killshot (bradley bradshaw)

I

As she turned into the parking lot, Jenna breathed in the salty sweet smell coming off the ocean. Parking her car next to a few motorcycles, she hopped onto the pavement and headed towards the door of the Hard Deck.

Walking in, Jenna glanced around the bar, trying to find Penny. It was not too crowded in the bar yet, but it was still early and she expected the bar would fill up once the sun starts setting. Spotting long brown hair behind the bar, Jenna made a beeline for the barstool in the corner and sat down, careful to keep her cell phone off the bar surface.

"Hey Jenna!" Penny said. "How are you doin, girl?".

"Hi Penny," Jenna responded, happy to see the owner and best bartender she knew. "I'm doing great! I've been laying low the past couple of weeks, getting ready for a new assignment that starts tomorrow."

Penny set a beer down in front of her, and Jenna smiled in thanks.

"So this new assignment," Penny started. " Is this your reward for graduating at the top of your class?"

"Must be." Jenna said with a shrug.  A few weeks ago, she graduated from Top Gun as the number one pilot in the class. As all her other classmates received their assignments, she was handed an envelope with her new instructions. She'd been keeping close to the naval base since then, hanging out on the beach and at the Hard Deck, waiting for tomorrow.

"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure you'll be able to handle it." Penny reassured her.

Penny moved down the bar to tend to other customers that filled up the seats around the bar. Jenna glanced over to the other side of the room, spotting two guys playing darts. Or maybe playing isn't quite the right word. The blonde one had gotten two bullseyes in a row, and the dark haired one couldn't seem to believe it. He put his hand up, blocking the blonde's view of the dart board, but somehow the blonde got a third bullseye. Jenna shakes her head and laughs to herself, looking around to find Penny again. She's leaning up against the bar, chatting with a guy who looks to be around her age. From the looks of it, they definitely seem to know each other. Then Penny turned around to look at Jenna and nodded her head in his direction with a smirk on her face. Jenna glanced over at him and saw that he's broken one of the cardinal rules of Penny's bar: don't put your phone on the counter. She laughed as Penny rang her bell in the center of the bar and the Hard Deck erupted in cheers.

The guy looked at Penny confused, and she gestured over to the sign. He shook his head and smiled as people pat him on the back as they walked by. Penny came back to where Jenna is sitting, grabs her empty glass, and sets a new beer down in front of her. The two women laughed together as customers came up to the bar for their free round.

As Jenna grabbed her glass and took a sip, the guy looked over the two of them. Jenna raised her glass to him in thanks. By now the Hard Deck was basically full, and Jenna people watched from her corner of the bar. She noticed that a group of pilots were standing around the pool table across the room. Jenna didn't recognize them, and figured that they were probably here for the same mission she was, but decided to stay her my spot, savoring her last night of freedom.

The bell above the door rang, and the group of pilots Jenna had been watching turned to look at the door. They seemed to recognize the guy in the Hawaiian shirt that just walked in. He headed towards them with a little strut in his step, but Jenna noted that he only greeted a few of them in a friendly manner.  Wherever they all came from, it seemed that Jenna that they all at least knew each other. If this ended up being the group she was assigned to, Jenna felt like she might be the odd one out.

Jenna finished up her beer and decided to head home early so could get enough sleep before tomorrow. Just as she got up from her barstool, Jenna saw Penny ring the bell again.  A few pilots stood behind the man from earlier, waiting for Penny's instruction. As the bar started chanting "overboard!", the pilots picked him up and carried him through the bar.

"Great to see you, Pete!" Penny called after him, a big smile on her face.

Jenna watched as the pilots dumped Pete on the sand outside. They closed the door on their way back in, laughing and clapping each other on the back.

Suddenly the music from the jukebox cut out, and the whole bar groaned in response. Jenna turned around to see what happened, and Hawaiian shirt guy was sitting down at the piano, with a few of his friends around him. He must have sensed that she was watching, because as he started playing the first notes of a song, he turned his head and looked in her direction

He was still wearing his aviators, so Jenna wasn't quite sure if he was really looking at her. Then he smiled, and nodded his head towards the piano. Jenna laughed but shook her head, turning around and pushing through the crowd of customers to the door. 

She walked out into the fresh air, looking back as she heard "Great Balls of Fire" drifting out from the bar's open windows. As much as  she'd love to stay, from the look of that group of pilots, Jenna knew she had her work cut out for her. She may have been the best of her class a few weeks ago, but something told her everything was about to change.

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AN: Hi! Let me know how you like the first chapter! I would love feedback!! Thanks for reading!

Also, I am planning on posting hopefully every day or every other day. Chapters probably will be around this length or a little longer! I work almost every day so bear with me!