Fly With Me // Bradley Bradshaw

Chapter Three

Sophie wakes up to the sunlight hitting her face through the half-opened blinds, causing her to groan. What a night. One she can barely remember. Her body stops cold in its movements when her eyes are met with a man in her bed. Not just any man; Rooster is in her bed.

Memories start to flood her mind of the events of the night before. She remembers drinking. A lot. It'd been a particularly tough week at the Naval Academy and she wanted to let loose over the weekend. Not exactly what she meant by letting loose, but here she was.

Panic sets in her bones. She can't exactly sneak out and act like it never happened; they're in her dorm. She looks around her bedroom, looking for anything that could help her get out of this situation, but there was nothing.

Tossing and turning next to her causes Sophie to silently lose her shit. This is going to be so awkward. Rooster is her friend and friends don't sleep together. Except that's not always the rule. She and Jake slept together sometimes. That was different though. They've known each other forever and it's always been such a casual thing between them. This didn't feel casual. She sits motionlessly on the bed, arguing with herself about the problem at hand.

The distraction of her inner thoughts keeps her from realizing that Rooster has finally woken up from his slumber. He looks over at the girl's deer-in-the-headlights look; she's speechless. Well, that's certainly a first. He instantly realizes what's going on.

"Don't freak out," he says before she can attempt any sort of interaction.

"How can I not freak out," she whisper yells, not even sure why she's whispering in the first place. Something like this deserves to be yelled about.

Okay. She's totally freaking out.

"So what? We got a little drunk and slept together. It could've been worse," he tries to reason with her.

She sighs, "But Rooster, you're you."

"And you're you. What's that even supposed to mean?" He turns over in the bed to face the woman. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't thought about this happening at least a dozen times before. He always shook the thought away, knowing that nothing would ever happen between the two of them, but here they are now.

"It means," her voice raises a couple of octaves, "That this shouldn't have happened! You're the closest person I've got here besides Hangman and I don't want things to be weird because of a drunken hookup!" She dramatically hides her face in a pillow, wishing the world would swallow her into a black hole.

Rooster mentally rolls his eyes at the sound of Hangman's name. Of course, the person he's closest to at the academy and his biggest rival have been friends for twenty-something years. He can't fathom how anyone could stand to be around him for that long, especially Sophie. She's so kind and funny, whereas Hangman is arrogant and conceited.

"Nothing is going to be ruined," he finally sits up, pulling her with him and looking into her eyes. Her forest green eyes bore into his and he can see the spiraling happening inside her head. She's seriously worried that this will come between them. He lets out a breath, "Look, Soph. We were drunk last night. I promise you that this," he points between the two of them, "Will not ruin our friendship. We're good. Honestly, I had a great time last night."

"Rooster," she squeals, hitting him with a pillow.

"What? I couldn't think of a better person to get drunk and hook up with." She tries to protest but he beats her to it, "You're like my best friend here. We talk all the time, laugh, hangout. We already know each other. What more could a guy want?"