Evie was doing her best to pretend she hardly noticed Jake. He had seamlessly joined their group. Lisa and Marilyn were conversing easily with him, but Evie could tell that Fanboy was at least a little uncomfortable with Jake. She had a feeling most things left Payback unbothered. She found herself spending too much time looking at him. Did she have a crush? This is ridiculous. She was a grown woman and hadn't seen him in years. They were both different people and it could stand the reason that she hadn't really ever known him. She was thinking through all of this when she realized she had been staring at him the whole time and, shit, he'd just noticed.

They made eye contact for an abrasive second before Evie flicked her gaze to Lisa. When she tried to sneak a peek back at him, he was still looking at her, clearly amused with her. She focused back into the conversation the others were having.

"No, no it was all impressive. I just meant the synchronicity, like, is that a word? How in sync you all were was very, um," Fanboy was almost stumbling on his words. Marilyn was making eye contact with him as he spoke, which surely had to be the cause of this word salad.

"Impressive?" replied Marilyn. Evie could tell she was enjoying the attention and the perceived power she held over him.

Fanboy replied with a laugh, "Yea, yea, very impressive."

"Is it just a lot of practice or is there some extra team bonding that goes into getting a group that tight?" It was Payback that spoke this time. Evie could appreciate the genuine curiosity in his question.

"Well, most of us have been dancing together for a few years now," Evie was excited to answer. It was pretty rare that a man would ask a real question about their careers. "It's really easy to make connections when we see each other every day. I think the team this year is one of the tightest I've ever been on."

"We can also bond over our shared dance team horror stories," added Lisa. "It seems like you can't get through high school without one dance coach calling you fat or yelling at you at State's."

"Dance teams have a state tournament? Like football?" All of the eyes in the circle moved to Jake. He hadn't said much, mostly had been listening, so his sudden questions sparked interest.

"Exactly like football," said Lisa.

"But dance isn't a sport," replied Jake.

"Excuse me?" It was Marilyn. The good news for Jake was that she hadn't been drinking, but she had now locked in on him. "How is dance lesser than football? All they do is give each other concussions to gain five inches of wet grass!"

"I never said it was less. I just said dance wasn't a sport," Jake was sporting that shit eating grin. Evie could tell he was just goading them. He might actually believe what he's arguing, but he definitely was choosing to pick a fight right now.

"What makes dance not a sport to you?" Lisa was going to take the more rational route with him. Lisa came from a family that knew how to argue.

"There's no rules, no end goal, no season, and no referee. Ok so there's competition, but isn't that subjective?"

Lisa responded in a level voice, "Technique isn't subjective and there are rules and judges when we compete."

"Ok, so you compete, but dance isn't in the Olympics," Jake eased back clearly thinking he had won this argument.

"Yes it is," Evie began in a voice that was a little hoarse from disuse, "there might not be a category specifically devoted to dance, but ice skaters are dancing. The rhythmic and artistic gymnasts have to dance for their floor routines. Synchronized swimming is just dancing in the water."

"The Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders dance for the Cowboys, who are actually playing a sport."

"I think you've just invalidated your own point," Lisa had jumped in when she saw an opening. "You've conceded that the DCC perform at a sporting event in which they are also a main attraction."

"Cease-fire," it was Payback this time. He clearly wanted the conversation to return to an easier topic. "I'm calling for a truce. Normally, I would love to watch you ladies needle Hangman here, but we've had a long day and I'm sure you have too. Let's just have some fun tonight?"

"Truce," Jake was the first to respond.

"Truce," replied Lisa and Evie in unison.

"See, that's what I'm talking about," Fanboy offered in an attempt to steer the conversation somewhere else, "you're so together."

The six of them continued easily until Marilyn and Fanboy broke off the play darts. Lisa and Evie made a quiet bet with Payback that Marilyn would win.

Lisa was talking to Payback. They were sitting pretty close at the bar when she said, "You gotta let me call you something other than Payback."

"Lover, husband, baby, or honey are all good with me," his response was so cool. It elicited a giggle from Lisa. Evie was shocked Lisa could make such a high pitched sound. Evie then turned back to Jake who had taken the stool next to her. They had been making polite conversation and both obviously eavesdropped on Lisa and Payback. Evie, now a few drinks in a feeling a bit bold, wanted to give Jake a taste of his own medicine.

"Do you really believe all that crap?

"Non sibi sed patriae? No, I always believe in self above all else."

If he thought he was going to joke his way out of this he was wrong, "You know what I mean."

"I don't really consider dance a sport. Could I do it? No, I respect your years of training, but it's just not the same as football."

"Neither is baseball."

Jake chuckled at her quick retort, "Now who's goading whom?"

"So you admit to just pushing our buttons for fun?"

"I would never deny such a thing, Evelyn," his voice lingered over her full name.

"I bet you'd think dance was a sport after doing one of our rehearsals."

