(the video is a guitar cover of 'great balls of fire', and it is exactly what I imagine Faith to play with Bradley in this chapter, please do play it as you read along!)



























𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐢𝐢 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫

❝ 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐬 ❞



































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Faith was winning the game. Bradley, was sorely loosing. Each time she'd hit the racked balls, all of them would go in, she just didn't seem to miss. Bradley would groan every time all the balls would go in.

Fed up with her constant win, he let out a loud scream of frustration, making Faith laugh in an un-lady-like manner, Phoenix joining her soon after, pointing a finger at Rooster's exhausted expression and other hand clutching her stomach. The two girls moved closer, their laughs in unison as they leaned against each other for support.

After taking a minute or two to gather themselves, the girls wiped their tears of joy, looking at Bradley, who seemed to look at them with an annoyed expression. As Faith's eyes met his, she could see his expression change from one of annoyance, to one of goofiness and embarrassment. He started giggling, making Faith laugh, which made Phoenix laugh, making the entire squad laugh.

"Alright, alright, hey, I get it, I suck at eight ball." Bradley puts his hands on his hips, nodding with an expression of embarrassment.

"I'm gonna get another drink, anyone else need anything?" Faith asked around, looking at the boys and Phoenix for their necessities.

A chorus of 'beer for me' rang out, making Faith raise her eyebrows in astonishment, how am I gonna carry all these drinks? She thought to herself.

"I'll help." Bradley offered, walking towards her.

"Okay, we'll be right back guys." Faith announced, walking towards the bar.

Bradley was looking at the piano with a gist of remembrance in his eyes. Noticing his depression, she asked, "You play?" looking at him with curious eyes, putting her hand up to signal the bartender, mouthing 'eleven beers'.

"Yeah, I do, actually." He nodded, confirming her thoughts.

"You?" He asked her, leaning against the table top, glancing at her on his side.

"Not the piano, but I do play the guitar." Faith said, leaning towards him to make sure he hears her.

"You do?" Bradley asked, brows raising in surprise, lips pulling up into a mischievous smirk, going unnoticed by Faith, as she counted the number of beers. She looked back to him, to notice the smirk on his face, and her eyes immediately fill with concern.

"What'cha thinking, Chicken?" Faith asked him, sharing the mischievous glint in her eyes with him.

He grabbed his tray of beer filled glasses, slowly walking back to the pool table with her by his side, "Say, Arch, do you happen to have your guitar with you, right now?" He asked, smirk on his face.

"Yeah, it's in my car, I like to take it with me wherever I go." Archer retorted back, catching on to what he was asking her to do.

"Bradley, no." Faith shakes her head in disagreement, eyes widening with disbelief of what he was asking her to do.

"Archie, yes." Bradley nods his head, goofy grin on his face which made Faith groan loudly. She couldn't bring herself to say no that handsome face of his.

They arrived at the table, passing out the beers, before Bradley yelled out loudly amongst the group, "Aviators! Come on over to the piano, me and Arch got something to show y'all!" Loud yells and whoops sounded around the pool table, as Bradley and Faith walked towards the piano.

"Okay, give us two minutes," Bradley told the squad, who went back to conversing among themselves. Bradley leaned in, barely three inches between them, "What are you waiting for? Go grab your guitar." He commands, and Faith realizes there was no way out of this.

Quickly pulling out the keys to her car from her purse, she looks at Bradley before saying fuck it to herself in her head, downing her beer in one shot, she ran out of the bar, rushing to grab her guitar.

Faith quickly opened the trunk of her car, where her guitar case was kept. She pulled it out, hoisting the handle over her shoulder as she closed the trunk of her car and locked it. She found herself smiling while running up the porch.

"I'm here, I'm here." Faith announced with a loud voice, eliciting a chorus of loud cheers, especially from her group, with Bradley already sat at the piano, waving his hand at her, so as to say, 'come on over quick!'.

"Grab me a chair, will ya, Hangman? Put those muscles to work." Faith told him, and the man immediately got out of his seat to grab her the chair, asking, "Where'd you want it?" He asked her, holding the chair up.

