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( i. of early nights and unpaid bills )
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THE SATURDAY NIGHT CROWD AT THE HARD DECK WAS DEADER THAN MAX HAD SEEN IT IN RECENT MEMORY. With the Top Gun graduates gone and most pilots out on leave for the start of the summer holidays, the few left under Penny's care were like her: people stuck at the base alone, waiting for the next class of pilots who think they're special.
Those like Max had two weeks or so before more pilots sat for their cockpit classes, and Max hated having time to burn. A lot of her colleagues were older and had families of their own to spend time with over the break, most pilots Max's age weren't teaching, they were flying dangerous missions overseas and sleeping in cots on aircraft carriers like her older brother Elliot. No, she hated the listless rests and the quietness of Miramar.
In other years she might have gone home to Monterey, hung out with her younger brother for a week, and maybe even gone surfing with her dad if the weather was nice enough. This year, however, she knew that her dad and his newest girlfriend, Suzanne, were in Madrid for the month, a vacation she found out about not from him, but from her brother Freddy. If she was going to go home, he wouldn't even be there, instead, he was spending the summer working in New York.
North Island would have to do, Max thought sourly. Maybe tomorrow she could try to go for a run on the beach or maybe even spend some time shopping, but the night was already falling through her grasp. Out the window of the bar, the sun began its slow descent into the sea, a sign to Max that it was time to pack up and head back home.
"Leaving so soon, Sweetpea?" Penny asked when she saw Max stand. She had known the bar owner for ages through Maverick and in turn through her father. When the Kerners moved away from San Diego 15 years ago, Max went a long while with only seeing Penny or Mav during the summers when she and Freddy lived with Maverick. Once she was enrolled in Top Gun, however, she became a regular around the Benjamin dinner table. "It's only nine."
Max smiled and shrugged her jacket on. "It's my vacation, Pen. I need to catch up on some sleep."
Penny nodded and wiped the spot on the wooden bar where Max's gin and tonic had been. "Where do you want to bill it?"
Max rolled her eyes and shrugged. "What do you think?"
Penny laughed and grabbed a notepad from under the bar. "Not sure how much more Iceman's tab can take, Max."
"Trust me, Uncle Tom always comes through."
Max waved goodbye to a few coworkers she recognized on her way out and breathed a sigh of relief when the cold sea breeze hit her skin. Her truck was only a short walk away, parked against the neon bar sign, its red paint glistening in the moonlight.
