SKYE WOKE UP THE NEXT DAY EARLIER THAN SHE FELT SHE'D woken up ever before in her life. something about the thought of rooster actually planning something to do with her made her feel, once again, like she had the right to brag about it for the rest of her life.

when she got out of bed, katia was already awake, and getting ready to go to the beach with jake. "when did this happen?" she asked as she took a drink of her water.

"when did what happen?" skye replied, attempting to tame her hair into a half up half down.

"us going on dates."

skye didn't protest the title this time, since it did feel like she was getting ready for a date. instead, she simply grabbed her mascara and shrugged. "we just became impossibly even more perfect, and now we are the women of every man's dreams."

katia rolled her eyes. "whatever. where are you two going?"

"not sure yet. he says it's a surprise, but he's allegedly planned something." skye replied, trying to decide if she liked the way her tank top looked on her.

"you look great." katia assured her when she noticed her hesitant look in the mirror. "come on, seriously. plus i'm sure you could wear a garbage bag and that man would still swoon over you."

skye shook her head, a small smile forming on her lips. "nothing between us is official at all yet, calm down."

the blonde chuckled. "it might as well be! i see the way he looks at you."

"how are things going with you and fang?" she replied, wanting the conversation to be off of her. "i see the way he looks at you, too."

it was katia's turn to blush, looking away. "yeah, things are going well. i think i really like him."

skye smiled. "i'm so happy for you. he seems like he's always so invested in what you have to say. like every time i look over at you two he's just enthralled and hanging onto your every word."

katia shook her head. "no, no. he's a good listener. but i feel like we could be together long term, you know? i'm not talking like.. marriage. that's far out there. but i can see myself being with him for a while."

the brunette patted her on the back, finishing the final touches of her outfit by putting on her rings and grabbing her bag and shoes. "i'm really happy for you, kat. you deserve to finally have a relationship with someone that makes you feel appreciated."

she recalled all of the relationships that katia had gone through in high school, and how awful each of them had been for her mentally. all of her partners had treated her like garbage by the end of it, and skye never knew what to do or say, since she hadn't been in any sort of relationship. the two then had steered clear of any relationships until they were in the top gun program, which had seemingly wrecked their plans. not that they minded.

"okay, so i'm going to drive over to jake's place, and then we're going to go to the beach. do you know when you're gonna get back?" katia asked, grabbing her own bag.

skye shrugged as she grabbed her sunglasses. "i have no idea. i think we'll be out for most of the day, probably back before dinner though if you want to get something."

"sounds like a plan. call me if you need anything."

"yeah, for sure. don't forget your sunscreen." skye said, laughing as katia automatically turned on her heel to get the sunscreen that she consistently forgot about. "okay, see you!"

"yeah, see ya!"

the door closed, and skye was home alone for barely five minutes before someone knocked on the door. she smiled at the sight of rooster, wearing jean shorts and a t-shirt. "are those jorts?" she asked, eyeing his legs.

"what?" he replied with a smile, lowering his sunglasses.

"jean shorts. jorts."

he shrugged. "they're comfortable."

skye laughed. "some of your fashion choices are so questionable." she told him.

he only smiled. "you look great, though." katia had probably been right when she said that even a garbage bag on her would impress rooster.

"are you going to tell me where we're going now?" she asked as she locked the door to the apartment, following him out to his truck.

"my dear skye," he replied, "that would defeat the entire purpose of a surprise, now wouldn't it?"

she rolled her eyes, making the jump into his truck. "if my body ends up in a ditch somewhere, katia knows i was supposed to be with you. you'll be suspect number one." she teased, watching as he laughed.

"yeah, okay." rooster adjusted his mirror before backing out of the lot and heading towards the road. "now, i don't know of too many brunch places. but i do know that ihop is open twenty four hours a day."

skye laughed. "ihop it is, then."

they got to the restaurant, and they sat across from each other at one of the smaller booths. rooster seemed to be in a questioning mood, because he put his hands under his chin and began to ask her questions. "what's your favorite part about missions? you were in a squadron for a while, what was the best part about going on those for you?"

she thought about this for a moment. "honestly? the dolphins."

"the dolphins?" he raised a brow.

"when i was on the aircraft carrier. if you stood close to the back and looked in the water, sometimes you could see little groups of dolphins just following the ship." she recalled, a smile coming to her face. "i thought it was really cool, cause i'd never seen a dolphin anywhere other than at a zoo before."

rooster nodded. "i never looked for dolphins when i was on the carriers. i guess i missed out."

she laughed. "for sure."

he then thought of another question. "what's your favorite story with katia?"

the question made her immediately laugh, and she thought for a second before smiling. "um, i think the first one that comes to mind was when we had to teach her dad what 'slay' meant."

rooster choked on his drink for a moment. "you had to what?"

skye laughed again. "okay, so katia was describing him, she was saying something about how he was so cool and distinguished, whatever. then she says 'dad, you slay'. and the whole room kind of goes quiet, and he asks 'what does that mean?'.. and how do you explain that to someone? so we told him it meant that he was very good at what he did."

rooster could tell that wasn't the end of the story, and he raised a brow. "so did you teach him a new vocabulary word?"

she nodded. "um, the word 'slay' may or may not have made an appearance in a speech he gave a few months after."

he threw his head back with laughter. "you're kidding!"

