Spitfire | Top Gun: Maverick

chapter 10

"Dogs come into our lives to teach us about love. They depart to teach us about loss. A new dog never replaces an old dog, it merely expands the heart" - Erica Jong

Chapter 10: some puppy love is all you need

Even with multiple cups of caffeine in her system, Spitfire still didn't know how to tell her mother about the two men that have been plaguing her mind since meeting them and now that she knew her father was sick again she couldn't think straight.

However with her mother staring her down, she needed to at least try explaining the confusing scenario - she might even have some good advice for the younger woman.

"Well uhm there's this one guy who literally," she starts moving her hands vividly to express her emotions, " drives me up the walls with his cocky, arrogant personality. He's so irritating sometimes it hurts my brain but then," Spitfire takes a small pause to collect her thoughts.

"There's this sweet and charming side of him that a lot of people don't get to see...and I don't know if its just a façade but honestly it feels like there's more to this man than what meets the eye."

She takes a good look at her mom who's listening intently at her before glancing away, smiling slightly, "but even though he's this cocky asshole most of the time, I can't seem to get him off of my mind."

"And god, mom, he's one of the most attractive men I've ever seen." She finishes and looks back at her mother who had her eyebrows raised.

Her mom opens her mouth to speak but with a raise of an index finger from the table stops her in her tracks, "Unfortunately like always, there's more mamma..."

Swiftly the woman in question gets up from where she's sitting at the kitchen counter and walks over to the kettle, again. She glances over her shoulder only to see the questioning look on her daughter's face, "I think we'll both be needing some more caffeine sweetheart."

Spitfire nods with a laugh before looking back to the hallway where they walked through, wondering how long Maverick and her father will take to finish up their conversation. Her mother seems to pick up on her thoughts as she says, "they'll be finished soon baby, stop worrying."

The younger woman only lets out a sigh before her shoulders sag forward, "how much time does he have left mamma?" She doesn't look up at her mother, too scared to see the expression on the woman's face.

She hears her mother move towards her before feeling a hand grab her own, squeezing it slightly. "He doesn't have very long sweetheart, that's why he wanted you to come home today..."

Spitfire can't believe her ears. So this is basically a goodbye? She stands up fast, the chair behind her screeching on the floor as she stares in disbelief at her mother. "So this- this.." she couldn't get the words out, the lump in her throat growing big.

She wasn't ready to say goodbye. Not now. Not ever. Not to the one person that understood her. Not to the one person that supported her through everything. No. She refuses to believe that the strong man called her father would die at the hands of some fucking illness.

It can't be true. It just can't be.

But as she glances at the sorrow-filled expression of her mother, she knew that it was true. They wouldn't joke about something like this. She needed to get out of this house. Fast.

Spitfire shakes her head in disbelief while trying to swallow the lump in her throat, slowly backing away from the kitchen counter, "No he- he can't just leave mamma. He promised- he promised he would always be here!"

At the end of her sentence, she's almost hysterical as she repeatedly shakes her head at her mother – her hand coming over to close around her mouth. She promised herself she wouldn't cry.