Lt. Taylor (Swift) Grace has known Bradley (Rooster) Bradshaw since they were just two years old. They had done everything together since, she even moved herself back four years when Rooster's papers were pulled out of nowhere in the academy. But, w...
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Following Bradley's instructions, I wore something basic and comfortable. The only problem was, I was ready an hour early. Phoenix had left at 3:30, leaving me two and a half hours to get ready for the date. I wasn't stressed, I calmly straightened the wrinkles out of my hair and slipped on a yellow tank with light wash jean shorts. I laced up my high top white vans at 5:07 with nothing to do. After finally doing the dishes from this morning, I sat down on the couch to watch The Breakfast Club. I had just gotten to the part where Andy decided to lead them down the hallways instead of Bender when I heard a knock on my door. I glance quickly at the time, 6:00 sharp. I smile to myself, acknowledging his timeliness. I quickly turn off the TV, not bothering to pause the movie before doing so. I open the door to see Rooster standing there in his all classic tank top, jeans, and Hawaiian shirt with high tops. I was glad to see I dressed perfectly for whatever we were going to do.
"Hey," I say with a certain excitement in my voice "you know you're welcome to come right in, you didn't have to knock."
"Well this is a first date, I had to do it the right way didn't I?" he replies "Ready to roll?"
"Yep," I say putting my wallet in my right hand.
"One more thing before we go though," Bradley says, grabbing my wallet out of my hand and opening the door back up to put it inside. "You won't be needing that."
"Hey, I can't let you pay for everything."
"Maybe next time, Swiftie. Anyways, I'm not paying for much, just food."
"Okay, I trust you."
I grab his hand as we walk down the sidewalk swinging our arms between us as we walk.
"Wait," He says stopping "give me a spin." he finishes. I laugh throwing my head back as he spins me. "Just as beautiful as I thought."
"Aww Roost, that's so cheesy of you. I love it." I reply as I grab his arm with my other hand looking up at him.
"Alright, now time for the surprise location. Put this over your eyes." He tells me pulling out a bandana.
"What?"
"Hey, you said you trusted me."
"Okay..." I say hesitantly as I tie the blindfold over my eyes.
"Don't be scared. I'm going to pick you up so that way I know for sure you won't trip or fall while I'm leading you around."
"Okay," I respond as I feel him pick me up, bridal style. I wrap my arms around his neck for safe measures. After he walks for about 5 minutes, he sets me down on my feet.
"You ready?" he questions, I simply nod, then he takes off the blindfold.
"Oh my god," is all I can manage to whisper. Somehow we had gotten to the roof of the apartment building where Bradley had set up a picnic, facing the sunset over the ocean.
"Do you like it?" he questions hugging my waist from behind and resting his chin on my shoulder.
"It's perfect," I say finally managing to find the words to describe the setting before me. "This is the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me."
"If you think it's perfect now, wait until you see what we're eating," he says grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the blanket a couple feet away from us. My jaw drops as he pulls out food from my favorite restaurant that only had locations in North Carolina, Smithfield's Chicken and BBQ.
"How the hell did you get this!! All of the locations are across the country!" I ask astonished the food is even in front of me.
"Remember lil' Red?" Claire Moore, how could I forget her. She used to swear on her life Bradley and I would fall in love back when we were just kids at the academy.
"How could I forget?"
"Well she's taking a couple weeks off to visit her family in North Carolina and she just flew out to see some old friends in California today. I asked her if she could bring some for the date and she couldn't say no." Claire was an old friend of ours. She grew up in North Carolina, but growing up in northern Georgia we weren't but a few hours away. She got her callsign from her red hair and southern redneck nature with a combination of her midget sized height for a naval aviator of four eleven.
"You better save some of your attention for me, I think the chicken is taking all of yours." Bradley joked to which we both laughed. I grabbed a chicken leg from the container and bit into the still slightly warm fried chicken. I was immediately brought back to all the weekends the Grace and Bradshaw families loaded up in my mom's Tahoe, and how grown up Bradley and I felt sitting in the very back row of the car when we were five. We drove hours to get that chicken, and every time it was worth it.
"It's just as good as I remembered," I reflect.
"Hell yeah it is," Rooster remarked.
After finishing up eating, we lay back looking up at the stars. Although it was the most cliche date I had been on, it just happened to be the best one too. We lay there cuddled up under the stars until about 11:00, but it felt like we hadn't even been there for an hour.
"I hate to make you get up, but we kind of don't need to fall asleep on the roof." Bradley says. I exhale loudly before getting up. We walk all the way back to my apartment in silence, hand-in-hand, swinging our arms once again.
"Tonight couldn't have been more perfect," I say. "Thank you," I say staring into those big brown eyes of his. Next thing I know, my eyes flutter shut and our lips crash together. Some people would describe kissing the love of their life for the first time as fireworks, with sparks flying everywhere. Bradley and I kissing was bigger than that. It was like the big bang, stunning and larger than life, causing everything to fall in place and just make sense, creating a whole new world where it was just me and him. When we break the kiss he pulls me into a hug, wrapping his arms around my shoulders and placing his lips on my forehead while I hug his waist, burying my head in his chest.
"I'm guessing this means there's gonna be at least a few more dates," Rooster mumbles smiling into my hair.
I chuckle lightly into his chest "Yeah, I'd say at least a few."
Once we had released the hug, Bradley held my hand giving me another short but sweet kiss on the lips. "Goodnight, sunshine." he says before walking back down to his door.
"Goodnight, bubba." I respond walking inside my door. For the first time in months, I fell fast asleep with no trouble at all.
