automatic stop, bradley bradshaw

thirty-seven.

THE NEXT DAY, EVERYTHING WENT BACK TO NORMAL. OR AT LEAST, THAT WAS THE PLAN. skye once again had no idea what conversation had taken place between rooster and her father, and she was oblivious to any kind of change as she got ready. 

she put her hair into a military style bun, she brushed her teeth, she put her flight suit on. everything was going completely normal, and skye was truthfully still thinking about her date with rooster the day previous.

or, at least, she assumed it was a date. she was friends with fanboy, she was friends with payback, she was even now friends with bob. but she didn't go out for lunch with them, and rooster didn't go out for lunch with katia or phoenix. therefore, skye assumed it was completely understandable to take it as a date.

if nothing else, it gave her some peace of mind. 

skye didn't know how to feel, truthfully. she knew that she liked rooster as much more than a friend. she'd known that to be true for the past three years. it had been true since she'd first talked to him at the hard deck, since they'd first sat next to each other at that piano bench. 

but as she thought about it more and more, it became even more true. she'd fallen in love with him at some point along the line. she wished she knew the exact moment it had happened, that she could pinpoint the exact second that she had fully grown to love bradley bradshaw. 

regardless of when it had happened, it had. skye had fallen for him, and there was nothing she could do to change that.

she had a feeling that it had to be mutual. there was no way that rooster, who left his jacket at her house, who remembered every detail about her, who listened to the playlist she made, who took her on dates didn't feel something for her. 

and yet, it was still so daunting to even think about admitting any of her feelings to him. he still had the upper hand, she thought. every woman wanted him. anyone who saw him was bound to fall for him just as quickly. if he could have anyone, she didn't see why he would want her. why he'd want the girl that he'd grown up with, who he had seen as a sister. maybe he still did.

but skye, who was rarely ever an optimist, had been trying to not worry about it. she'd convinced herself that the right time would come. that, if they were meant to be together, they'd find a way to be together. and she'd kept that mindset throughout the entire morning.

in fact, skye had been in an amazing mood as she and katia parked their motorcycles by each other. she'd even been in a good mood as she nodded to cyclone in passing, and as she sat in her seat awaiting her father's instruction.

then rooster walked in.

"hey, bradshaw. what made you late?" she asked, a playful smile on her face. he didn't reply, though, only looking at her for a moment before sitting down behind her. skye turned to look at katia, who seemed equally as confused. 

"today," maverick said, bringing skye's attention back, "you're going to be reattempting the flight course. your time limit and hard ceiling will remain the same for today."

skye stood after getting dismissed, immediately turning to rooster. he was already walking away, and she scoffed. "what the hell is that?"

katia shook her head. "i have no idea."

the two women geared up before heading to a separate room, where maverick assigned them their teams. hangman with bob and phoenix, coyote with harvard and yale, omaha with fanboy and payback, rooster with skye and katia. just their luck. 

"do you think he's gonna be pissed off the whole time?" skye asked as she adjusted the straps on her vest. 

"probably."