killshot (bradley bradshaw)

VI

Before she left for the Hard Deck, Jenna pulled on some light wash mom jeans, a plain white cropped t-shirt, and her leather jacket. With a quick look in the mirror to check her hair, she adjusted her claw clip that held the front pieces of her hair away from her face. Satisfied with her appearance, Jenna shut the lights off and grabbed the keys to her Bronco.

Once she started her car, Jenna checked her phone as she connected it to the speakers. She had a text from Phoenix, and it looked like she's added Jenna to some sort of groupchat with the other pilots named Top Gun Mission.

Natasha "Phoenix" Trace has added Jenna "Killshot" Harrison to the group.

A text from Phoenix came through almost immediately after.

Phoenix: Hey guys! Hard Deck, 1900 hrs. See you then!

Jenna was definitely going to be late, but she respond that she was on her way, shuffled her music, and pulled away from the apartment. Windows down, music blaring, she tried to shake off some of the tension that she was feeling from earlier in the day. Jenna was still planning on having a talk with Rooster if he made an appearance tonight.

Turning into the almost full parking lot at the Hard Deck, she spotted Rooster's blue Bronco and puledl into the empty space next to it. Jenna looked over, almost expecting him to be sitting there like this morning, but the car was empty. She sighed and grabbed her phone and keys and got out of her car. As she was walking to the front door of the bar, Jenna looked out onto the beach to watch the waves come in. She saw a figure sitting alone in the sand about a hundred yards away. They were wearing a Hawaiian shirt, and she knew immediately who it was.

Jenna abandoned her original plan and started walking through the sand over to him. He was sitting with his legs straight, leaning back on his hands. She approached him as quietly as she could and sat down next to him, mirroring his pose.

Rooster took a deep breath in, exhaled, and looked over at her.

"Hey Kill," he said quietly.

"Hey Rooster," Jenna responded. "Whatcha doin? Everybody's in the bar."

"I just needed some time alone to process everything that happened today," Rooster said, looking out at the ocean.

"Do you want me to go?" she asked, feeling bad that she crashed his alone time.

"No, no. Please stay." He looked back at her, smiling.

"Okay. I've got a question for you though," Jenna started. He tilted his head at her, gesturing for her to continue. "What happened during the drill today? Why did you sacrifice yourself like that?"

Rooster sighed and looked back to the ocean. "I was thinking it was just the logical move to get you out of Maverick's line of fire."

"Yeah and you got yourself shot in the process," Jenna said, a little exasperated. "You could've just gotten behind Mav and taken a shot."

"I know, I know. I didn't think I could get the shot off in time, so I moved into that position instead," He explained. Rooster looked down at the sand, and said something so quietly she could barely hear him. "I've never lost a wingman before."

Oh. Jenna absolutely understood where he was coming from, but death was a risk they accepted as pilots. She sat up, putting her hand on his arm and he looks at her.

"If you're lucky, it will never happen," Jenna said. "But there'll be others."

Rooster nodded and swallowed. Jenna continued, "Listen. What happened up there today has to be a one time thing. If you sacrifice yourself up there, your wingman is up there alone. Now don't get me wrong, I can manage just fine on my own, but we're supposed to be a team. I need you -" Jenna faltered, catching her breath as Rooster's eyes never left hers. She blinked and focused on getting her point across. "I need you to keep yourself alive, because we will always have a better chance if it's two against one."

"Yes ma'am," Rooster said quietly, still looking at her. Jenna blushed and quickly turned away, pulling her hand off his arm. They sat in a comfortable silence together, watching the sun set, their arms brushing against each other slightly.

Jenna's phone dinged and she pulled it from her pocket. There was a message from Phoenix, and she clicked on it to open it. It was a picture of her and Rooster, sitting side by side. Jenna whipped her head around and saw Phoenix in the doorway of the Hard Deck, laughing. She waved to Phoenix and started to get up, ready to head inside.

"Oh, and one more thing," Jenna added, smiling slightly, looking down at Rooster. "Don't you ever pull that sore-loser shit and go off by yourself again. We win together and we lose together, Bradshaw. You got that?"

Rooster nodded his head and stood up with her. "We're a team," he said.

"We're a team," Jenna echoed back to him.

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AN: Thanks for reading!! Let me know what you think!