Fly High and Go Far

PHOENIX-Chapter Four: More than a Friend by GIRLI

"Heard you went neck and neck with Hangman today?" The text read. Sammy saw the weird conjunction of emojis and smiled a bit. Natasha had always been the bird, the rock n roll hand, and a red heart combo in Samantha's phone. It was because when she went to put her number in the phone, it was never "Natasha Trace" or "Phoenix." She insisted on emojis.
"Did you now?" Sammy wrote back. "Yeah, he was being, well, Seresin." The text bubbles popped up and Sammy watched them on the phone intently.
"What's going on between you two? You two have a bone to pick with each other. I know you can fend for yourself, but I don't like it," Phoenix texted. Sammy sighed and began typing.
"I have nothing with him. He just seems to bug the fuck out of me because I'm Admiral Kazansky's kid. It's like he's got a complex."
Phoenix sent the laughing emoji and then an immediate text, "I think he's scared you're better than him."
"I probably scare him. I mean, he got out of Top Gun after all of us so he's the new kid on the block if you get what I'm saying," Sammy replied back.
"You do have a threatening aura. And it is mostly because of your last name," Phoenix texted. Sammy laughed a bit and smiled at the phone.
"Do I threaten you?" Sammy sent. Phoenix, quickly, sent the side eyed smiley face.
"Only a little bit. But that's because I know you and I know your flying tactics. And I know you're the best of us." Sammy stared at Natasha's response and shook her head to herself.
"Aw shucks, Phoenix," she replied. "Does that mean you're willing to follow me on this mission?"
"It's literally you. You're the only option for team leader," Natasha sent. "Or Rooster. I trust him too. He just hesitates."
"Well, I'm not the one making the decisions."
"No, but your uncle and your dad's best friend is the one making the decision," Natasha replied. Sammy laid there for a minute, thinking of the situation.
"Maybe that's why Hangman has it out for me," Sammy replied back. It occurred to her that Hangman has wanted to be in the spotlight since getting sent to Top Gun. He loves the attention and every reply he got from Sammy shuts him down.
"Maybe so. But you know that me and Bradshaw have your back. And I'm pretty sure Bob does too."
"I'm pretty sure I scare Bob too," Sammy replied laughing to herself.
"Maybe so, but I know you're more trustworthy than Hangman. And from what I've gathered, Bob also doesn't trust him," Natasha replied.
"I don't know a single person who does other than the Navy," Sammy said. "But regardless, we have a long day tomorrow. I'll see you bright and early." She felt her eyes getting heavy.
"Good night, Sam. Love ya, kid."
"Love you too, Tasha."

Sam woke up feeling rested the next morning, happy to feel good after sleep, but immediately angry that she had to deal with Hangman once again. She got dressed in Adidas sweatpants and a plain black T-shirt, sliding socks onto her feet and slipping shoes on. Not caring much about anything other than getting breakfast and getting out the door, Sam got ready in thirty minutes, leaving her almost an hour left before she actually had to leave. She sighed, pulling out her phone to text Phoenix.
"I'm going to grab coffee before work. You want one?"
Sam grabbed her dad's car keys, not feeling like riding a motorcycle with two coffees in hand. As she got into the vehicle, her phone went off.
"An iced vanilla chai with a pump of hazelnut, and I'm all yours," Trace texted back. Sam read it and smiled to herself.
"You haven't changed one bit, Tasha," she whispered to herself, setting her phone down on the passenger seat. Sam cranked the engine and opened the garage door as she fished for her wallet in her backpack before actually leaving.

Ordering the same thing Phoenix wanted and getting two breakfast bagels, Sam made her way to base, hoping that the lines weren't too long. Luckily, she made it through the lines in a timely fashion for 0630 on a work day. She drove over to the hangar and got out of the car after shutting it off. She grabbed her backpack out, tossing everything that she took out of it back into it. A familiar voice came walking up.
"You got my chai, Kazansky?" Sam grabbed a chai and a breakfast bagel, wrapped in its own paper bag.
"And a little something extra," she told Trace, handing it over. Phoenix smirked and took a sip of her tea before popping her mouth off of it.
"What do I owe you?" She asked. Sam shrugged and grabbed hers out, shutting the car door and locking it up.
"How about a girl's day this weekend?" Sam asked, sipping her drink as they headed for the building's front door.
"What do you want me to wear?" Phoenix asked jokingly. Sam chuckled at her and shook her head.
"Wear what you want, honeybee," she toyed back.

