need for speed [r. x b.b.]

Chapter Seven

Everyone cheered. Hondo grinned at Rooster. "I'm not playing, but I'll be ref."

Rooster nodded. "You had better take this then." He took off his football jersey, tossing it to Hondo. Hondo caught it, and put it on. Maverick went digging in his bag for a second, and pulled out a whistle, throwing it to Hondo, too.

"I'm game." Maverick stood, smiling and dusting off his shorts. Rooster spun the football around on his finger, catching it and throwing it up again. You stood, the rest of the trainees getting to their feet. Rooster threw the other football to Hondo, and he placed them both on the ground. You split into teams, and lined up on either side of the footballs. Hondo began to count down, so you looked at Rooster on the other side of the footballs, and winked at him. Hondo reached zero, and Fanboy went for the ball for your team. He immediately tossed it to Maverick. On their side, however, you had distracted Rooster enough that they had a delayed start getting the ball. He staggered forward, grabbing it. You immediately took up your spot in front of Phoenix, stopping anyone from her team from throwing it to her. As Maverick scampered up the beach, sand flying everywhere, Rooster tossed to Hangman, who caught it nimbly, and immediately tossed it over to Coyote as Bob ran to him. Coyote then passed to Phoenix, as Hangman tackled Maverick to the ground, grounding your team's football. Phoenix passed to Rooster, who went running off towards Coyote. He passed the ball to Coyote, who ran it across the end of their goal. They had scored the first point. Maverick stood up as Coyote cheered and high-fived Phoenix. Everyone clapped him on the back, and Hondo blew his whistle to announce a score. Rooster and Coyote ran towards each other, jumping and chest bumping each other. As Rooster landed on his feet, he started dancing, shimmying his torso and smiling so big it could light up the sun. As he celebrated, his sunglasses slipped down a little, and you saw he was watching you. You smiled at him, then got ready for the next round. He jogged by you on the way to his spot, slowing down when he neared you.

"That was a dirty, dirty trick, Wolfe, distracting me like that."

"I don't know what you could possibly be talking about. You're going to miss the ball again if you stay over here much longer."

He rolled his eyes and swatted you, then finished jogging over to his spot. Payback and Fanboy exchanged a look, but you elected to ignore them. The game continued, and soon, you were tied at 5 points each. Hondo declared that the next point would decide the winners. You all lined up, Hondo blew his whistle, and you were off. Both balls were grounded pretty quickly, though, as Rooster tackled Maverick while you tackled Coyote. Looking up, you noticed that Rooster held out his hand, helping Maverick back up. Maverick grabbed his hand, and as they both stood up, dusting themselves off, they patted each other on the backs. You smiled to yourself, happy that they were starting to make up. Hondo soon blew his whistle again, and everyone was back in action. Maverick was jogging down the beach with your team's ball, but Phoenix was about to intercept him. Instead, he threw the ball to Bob, who caught it and sprinted down the beach, scoring the winning point for your team. You all cheered, even the other team, and everyone grabbed Bob by the arms and legs and lifted him onto your shoulders. Soon, everyone collapsed into a heap on the ground, cheering and celebrating. Maverick and Hondo sat off to the side in lawn chairs, talking to Penny, who had walked down from the bar to watch. All the trainees lay on the ground together for a while, catching your breath and talking. From the direction of the air base, a figure moved towards you all. It was Cyclone, and he didn't look thrilled. The trainees started getting up again, and Hangman asked, "Round two?" You all cheered, and began playing again, although all semblance of teams and points had disappeared. You were just having fun. Cyclone walked up to Maverick, and they began to talk quietly. You turned your attention back to the game, and noticed a football headed right towards you. You caught it, but before you could even consider running or throwing it to someone else, someone had tackled you to the ground. You groaned as the air left your body. The assailant's face was in your neck, moustache tickling your ear, but they soon pulled up.

"You okay?" Rooster grinned at you.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good. You okay?"

"I'm great!" He smiled at you.

"Great. Would you like to get up now?"

He looked down at your two bodies that were still lying on top of each other, and shrugged. "I'm fine like this."

You laughed and shoved his shoulder. He got up, and held out his hand to help you up. You grabbed his hand, pulling yourself up. He clapped you on the back, his hand lingering on yours. The two of you broke free, and you moved away. You could not continue getting into these predicaments. You were supposed to be avoiding Rooster, not whatever this was. As you continued to play the game into the sunset, Maverick, Hondo, Penny, and Cyclone all left to go to the Hard Deck bar. The game began to wind down, and it was almost dark. You, Bob, Phoenix, and Coyote made your way back to the base, while Fanboy, Payback, and Hangman started up towards the bar. You saw Hangman look back at you as he climbed the dunes towards the bar, then he shook his head and joined Fanboy and Payback in discussion. Rooster was walking down the beach in the direction of the base, several feet behind everyone else, feet in the water. Ignoring your internal monologue that was telling you to be reasonable, you slowed down to walk next to him.

The two of you wandered slowly, feet in the water, looking out at the water. The moon was up by now, and you could see the specks of stars, as there was almost no light pollution out here. You walked back to the base in silence, but it was a comfortable one. The back of his hand brushed the back of yours, but the day had been long and you weren't thinking straight. Instead of moving your hand away, you allowed it to stay like that, just gently grazing his. Your hands never moved the whole walk. As you near the base, you hummed to yourself.

"You know, I always loved the moon." You said, absentmindedly.

"Why is that?"

"I'm not really sure, I just always thought it was beautiful. I used to go stargazing with my dads when I was little; it was always my favorite thing to do. We'd go once a month, during each full moon. I haven't been in about 15 years now, though."

"That sounds really nice. My parents would take me camping, and after my dad died my mom continued it until she passed too."

"That's really sweet, Bradley."

You kept walking in silence. As you neared the base, Bradley turned to you.

"Okay, fine, here goes." He grabbed your hands, thumbs rubbing the backs. "I don't think that 'our relationship is best kept professional'. I think that everyone else has already seen the sparks fly between us. I think that I can take you out on a date, and it won't cause any weirdness whatsoever."

You pulled your hands out of his, although with some difficulty. "Rooster. You are important to me. Everyone here is, but you know what I mean. But I just can't. That would be so inappropriate. And how are we supposed to keep being normal around everyone else? Plus, we're supposed to be a tight-knit group of 11, we can't start breaking off into factions. I just don't think it's a good idea. Under different circumstances I would happily agree."

"Okay. I respect that. So that means ..." He moved closer to you. " ... that we can't do this ..." he gently grabbed your hand. " ... or this ..." he put his other hand on your waist. " ... or ..." He leaned in, his face inches from yours. His eyes flicked from yours to your mouth and back up, his face inching closer. As his mouth hovered above yours, you gently placed your free hand on his chest, stopping him.

"We can't, Brad. I'm sorry."

He nodded, and moved back, dropping your hand and letting go of your waist. "No problem." The two of you kept walking, a distance between you.

"I refuse to let this come between us though, okay? Things are not gonna get weird, and you're still my closest friend." You quickly added, severely.

"Of course, Wolfe."