Friday. 09:20 Washington Dulles Airport

The group flew home Friday morning after spending a week in luxury. Everyone had mixed feelings, they enjoyed the luxury but missed their routines. But the military waits for no one. Certainly not for some random cadets.

Thomas, Nathan, Kevin and Theresa’s bags were the first on the baggage return. They said their goodbyes and headed back to the academy. Jessica, Andern, Alice and John were waiting. And waiting. And waiting. The very last bag to appear on the baggage carousel was John’s.

John surprised the three with his reaction. There was lots of swearing under his breath. A fair amount of complaining. There were also threats to write letters. None of the three had a single damned clue what or why John was so mad about.

11:45 Cafeteria

Both groups eventually returned to Annapolis and the academy just before lunch was set to be served in the cafeteria. Upon their arrival they were made aware of two mandatory PE sessions that needed to be completed before the start of classes again on Monday. The group agreed that getting them over and done with as soon as possible was the way to go.

“So, PE today at 13:00, and 08:00 tomorrow morning?” John confirmed.

“I miss the grilled foods we were eating last week.” Kevin was whining, thoroughly unimpressed with the chicken sandwich he was poking at.

“Yeah, but food’s food. Gotta eat.” John said in between bites.

“John, I don’t get it. You know this food is usually mediocre and occasionally awful, but you always recommend we go here.”

“It’s free, I don’t have to walk that far, and it’s free.” John just shrugged.

Obviously, he’d rather cook his own meals but none of the dorm rooms had a proper kitchen, much less a grill. It was nice to have a well-rounded meal to have made for you every day. Plus it being free was very nice.

“It could be worse. You remember the lunch they served us in Miami. They at least try here.” Alice added.

“Miami is exceptional in how poor the cafeteria is. I’m surprised there hasn’t been a revolt on base over that place.” John said. “That cafeteria was the last damn place I went to get food. They somehow managed to fuck cereal up somehow.”

“Alright guys, since I am nowhere near as prepared as these two, I need to get unpacked. We gonna meet in the lounger before heading over to the field?” Thomas asked while pointing at Jessica and John.

“Sounds good to me.” John said.

Alice got up and kissed John on the cheek. “I’ll be down shortly, just need to change.”

John slowly walked over to the lounge and turned the channel to the Ocho.

“John, that channel is a joke you know.” Jessica said as she grabbed a magazine and sat down on the couch.

“Hell, no it’s not a joke. Odd events for sure, but I love all the random stuff they televise.” John was adamant about that, when he turned it on cornhole was being televised. “I wonder if we could get a cornhole team together and compete sometime. That’d be fun.”

Jessica looked around and the place was empty. Students had to report back to the dorms by 12:00 on Saturday. It appears they were amongst the first ones to get back to campus. She then looked up when John started laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

John was reading something on his tablet. “Oh, Director LeCroix found out about the upgrades I approved. I’ll paraphrase his statement ‘interesting approach, be careful and don’t get too greedy.’”

“Don’t make us criminals again you ass.” Jessica hissed.

“Well, I didn’t make you lot criminals. I may have put myself in that position but no one’s going to catch me do anything.”

“Hey, can I ask you a personal question? And you can’t talk to anyone about it.” Jessica’s tone changed.

John was caught a bit off guard, generally Jessica wasn’t all that serious around him, but it seemed like something important, and private was going to be said. He hit the mute button on the TV. “Fire away.”

“So Andern likes me.”

“No, you don’t say…”

Jessica snorted, “Don’t interrupt ass.”

“And I’m kind of attracted back at times.”

“At times or is it always except when he’s desperate for attention.”

“Yeah. Well.” Jessica trailed off a bit. “Your right. Though admit it, when he’s desperate it’s pretty embarrassing.” Jessica was blushing a little.

“Eh, I’ve seen way worse attempts at trying for affection. Wait till you get on a ship with a bunch of pent-up marines. You know how he likes to keep the mood light. He does his best work when it’s like that. So, if I’m reading into this you want my advice on what you should do.”

Jessica shook her head in the affirmative.

“And would this imply that you lied about being gay back at boot? I had kinda figured that was a lie.”

“Theresa said you probably had everything figured out.” Jessica responded. “Wait, how?”

“Well, I am a genius...” John wasn’t going to share his abilities with Jessica, not yet anyways.

Jessica interrupted. “And an asshole.”

“Probably, and I have my ways. So, then the issue that you’re running into is whether or not you pursue a romantic relationship of some form with him.”

“That basically sums it up.”

“Well, what’s holding you back then?”

