Fight or Flight: Top Gun Maverick

Chapter 6 - Thats what friends are for

I woke up from my nap to hear someone knocking on my door. Groggily I got up from my bed, my hair in a very messy braid with strands hanging down in front of my face. It was an oddly cute look actually. A large, Beach Boys tee shirt with some athletic shorts and a messy braid, it was certainly a look. I heard another knock and sleepy made my way to the door. Opening it I found Phoenix, Bob and Rooster on my step, Phoenix's hand raised as if she was about to knock again.
"Sorryyyy..." I say sleepely. "I just woke up".
"Hey sleep head" Rooster says, ruffling my hair as he stepps past me into my house. I turn and watch him strow into the kitchen like he owns the place. I turn back around and Phoenix smiles at me, making her way past me as well. I stare after in utter sleepy bafflement, my brain still not fully functioning.
"Man Jenkins, no beer?!" Rooster calls from the kitchen, already diving into my fridge.
"Uh sorry, It was Phoenix's idea" I hear Bob say, still politely standing on my step. My heart flutters at the thought that he had come anyways even when it was the most loud, extroverted people that had invited him. He nervously pushes his glasses further up on his face.
"Its fine Bob. Phoenix always teases me that I don't get out enough so I guess she just decided to bring the party to me". He chuckles at my comment and I step aside so he can move past me into my house. It was nothing special. Just a small, one story house. The kitchen was a modest, old fashioned design along with the rest of the house. It was sparsely finished with photos of my family and friends along with all my High school sports awards and other odd items. One bookshelf in the corner contained all my beloved reads and some old handheld vcr recorders. Phoenix and Rooster had found my stash of snacks and OJ and were already munching away. I muffled a laugh as I saw Phoenix throw a soggy, OJ dipped chip at Roosters head. It hit him in the forehead with a soggy slap.
"Smileeee" I hear Bob laugh from behind me. I turn and see him holding my VCR recorder. I smile at the camera and then move to his side to watch him recording Phoenix and Rooster messing around in my kitchen, completely oblivious to us.
"Bob, you should take a piece of cheese and slap it on Phoenix's head" I whisper to him.
He looks at me, amusement and shock on his face.
"Really? You don't think she'd be mad???" he says with concern. I laugh,
"Heck no! There's some sliced cheese in the fridge. They are so focused, they won't notice you!" He hesitantly hands me the camera and I point it at him as he slowly makes his way to the fridge. Finding the cheese, he moves around behind Phoenix who had not noticed him. I try not to giggle as he throws the slice at the back of her head. It sticks. She whirls around
"Bobbbbb you are not gonna get away with that" she laughs, reaching for the fridge and grabbing two slices. I start laughing as an epic cheese fight goes down in my kitchen. Suddenly, Rooster is in front of me, making faces at the camera.
"Oh lord this is gonna be an odd tape" I laugh, pointing it again at Phoenix who has Bob in the corner with cheese on his head.
"How come Leia isn't getting pelted with cheese slices" Bob laughs from the corner, still under siege from Phoenix. She stops suddenly, turning to me.
"Yeahhhhh.....goood point" she smiles, taking a step in my direction. I begin to back up, moving away faster and faster backwards. Rooster comes out of nowhere and takes the camera from me, giving me a shove. I fall back onto the couch, Phoenix throwing a slice of cheese right at my face. I laugh as it hits, the cold, cheese slice sticking to my head. I peel it off and throw it at Rooster. The cheese hits the recorder, blocking its view. We all sit there laughing for a bit, trying to catch our breath.
"So Kes, we just came here to check on you but It's kinda turned into a party. What do you say Rooster and I will go get drinks and you and Bob cook some dinner so we can have a real party?" Phoenix manages, once we've all settled down enough to breathe and speak.
"Sure, do you guys want anything in particular?" I say, my stomach hurting from all the laughing.
"Spaghetti" Bob says from the kitchen. He leaned on the island, a glass of OJ in his hand. He saw us all looking at him and he immediately got nervous.
"I mean....." he stutters. "Anything will do....we don't have to have spaghetti."
"Sounds good to me" Rooster and Phoenix say at the same time.
"Good!" I reply. "Its easy to cook".
Phoenix and Rooster leave to go buy drinks. I'm not an alcohol drinker so I just asked them to get more OJ and Bob asked for some gummy bears. We got to work on the spaghetti which was an easy dish and didn't take us that long. It made me nervous, having Bob working besides me, just the two of us. I tried an attempt at small talk.
"Did you do any sports when you were younger Bob?". He blinked, as if coming out of some deep thoughts.
"Ohhhh" he murmured, really focused on chopping onions for the sauce. He blushed as I continued to look sideways at him.
"I wasn't much into sports...I kinda wasn't really the athletic type...I was the nerdy kid who was in the chess club..." he finally finished, trailing off, seeming embarrassed.
"Hey, in my opinion, being a nerd is cool! It's even cooler that you were in the chess club!" I said genuinely. "I played sports but I was also considered the "Weird, nerdy kid". It's what you get I guess when you're not the "usual"". I looked over and he was still staring intently at the cutting board, focusing really hard on the onions. I noticed a bruise on his cheek. Not thinking, I leaned over and brushed my finger over it. He flinched away, startled.
"Im sorry" I said, quickly stepping back. "Is...Is that from Lt. Lee?". He reached up and touched it.
