Wild Heart - Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell

6. Friendly Gestures

A couple of days later Finley sat in her classroom during her prep period marking papers. You could tell the students who went above and beyond, the ones who struggled but put in such a great effort, and then the papers that were clearly done the night before.

She had read through ten already - only twenty more to go. For this class at least. She sighed.

She was happy for the distraction and break when her phone buzzed. She found a text from an unknown number.

Unknown Number: Hi Finley, it's Pete. Good news - I got the bike working properly again! Not making anymore weird sounds

Finley: Hi Pete - awesome! That's such a relief! Thank you so much!

Pete: All good, glad to have been able to help

Finley: Would it be possible to pick it up/drop it off after work?

Pete: Sure thing, I'll come to you. Which school you at?

Finley: Eleanor Roosevelt High

Pete: Okay can be there by 4:30?

Finley: Sounds great!

Pete: Great. And is it OK if I give it a test ride? That way if something goes wrong I take the fall for my own actions.

Finely: Go ahead! But I'm sure it's fine :)

Pete: Guess we'll find out

Finley: Better yet, you could hitch it up to the back of yours and drive it here!

She added a laughing face emoji here to show she was joking. She had always struggled with figuring out meanings over text and didn't want anyone getting confused.

Pete: Not a bad idea! We'll see... See you around 4:30

She finished off the conversation with the thumbs up emoji.  Then she clicked his number and created a new contact and conversation. She did PETE with both a jet and motorcycle emoji.

At 4:25 she headed out to the front of the school to await Pete's arrival. Soon she heard the familiar rumbling of her bike and it came around the corner, Pete driving. 

Her jaw dropped - not just at the sight of Pete driving her bike, which was a sight to behold - but because of how new it looked. It looked like it had just rolled right off the sales floor. 

"Wow, it looks amazing!" she cried when he stopped in front of her. 

He swung his leg over the side to step off. "She's running fine, the tires are full, and I gave her a polish. Isn't that right, Sweetheart?" He patted the bike. 

This time she knew he was talking about the bike, but the 'Sweetheart' sent a shiver down her spine.

He really had gone above and beyond, and it clearly showed. And he was very humble about it all.

"It's amazing! Can I pay you for it?"

"Oh no." He waved this away. "Really, tinkering's a hobby. Glad it worked out."

"Or, we could use the money I would have sunk into towing and fixing into drinks and food?"

He chuckled. "I could do that."

Despite both loving the Hard Deck, they decided to switch things up a bit.  Pete had a place in mind. 

She was driving, as it was her bike, and she couldn't wait to try it out in its new and improved state. "Hop on,  Captain." He got back on. "Hang on." She wasn't driving away only to have him fall right off as soon as they started moving.