Bradley's POV:
"BRAD WAKE UP!" I jolt awake and look around me to see a head of brown curly hair headed towards me.
"What the fuck!" I shout and sit up as she lands on me, her arms spread out across the mattress.
"It's 9:30." She sits up next to me, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me awake. "And we have a lot to do today, lots of fun plans so c'mon!" She uses all her strength to pull me out of my bed and it just now occurs to me that I'm only wearing a pair of boxers.
"What do you mean? We have nothing to do til like 6:00." I remember making plans to go play cornhole at Sandy Point.
"Nice undies." She looks me up and down with a playful smirk. Jesus. "And I'm showing you around the city, duh!" I smile at her. She fucking screamed and jumped on me while I was asleep and I'm smiling? Just the Shelby effect I guess.
Shel has this thing where she can practically get anything she wants from anyone. A free beta fish from Petsmart? Sure. Bar entry without showing ID? Yep. Your entire heart and soul? Anytime. It's like all she has to do is smile at someone and they agree with her. Maybe it's some kind of manipulation thing, but it seems to work on me every time. I wish I could hate it, but she's just too damn cute with the smile.
"You gonna agree with me, or just keep staring at my forehead?" She interrupts my thoughts.
"Hmm? Sorry. Zoned out." I look back at her face.
"I'll make breakfast. You may wanna put some clothes on." Just like that, she leaves the room with that stupid smile on her face.
I'm not sure what Shelby's got planned for today, but knowing her we'll probably be outside most of the time, so I put on a tee shirt and pair of shorts. After brushing my teeth and quickly showering, I head into the kitchen to see her flipping pancakes and dancing to a Taylor Swift record in those cutoff jean shorts she always wears. She hands me a plate of pancakes and I thank her as we sit down together at the counter to eat.
"Where exactly are we going?" I'm starting to wonder what 'showing me around the city' means.
"It's a surprise." She tells me with a mouth full of pancake.
"So you don't know yet?"
"Nope."
"So I'm just gonna drive you around the city til you see somewhere you wanna go?" I assume.
"Nope. I'm driving! Stevie misses you." The day she turned sixteen and could finally drive the blue and white Mustang her and Mav had been fixing up, she named it after Stevie Nicks. Mav was always fixing something, whether it was a car or an F-14. And although he denies it, I'm pretty sure he named his daughter Shelby because of how much he liked that car.
As she drives us around Annapolis, I look around at all the buildings and parks. It seems okay here, not crazy but not boring.
"Oooooh!" She points out the window at a small outdoor market. "This looks fun." She decides and struggles to parallel park. Once we're out of the car and walking down the sidewalk, her face lights up.
"Have you been here before?" I ask her. She seems unfamiliar with the area, though she's lived here two years.
"Not this part of town. Normally we hang a few blocks down, but this is so cute! I've literally been wasting my time over there when- look! They have chickens!" A new thing grabs her attention and she ventures off to a coup of chickens right outside the Farmers Market entrance. I try to keep up with her, but her tiny body fits through the crowd of people way too easily. It's always stressful keeping an eye on her in public, especially when she gets excited and runs off. By the time I reach the coup, the man selling the chickens is handing her one. I stare in slight shock as Shelby just grabs the chicken from him and holds it in her hands with a grin.
"Can we keep her?" She looks at the bird as if it's a puppy instead of a fucking chicken. I just laugh and shake my head. "I'm serious Brad, she would be a great asset to the apartment." The smile is not gonna work this time. Stay strong, Bradley. Do not cave.
"Absolutely not. We can't have a chicken in an apartment, Shel."
"Boooooo!" She hands the chicken back to the nice man.
"You know, most chickens do need to be outside, but I found that Julio here, my rooster, likes to be indoors. He's a bit of a loner, and usually pretty grumpy. I'm sure he would love living in an apartment." The man tells us. That cannot be true.
Then she gives me the eyes. Like, the eyes. Do not cave, do not cave. I shake my head. I know that if I gave her even a smile, we'd be walking out of here with a rooster.
"Sorry sir, our complex doesn't allow pets." I at least give an excuse.
"Oh, that is okay. I'm sure I'll find a home for Julio, you guys have a good day!" He replies.
Me and Shel continue down the sidewalk. This time I put a hand on her shoulder to avoid losing her. Then I feel her elbow dig into my side.
"Oww!"
"You suck." She tells me.
"I'm sorry?" God I hope she's joking.
"Why don't you want a chicken? You scared of em? Bock bockkkk!" She teases before actually making a chicken noise. Like, out loud.
"I am not scared! I'm just th-"
"Just like the rooster? Are you a grumpy loner just like Julio?" She keeps teasing.
"Shut up."
"Bock bockkkkk!"
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...
