automatic stop, bradley bradshaw

thirty-nine.

SKYE'S EYES FURROWED IN CONFUSION, BUT NONETHELESS SHE NODDED. "YEAH, KAT, OF COURSE." she moved further into the room, dropping her bag on the floor and moving to sit by her best friend on the opposite end of the couch. "what's going on?"

the two had always had an extremely open friendship. in high school, they rarely talked to anyone but each other. they knew each other better than anyone, and were used to having late night conversations about nothing or everything all at once.

but skye wasn't used to this approach of conversation. katia typically would be laying on her back, the two having finished laughing out their guts or door dashing something before the conversation would turn serious. 

this was different, though. katia seemed to be nervous about it. she wasn't ever nervous around skye, at least, not that she knew of. they were completely comfortable with each other after living together for years and growing up together for the rest of the time. 

"are you okay?" skye piqued when katia still hadn't said anything.

the blonde shrugged. "yeah, yeah, i'm good. just.. i need to get it off my chest." 

skye tilted her head in intrigue before she frowned. "whatever you want to say. talk to me, hav." 

katia chuckled dryly at the reference to what they would've said in their jets. "okay, um.. i don't really know how to go about this. i've been.. i've been wanting to tell you this for a while, but i didn't know how. i guess i.. i still don't."

"whatever you wanna say." she repeated.

"um.." katia nodded. "yeah, yeah. okay. uh.. i have a crush.. on somebody."

skye's brows raised in surprise. "that doesn't seem like a bad thing, kat." she smiled. "who is it? somebody in the squadron?" 

"uh.." she trailed off. "that's the thing."

"as long as it's not jakeass, anyone's great." she teased.

katia then laughed. "no, no, dear god. uh.. it's, um.."

"we don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." skye offered, noticing that katia was still nervously fiddling with her fingers. 

she shook her head. "no. i want to talk about it. i just.. i don't want you to.. to think of me differently."

skye tilted her head once more, her brows furrowing in concern. "kat, you're my best friend. nothing's ever going to make me think of you differently, especially not something like this."

"it's a girl." katia blurted, her eyes moving to see if skye's expression had changed. her mouth formed an 'o' of understanding. "i have a crush on a girl." 

"okay." skye nodded. "do i know her?"

katia shrugged her shoulders. "uh.. yeah. yeah, you know her pretty well." 

"holy shit." she smiled. "it's phe, isn't it?" katia's lack of response was answer enough as they both began to laugh. "come here!" skye pulled katia into a hug. 

"and you're not.. you're not.. weirded out.. by this?"

skye sent her an incredulous look. "what? no. why would i be?"

"well, some people.."

"if anyone judges you for this, that's their fucking problem." skye said. "you're still the same exact person you were before. and you're still my best friend, and i still support you."

katia smiled. "thank you." she pulled her back into a hug. "i did want to tell you a while ago. i guess i.. i always kind of thought.. maybe. but i still like guys, and so i didn't.. i didn't know. but then i guess.. i started liking phoenix. and so it confirmed what i'd kind of always thought." 

skye nodded. "i'm really happy for you. does she know yet?"

"no." she replied. "no, i wanted to.. figure out how i felt before i told her, you know? because i.. i know what bisexuality is, right. but i don't feel like that.. like that label fits me. like that's not what i am."

"you don't have to have a label." skye reminded her. "i know a lot of people who don't feel like any of the labels define them, and that's okay. it's still just as valid."

katia nodded, a smile coming to her face. "thank you. i'm so glad you're cool with this."

"why wouldn't i be?"

"i don't know, i guess i just.. i didn't know if it would be different, with it being me." 

skye shook her head. "love is love, kat. i believe that. and i think that.. you should love whoever you want. because you never know when you won't get the chance to love them again."

"speaking of love." katia said, taking the attention of the conversation off of herself. "have you and bradley-"

"oh my gosh."

"i'm just asking! has he said anything about you?"

skye shook her head. "no. i think he might just be stupid."

katia tilted her head. "that might be a contributing factor, yes. so you said the girl at the base.."

"his cousin. yeah." she confirmed, still embarrassed by that whole situation. "i don't know. i think i need to figure out what's going on between him and my dad, though. they seemed fine yesterday, but i guarantee you that something's still going on."

"well, fuck that." katia argued.

"pardon?"

 "fuck waiting to see before things go down between him and mav." she explained. "if you feel like you like him, you should tell him. what you just said, literally just now, about how you never know? you literally never know. i think you should tell him."

skye nodded. "well, you're a lot bolder than i am, kat." 

"maybe. but i also haven't had the perfect person right in front of me for years and done nothing about it."

skye tilted her head in confusion. "okay, and who was it that you just said you had feelings for? because, if i remember correctly, it was someone who has also been in front of you for years."

"okay, well that's different-" she argued.

"eh.. not really." 

"whatever." katia chuckled, shoving skye playfully. "you suck."

"no more than you do!"

katia laughed at this. "hey, i forgot to tell you. mom called, she and slay have been doing some summer cleaning. they have some stuff of mine, and they wanted to ask what i want to keep and get rid of. asked me to go down and check it out. you should come with." 

skye shrugged. "okay, sounds good. when are we leaving."

"um.. how does 'now' sound?" 

"okay." skye grabbed her keys.