~ ❀ ✿ ~

𝐋𝐀𝐁𝐘𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇 ― ☀ ☁ ― 𝖑𝖆𝖇𝖞𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖙𝖍

\\ 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 //

THIS IS WHAT WAS HAPPENING.

Her eyes tried to find his figure in each place they'd be  at.

The briefing room. The hangar. The tarmac. The Falling Leaf. The beach.

Everywhere.

Why?

She didn't know. She couldn't guilt grasp the why of it all. And she noticed, she was making excuses. But for what, exactly? About what, exactly?

Shaking her head in disapproval of herself lingering in these thoughts, her brows raise as she tries to shake it off, whatever flush had rushed up to her cheeks.

Today, was the first day of shooting.

Well, for everyone else but the Cruise's, for they'd already shot the Darkstar scene, and then the Kazansky-Mitchell duo's return to Fightertown, more vividly, TOPGUN.

The familiar leather brown jacket hugged her shoulders and body perfectly, like always. This very outfit brought Taylor back to her old days. The ones where she'd be dressed exactly the same, holding the karaoke mic or beer glass in her hand, singing into it or chugging from it. Then, maxing out the score at Galaga, followed by Frogger.

Her hair was down in waves, makeup deduced to very minimal, completely natural.

Mae had ever so kindly agreed to cut off the bar for the rest of their day, after a special request from her father, one to which Mae couldn't bring herself to disagree to.

Most of them were on set, and they'd just finished filming 'Natasha', 'Reuben', 'Mickey', and 'Bob's entries, waiting on for 'Hangman' to grab beers paid for toby the old-timer, before getting a few shots of a game of pool, one that they actually played like true sports.

They were waiting on Miles, who was outside getting the perfect 'Tramp' shot, locking the baby blue Bronco before heading into the 'Hard Deck'.

Taylor leant forward near the table, ready to make the winning shot, lining it up, and making it an absolutely fitting ending to the intense game. Jay was quietly sipping his 'beer' by the table, watching in utmost focus at the game.

Danny was standing behind Lewis with his elbow on his shoulder, hand covering his mouth. Monica was tense behind Taylor, also leaning forward to make sure the shot was perfect, while Glen and Greg stood opposite the two, smirks long disappeared into the game.

And then, the door to the bar made the bell above it ring, signaling an entry. Main cameras were indoors, waiting to capture Miles' entry, while some just waited on them by the pool table, engrossed in the game.

For the sake of Monica and hers' winning streak, the little voice in her head was yelling at her to simply make the shot quickly and not look in a his direction.

Come on, she had that much self control.

And so, the shot was made.

Perfectly, two balls making it through opposite nets.

The second the balls sink into the net, Monica's jumping in excitement from behind her, and Taylor's pulled into a bear hug from behind, while groans of defeat sound from in front of them.

"Hell yeah!" Monica slaps Taylor's back, a tad bit harshly, but she didn't mind, wrapping her arm around the shorter woman and rubbing her shoulder in happiness.

Taylor had not looked in the door's direction yet, but when she did...

There he was. Tan skin glowing under the unnatural yellow lights, aviators perched on his nose hiding his eyes, Taylor tried to ignore the disappointment of not being able to note the color, the neatly trimmed moustache right over his upper lip. The white and muted colors' Hawaiian shirt unbuttoned, jeans fit around his legs.

Taylor gulped.

His golden-brown hair sat atop his head perfectly, proper military cut, though curled, falling the tiniest bit on his forehead.

She took a final sip of the water she'd been nursing.

That's her cue. She whispers into 'Natasha's ear her line, and the woman nods, before 'Faith' slips behind them all, walking towards the bar as 'Bradley' walks toward the table, her just taking one final glimpse at him from over her shoulder, chills hitting the nap of her head from under her chocolate brown locks as she nears her father, almost crashing into someone as she watched Miles go about his lines.

No. No. No.

Taken man, taken man, taken man. By a very pretty woman, who, God bless, one of the sweetest people Taylor'd interacted with.

Beautiful, beautiful taken man.

Taylor takes a deep breath, knowing her eyes were not falling off his figure anytime soon.

The scene plays off well, not needing more than three takes for either Miles or Glen break into laughter, having stood mere centimeters from each other at one point.

She follows Miles, as he walks towards the jukebox and swiftly pulls the cord from the plug. The bar naturally groans in annoyance, throwing up their hands or glasses in disappointment.

