Fly With Me // Bradley Bradshaw

Chapter Fifteen

Hangman frantically knocks on Sophie's door before finally opening it up and stepping inside. He was trying to give her and Rooster some space since he saw them leaving together last night, but it was later than he would've liked it to be and she'd been radio silent all morning. So, he decided to barge in.

"Sophie," he calls out, looking around the empty apartment. There are no signs of her, so he walks into her room and sees her dressed in her dress white uniform. Alone. She looks in the mirror at herself, emotionless. Her face was blank. He trod carefully, waiting for her to make the first move. He learned years ago that he had to let her stay in control of these situations; it was the only thing that made her feel comfortable and safe. She would open up to him in her own time.

Sophie finally turns to her oldest friend. When she makes eye contact with him, she finally breaks and her true emotions reveal themselves. She runs into his arms and breaks down. "I think I messed everything up." He was shocked, but wrapped his arms around her tightly, hoping to comfort her. She hated crying, especially in front of others; it made her feel weak. So, when she started crying on his shoulder, Jake knew that something went wrong last night.

He sits Sophie on her bed and lets her stay on his shoulder. Hangman looks at the time, very aware that they only had an hour before they had to be on the carrier. This was important though; it needed to be sorted before they were on the boat. "What happened?"

"Last night, Rooster came over and he told me that he was in love with me," she says in between gasps. She knew she had to get herself together quickly but she needed a minute to just let everything out. She spent the whole night thinking and rethinking everything that happened. She knew the events of last night were very bad. She knew that she made things messy and maybe ruined everything. She also knew that it had to be done. Sophie knew she couldn't let him go into the mission knowing that he'd do anything to protect her. That's not what this mission was about.

"Well damn, feathers finally took my advice," Hangman says with a slight chuckle, more to himself than her.

She shoots her head up, her face is red and puffy. She looks at him with betrayal in her eyes, "What?"

"I told him a couple of days ago that he needed to admit his feelings to you. He clearly did and you clearly went full Razor on him." He shakes his head at her. After his conversation with Sophie yesterday, it was no surprise to him that she shut Rooster out.

"I was wrong," she said, punching Hangman in his arm. "I didn't ruin everything. You did," she accuses, angrily.

"I did," he asks, confused by the turn of events. "What the hell did I do?"

She stands up and paces around the room. Her face was still red, but it was more anger now than sadness. "You and your big, stupid, shit-talking mouth. You couldn't just keep your fucking mouth shut for one day. Always going on about how you thought we had feelings for each other and shit." She was furious with him. Bradley never would've said anything if it weren't for the man sitting on her bed. His dumb ass has ruined everything.

Now, everything has changed and there's nothing she can do. Things will never go back to the way they were.

"Well clearly, I was right if he told you he was in love with you and you know what, Sophie," he looks at her with a sarcastic scrunched-up expression. "I'm tired of you acting like you don't have any feelings for him. It's so fucking obvious and your self-sabotaging self won't admit it because you're too scared to lose him. Grow the fuck up," he spits.

"Fuck you," she yells back.

Sophie and Jake barely ever argued, well not about anything serious. They had been friends for twenty-seven years; most of their petty arguments had taken place in their high school years. Once they joined the Navy, their friendship matured pretty quickly. They leaned on each other, encouraging one another every step of the way. Whenever they did find themselves in a real disagreement, things tended to get heated and they were very blunt with each other. They both knew that their friendship could take it and they would be okay.