8. Not All Fun and Games

A couple of days later, Friday, Finley received a text after work.

Pete: Meet us at the Hard Deck at 9am tomorrow for bonding exercise. Dress for the beach

Okay, he definitely had something up his sleeve.

Finley: Should I come if I'm not part of the team?

Pete: Since it was your brain child it only feels right :)

Finely: You figured something out then?

Pete: I sure did! :)

Finley: What is it?

Pete: It's a surprise! ;)

She chuckled and rolled her eyes. He sounded very excited about his plans, at least over text.

Finley: OK fine, surprise it is then

Pete: You won't be disappointed!

Finley: OK, now I'm really curious!

Pete: :P

She snorted with laughter at the tongue-out face, then reread through their conversation.

Pete: Meet us at the Hard Deck at 9am tomorrow for bonding exercise. Dress for the beach.

So she did just that. She awoke early (usually the weekend was reserved for sleeping in, maybe having a lazy morning before going to the coffee shop on the way to the library to work on lesson plans and marking). But today was special. She dressed in her swimsuit with shorts over top, sprayed herself down with sunscreen, donned her sunhat and shades and drove to the Hard Deck, parking her bike in the stall next to Pete's. She couldn't help but note that their bikes looked good together, side by side.

The group of pilots - all casually dressed for the beach as well - were already gathered on the sand.

"Hey, you're here," Bradley said, clearly surprised to see her there.

"Yeah, Pete invited me. I was helping him with his teaching tips." She was considering telling him Penny invited her or someone else, but then thought, why lie? She could be friendly with Pete when Bradley wasn't. She could decide whether she liked Pete or not for herself. Maybe in the beginning when all she'd heard were accounts from Brad she hadn't liked the guy much, but, now that she had met him, she could definitely decide whether she liked him or not, and she liked him, a lot in fact.

"Good morning."

Everyone straightened up and quieted down and turned as Pete approached. He wore a t-shirt, shorts, and his aviator sunglasses. "At ease. Good morning aviators - and friends." He smiled at Finely who gave a little wave. "Welcome to Dogfight Football. I am the creator and founder, and will be the coach. Hondo will be referee-" Finley raised her hand. "Yes, Finley?"

"I believe I'm at a bit of a disadvantage," she said. "I'm not familiar with dogfighting, whereas I think everyone else here is."

He grinned. "I thought of that - you can partner with me and shadow the first half of the game."

"Sounds good."

"Okay, so we'll be breaking up into two teams-" He quickly made the divisions himself, clearly with a plan already in mind. "And game on!"

Soon everyone was running up and down the beach. It was already baking hot out, so the guys all stripped off their shirts - including Pete.

Okay, Finley could keep her cool with a bunch of shirtless guys around, but she had never seen a guy his age with the physique he had. God he must keep in amazing shape - he looked just like the others half his age running around shirtless out there.

Chill, Finley, she chastised herself. Calm down. It's just a shirtless guy. Usually she wouldn't make such a deal out of this - not unless she was attracted to whoever it was. But she was just shocked. Pete's commitment to what he did was clear, and that included keeping in the best physical shape possible, obviously. And she was his shadow right now, so she was closer to him than anyone else at the moment.

Suddenly, the ball was in her hands.

"Run Fin, run!" called Bradley. She took off sprinting down the beach. "Wrong way!"

"Ahhh!" she squealed as a bunch of tall pilots surrounded her, and they all laughed.

Penny came out of the bar and sat on the patio to watch them. Pete waved at her as he left to take a break and sit on a beach chair, watching them, his team.

"Hi Penny!" Finley waved.

Penny laughed and waved back.

Finely ran off the 'field' to get a drink of her iced tea. She was going to chat with Pete but found a serious man in uniform standing over him.

"Finley!" But Pete waved her over. "Sir, this is Finley Austen, a friend of the team's. She helped me come up with the idea. Finley, Admiral Simpson, head of our training detachment, my boss."