“I’m worried about how he’d react and how I would. My love history is awful. And I didn’t really come here to meet anyone.”

“Then my advice is don’t rush into anything. That probably won’t work in this case. Hey, looks like trouble is coming. Let’s get going. If you want to chat about this again later lemme know.” John stood up and offered his hand to Jessica to help her off the couch.

“And besides, I think we both know what his reaction would be. A blind, deaf and stupid monkey could work that one out.”

Alice was looking at her boyfriend and one of her best friends here and started smiling. She knew something was up. “So, were you using my boyfriend as a sounding board?”

Jessica was blushing and looked away. She couldn’t make eye contact. She slowed a bit and tried unsuccessfully to use John to block Alice’s line of sight.

Alice squealed. “OH MY GOD, Jessica, after PE you me and Theresa need to have a conversation in my room.”

“Do I have too?” Jessica said meekly.

“Alice, dial it back.” John put a hand on her shoulder, in part to slow down her bouncing around and to reinforce his last point.

Alice realized she was too excited. “Jessica, I’m so sorry. But I’m so excited for you. My lips are sealed, when your ready I will be there for you too.”

“Thank you.” Jessica said meekly. Alice ran around John and gave her a hug. Shortly after their hug was done the rest of their group showed up and they went off to PE.

17:30 Cafeteria

Dinner that evening was spaghetti. It wasn’t anything like the spaghetti that Alice made the previous week. There was going to be at least a week or more of comparing the cafeteria food versus their vacation meals. After the meal everyone went their separate ways. Jessica and Alice went to the library to get a head start on their Literature final. John and Andern were relaxing in the lounge area. The Ocho was on TV and the two were debating what their cornhole team name could be. The current leader was “The Cornholios.”

“Dude. Question for you.” Andern was still watching TV as he asked.

“Shoot.” John didn’t avert his gaze from the television.

“What do you think would happen if I asked Jessica out on a date?”

John sighed internally as his internal voice was yelling ‘for fucks sake.’ “We’re talking romantically and not this platonic stuff y’all been trying right?”

“Suuure. Yeah. Yes.” Andern was nodding his head.

“Well, what makes you think she’s into guys?” John had insider knowledge that Andern wasn’t aware of.

He reasoned that Andern didn’t know this. But he, like Jessica, was using John as a sounding board since he wasn’t likely to say anything to anyone. Except of course now Alice was keenly aware something had already been discussed. John didn’t think Alice was likely to say anything though.

“Well yeah. Pretty sure that’s not the case. I could be wrong about that though.”

“Ok, so between you me and god, you know you ain’t suave enough to make a lesbian interested in men. Not even on your best day. Hell, not even me on my best day.” John absolutely could make people do things against their basic nature, but not change it permanently. “So, unless you get a sign from her that indicates that she is, in fact, interested in guys I would posit that you’re barking up the wrong tree.”

“Yeah, you’re right as always. I just caught her looking at me at the house sometimes.”

“And she looks at you a lot here, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah, but this was a look similar to how Theresa looks at Kevin or Alice at you.”

“You sure about that?” John was impressed.

He had caught that too. But Andern had a hell of a poker face as he hadn’t shown any indication, he was on to her looking at him.

“Look, I know you think I’m probably just love struck but I’m positive what I saw.”

“Alright bud, so let’s say you’re right and she has some degree of interest in you romantically. If she is now looking at you as a potential love interest sometimes, would rushing things until you know for sure, like unequivocally for sure, make sense?”

“Could end up either confusing her more or drive a wedge between us in that right.”

“Safe bet. Look, I can’t tell you what to do, and I’m not going too either. Maybe you keep up this platonic stuff until you know for sure. Like one hundred percent unequivocally for sure. And dude no undertones, pressure or anything like that. Would be worse than rushing things.”

“Gotcha, but at some point, I need to take that risk, don’t I?”

“Well at some point a leap needs to be made.”

“When do you think I should?”

“When you are comfortable with the ask and when you believe she is ready to hear it.” John sighed. “The former is ready now, the latter not so much.”

“Gotcha, thanks.”

“Yeah, no problem. Want me to be your wingman?”

“I mean that would help, but I also don’t want to rush her or force her to do something she doesn’t want to do.”

“A future office and current gentleman. Impressive. Offer stands though.” John was impressed with his friend.

The man on television had airmailed the cornhole bag without pulling in the bag that was eighty percent in the hole. John smiled that Andern was being a good guy. He didn’t need to be though, John wouldn’t do anything untoward, and he’d definitely find a way to manage things delicately and privately.

