"Don't Stop Believing!"
"No, Bohemian Rhapsody. Bohemian Rhapsody or nothing, Bradshaw."
"Free Biiiiird!"
Bradley grabbed the bottle of beer sitting on the bench beside him and took a swig while people lobbed more sloppy, slightly-drunk song suggestions at him. So far he had played mostly non-stop rock and roll, but he had gotten a break when the new guy, Bob, had been shoved onto the bench once he admitted to knowing "a couple tunes."
The glasses-sporting WSO had shyly played a few Ed Sheeran songs, and he wound up having an excellent voice. More than one person had been shocked. A few celebratory beers later, he had tried to play that overly popular song from that Disney movie about ice and reindeer and sisters. There had been a short-lived sing-a-long. After that was a small revolt staged by people who weren't into sing-a-longs, and that's when Bradley found himself getting shoved back to the piano since no one else was brave enough (or maybe dumb enough) to touch Penny's jukebox to plug it back in.
He let his fingers roam over the keys, playing a random tune while he considered their ideas. While a lot of them were fun, he wasn't confident he could well enough to keep the crowd happy. He was good at the piano but out of practice.
"If you're waiting for tips, I think you might be out of luck," Natasha said, leaning against the piano.
He tapped out a jazzy melody. "Only because I forgot a jar. Maybe I can borrow one from Penny."
"Good luck," Nat said, her tone sarcastic, "I think she's still deciding on how to punish you for touching the jukebox."
"Hey, it was for a good purpose."
"If that's what you're calling showing off these days."
Bradley grinned. "My callsign is Rooster…" And nah, he had thought it would be fun to play the piano and add a little extra liveliness to the bar. Plus, if Kate happened to wander in while he was playing—well, she had always liked it when he played the piano.
It had been sort of crazy seeing her on the beach that morning. He knew she liked going there when she was home with her parents, but he hadn't expected to find her there that early. Or really at all. He wasn't sure what was going on at the Kazanskys' house, but Kate seemed to think it was serious, maybe. Then again, there was always the chance her mom had just wanted everyone home for a while.
"You better play something or figure out the jukebox," Nat said, raising her eyebrows at him. "You're the one who started this."
Bob draped his arms over the back of the piano then dropped his chin onto the wood, a droopy smile on his face. He was about eight out of ten sheets to the wind. "I could sing something 'sides Frozen," he said, "I don't have to let it go. I can…not let it go." He giggled.
Nat arched an amused eyebrow. "Yeah? What would you sing?"
He shrugged and blushed. "Does everyone know Sweet Caroline?"
"That's going to be a lot of really loud singing. Basically yelling. Or screaming," Bradley said, "And I think you're already going to have a really terrible headache."
"Aw, no, really?"
Natasha patted Bob on the shoulder and looked at Bradley expectantly. "It's okay, Rooster's going to play something. Aren't you, Bradshaw?"
"Working on it," Bradley said. He quirked a smile and let a melody dance across the keys. A classic by Billy Joel from the late 80s, this one was almost as likely to get as much yell-singing as Sweet Caroline, at least from anyone who recognized it. The real trick would be remembering all the lyrics, which was the true feat.
Bradley finished the intro and went for it, standing up from the bench. "Uptown girl, he's been living in her uptown world. I bet she's never had a backstreet guy, I bet her momma never told her why—"
Excited whoops filled the bar, and a chorus of slurred voices tried to keep up as he powered through the first verse of one of Billy Joel's most popular songs. Some people roared along with the chorus, and he half-wondered if it was any better than it would've been if Bob played Sweet Caroline.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Phoenix give someone a side-hug. Someone short, and then there was a flash of curly blond hair, a split-second of ocean eyes. He hit one wrong note on the keys before he recovered, leaning back to see Kate heading toward the bar, where Penny was already on the move to intercept her. Their dads were close, Penny's having become something of a mentor to Kate's before Penny's father passed away.
Bradley had to sit back down on the bench and focus on keeping the song going, but it felt different now that Kate was here. He was keenly aware of where she was in the room.
It hadn't always been like that. This feeling, the awareness he felt whenever she was around, had grown over the past few years, to the point where it was impossible to ignore. But like he always did, he squashed it down, reminding himself that this was Kate. One of his best friends, a childhood buddy, his boss's boss's daughter. It was really their deep lifelong friendship that gave him pause. It would be easy to ruin that, wouldn't it?
His attention was pulled fully back to the song as Mickey Garcia practically flopped over the top of the piano, belting the next few lines of lyrics while Reuben looked up, amused and concerned at the same time.
"She'll say I'm not so tough just because I'm in love with an uptown girl! She's been living in her white-bread world as long as anyone with hot blood can, and now she's looking for a downtown man!"
"Uptown girl, she's my uptown girl," a bright alto voice joined in as Kate slid onto the piano bench, her hair ponytail swinging in time with the music.
Bradley smirked as she leaned into him, belting along with Fanboy, both hands wrapped around the drink Penny must have given her. This was the Kate he was used to, but he wondered if it was some kind of cover-up. She had been practically melancholy at the beach. He had a feeling that something was wrong; Kate's mom wouldn't call her and her siblings home for no reason. But if it was what he was worried it was, maybe he should just focus on making sure she had fun tonight.
