Salvatore [Top Gun: Maverick]

14

The days of waiting slowly came to an end as it was the eve before the mission. Maverick had a little more faith in crew seeing that mostly everyone was able to complete the course and with him now as team leader. They had Jigsaw practicing the bombing patterns for the runway the past two days seeing she was the swiftest pilot out of the bunch. She couldn't complain about the task. It was easy she just had to get it there and get out. Still there was no set list of who was doing what just yet. And Stella found herself with her knees tucked into her chest as she listened to the ringing of her phone.

The call went to voicemail which meant Katie was busy with patients. Stella let out a sigh as she listened to Katie's voice recording play. She rarely left voicemails but this was important. The beep signaled for her to continue.

"Hi Katie it's Stella," she began, "You don't have to call back I just needed tell you something really quick."

She took a deep breath pulling running a hand through her damp hair.

"My mission is tomorrow and well, you know how it is. If anything happens I wanted to say that I'm really happy that you're in my life. You're truly the greatest friend I could've asked for and I'm so thankful we sat next to each other in that 1st grade classroom."

Her voice started to crack with sadness seeping through her words.

"You and your family have done so so so much for me. You really are my family and I love you. I don't think I've love anyone more than you," she sniffed, "You're my best friend."

"Bur don't worry I'll be ok. It's just work you know," she laughed, "I'll see you in a little bit."

Her finger pressed the end button with tears dripping down her face. With that final phone call all the loose ends to Stella's life tied together neatly in a nice bow. She could fly tomorrow and be content with not coming back.

—

She couldn't sleep which was no surprise. Her body felt sticky and gross against the cotton sheets. The room was hot despite the AC being at the low temperature. Every time Stella closed her eyes scenes from her crash in training would play in her head. Sweat beaded along her forehead.

Stella kicked off the comforter and stumbled into the kitchen to fetch a cup of water or a glass of wine. Her hands found the mason jar first. Except due to the darkness and her extremely slow movements to blend with the dark the jar ended up slipping from the shelve and crashing onto the ground.

She winced as the noise was as loud as a gunshot ringing through the building. With her hands and her hips Stella let out a defeated sigh as the mess would be taken care of later in the week. That being if she would be returning to her apartment. God she was depressing.

There was a knock on the door that made her heart leap out of her chest. Tip toeing across the wooden floor careful not to step on any glass shards she unlocked it half expecting to be met with Micheal Myers. It was Bradley.

His hair with tousled and was dressed in sleeping attire as he was probably in bed. But his eyes were awake and alert telling Stella he was facing a similar sleepiness night.

"Everything alright?"

"Yeah I just dropped a glass," she shrugged, her hand went to turn on the light as she could only see his eyes in the dark.

"You're still awake?" it was nearly two in the morning.

"I tried," Stella sighed, "I think I got an hour in."

"Me too," he confessed, "My brain won't shut off."

"I keep replaying images of me crashing," she paused to open the door wider, "You can come in if you want."

She didn't expect him to accept the invitation seeing the sun was soon going to replace the moon and they had the mission in the morning. At this point she should just stay up since call time was at five. But Bradley never failed to surprise her, stepping inside and over to the couch.

She took the usual spot, on the other end of Bradley putting her legs up. If she extended them a bit more they'd be touching his sweatpants covered legs.

"How do you feel about Maverick being team leader?" she whispered, they never got a chance to talk about the last minute changes.

"It's surprisingly made me more calmer," he sighed, "I don't think that's the right word."

"I get what you mean," she smiled, "You think you're gonna fly?"

There were still four opportunities for the pilots to be picked. The fifth dagger they added would follow a second canyon route to bomb the enemy runway. It was only Hangman, Jigsaw, and Rooster that was able to complete the course. And Maverick.

"I don't know," he blew, looking up at her ceiling, "I can't figure out whether I want to be or not."

It wasn't that Rooster wasn't skilled enough to be chosen but it was up to Maverick and if he was ready to let Rooster go. Stella caught a glimpse of Maverick's face watching Rooster complete the course successfully. There was no doubt he would be picked.

She let a yawn as her eyes slowly started to grow heavy. Bradley caught her in the act, his face softening.

"You should probably take advantage of these last two hours."

She gave a slow nod, getting up from the couch and heading to the bedroom.

"Can you stay?" she whispered.

Bradley smiled and followed to make sure she didn't collapse along the way. The bed finally felt comfortable and inviting as she sunk into the mattress. He took the place next to her with just enough space between them. They faced another, their eyes fighting sleep.

"Whatever happens Rooster," she mumbled, "I'm glad I met you."

"You're not getting rid of me yet," he joked.

"Nope. I hope you stick around for awhile."

"Only if you'll let me."

"I'm grown to really like you," she whispered before slumber took over. Bradley muttered something back but it was left unheard in the darkness.

Author's Note
Finally updated! go me!! hope you enjoy! kind of bittersweet since this story is going to conclude soon but i would still love to write other things so please send suggestions!! i have a lot of original stories and harry potter fanfics in the drafts 💀