𝐔𝐍𝐁𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒 | 𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐋𝐄𝐘 "𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑" 𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐖

𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐈𝐑

✈︎𝐑 𝐄 𝐁 𝐄 𝐂 𝐂 𝐀

"There she is! The lady of the hour." Hangman calls as I walk into the lounge.

"Pipe down, Barbie." I sigh as I plop down onto the couch. The weekend is over and now it's back to work.

It's been a few weeks since we started at Top Gun and we've been doing exceptionally well. I do look forward to the weekends.

"Ooo. Someone's moody." He remarks, making my head hurt more. "Did someone spike your root beer last night?"

Bradley suddenly jumps into the conversation, a little defensively, "Hangman, lay off, will you? Can't you see she's not in the mood?"

Hangman raises an eyebrow, then chuckles, "It's a joke, Bradley. Lighten up."

"I just had too much sugar last night and my head hurts." I sigh. I do not want to be here right now.

Hangman smirks, "Well, you know what they say, sugar and spice—"

I roll my eyes, "Yeah, and everything nice. But I think I'm all out of nice today."

Phoenix grins, "Aw, don't be like that. We missed you last night." She nudges me. They went to The Hard Deck last night but I wasn't about to bail on Amelia. She scares me though I won't admit that to her face.

"Missed me or missed my sugar-induced cheerfulness?" I retort.

"Both!" Hangman responds, then notices Bradley's concern and adds, "I guess there's always next time." He shrugs before walking away.

"Gah he's annoying." Cover my face with my arm.

I feel a dip in the couch and here Bradley say, "Tell me about it. Phoenix and I have been stuck with him since the academy." He jumps onto the end of the couch, "He's not very considerate. Speaking of which, are you feeling okay? You're clearly not yourself today."

"Amelia and I just got high on sugar during our Full House marathon. It's our Sunday night tradition and I was a little heavy on the skittles and sweet tarts." The both of us wince. "Let's just say the tight bun and the flying we are about to do is not going to help my headache."

"Well I hope you feel better." He smiles before grabbing his backpack. "And I have some pain meds if it's completely unbearable."

"Gimme the drugs." I snap and he heads to his bag and tosses some towards me. I give him a grateful look, "Thanks, Bradshaw."

Bradley smiles, "Of course,—that's what friends are for."

***

The sun beat down on the tarmac of the Naval Air Station. Commander Anderson, stood in front of us, his expression stern. "Today, we're going to focus on precision and coordination," he announced. "I heard that you guys got into some trouble the other night." He throws a glare my way making me want to squirm in my chair. "So we will also be focusing on discipline." What could he mean by that? "Cherry Bomb, Rooster, you're up first. Hangman, Phoenix, pay close attention. We're looking for perfect execution."

Rooster and I exchanged a quick nod, our communication silent but understood. We headed outside and climbed into the cockpit of our jet, Rooster as the pilot and me in the back seat as the Weapons System Officer.

The engines roared to life as the jet taxied onto the runway. The tension was palpable, but our training had prepared us for this moment. So this should be easy peasy.