Wild Heart - Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell

7. Divided

"So how's work?"

Bradly heaved a sigh.  "Not so good."

"What happened?" she pressed, though she already knew, thanks to Pete.

"Hangman was being a dickhead, as usual, and started talking about dad's death."

This struck her. "Oh Brad, I'm sorry-" She was going to give Bagman a piece of her mind. 

"Yeah, it escalated pretty quick, and we got into a fight in front of everyone."

"Was anyone hurt?" Though again, she already knew the answer.

"No, he wasn't even that upset. Smug bastard."

"But you were hurt."

"Yeah it  really stung."

"I can imagine. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, thanks, it sucks."

"Yeah, it does, but don't let him get to you. He was obviously just trying to cause problems."

"Yeah, as usual." He sighed.  "Anyways, enough of that. How's tutoring with Amelia going?"

"Good, really good. We fit really well together as tutor and tutee.  And she's auditioning for the school play so I've been helping her with her monologue."

"That's awesome. Penny seems really pleased with how it's all going."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I visited and she was talking about you and Amelia." He paused.  "Do you think she and Maverick have a chance of getting back together?" 

"Oh?" She was thrown by the sudden shift in the conversation, and by the sudden talk of a man Bradley always seemed more than happy to avoid. 

"Yeah,  she started talking about him too and how strange but also nice it is to see him again. I don't know, it sounded like he really broke her heart in the past. I remember my mom saying that about him, the heartbreaker. "

She didn't like his way of talking about Pete, and felt herself growing defensive. Whoa, calm down, she told herself. This is Bradley, your friend, who has a tough past with Pete. Chill, Fin. 

"So how are things going with you and Pete?"

"Pete?" he repeated, utterly confused.

Oh - she'd gone and used his name, his name! "Yeah, Maverick."

"Why 'Pete'?"

"Well, it is his name," she sputtered.  "And that's how Penny introduced me to him."

Bradley was clearly very weirded out by this, but to her, it just made sense. It felt right. And so she left it at that. 

The next day, she was at tutoring when Pete walked into the bar. 

"There he is, the mechanic extraordinaire," Penny announced. 

"I just helped where I could," he insisted. 

"Hmm. You know Pete, you're getting more humble in your old age."

"Thanks, Penny." 

Watching and listening, Finley thought back to Brad's words: "Do you think she and Maverick have a chance of getting back together?" Maybe there was something flirty going on here. Penny had said they were done, but maybe something was blooming again. That would be nice. 

Penny came over to the studiers. "Okay, study break, we're all going sailing. We're going to see if all that work on the boat paid off - Mom's orders."

Amelia didn't seem so sure but Finely agreed.  "What do I tell you: taking breaks is almost as important as the studying itself."