Inside the locker room, the two changed into the clothes they normally wore under their flight suits and got dressed to head out. Sam, in the meantime, watched Phoenix undress without realizing it. Sam was bigger than Phoenix, but the way Trace's shoulder blades popped every time she adjusted her back, Sam felt stunned. She found herself lost as Phoenix stood there in short exercise shorts and a sports bra, slipping a white T-shirt over.
"You good, Sam?" Phoenix asked, catching Sam staring. Sam nodded and laughed at herself, clearly turning red.
"Yeah, sorry. I dozed off," Sam excused herself. Phoenix locked her things up, throwing her flightsuit and boots on.
"Sure, Kazansky."

The two walked out with their breakfast, walking side by side, matching their steps up unintentionally. The found Rooster brooding in his seat for some unknown reason, but Phoenix took hers as Sam took hers, right next to Phoenix across the aisle.
"Hey, Bradshaw? Why the long face? You want some chai?" Phoenix asked, sipping from her drink. Rooster turned around and stared at Phoenix and then at Sam.
"You guys got breakfast without me?" He pouted, jokingly.
"I'll give you half of my bagel if you stop being sad," Sam held out her bagel, still wrapped in its wrapper. Rooster could never say no to food and took it from Sam, grabbing one of the halves out. Sam took her breakfast back and started munching down on the sandwich. Phoenix held her drink out to Rooster who put his hand up, turning it down, before pulling up his blender bottle filled with protein shake.
"Is that cookie dough?" Sam asked, inhaling the last bite of her bagel. Rooster covered his mouth and nodded his head.
"You want some?" He offered. Sam got up and took the bottle, opening it up and throwing back some of the protein shake.
"God, Sam, he's got cooties," Phoenix laughed.
"Look, I saw a grown ass man eat fries off of the wardroom floor on my last carrier. Drinking from Rooster's blender bottle isn't going to kill me," she said, handing it back to him before grabbing Phoenix's chai and taking a sip from it. "Now you have Rooster cooties too."
"We are almost thirty. Stop saying cooties," Bob piped up, sitting down next to Phoenix.
"I bet Bob has cooties," Sam laughed. Bob smiled, stifling a laugh,
"Morning, Kazansky," he told her. Sam nodded and head back to her seat.
"Morning, Floyd," she replied back, sipping her drink down so fast, it hit the ice and made that annoying sucking sound.
"God can you shut up?" Hangman asked, walking into the hangar. Sam's brow furrowed, and she took her mouth off of the straw. Her hand swirled the cup around, making another annoying sound with the ice spinning around and then went back to sucking violently. Hangman stood there and ripped the cup from her hand, leaving the straw in her mouth.
"You're a child," he said, going to throw her cup away.
"At least I don't order beer like I'm a sheltered 21-year old," Sam said, grabbing the straw from her mouth and the wrapper off of her desk.
  "You're still on that?" Hangman asked, waltzing up to Sam at the trash can.
  "It's the one thing I can make fun of you that still gets your butthurt," Sam laughed before heading back to her seat.  She looked over at Phoenix with a smile, and immediately lost it when she saw Phoenix judging her with low eyes and pursed lips.

The day went on with both classroom work and dogfighting. Sam got pair up with Bob and Phoenix for the day, which was a good idea in theory, but executed poorly because Natasha and Sammy were joking the entire time. Though, they did put up a decent fight with Maverick, spending the most time in the air, avoiding him and pulling fast ones on him. It only ended when Sammy pulled up right in front of Maverick.
"Got ya, kid," he replied. Sammy chuckled and started fake whining. "Go get your push-ups."

The three of them sat on the tarmac, panting hard from the heat and from the two hundred push-ups.
"Are you going to take this seriously?" Phoenix asked. Sam looked at her confused.
"What do you mean?" Sam asked.
"You keep joking around and it got us hit by Mav," Phoenix stood up, offering a hand to Bob and one to Sam. Sam stared at her wingman.
"The other guys have lasted thirty minutes in the air. We just did two hours, Trace. What are you going on about?" Sam asked, still confused. Bob stood there, looking at the two of them, eyes going back and forth.
"You're not taking this seriously, Sam."
"If life was serious the entire time, it wouldn't be worth living," Sam yelled back. Phoenix rubbed her forehead.
"The jokes. The toying. Sam, don't you see? It's just putting it in Mav's head that you aren't good enough for this mission," Phoenix complained. Sam stayed quiet and squinted her eyes.
"You know Maverick is my uncle right?"
"He's your what?" Phoenix asked once more.
"He's my uncle. Him and my dad flew together. He's my godfather," Sam whispered. Sam thought to herself, brow furrowing.
"You know I never put two and two together," she lost her anger. "That doesn't mean you can keep making jokes about stuff while we're on a mission!" Phoenix yelled back again. Sam chuckled and patted her friend's shoulder before walking back into the building, eventually with the two others behind her.