Tailspin: A Top Gun Love Story

Chapter 14

*This chapter is told from a third person perspective because you aren't in it!*

.....

Maverick steps out of the residence in the morning with a cup of coffee in his hand. He looks over to his left when another door opens. The door swings violently as Tom marches out of his room. He looks around frantically and, upon seeing Maverick, starts in his direction without even shutting his door.

"Where is she?" he yells.

Maverick furrows his brows, gripping his mug tighter. "What the fuck are you talking about?" he mutters as Tom pushes past him aggressively and slams his fist into the door.

"Open the door!" he shouts. "I know you're in there, Amelia!"

Maverick turns to look at Tom with a worried expression. "Ice, is she not at home?"

Tom rounds on Maverick angrily, clutching his shirt and slamming him into the brick wall of the residence. Half of Maverick's coffee splashes out of the mug. "Don't play games with me, Maverick," he hisses.

"Ice, I swear to you, I brought her home. I saw her go inside."

"Well, she's not there. And all her stuff is gone." Tom knocks Maverick into the wall again, just as Goose hops out of his apartment.

"Woah!" Goose cries, seeing the two men glaring at one another. He hurries toward them but Tom releases Maverick's shirt half-heartedly and turns away before Goose approaches, stepping out into the lot.

Maverick looks like he might be sick. He turns to Goose in dismay. "Amelia's gone," he breathes.

Goose lets out a sigh. "Yeah," he says. "I know."

Tom wheels around and jumps back onto the porch. "What do you know?" he growls, using his forearm to pin Goose to the wall.

"Ice, enough!" Maverick shouts, grabbing Tom's shoulders and throwing him off Goose. Tom staggers, trying to keep his balance as his shoes slip on the gravel of the road. Maverick turns to look at Goose anxiously. "What did she tell you, Goose?"

Goose takes a deep breath and pulls out a piece of paper from the back pocket of his jeans. He holds it out to Maverick. "She left me a note. Under the door."

"She left you a note?" Tom snarls through gritted teeth.

Maverick gives Tom a hostile look and takes the paper from Goose's hand. He unfolds it while Tom hops back onto the porch and leans over his shoulder to read it.

Dear Goose,

I think I've done exactly what you'd asked me not to do. But I'm not sure how it could have been avoided. At least Maverick's heart is not the only one that's broken.

I should never have come but, at least, I have the sense to leave. Perhaps it's too little too late, but better late than never.

If there's one last favor you can do for Mav – and Tom (and me) – I ask that you help the two of them repair whatever bond they'd managed to establish before I destroyed it. For some reason, I feel like they might need each other one day.

I wish you, your sweet wife, and your adorable boy all the best.

Thanks for your friendship.

-Amelia

Maverick crumples the paper up in his fist when he's through reading it. His jaw is clenched as he glares into the distance. The warm wind picks up the dust in the field and swirls it above the road, creating a haze that obscures the rest of the town.