"Yeahhh." he said shyly. "Ho..How are you feeling? Is your stomach okay? I saw he got a boot to your ribs." He glanced over at me but quickly looked away again.
"Oh I'm alright. Kinda painful and very much bruised but okay". He nods, seemingly satisfied with my answer. I look over again and see him struggling with his onion cutting. This made me chuckle and he flushed with embarrassment.
"Im not the best chef" he mumbles, fumbling with the knife. The noodles were almost done we just needed to finish the meet sauce. I scoot over and gently grab the knife from him.
"Try cutting them like this" I said softly, my brain jumbled and trying to focus but also freaking out about how close he was to me. I showed him how to dice the onion into small pieces. I gently handed him back the knife. He began chopping but had the wrong wrist movement and wasn't quite getting it. I placed my hand over his and corrected it. The timer went off for the noodles and I rushed over to drain the water in the sink. I got the noodles drained and began pouring marinara sauce into a pan with the meat I had just cooked. A little got on my finger as I was pouring it and I turned to Bob. "Hold still" I giggled, approaching him. He looked very nervous but did a good job hiding it. I took the sauce and as I smeared it on his forehead said "Simbaaaa". I giggled again, stepping back to view my handiwork. His cheeks were the color of the sauce on his forehead. I scooped up the chopped onion and threw it into the sauce, bringing it to a simmer.
Phoenix and Rooster entered just as I finished warming the sauce. They had hands full of beer, OJ and a huge bag of gummy bears. Bob searched for plates in my cabinets as I helped Phoenix set the items on the counter. I grabbed silverware and some cups and brought them to my very small table.
Everyone enjoyed the spaghetti. Rooster inquired about the tomato smear on Bob's forehead and I laughed as I explained what happened. Phoenix wiggled her eyebrows at me from across the table and I wanted to smash my face into the spaghetti with how red it was. I think Bob noticed but he didn't comment about it or act differently but Bradshaw sure did.
"Jeez Kes, you could just blend right into your spaghetti!" he laughed. I just wanted to disappear right into the floor.
"Phoenix want to see my room" I say, voice strained, trying to cover my embarrassment. She laughed heartily and joined me as I lead the way down the hallway. Once in my room Phoenix closed the door.
"You need to ask him out gurlll!!!" She said, shaking my shoulders.
"Phoenix he's a co-worker and probably doesn't even like me." I protest, my heart fluttering though. I had a hard crush on this guy from day one. Just something about his innocent, dorky personality drove me crazy.
"What are you talking about!? He's so into you Leia" she used my actual name. "Haven't you seen the way he blushes when you look at him?! Not to mention I know this guy well and he did NOT hesitate when he saw Lt. Lee hit you. He didn't even think about it, he just jumped right in there, and we all know he's not the fighting type!" She pointed out a matter of factly. I sighed
"Phoenix....I don't want to commit myself to anything before this mission...If all goes wrong, I don't want to hurt other people too...If I don't make it back or he doesn't...either way one of us gets hurt...I don't want to make him go through that." I sigh again and plop onto my bed, wincing as I hit my ribs. Phoenix sighed, understanding.
"Alright then...But when the mission is over, If you don't say anything, I will!" and with that, she left my room, heading back towards the kitchen. I lay there on my bed for a while, just thinking.
"Hey uhh are you alright?" Bob's voice comes from the doorway. I sit up, my braid flopping over my shoulder.
"Yeahhh" I say quietly, suddenly very tired. "Im not very good at social stuff and i'm also not much of an alcohol drinker". He nods, as if understanding. I see his gaze move over my room, looking at pictures on my wall. Some of them were from when I was young but I had a few pictures of our crew at Top Gun. Most were with Phoenix and someone had taken a picture of them all singing with Rooster. One however was a picture of Bob and her, sitting on their stools in the Hard Deck, holding their root beers and looking at the ocean. I saw his gaze lingering on that one and I blushed, suddenly embarrassed of that one.
"Oh Phoenix gave me that and I uh..." I trail off as he moves over to it on the wall, unpinning it to take a closer look.
"Can I uhh...can I keep this?" he says softly, still looking at it "I mean...." He stutters, trying to come up with and excuse. "I don't have any from my time here and this one is a nice memor...." he trails off as I interrupt him.
"Bob of course you can keep it." I chuckle.
"BOBBBBBBBB" Rooster yells from the kitchen. "WE'RE LEAVING SOON! THOUGH I'M SURE LEIA WOULDN'T MIND HAVING A SLEEPOVER WITH YOU....ALTHOUGH THERE IS ONLY ONE BED..." I could just imagine him and Phoenix rolling around with laughter. My face was beet red. Bob's is as well as his face shows the panic his brain is going through.
"I....I best....be going" he stutters, face as red as mine.
"Thanks for coming" I manage, my voice clearly portraying my embarrassment. As he walked down the hallway, I heard Phoenix and Rooster laughing. When the door closed behind them, I let out a deep breath. I put my hands on my forehead and groaned. My friends would not let it go. I knew they would continue to tease me and publicly too. I rolled over and screamed into my pillow. They were great friends but sure embarrassing.

🌻——————————————🌻
Hey y'all, hope your enjoying the book so far. I just wanted to add this chapter in to add to what the pilots do out side of the flight school. (:
Anyways, I'll be regularly updating this week.
Leave a vote if you enjoy it! Y'all are so awesome! ❤️
🌻——————————————🌻