"I accept. Based on your darts wager, I know you like a long shot," he was waiting for her to back down. Evie was split between breaking their eye contact and languishing in it forever. There was a strange prickling sensation running up her arms; probably the alcohol.

"Tomorrow then. We have our dorms on base and the rehearsal space for one more day," Evie said boldly. "I'm sure you have some time in the afternoon whenever you're not pushing papers or learning to swim. We'll see if you survive one workout."

"Oh, yes we will." The gauntlet was laid down and neither one of them was going to back off.

"I WON!" It was Marilyn shouting from across the bar. Apparently, one long shot was all ready to collect.

The air in the gym was stale with sweat. The windows were open and the music was some upbeat pop song about female empowerment. A Lisa playlist if there ever was one. Jake had just finished his first set of kick-hips with weights. Lisa and Marilyn were either side of him, making it look easy. Evie was reclining by the water bottles shouting corrections every once in a while. Jake had come from some important training with a friend, Coyote, in tow. Coyote was sitting next to Evie. He asked a few clarifying questions every now and again. He was amused watching his friend struggle with the workout. Evie could tell she already liked Coyote. A few heads peeked around the open gym door. It was a woman about Evie's age and a man probably mid thirties. They stopped and laughed to themselves before moving on.

"Rooster and Phoenix," said Coyote as he followed Evie's eye. "They're not big fans of our boy."

"Our?" Evie asked with a bit of shock. Had she been staring? Did everyone think she had the hots for Jake?

"In fact, they downright hate him."

"Can't imagine why."

"You don't hate him," he said matter of factly.

"No," Evie let out a defeated breath. "If you tell him that-" Coyote made a lip locking motion before throwing out his invisible key. The music came to a halt and the room was filled with the pants of Jake Seresin.

"I tap," he said, making a weak hand motion. "You can have your sport back."

"Ohh, how the mighty fall," chided Lisa. She and Marilyn high fived over Jake's head as he was bent over with his hands on his knees. "We're going to go for smoothies. Evie? We'll see you at the hotel tonight?"

"Yes. I'll catch up with you two later!"

"You're not flying out tonight?" inquired Coyote.

"No. Me and some of the girls have a hotel by the ocean for two weeks. We rarely get to come this far west and what is a vacation without the beach?" Evie quipped in response. Coyote seemed to notice he was now the odd man out.

"I've got some flight stuff to look over before tomorrow. Hangman, I'll see you man. Evie," he said her name as his farewell. Just before he passed through the door, Evie could have sworn he threw her wink. When she looked back, Jake had stood and was walking towards her. He reached for his water bottle that was sitting by Evie's leg. The back of his hand brushed a bit of her thigh above the knee as he retrieved it. If Evie didn't know any better, she would have thought he'd done it on purpose. He took a seat beside her on the bench. The silence between them stretched a bit too long for Evie's liking. It was clear they both wanted to talk to each other, but weren't sure what to say.

"Why do Rooster and Phoenix hate you?"

"Today was fine. Just another run of the mill day of being inadequate from my mission specs to this little workout. Other than that business as usual," was the only response he offered her.

"You're avoiding my question."

"No," a slight smile was working its way from the corner of his mouth, "I'm teasing about your chosen subject of discussion. Couldn't you ask me something lighter?"

"What's your mission?" Evie knew he wouldn't be able to answer it, but was hoping it would make her first question seem more doable.

"You know I can't tell you that," he said.

"Worth a shot." The moment became quiet once more. Evie was looking at the side of Jake's face in an attempt to will him into bringing up something else.

Apparently, Jake had been using that time to think before he said, "They don't hate me. They hate the way I fly."

"How do you fly?" Evie tried to keep the triumph out of her voice.

"Solo. They say I hang everyone out to dry. That's why my call sign is 'Hangman.'"

"And do you?"

"Only in practice. Do you think the Navy would keep me around if I was leaving my wingman open to enemy aircrafts? I just like a little friendly competition. I think sometimes we get too comfortable being the best of the best. After you graduate Top Gun, what else can you do?"

Evie thought through all of this for a moment. Then she said, "So you never pick fights when you're not in the air?"

"Well," he was stalling, "occasionally-"

"I knew it!"

"Again, healthy competition."

"I don't think they see if that way," Evie joked, "if they did they wouldn't dislike you so much."

"They'll thank me when they're better pilots."

Evie doubted that very much. "Will you still have all your teeth on that day?"

"I intend to be just as handsome as I am now," all of the vulnerability was gone from his voice. The bravado was back in full force. "We never made our bet official. We didn't decide what the loser should do."

"I take it you have a suggestion?" Evie was genuinely curious as to where this was going.

"I think the loser should buy the winner dinner."

Evie was stunned for half a second before she said in a small voice, "And we both agreed that I was the winner?"

"Yes, Evelyn. You won."