Wild Heart - Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell

8. Not All Fun and Games

A couple of days later, Friday, Finley received a text after work.

Pete: Meet us at the Hard Deck at 9am tomorrow for bonding exercise. Dress for the beach

Okay, he definitely had something up his sleeve. 

Finley: Should I come if I'm not part of the team?

Pete: Since it was your brain child it only feels right :)

Finely: You figured something out then?

Pete: I sure did! :)

Finley: What is it?

Pete: It's a surprise! ;)

She chuckled and rolled her eyes. He sounded very excited about his plans, at least over text.

Finley: OK fine, surprise it is then

Pete: You won't be disappointed!

Finley: OK, now I'm really curious!

Pete: :P

She snorted with laughter at the tongue-out face, then reread through their conversation. 

Pete: Meet us at the Hard Deck at 9am tomorrow for bonding exercise. Dress for the beach.

So she did just that. She awoke early (usually the weekend was reserved for sleeping in, maybe having a lazy morning before going to the coffee shop on the way to the library to work on lesson plans and marking). But today was special. She dressed in her swimsuit with shorts over top, sprayed herself down with sunscreen, donned her sunhat and shades and drove to the Hard Deck, parking her bike in the stall next to Pete's. She couldn't help but note that their bikes looked good together, side by side. 

The group of pilots - all casually dressed for the beach as well - were already gathered on the sand. 

"Hey, you're here," Bradley said, clearly surprised to see her there.

"Yeah, Pete invited me. I was helping him with his teaching tips." She was considering telling him Penny invited her or someone else, but then thought, why lie? She could be friendly with Pete when Bradley wasn't. She could decide whether she liked Pete or not for herself. Maybe in the beginning when all she'd heard were accounts from Brad she hadn't liked the guy much, but, now that she had met him, she could definitely decide whether she liked him or not, and she liked him, a lot in fact.

"Good morning."

Everyone straightened up and quieted down and turned as Pete approached.  He wore a t-shirt, shorts, and his aviator sunglasses. "At ease.  Good morning aviators - and friends." He smiled at Finely who gave a little wave.  "Welcome to Dogfight Football.  I am the creator and founder, and will be the coach. Hondo  will be referee-" Finley raised her hand.  "Yes, Finley?"

"I believe I'm at a bit of a disadvantage," she said.  "I'm not familiar with dogfighting, whereas I think everyone else here is."

He grinned. "I thought of that - you can partner with me and shadow the first half of the game."

"Sounds good."

"Okay, so we'll be breaking up into two teams-" He quickly made the divisions himself, clearly with a plan already in mind.  "And game on!"

Soon everyone was running up and down the beach.  It was already baking hot out, so the guys all stripped off their shirts - including Pete.

Okay, Finley could keep her cool with a bunch of shirtless guys around, but she had never seen a guy his age with the physique he had. God he must keep in amazing shape - he looked just like the others half his age running around shirtless out there.