𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐄𝐃 | 𝐛.𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐰

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄: 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐤

Soft sounds of Taylor Swift play in the background as I drive. Most of the time, this is what driving looks like for me. The breeze in my hair, Taylor Swift, and peacefulness.

If you ask almost any pilot, they'll say they hate driving. It's too boring or it's no fun. I'm the polar opposite. Driving is peaceful for me, there's less pressure than there is when you fly.

My mind wanders as I approach the red light and turn on my blinker. Just one more right turn and I'll be at the Hard Deck. I sigh just thinking about it. Don't get me wrong, I love Penny and that place but I know who I'm going to see today. When I was told I was selected for a "top secret mission" and only 12 of us from top gun were accepted... well let's just say they would be crazy if they didn't pick Bradley to join too.

I absently rub my ring finger. Honestly, I still resent him for what he did to me. He completely shut me out during one of the most crucial parts of our relationship, our engagement. Let's just say that didn't go so well and look where we are now.

The light turns green and I shake my head, snapping myself out of my thoughts. On the bright side, I am excited to see Phoenix. She's been one of my best friends and this is the first time we've seen each other in a long time. I smile at that.

I park my car at the Hard Deck and walk in. My nerves calm down a little bit when I hear the ambiance of the bar, it's soothing. My eyes wander the room. I look at all of the other pilots playing pool and make a mental note of who I know. Which is... practically all of them. The good sign is there's no Bradley, yet.

"Scarlett! Is that you?!" A cheerful voice catches me off guard. I turn to my right to see Penny walking towards me and I smile brightly at her.

Penny and my dad always had a bit of a thing. I'm sure he'd be happy to see her again, but what do I know about him anymore? That's the way I like it though. He stays away from me, and I stay away from him. It's best like that. I sigh in relief thinking about how at least I don't have to deal with him on this mission.

"Penny! How have you been?" I say, giving her a hug.

"I've been good, sweetie." She smiles at me warmly. "How have you been? I haven't seen you after... well, after everything happened." Her voice trails off towards the end.

"I've been, uh, fine. Just the usual. Maybe I'm better off on my own." I shrug. "Who knows."

Pennys eyes give me a knowing look at my words. She's pretty much saying 'I know you're lying. Spill the details' with her eyes... creepy, I know. She always had a way of knowing when I was lying somehow so I have no idea why I even bothered with trying.

I sigh. "I'm just mad at everything, Pen. Y'know, he hasn't even reached out to me at all since everything? No text, no call, not even a literal email. No explanation whatsoever. I understand that what my dad did was horrible, believe me, but it wasn't me who did it. If I could've changed it, I would've. Pen, you don't know how hard I tried to reverse what he did."

Penny squeezes my shoulder reassuringly. "Oh, Scarlett, it wasn't your fault. Bradley had to have been going through something personally for it to affect your relationship. But honestly, I can't pretend to know what went through his head, sweetie. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Penny." I smile at her. At this point, I really don't want to talk about him anymore so I divert my attention. "I'll talk to you later. We should definitely catch up. I think I'm probably needed over by the pool table." I nod my head in the direction.

"Okay, Scar, let me know if you need anything!" Penny calls out as she heads back to the bar and I walk over to the pool table.

It doesn't look like anyone has seen that I've arrived yet, so I take my time walking over.