STARS // PETE "MAVERICK" MITCHELL

Chapter 7: A Terrible Day To Remember

The first thing I did when I arrived home was lay flat on my stomach on my light gray couch, daydreaming in my own make-believe world where everything was perfect. Where Maverick was my husband, and we had a family with two kids. It was all just so perfect; he would help me clean and cook, always take care of me, and ensure I was always alright. I just wish it would be a reality, but I still was very conflicted. One side of me wanted to have a beautiful family, but the other side wanted me to continue achieving my dream of being an admiral or even a commander of a fleet in the Navy. I just wanted to prove that women can do anything men can, if not better. But for now, I am still romanticizing what happened today with Maverick, even though Goose was definitely third wheeling us.

In the beginning, I didn't even want to come to Top Gun, my life had reached a lousy low that I didn't even know if I could come back up, but so far, all it has been doing was making my life so much better. And even though I deeply enjoy my time at Top Gun, it will all end in just a few weeks, and what will I do after that? Hopefully, Jinx and I can win the Top Gun Trophy, but the competition is extremely tight between us, Maverick, Goose, Iceman, and Slider, and only one of us will win. But imagine the look on all their faces when Jinx and I win! Ha! That would be awesome.

Before long, it was already ten pm, so I decided to head to bed and get some shut-eye. When my alarm started blaring at five am, I jumped onto my feet and did my usual routine like always. When I arrived at Top Gun, I completely forgot that today is the day that family comes and visits you, and lucky for me, I have no family because they are gone. This makes me sad, it was always sad because my family is gone, but my best friend is also gone now, making it worse. I wondered if Maverick was also sad because his family was also gone, and maybe I could spend today with him and cheer us both up; well, it is worth a try.

I found them standing in the B hallway, discussing when Goose's family was coming in. They both turned their heads toward me.

"G-Force!" They both shouted simultaneously.

"Maverick, Goose, fancy seeing you guys here!" I say in a joking manner.

"So, G-Force, do you have any family that is coming to visit you today?" Asks Goose with sincerity laced in his voice, while Maverick elbows Goose in the ribs.

"Dude!" Maverick yells at Goose, knowing that it is a sensitive topic for me. Goose looks at me in embarrassment.

"Oh, G-Force, I am so sorry. I didn't know." Says Goose with the most sincere and apologetic look he could muster.

"It's fine, Goose. I know you didn't mean to." I say with a sincere smile showing that I am genuinely okay and not bothered by it.

"It's settled then! You're going to spend the whole day with Maverick, me, and my family!" Says Goose, very excitedly and proud of his solution.

"Yeah, you're coming with us, G-Force; it's non-negotiable." Claims Maverick, playing along with Goose, which makes a big smile appear on my face.

"Alright, I'll tag along with you guys for the day," I say, and both of their faces instantly light up with joy.

We all went to the airport to wait for Goose's family to arrive and to pass the time; Goose was giving us the recap of what he told his wife about Top Gun.

"I told her how tough it is here. You know, us dragging like old, tired dogs. I told her you have a woman here but are trying to keep it discreet and not let the word get out," Goose says dramatically.

"Oh, really. Who is this woman, Maverick?" I ask with a teasing voice, but on the inside, I was really hoping it was me Goose was referring to. Maverick looks down at the floor, too embarrassed to say anything back.

"You know what she said? "Oh, that's a first," and I was like, "I know." Says Goose in a teasing voice. I was just laughing with Goose.

When we finally saw Goose's wife and son get out of the plane, Goose ran up to her and engulfed her in a hug. There was lots of screaming and excitement to see their families.

"Daddy!" Goose's son Bradly says, and Goose picks him up onto his shoulders.

"So, Maverick, Goose tells me you're in love, and I'm betting it is this woman right here." Says Carole, not afraid to be confident and direct.

"Is that right?" says Maverick, most likely too embarrassed to say anything crazy.

The ride home was just Carole and Goose catching up in the front while Maverick and I babysat Bradly in the back. He was so cute talking to Bradly, treating him like his own son; I bet he would be very good with kids. Once we arrived at Goose's house, we dropped off Carole and Bradly so we could get to class on time.

We had just made it in time to not be late for class. We all took our seats in the first row, where I had Maverick on my right side and Jinx on my left. Viper and Charlie open the door and lecture about good maneuvers and evaluating our tactics.

"The bogey has good position right here," Viper says while pointing to the screen to show the good position.

"All right, freeze-frame." He instructs Jester to stop the video.

"Moment of choice. The F-14 is defensive. He has a chance to bug out right here. Better to retire and save your aircraft than push a bad position. Charlie, jump in here anytime. Now, you stay in that diamond for another three seconds. The bogey's gonna blow you out of the sky. You two take a hard right, select zone five, you can extend an escape. You two made a bad choice. Charlie." Viper continues to lecture, criticizing Maverick and I's tactic.

"Aircraft one performs a split S? That's the last thing you should do. The MiG's right on your tail. Freeze there, please. The MIG has you in his gunsight. What were you two thinking at this point?" Charlie asks Maverick and me; however, Marverk responds before I get to answer.

"You don't have time to think up there. If you think, you're dead." Maverick says honestly.

"Well, that's a big gamble with a $30 million plane, lieutenants." She looks both of us in the eye with a look of disappointment on her face.

"Unfortunately, the gamble worked. The MIG never got a clean shot. Maverick and G-Force make an aggressive vertical move here, come over the top, and Maverick defeats the bandit with a missile shot, while G-Force defeats the bandit with the guns. The encounters were victorious, but I think that we've shown them as an example of what not to do. Next,"

"Gutsiest move I ever saw." Says Slider teasing both of us.

"Now, then, this is a perfect example of a textbook maneuver." As Charlie continued to explain how Iceman's maneuver was the best, Maverick and I zoned out, already annoyed at Charlie for making the day even worse than it already was.

At this point all I wanted to do was to hop in my F-14 and prove all of them wrong, because apparently I only have Maverick and Goose's support and that means the world to me. So get ready Viper, Jester, and Charlie you are going down.