Words Left Unsaid

First Encounters

If there was one thing Bradley Bradshaw typically wasn't, it was nervous. Although the feeling he was experiencing currently had to be the closest he'd been since being a teenager in high school. He was currently perched on a stool by the beloved pool table as he covertly watched Phoenix and Y/n chatting with Penny at the bar. Bob seemed to be the only one who noticed his staring and leaned over to talk to his friend,
"Phoenix said she's a really nice girl, maybe you should go talk to her Rooster? Find out for yourself.." Bradley looked over at the man beside him who gave him a reassuring smile.
As if fate had the same idea Phoenix had excused herself to the bathroom and Penny was currently serving customers sat at the opposite end of the bar from the girl in question. Gathering his nerve he stood from his seat and made his way across the crowded room toward her. As he got closer he could smell her perfume that lingered around her, she was wearing a pair of blue Jean shorts and a form fitting long sleeve black shirt. He propped himself on the chair back beside her and cleared his throat trying to get her attention. The woman didn't seem to notice his presence or was purposefully ignoring him, Phoenix chose that moment to make her way back to her friend.
"Oh hey Bradshaw, have you met Y/n?" At the mention of her name she turned toward Phoenix and seemed to suddenly notice Rooster standing so close to her.
"Bradley Bradshaw this is Y/n L/n, Hummer this is Rooster." Not knowing what else to do Rooster stuck his large hand out toward her and she placed her smaller one inside his giving it a firm shake, he looked up from their conjoined hands into her deep blue eyes. She met him with a warm smile and a small wink before turning back to Phoenix and listening to the story that she had been telling before leaving earlier

Feeling defeated Bradley made his way back over to his original seat, Bob placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. The night carried on with Coyote, Hangman, Payback and Fanboy playing various games of pool. It was around 11 before Rooster watched the mysterious woman make her way out of the bar, keys in hand. Phoenix walked over to her group of friends, taking a seat at Roosters other side.
"So what did you think? You like Hummer?" The dark haired girl waggled her eyebrows at the taller man, causing him to let out a scoff.
"I don't know what to think, she ignored me at first until you came up. Then she didn't even talk to me." Phoenix tried to suppress a smile by curling her lips inward,
"Awe sweet little Bradley has a crush and thinks she doesn't like him, poor Bradley." He shook his head, cheeks turning slightly pink from her teasing.
"Don't worry lover boy, she wasn't ignoring you at all. She's mostly deaf so she has to wear hearing aids, but the bar noise was too much so she had taken them off shortly before you came over. She can still hear without them to a degree but not normal conversation in a crowded bar." Bradley's mouth formed a confused o as he took in this news,
"And she's a pilot? How does that work?" Phoenix took a drink of her beer before continuing,
"She had already proved herself as the top 1% starting TOPGUN when it happened, one of the guys decided to play a prank and hide her earmuffs when they were watching a demo on enemy aircraft low level maneuvers. The jet taking off damaged her hearing in both ears, he didn't realize what he was doing what he'd done that he was just playing a prank. Their still friends, still talk every few months. The comms in her helmet are specially engineered to amplify sound so she can hear just like the rest of us." Rooster took in this news and was even more intrigued by the small dark haired woman that had caught his eye. He didn't know hardly anything about her, but he wanted to and was determined to find out more.