Jessica woke up pretty early on most days and on most days what she ate for breakfast was a quick grab and go meal.  It consisted of a whole wheat english muffin that she put in the toaster that she would then put blueberry cream cheese loading it with strawberries and blueberries.  She also made sure to always bring her half gallon of water with her everywhere she went, especially for work.

Today was no different.

Except for the fact that with her being in group one for lifeguarding they would spend the morning at the gym.  She didn't mind gym days, in fact she loved them.  They spent the morning between working out at the gym for weights and at the beach for their workouts there.  She always tried to eat healthy.  She had to as she had a very active job that required it.  

Jessica got her keys and opened up her car doors to her Hummer and drove to the gym.  

*

"You know, I think you have a looker," her friend Amanda said as Jess was jugging her half gallon of water.  

"Huh?" She furrowed her eyebrows.

"Don't look now," Amanda said as she noticed the guy with the mustache was still staring.  "He's pretty hot.  Kind of jealous actually."

"What's he look like?" She asked as she tried to calm her breathing from the workout they had just done.  It was intense.  

"Tall, muscular, hot, has a mustache..."

It had been a week since she had met Bradley in the bar.  She was sure that was who Amanda was talking about.

"Must be Bradley," she commented quietly with a small smile on her face.

"You know him?" Amanda asked with her eyebrows furrowed.

"Barely.  I gave him my number at the bar last week."

"What?  That's great," Amanda said with excitement.

"And I haven't heard back from him."

"Oh, that's not so great.  Well it has only been a week.  Maybe he's been busy?  Shit, he's coming over," Amanda told Jess.

"What?!" Jess exclaimed and she tried to act calm.

"Hey," he greeted Jess with a smile.  "I wasn't expecting to see you here.  So you're a lifeguard," he pointed out as he noticed her tank top she was wearing.

"Yeah," she gave a proud smile.  "I've been one for the last seven years.  I wasn't expecting to see you either.  You don't work in the mornings?" She asked him and he laughed at the joke.

"This is for work," he told her leaving out what he did but Jessica had some idea that he was in the military due to his haircut.  There weren't too many guys that she knew with short hair. 

"Right.  This is my best friend Amanda," she says as Amanda smiles at him.  "We work together."

"Nice to meet you," he smiled at the other blonde.

"You too," she smiled back and left the two alone as she went over to join Adam in his workout.

"Sorry I haven't been able to call you.  I've just been held up with work," Bradley told her.

"That's okay," she gave him a smile.  

"I swear I'm not a dick," he said in a serious tone which made her laugh and brought a smile to his face.

"I didn't think you were.  So, do you normally come to the gym at six in the morning?"

"When I can make time for it," he shrugs his shoulders.  "You?"

"When it's training day for us," she nods her head.  "We switch it up between here and the beach."

"Nice."

"You should come watch us at the beach sometime," Amanda chimes in as she had made her way back again.  "Jess likes to show everyone up."

"Is that right?" Bradley smirked a little.  

"I wouldn't say that," Jess says.

"She's trying to be humble," Amanda tells him as she's trying to help these two out.

"What beach?"

"Coronado Beach," Jess chimes in and Amanda smiles.  Her work here is done.

"I'll try to come when I can find the time," he agrees.  

"We're going to be there today at ten if you wanna play hooky at work," Amanda jokes and Jess gives her a look whereas Bradley laughs.  

"I wish I could but I have to be at work.  No skip days, unfortunately."

"Are you military?" Jessica asked.

"Yeah," he nods his head with a smile on his face.  "What made you guess that?"

"The Navy shirt and your short hair," she points out and he lets out a laugh.

"I guess I didn't do much to give it away," he teased and she laughed as well.

"No not really," she agreed.

"Bradshaw," one of his coworkers called his name to come back to him.  

"I guess I should get back to them."

"Okay, see you later?" She asks.

"See you later," he waves at them and walks backward and almost trips over a weight that was on the floor which made Amanda laugh slightly.

"Okay, he is adorable.  How the fuck did you meet him?" 

Jessica goes into the story of how she met him and Amanda comments at all the right moments and listens intently.

"Well damn girl.  I wish I could meet a hot military guy like that.  He's not my type though.  Someone else maybe."

Jessica just laughs.

*

They were now at the beach and getting ready to go through their exercises.

Jess took a picture of the waves with the lifeguard house in the picture as well.  She didn't even have to edit it as the picture came out perfect.  The only thing she did edit was add a white boarder to it.  Posting it onto Instagram where she instantly had close to one thousand likes on it.  She wouldn't say that she was an influencer on Instagram but she has made a few partnerships on Instagram lately and had a large following.  She would be sent bathing suits, surf boards and different beach items to post for ads on her social media.  It seemed as though people really did like following social media pages of people who lived at the beach.

After she was done taking some pictures on her phone with her coworkers as well, she put a bunch of sunscreen on and took her clothes off leaving her in just her swimsuit.  

They were now getting ready to do some exercises and they all had numbers on their arm to tell them apart from each other.  