"Beside the piano." Faith said, and the man put it down. She muttered a thank you in a low voice, giving him a wink of acknowledgement.

Looking up at those hazel green eyes already staring at her, Faith asked one last time, "You sure you wanna do this? You're not gonna, chicken out, are you?" smug smirk on her face.

"I'm one hundred percent sure, Arch. Get ready with your guitar, we're playing 'great balls of fire'." Bradley smiled back at her, clearly drunk with the five glasses of beer her and him had downed together.

"Alright, boss." Faith sets up her guitar, playing a chord and looking over at him in confirmation, "This one it?".

Bradley nods. "You ready, Archie?" He looks at her with curiosity in his eyes, almost wanting to quit if she disagrees to do it.

She nods, confirming her agreement to actually want to do this, "Pull the cord, Phoenix!" and Natasha pulls the cord out from the jukebox, making the bar collectively groan, before she announces, "Sorry, guys, me and my friend," she looks at Bradley already staring back at her with a glaze in his eyes, "we just wanna play a lil' something, alright, y'all okay with that?" Faith asks the bar, and immediately everyone shouts out a 'yes!', or 'hell yeah!'.

Bradley began to sing, playing the song on the piano simultaneously, as Faith too began to strum her guitar, matching the notes of the song.

"You shake my nerves, and you rattle my brain! Too much love drives a man insane, you broke my will, but what a thrill," Bradley looks on over to her singing along with him, catching her eyes in his.

"Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire!" The entire bar seemed to know the lyrics, yelling them out loudly, watching the two play their instruments, but they were too busy gazing into each other's eyes.

With his gaze set on her, and a sober expression on both their faces, they smiled as they kept looking at each other, singing, "I laughed at love, 'cuz I thought it was funny, but you came along, and you moved me, honey," Rooster looked down at the piano, and Faith to her guitar, "I changed my mind, this love is fine, goodness gracious, great balls of fire!" The entire bar seemed to enjoy the entertainment, mumbling through the verses, but catching up to the final lyric.

Bradley looked back at her, now completely sobered up, watching her fingers move quickly with the song, before looking into her eyes, finding her already staring back, "Kiss me, baby! Ooh, that feels good," Bradley and Faith shook their bodies to imitate the lyrics.

"Hold me, baby! I wanna love you like a lover should." Bradley kept staring at her, and she kept staring at him, huge grins on both their faces, enthralled by each other.

"You're fine, you're so kind! I'mma tell the world, that you're mine, mine, mine mine!" Bradley and Faith leaned closer to each other, shaking their heads to the song.

She found him admiring her, capturing all the little things about her face. Her green eyes, her defined jaw bones, the way her hands moved, catching all the chords and notes she had to play. just, her.

"I chew my nails, and I twiddle my thumbs, I'm real nervous, but it sure is fun." Everyone was singing with them, too drunk to care about how much noise they were creating.

"Come on, baby, you're driving me crazy," He closed his eyes, enjoying the moment, before opening them and looking back into hers', knowing right where to find her.

"Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire! They both yelled out, ending the song and panting for breaths.

The entire bar filled with loud cries and cheers. Everyone started to cheer for them both, huddling up close, tapping the counter tops, yelling both their call signs. Faith had never smiled this hard, at least not this real.

Faith placed her guitar back into it's case, before standing up, and taking a couple of steps towards Rooster.

He pulled her closer by the waist, hip against his, as they both extended their opposite hands out, before bowing down before their audience, who whooped and cheered for them. Faith stood back straight, and hugged Rooster's side, raising her hand up to wave back at everyone, muttering 'thank you for coming to the show, y'all', before bowing down once again.





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author's note:

HELLO LOVES! Thank you for choosing 'The Archer' to read. This book has been on my mind since quite some time, and I've finally decided to just execute!

Now, I've graciously presented you guys with three chapters in a day, and my finals start from Wednesday, so I won't be updating this frequently, or even at all until next month this time, because I really want to score good and make my parents proud.

Please do mention what you think about it, right here :

Thank you for joining me on Rooster and Archer's story, better buckle up for some bumps up ahead.

destiny <3.