"So I've been looking for a new roommate for next year, you know since mine graduated. I think I found someone that would be perfect, incoming freshman." Shelby brings up the topic while eating dinner with her father. It was currently summer and Shelby was back home with her Dad, well back in the hangar. She grew up in a two story house right next to an old aircraft hangar here in Mojave, California. While Maverick was on deployment, she usually stayed with Carole Bradshaw in San Diego, where her and Bradley became best friends. A hangar is not exactly the most usual childhood home, but some great parties were thrown here. Maverick spends his time here fixing old planes for the Navy and test running them in the desert.
"Yeah? You said you were thinking you could move to an apartment or something off campus, right?" Maverick remembers his daughter talking about plans for her junior year.
"Yeah actually I found one. It's two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and it's off campus but still only 5 minutes from the academy, the rent isn't that much either. It's on the bottom floor and the complex has parking and everything." She goes on about the place she found to live, stalling from revealing who this roommate is she found.
"That sounds cool. So, who's this new roommate? Anyone I've met before?" The girl's father asks her.
"It is someone you've met, yeah." She keeps stalling.
"Is it Natasha? Isn't she like your best friend?" He assumes.
"No, Nat's living with Emma and another girl this year." The girl explains.
"Who else do I know?" He tries to think.
"Uhmm, well it's...you know you guys...he uhm." She fidgets with her hands, not sure how exactly she should word this. I mean she could easily just spit it out, but she wasn't totally sure how her dad would react to it.
"He?" Maverick questions.
"Yes, he." She nods.
"I uh...I don't know about that. Shel." He sighs, inputting his opinion on his daughter living with a man.
"It's not like I found some random guy on the street to live with. He's someone I really trust, and you would trust him too if you can just hear me out." She defends.
"So I do know this guy?" The man theorizes.
"Mhm. It's uh...it's Bradley actually." The 20 year old girl reveals, watching her father's eyes widen in shock.
"Bradley?"
"Bradley."
"Bradley Bradshaw?"
"Bradley Bradshaw."
Maverick fell silent as he was deep in thought, not knowing what to think of his daughter living with the boy who's life he ruined. Maverick knew that what he did was wrong, he regretted it deeply. Carole told him to protect Bradley, and when Carole was gone, Pete didn't know what to do. Pulling his papers seemed like the only way at the time to keep Bradley safe.
"Can you say something?" His daughter interrupts his thoughts.
"So he's going...going to the academy? He didn't give up on that?" The man's mind is racing.
"No...that's been his dream like forever. You really thought that you setting him back would make him give up?" She'll always be team Brad on this argument.
"No no. I'm glad he made it. It's just it's hard to get in after being pulled. It's impressive honestly." The man admits. Maverick is really sorry for what he did to the boy. But now, he's also really proud of him.
"It wasn't easy for him, you know."
"You guys have been talking recently?" He asks.
"We never really stopped. Look I know he won't talk to you right now, and honestly I don't blame him, but maybe you could at least try...you know to make amends." She gives him the idea that he knows won't work with someone as stubborn as Bradley. "For my sake, please."
"What are you two dating now or something?" Maverick questions his daughter.
I mean, they're moving in together and she wants him to be on good terms with her father, can you blame him for thinking there may be something going on? Yes, yes you can blame him. Shelby and Bradley are just friends, always have been always will be.
"No! You can't be serious, Dad." She slightly laughs at his question. Don't get her wrong, Bradley is one fine man, but she's been friends with him far too long to be anything more.
"Look, if it were my decision, then hell no you're not living with him, but I know you wouldn't listen to me anyway, so I'll just say that if Bradshaw wants to 'make amends' or whatever..." he begins, mocking the words Shelby previously used and a smile grows on her face, "then I'm on board with it all, but I'm telling you, he's not gonna want to talk to me."
"Okay okay, but I'm living with him either way next year. Are we on board with that?" The girl raises an eyebrow.
"Alright." Maverick nods.
"Okay perfect cause he's coming over tomorrow so we can plan everything out." Shelby reveals.
"Tomorrow?" He realizes that this is truly happening.
"Tomorrow."
"Here?"
"Here. But not when you're here obviously. I don't want to scare him away or anything. You are still going on that test flight, right?" She reassures, rinsing her plate in the sink and taking the last sip of her iced tea.
"Yeah, I'll be gone all day. You're sure you'll be okay here? Alone? With him?" Maverick worries. Truthfully, he knows that Bradley would be a perfect roommate for his daughter. He trusts that kid and respects him greatly. What he's afraid of is having to see the boy again. He hasn't actually seen him in person since the day of Carole's funeral.
"I think I can manage." She sarcastically says with a laugh under her breath. "Dad, I'm 20 years old. There's nothing to worry about. Just because you can't handle Bradley Bradshaw, doesn't mean I can't."
"I know I know." The man sighs.
————————————————————
Shelby woke up the next morning to the sound of a fist hitting the other side of her bedroom door.
"Shelby! You up?" The half asleep girl heard her father's voice from the hallway.
"I am now." She grumbled, rubbing her eyes. The sun was just barely risen, giving the sky a soft orange glow. It would be a beautiful sight if she weren't so annoyed at the way her dad woke her up. The door to her room swung open to reveal Maverick in his flight suit, ready to go to work.
"Alright I'm leaving. Bradley's coming over, right?" He decided to make sure.
"Yeah he'll be here soon. M'not sure how long it'll take, but we've got to officially rent out the apartment and look at furniture and stuff." Her groggy morning voice explained tiredly.
"Have fun with that." Mav nods. "Love you, kid."
"Love you. Be safe." She murmurs as her father walks out of the door. Shelby rolls out of her bed and lazily showers and changes into a tee shirt and shorts before brushing her teeth and drying her hair. The girl slips on some fuzzy socks, knowing she'll be home all day, as she hears the low hum of a vehicle coming down her driveway. She hops over to her window with one sock on and the other sock in her hand halfway on her foot. When she finally gets the other sock on her foot, she reaches the window and sees the one and only Bradley Bradshaw's blue Ford Bronco rolling up to the hangar.
The girl practically sprinted down the stairs and out the front door as the boy parked at the beginning of the driveway.
"Bradshaw!" She shouted in excitement, watching him hop out of the car and run towards her in his loose jeans and white Led Zeppelin tee shirt.
"Mitchell!" He smiles and pulls her in for a hug. "I missed you, Shel." He mumbles, struggling to breathe from her tight grip around his torso.
"I missed you too. Now come on in, we've got an apartment to buy!"
YOU ARE READING
Through The Fire
Fanfiction"You said 'through the fire'" "And I meant it." Shelby "Mustang" Mitchell never knew what to think of her father pulling Bradley Bradshaw's papers from the Naval Academy. The two of them had been best friends their whole lives despite him being two...
