Let July be July. Let August be August.
And let yourself just be even in uncertainty.
You don't have to fix everything.
You don't have to solve everything.
And you can still find peace and grow in the wild of changing things.

LET JULY BE JULY / MORGAN HARPER NICHOLS

     PERMANENCE WAS NOT IN CASSIE BLACKWOOD'S VOCABULARY. Ever since she was the ripe age of eighteen months, she had never stayed in one place for too long. Sure, during her schooling, Cassie at least remained in the same general area, but upon her graduation from TOPGUN following the Naval Academy, North Island was in her rear-view mirror.

     Her TOPGUN peers presumed Cassie — whom they called "Birdie" — was ready to bail due to their hard-ass instructor who seemed to exclusively have it out for her despite being the top-ranked member of their class, but their presumption couldn't have been further from the truth. Following the award presentation at their graduation ceremony, they all witnessed the only civil interaction between the two and glanced up at the sky, expecting to see pigs flying by.

     That action (a firm handshake followed by a stiff "Congratulations") marked the beginning of Cassie and Bradley Bradshaw's — "Rooster" — acquaintanceship, which went through quite the development over the years. As the top of her class, Cassie was sent out to fly in action immediately, with none other than Rooster as her wingman. During this mission, they found themselves to become reluctant friends through building a mutual trust, eventually realizing that they had a lot more in common than they thought.

     Cassie's noteworthy aviation skills earned her spots in two subsequent tours, keeping her away from both her home in Washington, D.C. and North Island aside from the few months-time she had between deployments. Although, during that limited down time, it felt that no time had passed at all from the last time Cassie had been in the states.

     This time around was like any other. Cassie moved back into the same rental she always has, the house her mom occupied when she lived on North Island, once upon a time; she was welcomed back with open arms from the locals and her peers; and she and Rooster's budding relationship resumed right where it left off.

     Like she said, this time around was like any other — except for the sudden issuance of a special assignment, which Cassie honestly didn't mind at all, given the roster of fellow top-notch aviators. What she did mind, however, was the unexpected addition of an awfully familiar face being appointed as their instructor.

brie larson as
CASSANDRA "BIRDIE" BLACKWOOD

miles teller as
BRADLEY "ROOSTER" BRADSHAW

AND

travis "einstein" cruz, keean johnson

DISCLAIMERS: i do not own the top gun series, i only own my original characters and plot lines. this book will include references to and/or depictions of: violence, sexual references, swearing, and death

DEDICATIONS: to elyse andrea kat scarlett bre kate & keleigh teller who i desperately want to be best friends with. continue doing God's work on tiktok 🫡

NOTE: me as soon as i saw rooster on the screen:

am i jumping on the miles teller bandwagon? NO i've been singing this man's praises for an entire decade since footloose (2011) #willard4life ✊🏼. anyway,,, i obviously couldn't resist. i watched top gun 1 for the first time the night before seeing top gun 2 and literally couldn't stop getting heart palpitations whenever miles came on. it was lowkey embarrassing but idc i would let this man run me over and ask him to please do it again. oh and yeah this fic hasn't left my mind since i devised it while watching the movie...so here she is! also, if u save any of my story playlists, it's this one. it's 1 hr 54 mins of musical excellence.

july 7, 2022 ━━ ???

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