Fireproof

Morning came quickly and I made my way to the airport to get the plane ready and go over plans with the teams one last time before we got started. The national anthem was scheduled for ten o’clock and me and the guys on my team were a part of the flyover to take place at the end of the national anthem. We had about an hour to go before it was time to get ready for takeoff and with a huge crowd already at the airport, we decided to go stand by our planes to greet people.

“Hey guys!” I said as a family walked up to me and the plane. I do believe the little boy that was with them was the cutest little boy I had ever seen.

“Is this your airplane?” He asked looking up at the plane which towered above him.

“It is my plane. Do you like airplanes?”

“Uh-huh. Can I touch it?”

“Of course you can touch it. Better yet, how about you come check out my seat and make sure everything looks ready to go for me to fly it in just a little bit?”

“Okay!” He said excitedly.

I smiled as I helped him up on the wing of the P-51 Mustang and then followed him so I could help him climb over into the cockpit. He sat in the seat and I got him all buckled in and put my helmet on him to make him ‘official’. His mom climbed up onto the wing as well snapping pictures of him.

“So what do you think? Is it ready for me to fly?” I asked him.

“Looks good to me!”

“Awesome! Thanks for checking it out for me, buddy.”

I helped him back down to the ground and they went on their way checking out the other planes. I was ready to get this show going and get up in the air and do what I loved to do. I was also thinking about Nikki and what Criss had said last night. I would never believe that Nikki was interested in me until he showed some sign of it. He was a genuinely nice guy and that’s all that had been going on between us.

“There you are. Look at you looking like hot shit in your little flight suit.” Criss said as he came around the back of the airplane, Nikki, Tommy, Mick, and Vince following.

“You’re just jealous because you don’t have a flight suit to look like hot shit in.”

“Okay, you got me there.”

“Asshole. Good morning guys.”

“Morning, Parker.” Nikki smiled.

“So do I get a flight suit too since I’m acting co-pilot today?” Vince asked.

“You do, actually. It’s back in the hangar so come find me after the national anthem.”

“Fuck yeah!”

The announcer came over the loudspeaker letting us know that things were about to get started. I said goodbye to the guys as they went to get ready for the national anthem and it was time for me to climb up into my plane and get ready for the fly over and then the low pass I was going to do around the airport. I got situated in the cockpit of my dad’s favorite plane as the airport workers cleared the area around the planes of people. Once we got the all clear I started my plane and headed to the end of the runway to take off.

“Black Eagle One, you are clear for take-off runway three-six.” The guy controlling traffic today radioed.

That was my cue to get this plane in the sky. “Clear for takeoff runway three-six, black eagle one.”

I took off from the runway and circled back around the airport so that Steve and Keith, my two teammates could get in the air and get in formation with me. If the timing was right Motley Crue should have been singing the national anthem right now which meant as soon as we finished the circle around the airport, Steve and Keith would perform the flyover while I broke out of the formation and made a low, fast pass over the airport. Those were my favorite to do. As we came back around and lined up with the runway, I dropped my altitude to about two hundred feet off of the ground and made a fast pass right behind Motley Crue, right as they finished the national anthem it seemed, judging by seeing the crowd on the ground cheering and waving their hats in the air.

I made another circle and landed the plane this time as that was all we were doing for the time being. Our mock air battle was set to take place after lunch and until that time there were plenty of other acts lined up to keep the crowd entertained. I parked my plane and got out, making my way back to the pilots and VIP hangar with Steve and Keith.

“What the fuck was that?!” Tommy asked after they had made their way back to the hangar as well.

“What was what?” I asked innocently, taking a bite of the banana I was eating.

“Oh nothing! Just you flying your plane within ten feet of my ass and giving is no warning at all.”

I fought hard to keep a straight face as I looked back and forth from Nikki, Vince, Mick and Criss to Tommy. “What?! You mean they didn’t warn you guys I was going to do that?”

“Hell no!”

“Come on, TLee. Shit blows up around you all the time on stage. Were you really freaked out?”

“Yes!” He said still being dramatic. “I feared for my life! And Nikki here, his heart has already stopped twice. You could have had some respect for him too.”

Nikki was pissing himself laughing by this point as was everyone else in the room.

“He’s just being an ass. I was singing and never missed a note. Pretty cool if you ask me.” Vince said.

“Well no one asked you, loud mouth.” Tommy said.

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry for upsetting you like that. Here, I’ll give you a hug to make it all better.”

He finally gave up and started laughing as I wrapped my arms around him. “I’m just flipping you
shit. That was pretty bad ass.”

“I know it was.”

“That plane was fucking loud though.” Nikki said.

