𝘚𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 | A Top Gun Fanfiction

Chapter 19: 𝘜𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥

I wake up cold.

Despite the way my body groans at the thought of lifting so much as a finger, I reach a hand's worth of them out to the other side of the bed. They graze the cool sheets. Empty space. My eyes struggle to open. It feels like each lash is glued to a dumbbell. Squinting is insanely difficult, but I manage and it only feeds the urge to roll over into sleep again. It would appear that Maverick left sometime in the night or early morning. I honestly can't fathom how he did it. We fell asleep locked together in a knot of limbs. He's a houdini, I'll give him that. My eyes slip shut and I drag myself onto the space that was his just a few hours ago. The blankets are icy cold, but they smell just like him and I drift for an extra ten minutes wrapped in the scent of my boyfriend.

Boyfriend.

What a word.

It feels so foreign, and yet I can't get it off my mind.

Boyfriend, I sing, a smile hiding behind my curtain of hair.

Charlie and I throw our jackets on and march to the door.

"Oh no my lesson plan notes –"

I whip around, "I'll get them –"

"No no," Charlie waves her hands frantically, "Here!" She tosses me the keys to her convertible and rushes back down the hall.

I grip the bundle of metal in my hand and hurry towards the door. I yank it open and nearly barrel right into someone.

"Stirrups –"

"Maverick!?"

He smiles, "What's the hurry?"

"Uh, just this huge national school that's super tough to get into where you fly badass aircrafts and shoot down bad guys and stuff."

Maverick shakes his head, "You're something else."

I wink.

Suddenly Charlie's nearly running into me. "I thought you went to the ca – Maverick," Her tone falls flat on its face. She narrows her eyes at Maverick as he raises a hand. Maverick and I scitter out of the way as she locks the door with a spare house key. With her back to us, she calls out, "And why are you here so early?"

"I was going to offer Stirrups here a ride."

"What about Goose?"

"I haven't seen Goose since last night. Ya know...Carol being in town and all that," Maverick shoots me a look of pure disgust and mouths the word, loud. I burst out laughing.

Charlie turns around. "Alright, just don't be late."

"Yes Ma'am."

Sassy and serious all at once. I shake my head at the nerve he has to talk to someone above him that way. Charlie takes Maverick and Goose shenanigans with a grain of salt, but I can tell that deep down, she's perturbed by them. More than she lets on. I think that's part of why she was so fixed on me understanding how Maverick feels for me, even when I had the mind to reject it. She knew he'd be good for me. From day one, Charlie knew I was in a rough spot. She knew I was a danger to myself, unstable, emotional, and hurting, and she made the decision to pull me from the pilot's seat. It stung, being called out, and I took it as a betrayal, when all along she was doing what she thought was best for me. Helping. Like pouring alcohol in a wound. It burns like Hell but it flushes out the infection.

I was right about one thing the day I touched down on Top Gun soil.

Charlie is my Guardian Angel.

I just wish I never doubted her.