"i don't remember his exact words, but he said something along the lines of 'and may each of you slay', and i don't think anyone quite knew.. what to say or do in response."

rooster was still laughing. "that's amazing. that's absolutely incredible."

"it was his new favorite word for quite some time, i think it's still his name in my phone." skye said.

"just slay? no further context?"

she shrugged. "no further context is needed, really, iceman slays."

he nodded. "no, you're right."

they shared a few more stories before paying for their food and then getting back in the car. skye was on aux, and rooster seemed to smile wider with every song she had on the queue.

"hey mr blue sky." rooster sang.

"please tell us why." skye added.

"you had to hide away for so long."

"so long!"

"where did we go wrong?"

rooster then laughed. "this song is funny because your name is skye."

she rolled her eyes. "come up with an original joke."

the best song along they played that day was undoubtedly sweet child o' mine, which had rooster belting out every single word. they were playing you really got me (the van halen version) when rooster pulled into a parking lot. "okay, this is our stop."

skye was the first out of the truck, and looked up at the sign in front of her. her jaw then dropped. "bradley. you're kidding." she looked at him over his shoulder, watching as his smile spread at her reaction.

he shrugged nonchalantly. "i thought you'd like it."

"this is perfect, this is.. what?!" she ran over to hug him, laughing as he had to regain his footing from the force of her hug. she looked back at the record store, which he had to have looked up and found online.

"i figure while you're working on my amazing and awesome playlist, you can pick out some music for me to listen to right now," he told her, putting a hand on her back as she walked into the store.

skye smiled, and rooster honestly could feel his knees buckling as he watched her begin to gasp as she saw different vinyls and cds for albums she loved.

she soon had about five of them in her arms, and looked back over at him. "do you like death metal?" she asked.

rooster's brows shot up. "do i like what?"

"nevermind." she put one of the cds in her hands down.

the entire place seemed like an easy home for her, and she was soon approaching him with three cds and four vinyls that she'd narrowed down to. "are these your final choices?" he asked, looking down at the stack in her hands.

he'd been following her as she roamed the store for a while, but then he quickly got distracted by the throwback section and spent the rest of his time there, where she then found him. he was too proud to admit it, but he'd been smiling at a rupert holmes cd just thinking about the time he'd played and sung the pina colada song with skye.

she smiled and nodded. "yeah, yeah. i think i have some good ones."

"okay."

"so, first of all, have you ever listened to the flaming lips?" she asked.

rooster's face was blank. "uh.. no?"

"okay, that's changing now." she handed him a vinyl of their recent album american head, and he studied it for a moment before nodding. "okay and i also have another band to introduce you to."

"room on fire." he read the label on it. "the strokes."

"i think you'll like them, they're a really good one to have on vinyl cause their songs are all so chill." she said before handing him yet another vinyl. "this one's a classic, yet somehow i get the feeling you don't have it. rumors, fleetwood mac."

rooster smiled. "i have been needing this one, yes." he squinted his eyes in question at the next cd in her hands. "the guardians of the galaxy soundtrack?"

skye nodded. "you find me a soundtrack that is any better, bradshaw. it has everything, seriously. pina colada song, hooked on a feeling, come and get your love."

she truthfully didn't have to say anything more than pina colada song before it was in his hands.

"okay last vinyl is fine line by harry styles." she handed it to him, watching as he examined the cover.

"truthfully i don't think i've ever listened to this." he said.

skye pretended to be offended for a moment before smiling. "then you're listening to it tonight, no questions. it's amazing, you'll love it. he goes through different genres and sounds, so you're essentially guaranteed to love at least one of the songs."

rooster looked over at her, thinking about how adorable she looked talking about the things she loved. "you really like his stuff, don't you?"

she nodded. "yeah. i'm still waiting for him to release a third album, this one is his second."

he was listening to her, truthfully, but he could barely focus. rooster smiled down at her, moving slightly closer. "you look so cute when you're talking about this stuff."

skye looked at him blankly for a moment, seemingly unable to compute what he'd said. she then smiled, hoping his effect on her hadn't been too obvious. "um, i also got you the nirvana mtv unplugged cd." she said, showing it to him. "it's the first vinyl i ever got, and personally i think it's better than any of the other nirvana live albums because you can actually hear kurt's voice without its typical strain."

rooster was now all ears, listening to every single comment she made about the album as he looked at it. "is now a good time to tell you that i only know smells like teen spirit?"

she laughed, but rolled her eyes. "okay, so you're going to get cultured with good music, okay?"

he nodded. "yes, okay. one last cd, what is it?"

"chip chrome and the monotones, the neighbourhood." she said, turning it around. "they're one of my favorite bands ever, so if you don't like it then i'm keeping it."

rooster shook his head. "no, if you like it then obviously i'll like it."

she smiled. "is that so?"

"yes. your music hasn't failed me so far."

skye laughed as he did a joking spin on his heel to walk over to the cash register. he checked all of the items out, proudly holding up the bag of vinyls and cds.

"this was amazing, by the way." skye said as they walked outside. "i don't know how you found this place, but it's perfect."

he smiled. "well, uh.. i was just looking up record stores and this one looked like the one you'd like the best."

she looked over at him, feeling her heart melt. so he had been planning it for her. "you were thinking of me?"

he put a hand on her back. "darling, i'm always thinking of you."

holy shit, she thought, looking up at him. he only smiled, clearly aware this time of the effect his charm had made on her, before opening the truck door for her and helping her get in.