As the song finished, the jukebox came alive again, Tom Jones' 'What's New Pussycat?' curling through the bar. He glanced past Kate to see Penny with her elbow on the jukebox, her eyebrows raised at him with a clear warning to not touch the jukebox again. If he did, he had a feeling that the 'buying the bar around' rule might extend to messing with the jukebox.
"When'd you get into town, Miss Kazasky?" Mickey teasingly asked Kate, coming around the back of the piano to give her a hug. Bradley wasn't sure how Kate knew Fanboy, but he guessed they'd met when he was back in Top Gun the first time. Or their circles had overlapped at some point.
"I've always been in town, I've been stuck here forever," she joked.
"Yeah, whatever, traveling nurse lady," Fanboy said, rolling his eyes.
She slid out from the bench again, her hand on Bradley's shoulder for a brief second before she went to hug Reuben, too. Bradley watched her greet some of the others, a temporary social butterfly well-trained by her mother. She was wearing jeans and a black top that hung off her shoulders plus an easy smile that almost reached her eyes.
After a moment, she leaned against the back of the piano beside Mickey and grinned at Bradley. "How'd you get roped into being Mr. Piano Man?"
"He did that to himself," Phoenix said, smirking. "Center of attention and everything."
"I can't help that I'm talented," Bradley said, smirking right back. He sat back on the bench. "Glad you finally decided to join us, Kate."
"I was bored," she said, but now her smile was starting to light her eyes. "Happened to wind up here by accident."
"Nah, you wanted to see everyone," Mickey said with a grin. "Have you met Bob yet?"
"I don't think so…"
"Oh man, you're missing out. Bob's his real name and his call sign, by the way. Come on, I think Hangman snagged him, probably to mess with him, let's go save him."
Before Bradley could say anything, Mickey slung a friendly arm around Kate and hauled her away, heading toward wherever Jake Seresin had taken Bob. When Bradley stood up to put the cover back down over the piano keys, he noticed Reuben giving him an indiscernible look.
"What?" he asked, letting the cover drop down.
"Nothing," Reuben said, shrugging. He took a sip of his beer and tilted it toward Bradley. "We need to make sure everyone's sober and hangover free tomorrow morning. Who knows what they're going to hit us with."
Bradley half-smiled. "I'm sure we can handle." He glanced over at Jake, who was leaning against the bar and talking to Kate. He narrowed his eyes again. Now that one, he didn't really care how he did tomorrow. No, he didn't want him to crash, but fail out of whatever was going on? Definitely.
"Any ideas about what's going on?" Reuben asked. He stepped around the corner of the piano as Bradley stood up. Another drink sounded good right about now.
"None," he said, shaking his head. "And I asked Kate. She doesn't know anything either."
"Damn," Reuben said with a laugh, "I was hoping she'd know."
"Apparently Iceman doesn't tell anyone anything."
"Sounds about right," Reuben said ruefully.
The two of them approached the bar from the opposite side of where Kate and Mickey were talking to Bob and Hangman was trying to interject himself into the conversation. Of course he was. Hangman always had liked being the center of attention. Glory hog. Bradley was careful to observe Penny's strict rules, and he kept his phone securely in his pocket as she came over, eyebrows raised.
"And who gave you permission to touch the jukebox?"
Bradley opened his mouth and then closed it, looking to Reuben for help. His friend shook his head and slipped back into the crowd, excusing himself from the situation. Bradley attempted to give Penny a chagrined looked topped with puppy dog eyes. "I thought you liked live music."
"With permission," she said, repeating the word to emphasize her point.
"Yes, ma'am, won't happen again," Bradley said. However, he stopped short of promising. He did like playing the piano, after all.
Penny gave him a suspicious look before bringing him a cold beer. As she sat it down in front of him, a hand slid in and snagged it.
"Ladies first," Kate said, sharing a smile with Penny as she sat down on a bar stool. She grinned at Bradley, and he was glad to see that she was looking happier. "You're not planning on getting wasted, are you?"
"Why is everyone so worried about my drinking habits?" Bradley rolled his eyes and sat down beside her. Another beer bottle appeared in front of him, and he looked up to see Penny walking away to deal with another customer. It was a super busy night in the bar, or it seemed that way to him. He almost felt bad for whoever it was who had paid for the first two rounds a little while ago.
"Probably because they're your friend and they don't want you to crash and burn tomorrow," she said, clinking her bottle against his. "Figuratively speaking, of course."
"I wish I knew what it was. What we're doing here."
"I wish I could tell you," Kate said, shrugging. "But I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Well, you will." She took a swig of her drink. "I think it's top secret, so I'll have to wait 'til it's declassified."
"I could always—"
She made a hissing sound, turned and put a finger against his lips. He could smell the lavender hand lotion she used. "No spilling military secrets, Rooster. It's simply not done."
"All right," he mumbled against her finger.
As she dropped her hand and put her elbows on the bar to talk to Penny again, he couldn't help but watch her. Just for now.
