FLYTRAP| BRADLEY BRADSHAW

nineteen

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nineteen - This is too intense.

"Just to let me down?"

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~ᴠɪᴄᴛᴏʀɪᴀ~

Venus smiled as she stood next to Hangman. They were currently talking to Bambi and Pheonix who they were against for pool. All the other pilots sat around, talking.

"So, how was the talk with Rooster?" Hangman whispered to her as Pheonix was lining up to take her shot. Venus watched as Bambi stared at Pheonix's form instead of the actual pool ball.

Venus's smile fell as her best friend spoke beside her, "It was good, no worry." She looked up to him with a tight-lipped smile. In return, he gave her a raised eyebrow, causing her to sigh, "I do not know how to feel, Jake. I do not know if I feel like my insides will burn or if my brain will explode with just being in the same room as him." She squeezed the side of the table with frustration.

Venus knew she didn't like him. The thought of him made her insides boil with anger and made her throat grow raw, but was it from hate? Was she angry that he broke his promise or that he could easily say those things to her? But, she knew she was angry. The girl didn't feel it before but just thinking about him not even apologizing for what he called her and what he said, made her want to punch a hole in the wall.

"I think you're confused."

She rolled her eyes, "That is what I just said." She lined up the queue stick with the white ball, "You are useless, Hangman." Venus hit the white ball, making a chain reaction with the solid red ball, leading to it falling into the pocket.

Hangman was the one to roll his eyes as she bent down to hit another ball, "Don't call me useless, Blondie, when you don't even know if you want to hit him or kiss him."

As he said 'kiss', she shot the ball, but the immediate fear of Rooster hearing what he just said, made her completely miss her target. The girl stood straight and groaned, "Look at what you just made me do."

Jake rose his hands in mock surrender, "I didn't make you do anything." He winked at her and she immediately heard his flirty tone in his sentence, making her smile slightly. She loved it when the two flirted for fun, it was better than her and Rooster's flirting for sure.

Venus sighed and took a quick glance to the right to see Rooster talking with Payback and Coyote. Just the smile on his face made her want to punch him. Why did she realize she wanted to physically damage him after she told him they were good?

The girl didn't know whether if she wanted to hit him or cry at that moment as she saw him walk to the piano. She already knew what he was going to play, he was the one to teach her how to play it, after all. He told her how his father played it for his mother and it made her feel special that he taught it to her out of all people. But, instead of smiling as he played it,

she wanted to puke from all the memories that surfaced.

"You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain."

Venus remembers how he danced with her in her bedroom at Top Gun. He grabbed her hand and placed his hand gently on her waist. She remembers how he held her that morning, but realized how he yelled at her that same day.

"Too much love drives a man insane."

Venus grabbed her beer from the side of the pool table, she then walked to the bar and sat on the bar stool. She watched as everyone sang along with the man, dancing too. The girl took a long swig of the beer and sighed.

Victoria fell in love with the same man who ripped it from her chest. It felt like bumblebees attacking her stomach as she listened to him sing. There was no such thing as butterflies anymore. Butterflies were supposed to be angelic and graceful, not buzzing in her ears and stinging at every inch of her skin.

The song ended and everybody cheered, making Rooster stand up and walk to the bar, asking for another drink.

Venus finally had a great idea for the first time of the night. She smirked and walked toward Hangman, "Ready to get the crowd to cheer louder?"

Hangman laughed and nodded, "Anything for you, Blondie."

The both of them sat at the piano bench and she played the first chord. It was quiet at first, but the faster she went, the louder it got. Everyone knew this song by heart if they were a regular. She had to play this song at least twice every week if she was staying with Dino and Bones for a few months.

"Why do you build me up?" She heard the pilots singing along with her, "Buttercup, baby. Just to let me down?"

As she sang the song, everyone sang even louder, to the point they were just shouting. Venus smashed her fingers against the piano as she laughed at Hangman trying to get his parts on his side. As she looked up, she met eyes with brown ones.

"To you, I'm a toy. But, I could be the boy you adore." She maintained eye contact with him, but she knew he would break first. The girl would never back down from Rooster. She would never let him talk to her like that and make her feel guilty for chasing her dream. As he finally broke the eye contact, she realized something.

Venus truly loathed the man she used to love.

He made her hate him, she didn't make any mistakes. And, if he truly wanted to be her friend, he had to do way more than ask if they were okay. He had to put actual effort into their friendship, but she wouldn't be mad if he didn't.

It would just prove her right even more.