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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As I open my eyes all the memories of yesterday come flooding back to me, the fight, Iceman's death, sobbing my heart out in Bradley's arms. I didn't have any tears left to cry, I had done what I could, but it was inevitable. Although it made me upset, I knew his cancer wasn't causing him pain anymore, and as much as it pained me to say it, it was something I could learn to live with. I do the thing I've been doing for years, the only thing that's kept me a-float all these years of hurt and loss. I would move on and I would heal. For my parents, for Goose and Carole, and for Ice. It was at this moment that I noticed the strong arms around me that somehow manage to cradle me gently as if I'll shatter at any moment. I smile at the thought of Bradley finally being mine. The perfect man for me was lying here with me in his arms, and the thought of that made me the happiest girl alive. There was also the thought that because of our jobs we could lose each other, and it scared the living shit out of me. I snuggle into his chest further, breathing in his scent. Then, I look up at his face, smiling to myself at how calm he seems. All his features are relaxed, and I can finally study his face without looking like a creep. I notice a few more things about his features: his long eyelashes with a natural curl I'm slightly jealous of, how the bridge of his nose has a small bump in it, and just how significant the battle scars from his near deadly car accident still are. That is another day that is burned into my past, so many of my worry lines came from that day. I remember exactly what the doctor told his mother and I as we waited to see a busted up eighteen year old Bradley. He said that 'Bradley and his friend were driving down the freeway at 75 miles an hour when the friend lost control of the car. The car rolled eight times and Bradley was thrown out the passenger window.' That might've been the day I realized I loved him, but started to push it off. I tried to hold in a laugh, thinking of One Direction's song 18 in my moment of realization.
"Someone's in a better mood this morning," Rooster mumbles. Although he startles me, I can't help but think about how damn hot his morning voice is. "Morning sunshine," he says kissing my lips softly.
"Morning bubba," I mumble against his lips.
"Damn, I'm glad I can do that now."
"Do what?" I laugh.
"Wake up with you here. In all seriousness I'm really glad you're feeling better."
"Yeah, I cried too much last night."
"So you probably won't cry until the funeral."
"Exactly," I say catching myself smiling slightly at his observance "plus if I know one thing about myself thinking positively and about things that make me happy it boosts my mood."
"Really, then what were you thinking about that made you happy enough to laugh earlier?"
"One Direction." I say truthfully, grinning at him.
"Awww! I wanted it to be me!" Bradley whines.
"Hey, I was thinking about you before them! Plus, I know you're too ashamed to admit you have a secret man crush on Harry Styles!"
"You can't judge that. Harry is amazing."
"I won't disagree, but I'm more of a Niall girl."
"Niall is great, but why him?"
"because something about him reminds me of you." I say, giving him a cheesy smile before asking him to pass me my phone off my nightstand. As Rooster passes it to me the notification telling us that our location for training today changed caught my eye. We were being moved to the strip of beach right by the Hard Deck. I showed Bradley the notification and a confused look soon covers his face as well.
"What the hell is Maverick going to do with us at the beach? Throw us into the ocean and see if we drown?"
"I don't know, but it says not to bring our uniforms."
Still confused on what exactly we were going to do at the beach, Bradley and I prepared for a full on beach day. He went back to his apartment putting on a pair of shorts and a muscle tank while I stayed here putting on a pale yellow bikini with black Nike shorts. After packing a cooler with water and a couple of beers along with some sunscreen and beach chairs, we loaded up into my jeep with the ragtop down. I insisted we listen to One Direction the entire way there, we were screaming the lyrics to Little Black Dress full volume when we pulled into the parking lot. I turn down the volume and hop out of the passenger side. I stand by the door staring out at the ocean. All of a sudden, Rooster comes up behind me smacking my ass.
"Bradley Bradshaw!" I exclaim, mostly shocked that he did it.
"What?" he questioned "You have a nice ass."
"Okay, bubba. Be the stereotypical horny male." I respond laughing slightly.
"Oh, you mean like this?" He asks pulling me in, one hand on the small of my back and the other resting on my butt, and kissing me deeply. I kiss him back, moving my hands, one on the back of his neck and the other on his chest. The kiss turned into a slow makeout, which must have lasted for a while because we broke apart after Phoenix and Bob walked up, whistling at us.
"Ah! My eyes!!" Payback yelled dramatically, trailing behind them. I flipped him the bird as I turned around. Bradley quickly came up behind me hugging my waist. It was obvious to me, but no one else, that he was trying to cover up his built up excitement until it calmed back down. Like I said, horny males. After talking with the group for a few minutes and figuring out they were just as confused as we were, we grabbed our stuff out of the Jeep and headed for the beach.
After Maverick explained what strange version of football we were playing he split us up into teams. Bradley, Phoenix, Coyote, and Fanboy made up the strongest links of the blue team while I was grouped with Mav, Payback, Bob, and Hangman.
"You're going down, Bradshaw." I say trying my best to get all up in Rooster's face, but failing miserably due to my shortstack height of 5'3 next to his 6 feet.
"In your dreams, Grace." He sasses back as we both push up our aviators almost in perfect sync.
Let's just say playing football with two footballs was interesting. Phoenix and I became quarterbacks because, in her words, 'I'm not going to get plowed by a bunch of giant ass men'. However, all the plans were thrown into the wind after a while. Several people made touchdowns, and I was surprised to see that when Bradley tackled Maverick nothing bad came from it. Even Bob made a touchdown, and we all celebrated as Jake and Bradley lifted him on their shoulders. At some point we stopped keeping track of points, and hadn't even noticed Mav had moved to sit down or the fact that, somehow, there was only one football left.
"Okay," Jake started "whoever scores this touchdown wins."
Coyote passed the ball to Fanboy first. Then, the ball was passed to Bradley. I run through the chaos towards him, kissing him as soon as I get to him. The shock of the kiss loosens his grip on the football, exactly what I wanted.
"Thanks!" I tell him as I snatch the ball out of his hands, running and scoring the final touchdown. At this point everyone finds the whole display so hilarious most of the aviators are leaning on each other or have fallen down in the sand, dying of laughter.
"Hey, it's called strategy." I tell him, walking back by him.
I was about to high-five Nat when Bradley said "So you wanna play that way, huh?" scooping me up and carrying me towards the water.
"NO, NO, NO! BRADLEY THE WATER IS GOING TO BE SO COL-AHH!!" I scream as he throws me into the cold ocean.
"It's called strategy." he says grinning as he uses my words against me.
"Okay," I say catching him off guard and swiping my leg under his legs pushing him down into the water. This time he pulls me down with him and we both come up with my legs wrapped around his waist, him holding me up by my butt. We stay in the ocean like that, my hands on his face laughing as I brush water droplets off his cheeks with my thumbs, completely oblivious to our friends standing on the beach watching us, and wanting so bad to stay in this happy memory forever.
