Saturday. 10:00 Master Bedroom

John woke up to seven people in his room. He glanced at the clock and noticed the time. He had a vodka hangover and was not in any mood for anything.

“This is not how I imaged waking up this morning.” John gruffly said.

“Kevin thinks it’s story time about what those Intelligence Agents and you did last night.” Theresa said.

Three people already knew what was going on, but they were nodding their head in agreement with the others.

“Yeah, should be a good story, right? Especially if what showed up on the net is true.” Nathan said.

“What’s the net say?” John rolled over and pulled the blanket up.

The hangover felt terrible, which resulted in two mental reminders being made. The first being ‘never drink vodka straight ever again’ and the second was to dial back the quantity one drank especially when they didn’t feel good.

“Oh, not much, just the last known fugitive of the Apex Garden Massacre turned up dead thirty miles away. Conflicting stories about how he ended up dead naturally.” Thomas got his chance to get into the conversation.

“Weird, sounds like y’all know what already happened. Y’all, do you know I have a bad fucking hangover?”

“Answers! Now!” Everyone was harassing John.

He felt mostly fine when he went to bed. Not quite like his normal self, but close to it. Now these assholes were bullying him. No was not an answer this mob was going to accept.

“Fiiiiiine. News is mostly right. The agents and I tracked him down to a bar, he didn’t come quietly and ended up getting killed. Reality isn’t near as interesting as what the net speculates what happened.”

“Dude, you’re a fucking hero. Why the hell aren’t they broadcasting your name?” Kevin asked.

John was now properly annoyed. He tossed the covers off and got out of bed. His chest showed several scars where he’d been shot or stabbed.

“Right, because my name being common knowledge would do what exactly? Make anyone that’s remotely around me target numero uno for anti-Confed or anti-military establishment types. Besides, Intelligences likes things letting people know there’s a boogey man willing to right wrongs or some such shit.”

Andern started laughing in the background and left the room. He won; he was right. He was never going to let him forget it.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to take a shit.” John then walked into the bathroom and locked the door behind him.

“Andern, I’m going to kick your stupid ass. You promised me a good story, and all we got was shit.” Kevin yelled.

Andern ran out of the room, followed closely by Kevin, Thomas and Nathan who were yelling at him. John then heard a big splash in the pool. Those three ran Andern down, picked him up and tossed him into the pool. John finished his business, cleaned his hands and walked out and saw Alice sitting on the bed looking at him.

“So um, look I’m not good at apologizing. But I’m sorry for making you worry last night. And thank you for helping me get out of my funk last night.” He walked over and sat next to her on the edge of bed.

She smiled. “I was and still am serious, if you need anything let me know. I want to help you and be there for you.” She placed a hand on his cheek. “I’ll be honest I didn’t think I’d fall in love with a guy that I started out as a casual fling at the end of basic. But yet here we are and I definitely have.”

John was about to interrupt Alice.

“It’s not exactly the start of a great romance story.” Alice started laughing at that.

“Kinda sounds like the start of a porn movie.”

Alice had an amazed look on her face. “You are such a smartass.” She leaned in and kissed him.

“Bom chik-a-waw-wow.”

Alice started laughing while she rested her head on his chest. “I cannot believe that actually worked.” She pushed herself up, took her tank-top off and gave him another kiss. John grabbed her by the waist and rolled back into bed together.

10:35 Poolside

Down at the pool Andern was pouting in the pool. The boys went into the gym to get a work after they heaved him into the pool. Jessica and Theresa were sitting in the sun next to the pool.

“Andern, I told you that you shouldn’t have hyped that story up.” Jessica chastised him.

“It still sounded cool to me.”

The girls laughed at Andern, he stayed there pouting. “Jess, how many suits did you bring with. Because that’s three that I’ve counted so far.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Well, that one you’re wearing now is a little more provocative than the ones you wore yesterday.” He then raised one hand a gave her a thumbs up.

Theresa laughed as Jessica blushed.

“Well, I’m gonna get out of the pool and do some laps around the estate.” Andern ambled out of the pool and walked into his suite.

He grabbed some shoes and walked back by the pool and sat down to put them on. He was dripping water everywhere prior to just running off.

“Jess, you know he’s completely and totally fallen for you.” Theresa leaned over onto her side and was looking at Jess.

“Yes. I think the whole damn academy is aware of that.”

“Sooo, what would you say if he asked you out properly?”

Jess leaned over and whispered “I don’t know anymore. I told everyone I was gay because I honestly didn’t know for sure and I didn’t want to find a boyfriend here. That kind of just backfired though. Just felt that it’d feel weird too. Plus, my love life in high school was just tragic.”

“Well, that explains a lot of what I had observed of your interactions with the members of our gender that were interested in you.”

“Please don’t tell Andern though.”

“I won’t but are you sure you’re making the right decision?”

“I don’t know, I really don’t. But for now, I don’t want to rock the boat.”

“Jess, if you need any advice, please ask me or Alice, we’d love to help.”