Then, casual chatter runs up like before. Miles brings his aviators back onto the edge of his nose, looking down at the ivory keys where she'd once sit years ago.

His fingers dance beautifully across it, playing a nonsensical melody, grabbing the attention of some patrons. The beer bottle is placed off to the side, sometimes wavering with the shaking of the piano, but it seems he had it handled, never letting it fall at all.

Monica, Jay, and Danny walk up to the piano with smiles, rounding the piano as Miles greets everyone once again with a soft smile that made Taylor's heart flutter, lips unconsciously perking up, unknowingly reciprocating his actions.

And then, Miles shows them all what he was made of. Extremely talented at probably everything, but never picked out from a crowd, even if he was the prettiest jewel of all.

In a single take, and song, Miles has Taylor enthralled. She knew he had musical history, she'd seen 'Whiplash', and talked to him about playing various instruments, highlighting the drums and piano brightly.

But seeing this performance in front of her eyes?

Incredible.

The whole bar was attentive, gathering around the piano and him and the others singing until they couldn't anymore, singing amongst themselves, "Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!"

Her mouth hangs open in the slightest in awe at actually being able to witness this in reality, seeing how the crowd was captured by him almost immediately.

"I laughed at love, 'cause I thought it was funny! But you came along, and you moved me, honey!"

His. Voice.

The exaggeration on 'moved'. 'Honey'. The piano, the singing, the shirt, the aviators.

"Holy shit." Glen's voice is muffled in her ear, but close enough to be heard. Taylor found herself agreeing. Holy shit, indeed.

"Kiss me, baby! Ooh, that feels good, baby.. Hold me, baby!"

Taylor and Glen share a mere second glance, before screaming out themselves lyrics themselves, "I wanna love you like a lover should," Once again, the mesmerizing piano, "You're fine, you're so kind, I'mma tell the world, that you're mine, mine, mine, mine!"

The way his voice went high on 'so'...

She stands, mumbling the lyrics and bobbing her head and singing into the beer bottle Glen holds between the both of them, free hair softly hitting her shoulders. Greg comes over too, holding his own beer and wrapping his arm around Glen and her shoulders as they sing together, laughing and giggling through it all.

And then, finally, the bar sings out at the end together, surely making the highlight of the day, "Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire!"

An ode to the first movie makes her heart flutter once more. Miles dragged out the word 'fire' like Anthony Edwards did in 'TOPGUN'.

Everyone cheers and claps and whoops when Miles stands up from his seat, showing off some moves as the cheers continue.

Then, Taylor brings out the chant of the evening, beginning, "Rooster! Rooster!" Miles turns his head at the sound, smiling and turning the slightest bit red under the yellowish lights of the bar, waving it off as he continues to dance in his spot, throwing out the limbo as people join in.

Glen and Greg follow, clapping their hands to the beat the bar was beginning to create. The entire bar is at it, yelling out the call sign over and over, not bothering to even say cut and live in the moment.

And at the end of it all, Taylor approaches Miles, looking at his sort of sweaty face. 

His aviators are back to the v of his white under top, hazel eyes meeting hers. His smile was enchanting and contagious, as he speaks, "Thank you for that.. I was, God, I don't think any of us were prepared for that.."

Taylor's cheeks perk up even more, "Well, you deserve it. I mean, I knew you were going all out on piano training, but dude, that was amazing." She shrugs, pressing her lips in a thin line while holding her smile.

"Thank you!" His eyes lit up like fireworks in a midnight sky, wrapping an arm over her shoulder and hugging her side, smiling when Lewis and the others approach. Taylor tries to hide the maroon flush on her face by looking at her shoes, missing the smirks Glen and Jay shared when they looked at Taylor.

Everyone tells Miles about their surprise and awe at him actually pulling out the big guns and performing live. He smiles, fairly flushed at the amount of compliments and teasing about the next times he'd play for them.

All the while, Taylor stands by his side, having lost his warmth and trying not to groan in disappointment when Monica comes closer and wrap her arm around Taylor' waist, looking up at the older woman with a mischievous smile, one that said, 'we'll talk about this later'. Glen comes up from behind, pushing his way between either woman, making them groan at him, while he just kept smiling.

Then, Glen gave her a knowing look.

Maybe she wasn't the only one keeping her secret.