“It’s loud, indeed.”

I finished my banana as Tommy continued to be dramatic about me ‘almost crashing into them’, and kicked back in a chair trying to stay awake. The sound of the airplanes flying all around th airport made me feel peaceful and relaxed. I thought about closing my eyes for just a second but Tommy had this smirk on his face that told me if I did, I would regret it dearly.

“Okay Tommy. You can go find someone else to terrorize. I’m not going to sleep.”

“Damn it!”

“He won’t do anything. I won’t let him.” Nikki said eyeing Tommy.

“Parker, the Falcons are ten minutes out. They’re pulling the planes out to the runway now.” Steve said, warning me that we had about ten minutes until show time.

“Roger that. Alright, Vince. Time to suit up. Might want to say your goodbyes. You never know what might happen up there. We’re shooting to kill.” I joked.

“Hey, we kind of need our lead singer because I’m not coordinated enough to sing and play and Sixx can’t sing for shit, so bring him back safely please.” Mick said.

Nikki flipped him off.

“I shall try my best sir. If he doesn’t come back that means I don’t come back and I don’t plan on going anywhere today.”

“Why do I feel like I’m living out an old world war two movie right now?” Nikki asked

“Well, technically you are minus the fact that the pilot is a chick. But nevermind that, it still works the same way. So, this is where you kiss her and tell her to come home safe.” Tommy said staring at Nikki with a smirk on his face.

I was completely shocked by what he had just said as I looked back and forth between Tommy and Criss and I knew immediately that they had been talking while they had wandered off together. I felt pretty awkward standing there, not knowing what Nikki was going to do. I definitely didn’t want him to feel like he had to kiss me, but I couldn’t hide the fact that deep down I really did want him to kiss me.

“Well, being the gentleman that I am,” He said kissing my cheek ever so lightly. “Come back safely.”

My heart sunk into my stomach, confirming what I had thought all along. The kiss had been simply because he was a gentleman and had been called out on it. He had barely even kissed me. He had no feelings for me.

I was brought back to reality by the explosives going off down the runways signaling the gunfire from the attacking planes. I motioned for Vince to follow and we ran out to the army style jeeps that had pulled up to take us out to the airplanes. I was completely bummed out after what had just happened, but I needed to be one hundred percent focused on the task at hand. There really was no danger in our mock air battle but flying in close proximity with five other airplanes with erratic maneuvers and high speed landings definitely carried a risk.

“Alright so don’t forget about our landing and the explosives that will go off when we land okay?” I reminded Vince

“Got it! Let’s do this!”

“Let’s roll!”

The jeeps came to a halt on the taxiway where the planes were and we all jumped out of the jeep and into the planes, making it as dramatic and real as we could. I quickly buckled myself in and waited for a thumbs up from Vince before firing up the plane.

“If you start feeling sick or anything just let me know and we can cut our battle short.” I told Vince

He gave me a thumbs up and we headed down the runway to join the fun. For the next ten minutes we chased the falcon flight team, shot at them with cap guns on the plane, got shot back at, and twisted and flipped high above the crowd. The crowd could hear our radio chatter which we were making dramatic as well. It actually felt pretty real to me and I hoped the crowd was enjoying it.

Finally as it had been planned out, it was time for me and Vince to get shot down. With a falcon plane on my tail and my grass landing strip in site, I fired off a rocket that made it look like we had been hit.

“I’m hit! Black Eagle one is going down!” I yelled over the radio as I lined up with the runway

“Eagle one, bail out now!” Keith yelled.

I stayed quiet as we neared the ground and touched down behind some trees, as the firework techs set off a huge explosion that was supposed to be us crashing. I thanked Daddy to myself for keeping me safe and killed the airplane. It would stay put here until the airshow was over later this evening.

“Holy fuck! That was intense!” Vince said as we climbed down from the plane.

“Yeah it was! Too bad we’re dead though.”

“True. Well, it was a pleasure being your co-pilot in that past life.”

“It was a pleasure having you as my co-pilot. I would do it again any time, this life or the next.”

We hopped on the atv I had brought from home and left at the landing spot to have a way back to the airport and we headed back through the fields to the airport. I was suddenly exhausted now and didn’t feel like being in the crowd of people anymore, so I decided to wait out the rest of the air show by napping in my truck. I couldn’t quit thinking about Nikki and the so called kiss I had gotten. I had been trying to take Criss’ advice and not be afraid of letting Nikki get too close, but it seemed like Nikki wasn’t interested in getting close anyway. Now I had to deal with the fact that I had started getting my hopes up that maybe something was there between us. I was mad at myself for not knowing better. He was a rockstar and I was just me. Just Parker.