“Thanks so much.”

“I bet John would be a good person to ask too. True he’s a guy, but he seems way more dependable and mature than anyone else in our class.”

“You don’t think he’d blab to Andern?”

“I doubt it, assuming of course you ask him not too. He’s gotta be hardwired to keep his mouth shut when asked or ordered too. Old hat for him you know.”

“Hmm, not sure if I should involve him or not, though knowing him he probably knows everything anyways.” Jessica didn’t know about his telepathic gifts, but her assumption was likely astute. John seemed to know a lot about everything.

Theresa just snorted and started laugh. Jessica did as well. They continued chatting amongst themselves about random events at the academy. They also agreed to chat with Alice about getting in a workout before lunch. Presuming of course she and John decided to make themselves presentable and hang out with the rest of them.

The boys finished their work out and jumped into the pool. Kevin looked like he was going to splash Jessica and Theresa, but one angry look from his girlfriend was enough for him to change his mind. Nathan started doing laps. Thomas was relaxing on the steps. Kevin was swimming over to the hot tub. Nathan suggested some exercises that made Kevin hurt all over. Resting in the hot tube sounded like a good idea.

“Honey, where’d the dumbass go?” Kevin asked.

“You’re going to need to clarify.” Theresa smiled.

Jessica started to laugh at hearing that.

“Ugh, you know, Mr. I make up wild stories.”

“He’s running laps.”

“The others are probably humping again.” Thomas said.

“And now we have a fifth grader staying at our house.” Kevin laughed.

It was childish but accurate statement though. Alice and John were going to take full advantage of their free time to be together on this trip.

“Shut up.” Thomas laughed

Just then Alice walked outside and sat next to the girls. There was some whispering that the boys couldn’t hear going on. Thomas didn’t want to know anything they were chatting about. That was information he could gladly live without. Kevin was cursing Nathan silently in the hot tub and Thomas was just staring at the clouds.

John poked his head out of the kitchen. “Burgers for lunch. I’m doing a fried egg, bacon and cheese on mine, what does everyone else want?”

“Eggs don’t go on burgers. Like at all.” Kevin chimed in.

“Wrong sir, great idea John. I’ll go for a heart attack burger too.” Nathan added.

“Bacon and cheese for me.” Thomas asked.

The girls were appalled with John and Nathan. The burger they were describing sounded excessive. They wanted a simple burger with tomatoes and lettuce. Andern ambled in and got the gist of the conversation. “Just want a cheeseburger here.”

John was busy working on making burger patties in the kitchen. Andern wandered over to where the grill was and fired it up. John came out with a griddle, tray of burger patties, eggs and bacon. Shortly after the group was having lunch together.

The main topic of lunch was the infamous heart attack burger and whether or not it had any place in a civilized society. John and Nathan were fervent believers in the burger.

“Look, I’m just saying eggs have no place on burgers.” Kevin once again reiterated.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about Kevin. Eggs do have a place on a burger, and it makes the burger better.” Nathan countered.

“He’s right, eggs just complete a burger. Especially when you get the egg fried just enough where the yolk is runny. Sure, it’s messy but it completes the ensemble.” John added.

“John, I can feel your arteries clog as you eat that.” Alice was grossed out by this conversation.

“Yes, but it’s tastes so good.” John said laughing.

“John, what you doing this afternoon?” Andern asked.

“Workout after chow. Then relax by the pool. Then at like 14:00 I’m going to fire up that smoker and smoke four chickens and drink beer. I’m going to do fuck all basically. Make up for the shit show that was last night.”

“Nice. I’ll join ya.”

“And no fucking vodka for me today.”

The group enjoyed their mostly unhealthy burgers and the debate raged whether or not eggs have any place as a burger topping. The girls eventually just avoided this argument because it felt like IQ points were being lost in the ether. Kevin was adamant that he could never be convinced.

All good things come to an end…

The next few days flew by. Nothing of note happened. They were fun, casual and relaxing days for the group. Everyone did try to get some running and weightlifting in to maintain a degree of physical exertion. This was doubly necessary given the food and alcohol intake they all were enjoying.

John smoked two briskets, four pork butts, many racks of ribs and more over the coming days. The girls were aghast at the boy’s diet. A mini war between the benefits of salads versus a meat and starch diet was had. The boys reluctantly acquiesced to allowing and requiring salads be served at the dinner table as the first course. Meat was to be served only after the salads were finished. Something about gender traitors was directed at Kevin and John by the other three guys.

While they were on vacation, they were missing their routine. Naturally they’d all miss the fun they were having this week. The two couples got to spend an inordinate amount of intimate time with one another. Andern continued to follow Jessica around like a puppy. Nathan and Thomas just hung out and didn’t let much phase them.

This trip was just what the doctor had in store for the cadets, except for the lack of golfing for John, but he’d get over that. More importantly some of his personal demons were now conquered while others were pushed back. They may rise again in the future, but at least he had the wherewithal and strength to drive them back once more.