She didn't know how to address an admiral, so she just nodded. "Sir."

He nodded back. "So you were discussing the details of our detachment with civilians?"

Oh God - she didn't want to get Pete in trouble.

"Not in detail, Sir. She's a teacher, so I was asking for some advice. As you know, instructing isn't my usual."

"Yes, I am well aware." The admiral turned back to the hooting and hollering crowd of players. "So who's winning?"

"I think they stopped keeping track a long time ago."

"They look like a team," Finley remarked.

"Yeah, they do," Pete agreed.

The admiral shook his head and headed off.

She winced. "I don't want to get you in trouble."

"Oh no, he's just not pleased with my methods. According to him, they don't think I have anything left to give the navy."

She gasped. "Well I find that hard to believe."

"Thanks, but I can't deny the end is near." He sighed at this.

"Well then you've just got to cherish every moment, Captain." She took one more drink and then ran back out to rejoin the game. "Hey Brad, pass it, I'm open!"

By the end, no one knew who had won, but no one cared. They were certainly a team.

"You all look like you could use something cold to drink!" hollered Penny. The team cheered. "That looked like fun," she remarked.

"Yeah, it was. Pete's idea," Finley told her.

"Thanks to Finley's inspiration," he responded.

"But you came up with the whole thing."

He shrugged. "Have to give credit where credit is due."

Penny chuckled. "Again, so humble."

"I took your words and formed them into something of my own."

"Happy to help," she said, realizing she was echoing his response to her profusely thanking him for fixing up her bike. "Besides, I still feel like I owe you for doing such a damn fine job on my bike."

"It was a pretty damn fine job, wasn't it?"

"What happened to that humility Penny was commenting on?" They shared a chuckle over this. "Sorry Penny, we all probably stink."

"Don't worry, not the first time a bunch of sweaty, stinky patrons came to my bar."

Everyone gathered with drinks, Pete with his own sitting up at the bar, observing them, his team.

"Uh oh, I know that look," Penny remarked, coming over and wiping down the bar.

"What look?"

"That one." She grinned. "Someone's got a crush."

He scoffed. "Penny-"

"Oh come on, I know because I was once on the receiving end of that look."

He shook his head. "Even if it was, it's wishful thinking. She'd never go for it."

"Why? You're too hard on yourself, Pete. And never say never - I mean look at me, I said I never wanted to see you again and look what he universe delivered: a new friend and mechanic. Never say never." She winked and left him with her words.

"I've met someone."

Ice gave him a look. A look that clearly said, 'Of course you have.'

"No, no, this is different-"

The same look, now conveying 'Of course it is.'

Pete scoffed and shook his head. The two wingmen sat in silence for a moment before Ice turned back to the computer.

Well, are you going to tell me about her?

Now Pete chuckled. "Her name's Finley. She's a teacher, and she's Bradley's friend." He paused.

Ice typed. But it's not just because she's Bradley's friend that you're unsure.

God, Ice could read him so well. So well sometimes it was scary.

Pete shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "No. She's also Bradley's age. So here I am, crushing on a woman in her thirties, the navy doesn't want me anymore, and I'm told I should retire. I've never felt so old." There, he said it.

Well, we are getting old.

Now Pete couldn't help but chuckle. "Thanks, Ice."

Ice turned to type again, underneath his previous words so that their whole conversation showed. Yes, retirement is inevitable at this point. And what are you going to do? Be retired and lonely? Unhappy?

Pete opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by more intense typing.

Despite what you may believe, you deserve to be happy.

The words on the screen hit like a gut punch. "Maybe."

Ice just gave him a pointed look and then pointed to the screen, to his words.

Pete read the words again.

You deserve to be happy.

Maybe, just maybe...

Oof, my heart! This just got very real! Wasn't expecting that for this chapter but that's the direction it went!

Shoutout to Ice! Love you!

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)