Skylar's Wish • Rooster

Chapter 16: After

As soon as I stepped off the carrier, I ran to my mom, who was waiting for us to return. I don't think I've ever heard someone say I love you as many times as she did. I introduced everyone to my mom and during that time, she somehow ended up inviting everyone to our house for dinner. I watched as most of them tried to make excuses, but she ended up pulling the 'I made far too much food' card, and that suckered all of them to stay.

...

Later that night after almost everyone left. Bradley and I snuck down to the beach. "You're never getting rid of me now," Bradley said, breaking the silence of our walk. I looked up at him confused, "Your mom's food is too good to pass up." I laugh, "Well, why don't you go date her food then?"
"That's a good idea! I'm going to go, I wouldn't want the food to think I'm cheating on it." He says as he tries to pull his hand back. I laugh and tighten my grip, "Come on, you goofball."

We continued walking down the white sandy beach, "Will you be my girlfriend?" Bradley asked, so quietly, I thought I was dreaming. He continues walking as I stop, "What?" He turns toward me. "It's nothing," he says, embarrassed that I caught him. "No, Bradley. Ask me again." He must have seen the seriousness on my face. I watched as he took a deep breath. "Savannah, I fell in love with you, the first time I saw you back at Top Gun. Even though we haven't seen each other much since then, every time I do. I swear, I fall further in love with you. And after spending those past few weeks together, I don't want to go back to the way things were. Only seeing you every three years would slowly kill me." I stared into his brown eyes, "It would kill me too."
"Really?" He asked me surprised that someone like me would say something like that. "Yes, believe it or not, I feel the same way."
"Savannah Kazansky, will you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?" A smile slowly builds in my face, "Yes!" Next thing I know, my feet are no longer touching the sand. I let out a scream and Bradley starts to spin us around. "Can I kiss you?" I smile and nod.

...

It's been a week since the big mission. And a week since Bradley asked me to be his girlfriend. And I've loved every minute of it.

A few days ago, Maverick asked Rooster and I to come help fix up his old P-51 Mustang. So, here we are helping - okay Bradley is helping, I'm sitting here watching them work. Mainly Bradley.
"Savannah!" Maverick laughs. "What?"
"Can you stop staring at Bradley's ass and get a 7/16 wrench, please?" I roll my eyes as Bradley laughs from behind him. I hop off the workbench and walk over to the tool box. I dug around for a few minutes, "Mav, you need to organize this thing!"
"Try the third drawer on the left side!" I opened the drawer and found it. I walk over to them, "Why isn't it with the other wrenches?" Bradley laughs as Maverick shoots me a glare, "Go back to your bench." I send him a mocking two finger salute before I turn away.

I sit watching them work, occasionally getting off to get them tools. But mainly reading. A few hours later, the plane is almost entirely fixed up. I'm watching Bradley tighten a bolt when the sound of a car stopping catches my attention. "Hey Mav? Are you expecting anyone?"
"No, why?"
"I thought I hear something, it's probably nothing." I heard mumble okay, then go back to working with Bradley. A few moments later, I look up to see Amelia standing behind the plane. I heard my head towards Maverick, and she responded by shaking her head. I nod, and I go back to my book, which is laying in my lap.

A few moments later, I hear more clattering and chatting that happened in the past few hours. I look up to see Maverick quickly setting down his tools, rushing around the plane and out the door. I watch as Bradley signals for me to come over. I place a bookmark in the book I was reading, hop down and walk over to him. "Come here." Bradley pulls me in front of him, places the ratchet in my hand. He points to the one that needs to be tightened. I place the socket around the bolt and move my hand down the ratchet handle. I feel Bradley kiss the top of my head before putting a hand over mine. It was a little excessive to tighten one bolt, but it was cute. The way his oil filled hand completely covers mine, I'm not even that much smaller than him.

When we finished, Bradley left to go wash his hands while I put tools away and closed up everything in the plane. I look up from the tool box to see Bradley standing in front of Mav's bulletin board with all his favorite memories in a picture. I walk over and wrap my arms around his waist, I rest my head on his shoulder, "What are you looking at?" He points to the picture of Mav and Goose. "He would be proud of you."
"I know." He paused for a second, "So would yours." I smile and gently place a kiss on his neck. "You were a cute kid."
"We both were." I watch as he knocks on the picture of Maverick and himself before spinning me in front of him. In one easy lift, I was back on the workbench. "What are we going to do now?" I ask. "I mean, Penny took Amelia to the bar. And Maverick is taking Penny on a ride. What are we going to do?"
"Go home." He softly kisses me. I hmm in response. "Bradley..." I pull away from the kiss. "Wait?" He asks, concerned. "Take me to bed or lose me forever." Bradley, kiss me one more time before flinging me over his shoulder. He starts to walk out of the hangar. "Bradley!" I yell. "Yes, Darling."
"I need my book," I say shyly, the effect that word has on my body. "We'll get it later."

...

Thanks for reading Skylar's Wish!

I want to thank Bridget for being my best supporter through all of this. She convinced me to post this after I work on it for so long, even though I didn't want to! So thank you. I hope it was everything you hoped and dreamed.