Crash & Burn || Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw

1.1

Estelle woke up to the sun shining into her room, once again; however, something was different this morning. It took her a few minutes to come to her senses but when she did, she realized there was an arm draped over her waist. When she looked up to see who the arm belonged to, she was met with the face of none other than that of Bradley Brashaw.

She laid there for a few more minutes, taking in her surroundings and deciding on the best thing to do. Much to her dismay, she decided to get up and start getting ready. She tried to get out of bed, without waking Bradley up, but he pulled her back down into bed with him.

She tried to get up a second time, this time successfully wiggling out of his grasp.

"Where are you going?" Bradley mumbled, still groggy from being woken up.

"To get ready." She said, rolling her eyes at the man currently laying in her bed.

Finally opening his eyes to look at her, "Why," Bradley complained, leaning back against Estelle's headboard.

"We have work?" She reminded him, winking before walking to her bathroom to get ready.

"Shit!" She heard him exclaim, followed by a lot of rustling coming from her bedroom.

"Listen, I'll see you later!" He yelled, before picking up the majority of his things and leaving her apartment.

Before leaving her apartment, Estelle realized that Bradley had forgotten his shirt while rushing to leave. Grabbing his shirt and her keys, she locked her apartment door and walked down to her car.

Once on base, Estelle parked her car next to Bradley's. He was still in it when she got out. Realizing that she had parked next to him, he also got out of his car. Estelle walked around to the front of her car, meeting up with Bradley.

"Here." She said, throwing his shirt at him, "You forgot this."

"Thanks," he said, smirking.

The two went their separate ways, but Estelle didn't get far before she was stopped by a familiar voice, "Estelle."

"Jake," she said, turning around.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, what's up?" She questioned, thinking it was something medical related.

"Are you free tonight?" He asked, smirking at the girl and turning over the toothpick in his mouth.

Bradley had stopped when he heard Jake call out for Estelle. He stood on the opposite end of the hallway watching the entire interaction.

She caught Bradley's eye, "Oh, well probably," she said, "What's tonight?"

"We're all going to the Hard Deck tonight and you know, since you're technically part of the team would you wanna come with?" He asked.

"I don't know if I c-"

"Think about it," he said, cutting her off and winking at her before turning to walk in the direction Bradley went. "See you tonight!" He yelled over his back.

Estelle spent her whole shift weighing the pros and cons about going to the Hard Deck. She eventually decided that the pros outweigh the cons and as a result, she went home after work just to get ready to go out again.

Deciding to go for comfort over style, Estelle wore an oversized AC/DC shirt, which she tucked into her high waisted straight legged jeans, and she put on her platform converse. As for her hair, she left it curly but pulled half of it back with a claw clip so it stayed out of her face.

It appeared that Estelle was one of the last to arrive at the Hard Deck. The majority of the flight crew was sitting at a table, all drinking beers, and looked up when Estelle approached the table.

"Hey!" Nat greeted, getting up to give her friend a hug.

Once Estelle was settled at the table with her drink, just water, she looked around at the table to see who was missing. Estelle noted that both Bradley and Jake were not yet a part of the group.

"You look cute tonight," Nat said, pulling Estelle out of her thoughts.

"Really? Thanks." She said, smiling and looking down at her outfit.

Minutes later, Jake arrived, grabbing a beer and sitting in the empty seat next to Estelle who was caught up in a conversation with Nat. The music in the bar was getting louder as the crowd thickened.

"Well, looks like you decided to come after all." Jake said, leaning towards Estelle so she could hear him.

She turned to face him, but instead of saying something, she just raised her eyebrows in acknowledgement.

"You look good," Jake said, smirking as Estelle's cheeks turned red, "AC/DC?" He questioned.

"Yeah." She murmured.

"Do you have a favorite song by them?"

"Um..." she started, her eyes scanning the crowd, "Back in Black." She said, turning back towards Jake.

"Great song." Someone chimed in.

"Rooster, you're late." Jake said, his voice dripping with venom, nodding his head towards Estelle, and a smirk present on his face.

"Hey Bradley," Estelle said smiling as Jake put an arm around her chair, unbeknownst to her.

Bradley glared at Jake once he realized his close proximity to Estelle.

Rolling her eyes, Estelle replied sarcastically to Jake's comment about Bradley being late, "I didn't know there was a specific time we had to be here."

The atmosphere around the trio suddenly became very tense and extremely awkward. Estelle decided that she needed a refill and excused herself from the table, reflecting on her awkward conversation with Jake.

Instead of walking towards the bar, Estelle found herself sitting on the deck looking out at the beach.

Someone sitting down next to her and clearing their throat grabbed her attention, "Hey."

"Hey." Estelle said, turning around and coming face to face with none other than Bradley Bradshaw, one of the people she was trying her best to avoid.

"Are you okay?" He asked, "You seemed a little on edge in there."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Jake was just being a bit..." She paused, waving her hand around in the air trying to find the right word, "forward, I guess."

"He didn't try anything, right?" Bradley asked, going to get up.

Estelle grabbed his arm and pulled him back down, "No, but why would that matter?"

"I- I just wanted to make sure he didn't take advantage... of my... friend." He said, letting out a sigh.

"Oh." Was all that Estelle could say, the smile dropping off of her face, letting out a sigh of her own, "I think I'm gonna get going." She said, standing up to leave with tears filling her eyes.

As Estelle was leaving, she caught Nat's eye from across the room. Nat tilted her head as if asking, "What's wrong?"

Instead of walking over to Nat and explaining herself, she knew her friend would understand and simply shook her head "No," pulling open the bar's door and walking out to her car.

AN:

Ugh Bradley!!! Why'd you do that 😫 stupid little boy.

Also- slightly longer chapter than usual cause I was feeling ✨inspired✨

Not me using Hangman to thicken the plot-

Me using Hangman for trouble who's using Estelle for trouble (it's a vicious cycle ✋😔)

I think that's all I have to say for now 😭 but what do you guys think???

Much love,

KJ 🫶🫶