6:49 PM
"Hey, Bri, WAKE. UP." I practically yelled into the headset, "We're on approach to Apito AFB now...still not sure why we're stopping here but whatever"
"Oh..yeah" she yawned and stretched as much as the cockpit and canopy allowed, "I'm up"
"You sure?" I questioned, "You still seem kinda dopey and I was getting ready to turn around and poke you with a stick."
"Yeah I'll be more...alive soon..and that wouldn't have woke me up, just sayin'" she replied with a laugh
"I'll believe it when I see it. And trust me, it would have woken you up."
"Aw, shut it Blaze."
"Make me!", I replied with a laugh.
"Blaze, you are cleared to land, runway two-five" the tower controller informed me, interrupting the conversation
"Runway two-five, roger", I acknowledged
"Contact ground on 125.45" the controller communicated as the wheels hit the ground
"Ground on 125.45, recieved", I responded
After getting taxi clearance to an empty hangar, we hopped out of the plane and waited for Chopper to land. He had gotten stuck in a holding pattern as there was a civilian passenger jet that was extremely low on fuel and had declared an emergency as they couldn't make it to Apito International. I didn't mind, it gave Bri and I time to talk.
"It's so nice to be home" she said as I unloaded our suitcases, "I've really missed this place. So much warmer than the freaking Arctic Circle"
"I know, right. I think I can feel my toes again!"
"I thought mine had fallen off!" she laughed
"I think you would have noticed if your toes went AWOL"
"You think so?"
"Well..yeah...I'd notice if parts of my body just went missing. Its not exactly something you miss"
"Good point" Baja agreed as I texted my grandfather to see if he was here
"Well, our rides here. So now all we have to do is wait for Motormouth and his princess"
Damn near half an hour later, the other F/A-18F pulled up to the hangar and shut down
"Jesus kid, took you long enough. So, how was flying in circles up there?" I cracked
"You can be an asshole, you know that? And just so you know, I quite enjoyed flying in circles." Chopper snapped back
"Did you? Did you really? I thought you were gonna pass out up there" Nagase said behind us as we picked up our stuff and walked towards the main buildings. We had elected not to stay in the barracks on the base.
"Now, now, children. Be nice." Baja joked as we walked towards my grandfathers old 6.2 diesel Suburban.
7:15 PM
"Thanks for the warm welcome...really appreciated" I said very sarcastically to my grandfather. He had agreed to drive the four of us to our hotel, a 20 minute drive, and had practically tackled me when we arrived. He's in pretty decent shape for 71 years old.
"I don't know, I think it would have been funny to see you tackled by an old man" Chopper joked, trying to eavesdrop on Bri and Nagase's conversation in the third row seat of the Suburban
"Let's see, I can get tackled by an in-shape 71-year-old and I think I recall you being tackled by a 16-year-old girl in high school" I quipped
"Hey now, we don't talk about "The Incident""
"What's "The Incident"?" I heard from the back seat. I just looked at Chopper and we both started cracking up. "The Incident" was our name for when Chopper had been tackled by his then-girlfriend after she came back from a vacation in Aurelia. We'll be in a retirement home before I let him hear the end of that one.
"I think I'll let Alvin explain that one..." I suggested
"Yeah...I don't think so. It's not one of my proudest moments." He replied sheepishly
"Just tell the damn story!" My grandfather yelled from the drivers seat "Its funny as hell!"
"Yeah...well...uhh...", Chopper stammered, "Blaze?"
"You're on your own bro"
"Thanks, asswipe"
"No problem!" I replied
"So..uhh..my then-girlfriend, had just got back from a vacation. I guess she missed me 'cause she brought me straight to the ground. She was a small girl too...so..there." Chopper blurted out as if to get rid of the memory
His story was met by insane amounts of laughter from the back seat of the 'Burb
"Yeah yeah yeah, laugh it up. It's not funny to me" Chopper mumbled
After that, conversation stopped. Everyone was tired. We all had put earbuds in and everyone but me and my grandfather had fallen asleep. I started thinking back to the last time I saw my father. It was my high school graduation, and even then he had been acting...strange. He was always looking everywhere and he was always alert and very jumpy. I had attributed it to his military experience, but with this mornings phone call I wasn't so sure. He had...hell he acted like someone was chasing him. Shit. I yanked my phone out of my pocket and shot off a quick text to my father.
"Hey Dad, you alright? Just got a weird feeling, think I'm overreacting and overthinking as usual. Contact ASAP."
I suddenly felt really nervous, and uncomfortable. Ah, oh well. We're at the hotel.
7:39 PM
"Uh, I believe we have reservations. 2 rooms?" I asked the desk clerk in the lobby of the hotel. Jeez...some tech-support foreign sounding dude with limited English. This should be fun.
"Ah yes sir, listed under 'Lt. Col. Perrault'. It says here that Staff Sergeant Nagase and Airman First Class Peters will be sharing a room. 423 for you girls. You two", he said as he looked at the page, "are in room 422, the adjacent connecting room. The register says that it should be Senior Airman Caron and Senior Airman Davenport. Is this correct?"
"Yes, thank you" I repied as I gave the "OK" signal to my colleagues. "Chop, no need to show off by carrying all our stuff upstairs!"
"Eh, shut it Fireball. I got this" Alvin replied as he promptly dropped our suitcases on the sidewalks.
"He warned you, dude" Nagase said from behind him, Bri next to her cracking up
"Let Jack carry some stuff up, he's stronger anyways" Bri said to Chopper
"He's not!...Fine. C'mon Jack, carry some of the stuff for us. How'd we fit this much stuff on the planes anyways?"
"Uh...old napalm pods used to carry luggage. They ain't small" I informed my buddy
"Oh...right".
7:55 PM
It had taken us 15 minutes to lug our..luggage..haha..up the stairs. The girls had gone ahead and gotten situated in their room while Chopper and I almost fell down 4 flights of stairs. We finally made it to the top of the stairs at the 4th floor...then realized our rooms were at the opposite end of the building. You've gotta be kidding.
"Oh come on, really!" Chopper shouted when he realized we were standing by room 401
"Yup...must be down the hall. All. The. Way. Damn."
"Let's get moving...maybe send the girls to get their bags this time"
"Yeah lets do that." I agreed
8:12 PM
We're finally...FINALLY..in our rooms. I changed out of my flight suit and into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. WAY more comfortable. I was laying on one of the beds with my laptop on one side, phone on the other, watching World's Dumbest on TV. Some of the stuff they show, I'm fairly Chopper could do in a dumber fashion. Then again, so could I.
"Whatcha doin', Blaze?" I heard as I looked up and saw my flight partner standing there. She had started calling me by my callsign more and more ever since we took off from Heierlark.
"Nothin' much, just reading some stuff"
"Well, me and Nagase are going to go to the diner down the street for dinner, wanna come? I already asked Alvin, he's going"
"Do I really have a choice if y'all are going?"
"Not really, lets go!"
This...could be interesting. I know Chopper's gonna try to make a move on Kei, because, hell he's my best friend. I can practically read that kids mind.
A/N: Really sorry this chapter took so damn long! The next chapter is gonna be the dinner. Haven't even started writing it yet but I wanted to get this one in. Originally the dinner was supposed to be part of this chapter but I just wanna be done with this one.