing her fork into the bread.
"Man, French toast reminds me of my childhood." She admits with a mouthful, he smiles nodding his head biting tinto his own food counting to listen to the girl in front of him. "I always sucked at making it."
"How do you fail at making french toast?" He asks her, she hisses through her teeth as she thinks. "Well I either add to much cinnamon or not enough and I live it on for to long that it burns." She explains.
"If it makes you feel any better, I burnt ramen noodles." The blonde tells her, she laughs shaking her head as she tries to think of how he could possibly manage it. "What!"
"How do you burn ramen noodles?" Brandy exclaims, he shakes his head with a grin at her surprise. "You dont add enough water."
"It's literally the easiest thing how could your mess that up?!" She laughs.
"I dont know, how do you mess up easy french toast?" He rebuttals, her jaw drops as shes grips her chest in hurt at his remark. "Ouch."
"Touche." Brandy says with a wink biting into the toast as her just shakes his head chuckling softly at the brunettes dramatics, enjoying her humor he had grown fond of with their short time together.
⍧⍧⍧
The night time lights reflected onto her face as they drove down the San Diego boulevard, she struggled with keeping her eyes open as she dazed at the window as the faint sounds of soft rock played in the background. The both of them stayed quiet as they had finished their last loop of the beach town. Brandy had insisted that she control the music during the drive which he gracefully let her do as a way of keeping his focus on the road, she finally had asked him to take her back to her apartment, which to not have to direct him placing the information his cars gps.
Her blue eyes focuses on the outside as they passed convenience stores and bars that littered the girls street as they began to near her apartment, she sighs as she reaches for her bag of food she had bought.
"You okay over there?" Bob asks her, she swallows some spit as her throat was dried from the temptation of sleeping. "Um yeah."
The car finally pulls to a stop as he park's in front of the white bricked beach side apartment building, she can hear a faint guitar on the radio as she looks to the darkly lit rooms around the parking lot, she turns to look to him.
"Thank you for this." Brandy says to him, he nods his head. "Oh it was no problem." He reasures her, his voice slightly deep, a bit deeper than usual, a silence falls as she looks to the dashboard of his car.
"You know the other day when you asked me if I was okay?" Brandy asks him, he nod his head. "I was kind of lying."
"I know." He admits, she snaps her head in his direction. "You knew."
"I could see it on your face, you seemed not like yourself." Bob tells her, she scoffs leaning her head back against his seat cushion baffled that she didn't hide her tiredness better, hoping none of the others thought she was just lazy.
"Are you okay?" He asks again, she sniffles wiping her cold nose.
"I cant sleep." She admits, he looks to her with sympathy. "It's been like that, not long just a few nights."
"I'm sorry about that." He says to her, she looks to his. "Don't be, it's not your fault it's too quiet here."
"Shouldn't that be a good thing though?" He asks her, should be, she thinks. "Well back home there's always something happening even at night, I sleep through gunshots and sirens not wave sounds."
"God, I'm a hot mess." Brandy grumbles rubbing her eyes trying to keep herself awake once more.
"I dont think that." He admits, she can feel a rush of heat hit her cheeks as she tried to hide a smirk that dared to make it to her face, she looks to the dirty blonde seeing his soft smile and eyes looking on her, she hoped that he wasn't just lying to see her smile.
"Well that means a lot coming from you." She says, her heart raced in her ears as she looks to the man in the front seat who looked on at her with admiration, she gulps hard as she forces herself to look away trying to everything to not show her emotion.
"Well uh..see you in the morning, uh please uh drive safe." Brandy wishes to him as she grabs her bag and lanyard opening his car door, he chuckles feeling his heart his chest watching her rushing to get out.
"Okay will." Bob tells her, she mock salutes him as she closes the door.
"Night." She says to him as she turns around on her heels, she can feel his eyes on the back of her head as she walks through the dark parking lot she chuckles wondering if he was still there, she turns back around seeing his silhouette and outline of his glasses, she licks her lips waving to him as she tries to contain herself from smiling, failing to do so.
She ascends the stairs as she walks to apartment door, she uses her key turning the knob enter the dim light room closing and locking the door behind. Brandy smile widens as she looks between the door,
Maybe going out was a good thing, she thinks, as she holds her arms close to herself tossing her keys onto her counter before she lets herself fall onto her bed letting the tiredness finally over take her, she was letting thoughts of both the quiet boy run her mind and the possibility of sleeping at last.
"Finally!" She whispers into her sheets as she is consumed by darkness in her eyes.
A/N GOOD NIGHT! IM gonna sleep and Hope this was semi good i dont how to feel about this i thinks it fine it has some issues but whatever good night! 5000 word count holy shit.!!!