"Okay, make sure you get at least two waves where you really have to control your victim and take them under," one of their managers tells one group that Jess and her friends are in.  As they were saying this, Jessica was jumping up and down pretty high as her hands touched her knees to warm up before jumping in the water.  "Work as a team to accomplish your mission.  Go!"

They run into the water as a group of people watch the lifeguards do their exercises in groups.  

Bradley didn't end up showing to the beach but she didn't think he would.  He gave her no inkling that he would anyway.  She knew from her uncle that the military was not lenient to letting them play hooky. 

*

While they were doing their exercises, Bradley was at Top Gun with the rest of his classmates.  Three admirals came into the room and the one female ordered everyone to stand at attention.  One of them walked up to the podium and the other stood at the other side of the female.

"Good morning," he spoke sternly as they all listened with stunned faces.  "I'm Admiral Bates, that's Admiral Simpson.  You're all probably wondering why you're here," he paused as he scanned their faces to search for something.  To see if they understood what he was saying or if he was just looking for the shock factor.  "Yesterday, you were some of the best fighter pilots in the world.  Today, that's not true."

"Your going up against fifth generation fighters, so the technological advantage is something that we no longer possess.  It'll all come down to the pilot in the box.  Your instructor is one of the finest fighter pilots to come out of this program.  What he has to teach you very well could mean the difference between life and death."

They heard some footsteps and they assumed this was their instructor.  

What Bradley wasn't expecting was to be face to face with Pete Mitchell again.

No way in hell was this happening to him.  No way.  This had to be some kind of sick joke, right?  He hadn't seen the man in years.  He used to have good memories of the man when he was a kid with his dad playing Great Balls of Fire on the piano.  Now though?  He had nothing but bitter memories of the man who promised to bring his dad home and didn't.  

"Good morning," Pete commented and thankfully display a look of shock on his face when he saw Bradley Bradshaw in front of him.  When he saw who was in the class, he was more shocked then.  Now?  He was still a little shocked but not as shocked as he was at first.  He barely glanced at Bradley as Bradley didn't want to give him the satisfaction of looking him in the eye.  "The F18 control manual, I'm assuming you know it inside and out."

"Damn right," Payback says.

"Damn straight," Jake said with a smirk as Pete held the book up.

"So does your enemy," he finishes and tosses in the trash can.  "But what the enemy doesn't know are your limits.  But I'll find them and test them to the breaking point.  So today, we'll start with what you only think you know."

Once the class was dismissed, they went to the aircraft carriers to get ready for their first lesson.

"Rooster!" Pete tried calling Bradley to get his attention but he pretended like he didn't hear his name being called.  "Bradley!"

"Lieutenet Bradshaw!" He said firmly to catch his attention and it did.  He held onto his gear with a tight grip and stiffened body.  

"Yes sir?" He turned around.

"Let's not do it like this."  

"You gonna wash me out?"

"That'll be up to you, not me," Pete tells him.

"Am I dismissed?" He questioned.

Jake was watching the interaction intently, wondering what the back story was with those two. 

They were now in the air waiting for Maverick to give them instructions when Hangman called Bradley's name from his aircraft and he looked over to him.

"So Rooster, mind if I ask ya a personal question?"

"Would it matter if I did?"

"What's the story with you and Maverick?  Seems like he's gotcha a little rattled."

"It's none of your business," Bradley bites back, already annoyed that people were up in his business, no less that it was Jake.  "Where is this guy?"

"Been here the whole time," Maverick says as his voice came across the radio his aircraft circled around Bradley's and he was upside down.

"Holy shit!" Hangman yells.   

"See me now?" Maverick asks.  "Come on, let's get it over with!"

"Fights on!" Bradley yelled.

*

Her phone buzzed and she took it out from her pocket of her short shorts.

Hey, sorry I couldn't come by today.  This is Bradley, by the way.

She rolled her eyes playfully as she read the text.  She was happily eating her Sour Patch Watermelon gummies.  Normally, Jess ate pretty healthy but this was the one junk food candy that she could not get rid of, along with Twizzlers.  She usually ate pretty healthy for the most part but there were some things she couldn't get rid of.  

Even though Bradley was in a pissed off mood, he was still wanting to chat with Jess.  He had just found out that Pete was going to be their instructor and while they had gone through training exercises that day, he lost and ended up having to do two-hundred pushups.  He wasn't sure which was worse - having Pete being their instructor or this mission.  

It had been years since he had heard from Pete.  Sure, he tried reaching out to him over the years.  He called him when his mom, Carole, passed away.  Sent him birthday presents with a card.  He would even send him texts just because.  But he never wrote back once.  Bradley couldn't get the thought of his father dying on his watch out of his head.  

I knew it was you lol.  It's alright, we were just working out anyway.   

Even though it was a sucky day, some good was coming out of it.

Have time to FaceTime? Her incoming text from Bradley read and she grinned as she bit down on her lip and called him.

--

so incredibly sorry its taken me this long to write this chapter!  I've been waiting for the movie to be on amazon prime and it finally is!  Hope this chapter was worth the wait and I am hoping that the chapters from here on out are more frequent because I love this book and plan on finishing it.

What is your favorite part of the story so far?

Enjoy :).