𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐒𝐈𝐆𝐍: "𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐒"- (ᴛᴏᴘ ɢᴜɴ - ᴍᴀᴠᴇʀɪᴄᴋ'ꜱ ᴅᴀᴜɢʜᴛᴇʀ)

Chapter Four

"Oh my God, your Dad completely smoked us." Phoenix says, stripping off her sweaty flight suit to reveal her black tee and cargo pants underneath.

We were finally back in the locker room after finishing up our push-ups for what seemed to be the millionth time that day.

"Ugh, tell me about it. The second time I was up there with Omaha and Fritz and I was on my own, like, the whole time. They got out right at the beginning!" I exclaim, completely defeated.

"I cannot believe Payback for setting us up with the push-ups, too. What a cocky little jackass." She says, clearly pissed.

I chuckle lightly at her statement and focus on getting out of my disgustingly sweaty gear. I strip off my flight suit and stick it onto a hanger and put it back into my locker. I make a mental note to bring it home with me so I can wash it.

I take off my black t-shirt and set it on the bench before putting on my graphic band tee. I do the same with my cargo pants and replace them with some black denim shorts which were the clothes I wore to work today.

I toss my hair up into a raggedy ponytail before shoving my Adidas tennis shoes onto my feet and hastily tying the laces. I toss all my sweaty clothes into my backpack, grab my keys, and head out of the locker room after saying goodbye to Nat.

Once outside, I take a deep breath of the evening air. The sunset was gorgeous in the desert sky and I quickly snap a picture of it on my phone before heading to my bike and starting it up.

Suddenly, I hear a voice shouting my callsign over the noise of my bike. I whip my head around wildly before I see a figure of a man running toward me.

Oh my God.

It was Bradley.

I stare wild-eyed at him as he rushes up to me and stops to catch his breath, doubled over with his hands on his knees. Even hunched over, he was still taller than me.

"Um, can I..help you?" I ask, beyond confused and utterly bewildered.

He snaps his head up and takes one more deep breath as if to prepare himself for what he was about to say.

"I just wanted to say...your flying was amazing today." He says, sounding extremely awkward.

That's it? That is all he had to say to me?

"Oh, uh. Thank you...Bradshaw. And the same to you." I said, turning all sorts of shades of red.

I could see on his face he was in a similar predicament. My stomach flip-flopped nervously and he looked down a little disappointed at my mention of just his last name.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" He says, looking back up to match my bewildered gaze.

"Um, yeah. See you tomorrow." I say, holding my breath.

He nods and half-smiles awkwardly before turning around and heading towards his blue pickup all the way across the lot. I watch him the whole entire way, eventually watching him zoom off down the highway, into the sunset.

For some reason, I could barely move for what felt like hours but was maybe only two minutes.

What. The. Hell???

Where on Earth, Heaven, and Hell did that come from? Why was he only just now choosing to talk to me? Shouldn't he feel ashamed for not speaking to me after all these years? Shouldn't he apologize first?

My head was absolutely reeling at this new development and I could not think straight. Every thought I had always led to me thinking about what game he was playing at or if he even remembered what happened between us.