Shelby's POV:
As I hang one last picture up of me, my dad, and Bradley from probably ten years ago, I hear a knock on my new bedroom door.
"Yeah?" I answer. The door opens to reveal my best friend, and now roommate, Bradley Bradshaw.
"You almost done yet?" He murmurs. Today was move in day, meaning we picked up all of our furniture and put it in the apartment.
"I just finished." I sigh, looking around at my new bedroom, decorated by yours truly.
"Niceeee!" He looks around at my room decor.
"So..." Bradley plops down on my freshly made bed. "What do you wanna do for dinner?"
"Oh well I have to show you Sammy's, my fav restaurant! And there's some people I have to introduce you to that I'm sure will be there tonight." I tell him about the burger place me and the other aviators usually hang out at.
"What people?" He asks me.
"Just some friends from the academy. Nobody specific, but you can't really go to Sammy's without seeing your classmates, since it's cheap and they don't ID." I plop down next to him, laying down on top of my comforter as he sits next to me.
"Sounds good to me. I'm gonna go shower real quick."
"Same. Meet in the living room at 6?"
"Yes ma'am." He walks out of the room, leaving me to shower and get ready to go out.
I step into my new shower with my shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and razor. As I wash my hair I think of all the friends I've made at the academy the past two years, and how excited I am to see them. I'm also really excited for Bradley to meet them of course, I know everyone will love him. Everyone always does. After showering, I quickly blow dry my hair and decide on a pair of jean shorts and a cut off Rolling Stones tee shirt. Once I get to the living room I see Bradley on the couch in a white tee and pair of blue jeans.
"Took you long enough." He laughs.
"It was hair wash day!" I defend myself as we walk out the front door together. I pull on my white converse while Brad grabs his wallet and keys. I grab my phone off the counter and slide it in my back pocket along with my wallet, though I doubt a Bradshaw would let me pay for my own meal, and I never plan to pay for my own drinks.
"I assume I'm driving?" He notices I left my keys hanging by the door.
"Yep." I nod and climb into the passenger seat of his Ford Bronco. He climbs in the car next to me and holds out the aux cord for me to grab. I gladly take it and shuffle my 'me and brad brad' playlist, Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones beginning to blast from the stereo.
"It's just a shot away, it's just a shot away!" We sing together as he pulls out of the driveway. I decide to rely on my pure direction skills to get us there, and somehow we made it in only 8 minutes.
"Welcome to Sammy's!" I cheer and hop out of the car. The familiar smell of freshly cut grass and barbecue pit smoke fills my nose as I grab Bradley's hand and practically drag him inside the restaurant in a very enthusiastic skip. Once we enter the building, I am immediately met with my good friends, Reuben and Natasha.
"Is that the 'Stang I see?" Nat shouts from a table across the room and using a nickname they gave me last year. My name is Shelby and I drive a Mustang, so I kind of had to expect that one.
"Honey I'm home!" I wave to them, walking towards their table and pulling Bradley along with me.
"Shelby! Where've you been all summer?" Reuben gets up and hugs me after Nat does.
"Mojaaaave." I answer vaguely.
"And you came back with a boyfriend? Are your player days finally over?" Reuben jokes.
"No no, first of all, shut up. Second of all, this is my freshman, Bradley!" I begin to introduce him before I'm interrupted.
"Your freshman? Wowwww." Brad interjects with his big fat attitude.
"My long time childhood best friend, and now roommate, Bradley Bradshaw." I give a more formal introduction since the last one wasn't good enough for him.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Natasha Trace." Nat tells him and shakes his hand.
"And I'm Reuben. I'm a junior and Nat's a sophomore by the way. You guys should meet my new roommate, he's a freshie, names Jake." Right as Reuben says that, a buff looking blond guy walks up with Mickey. "Oh, this is him."
"Hi, I'm Shelby Mitchell, and oh my gosh, Mickey!" I shake the guy's hand before pulling my friend in for a hug. I turn around and see Bradley talking to Jake and introduce him to Mickey. After lots of catching up with and meeting people, Brad and I sit down with Reuben and Natasha and order food. Brad insists on paying for my chicken tenders, per usual. The four of us talk for an hour or two, and me and Nat, who don't have to drive tonight, decide to get drinks. As Nat walks up to the bar, I stay back with Brad and Reub while they talk about their lives, and other boring stuff.
"Ughhh they got a new bartender." Nat sighs and sits back in her chair.
"What! Where's Sammy?" Sammy was a friend of ours, an 80 year old man who couldn't see very well at all. Not only was it convenient for him to not be able to read our ID's, but he was also super fun to talk to.
"He retired! And that stupid new guy checks ID's." She complains.
"Ah shit, are you kidding?" There goes my fun. Just kidding, I can totalllyyy have fun without alcohol, just not as much fun.
"I'll just get them." Bradley flashes his ID at all of us and stands up.
"I forgot you were legal." I smile at him. Me and Nat both pass him five dollar bills. Maybe just for tonight I'll buy my own drink.
"Wait how old are you?" She asks him.
"Twenty two."
"Oh, so you went to college? Smart decision." Reuben concludes. Oh yeah, about that.
"Yeah, glad I chose to do that." He gives me a look and laughs. I just laugh with him at the situation neither of us ever talk about. Bradley walks off to the bar and I think about the whole issue with my dad. Brad doesn't seem to angry about it anymore, I mean he did just make a joke about it. Then again, Bradley jokes about all of his traumatic experiences so that's not really saying much.
"Shel?" I hear Natasha's voice and snap out of my overthinking.
"Hmm?" I pop my head up at her and Reub.
"What we're you guys laughing about? That was so weird." She asks.
"Oh...it's a long story. I'll tell you another time." I make an excuse to not talk about what happened with Bradley and Maverick. It was not a good day in the Mitchell household.
The rest of the night flows pretty easily. After another hour of talking to people from the academy, we decide to call it a night. The drive home was quiet, apart from the low hum of the music that never seems to be turned off. We're both pretty tired. We have moments like these where neither of us say anything, and neither of us expect the other to. Sometimes there's just nothing to talk about, or you just don't want to mention the elephant in the room. There was always this elephant with us, this topic that neither of us dared to bring up and that was Mav pulling his papers. I know I'll have to talk to Brad about it someday, I mean I'm living with him for god's sake. Tonight is not the night for that though.
YOU ARE READING
Through The Fire
Fanfiction"You said 'through the fire'" "And I meant it." Shelby "Mustang" Mitchell never knew what to think of her father pulling Bradley Bradshaw's papers from the Naval Academy. The two of them had been best friends their whole lives despite him being two...
