Our Bruised Bodies | Bradley Bradshaw

ACT FIVE - PART NINETEEN

"An interesting girl." Maverick said once he joined Bradley at a table, gesturing with his open beer bottle towards the girl that was still standing by the bar a bit perplex upon being suddenly left alone after her bold assumption about Bradley's marriage, which caused Bradley to exhale lengthy while leaning back in his seat.

"Please, don't say shit like that." The taller aviator asked. "The entire world seemed to like to ignore the fact, but I am married. Grace and I are married to each other, no matter the rumours or what anyone is thinking." Bradley told Maverick, who gave a soft smile.

"Maybe they think that because you've been ignoring your marriage and your wife for the last four years or so?" Maverick tried, only for Bradley to give him a displeased look. "It's good to hear you say that, though." Maverick admitted, which had Bradley huff, before taking a big swing form his beer.

"Why? All it does is make me miserable." He mentioned, before swallowing thickly. "Fuck, I miss my own wife, who I decided to leave, if one can call it that. It's pathetic." He admitted, which had Maverick watch him with worry in his eyes. He knew that feeling, missing the person that meant the world to them.

"I'm no better than you." Pete said after a moment. "It's ... over." He dragged out the words, which had Bradley furrow his brows not understanding what his dad was telling him, before his eyes widened.

"You're kidding right!?" He wanted to know, which had Pete take a long swing from his beer, before shaking his head.

"Three decades ... just like that." Pete muttered, while Bradley honestly wondered if he was struggling to understand the meaning of English right now. Ice and Mav were Ice and Mav. All this made no sense. Why wait three decades to end it, when they could have ended it way before, right after the kids left home for example but never did.

Yes of course, he understood that sometimes people struggle but that's not a reason to throw away thirty years spend their lives together just like that. Bradley must know, He knew Grace since she was born 31 years ago.

"Why?" Bradley wondered out loud, honestly interested in what had finally caused the water to spill over. For Bradley knew they got over the fact that Grace left them all for the Trafalgar back then. Ice and Mav made up after that disaster, then Bradley left too. Back to deployments rather than staying at Top Gun.

"Said he couldn't take my bullshit any longer." Maverick said with a shrug, which had Bradley snort out a huff.

"That's bullshit." He claimed to know. "Didn't you say that Slider thinks that something going on with them? This sure as hell has to be part of it. Ice and you ... are Ice and you." For Bradley this was the only way to explain this situation. Something was going on, he was sure as hell about this, because no matter how he pretended to be cold and indifferent, made of ice, frozen to the heart Tom Kazansky loved Pete Mitchell. Bradley knew that. He was so so sure of it. This had to be a gigantic mistake.

"I don't know, Bradley. Maybe people just have enough of each other after so long. It could be." Maverick tried to reason with Bradley, but the taller aviator shook his head. No. Not them, not like that.

"I don't buy it." Bradley said right away, arguing with his dad's reasoning. This wasn't right. It couldn't be.

"Well, yeah. How's your love life?" Maverick tried to change the topic, which earned him a grimace from the taller aviator. Who snorted an unamused laugh exact the same way as he did as a teenager the first time Maverick asked him if he had a girlfriend and if they needed to step up rules about girlfriends.

"Don't look like that. That's a normal question." Mav defended himself, only for Bradley to snort once more before reaching for his bottle of beer and washing the flush on his cheek down with the biggest part of the content of the bottle.