“I mean it’s appreciated but I don’t need her getting pissy with me AND you.”

“Oh hell, I can handle her being pissed at me. Like I said…”

Andern got up. “Thanks, but let’s not push it. I want to make this work, don’t really want to reset the clock or drive her away. Can you keep quiet about this? And thanks again, I’m gonna go for a run.”

“Sure thing. I’ll be here.”

Both of them meant well but were annoying John slightly. Why the hell did he have to be in the middle. It felt like there were stuck in some bad middle school romance. Both were attracted to one another. Both liked each other. Both wanted to be together. So, they should try to be together, but they both wouldn’t take that leap. Then again, John was in no place to really talk from a place of experience. Prior to Alice virtually all of his relationships were generally just physical and meant little outside of the bedroom.

John was absolutely certain he’d dominate in the corn hole professional league.

“There you are. Been looking for you.” Alice could only see his legs hanging over the couch, the Ocho was still on.

“Hey honey. What’s up?”

Alice stopped and looked at John, he was basically watching TV upside down on the couch. She sat down and crossed her legs on the other couch.

“How can you watch this crap? I will never understand your fascination with this channel.”

“What? Cornhole is awesome. It’s been on TV for over two hundred years. No rules change in that time either. Freaking crazy.”

She shook her head. Her boyfriend was incredibly strange at times.

“Anyways, mom called me and turns out my idiot brother Mark told her I have a boyfriend.”

“So, Mark’s on your shit list now? No more current events sharing?”

“No. I think he was pissed that we were on vacation and were relaxing at a mansion. He’s a marine in the sixth fleet.”

“Understandable. Sixth fleet’s territory is generally a pirate filled shithole with no colonies wanting anything to do with us. He was either jealous or really bored if they weren’t getting into any fights.”

“Agreed. Well now my mom really wants to meet you.”

“You want to show me off to the family?”

“That also means you get to meet my dad. He isn’t that tolerant with boys around me.”

“Big shocker there, little miss princess.” John smirked.

“Ugh, ass. That week, are dorm room rules eased Tuesday night?”

Technically cadets cannot be in other rooms after 22:00. For cadets of the opposite sex that was strictly enforced. Aside from same sex couples, curfew violations were rarely levied against cadets. Curfew rules are relaxed over holidays semester breaks. You still aren’t supposed to stay overnight in another’s room, but no one has been in trouble for doing that in decades.

“Yes, so Wednesday morning flight it is.” John smirked. The downside to this plan was soreness and a general lack of sleep for a morning flight.

“You are a naughty boy. Good thing I like you. Mom said she’d take care of the tickets. First class of course so you don’t have to do your thing to cheat anyone anything.”

“You know it was totally worth it.”

“I do, but you should be careful. I don’t need you getting into trouble. And why the hell did you do that, I saw your investment account on the plane. You clearly could afford the upgrade cost.”

“I deserve those upgrades because those pricks never get my bag to me fast after the flight. So, the free upgrade is my way of billing them for my expenses.”

Alice just rolled her eyes at the lame excuse. “Oh, did you hear, Andern and Jessica are going to dinner Saturday after the game?”

John looked at Alice and said matter plainly. “Damn, so soon?”

“Spill it, now.” Alice knew something was up.

“Nope, not saying a word. Don’t try.”

Alice was pouting. She, like John, saw that both of them were attracted to one another. She was more frustrated than John that they weren’t an item yet. She didn’t understand why they couldn’t take that last jump to see if things worked. John on the other hand saw a slightly different picture, they both were concerned with how the group would react and were worried about losing a friendship. In short, they lacked the courage to take the next step. Though the ultimate difference was Alice wanted them to be together, John just didn’t want to be the sounding board for both Andern and Jessica to come too for questions.

“Well, I suppose it’s baby steps for them. Maybe it will be unrequited, maybe nothing will happen, or maybe something will happen. Who knows?”

“John, you know I don’t like not knowing more about this topic.”

“I am fully aware, but if they don’t want to talk who am I to share their private conversations with me. Be a pretty shitty friend if I were to freely talk to anyone about what they said to me in confidence.”

“True, but I still want to know.”

John rolled over on the couch and got up. He grabbed the remote and turned the TV off. He noticed it was 22:00. “Would you want anyone to know the intimate details of what we’ve done?”

They were holding hands as they walked over to the elevator.

“I mean, they know some things but I’m not sharing everything. I haven’t and won’t share everything.” She began to blush and get embarrassed thinking about several things she’d rather her friends not know specifics on.

John leaned over and whispered, “Like the cum puddle incident.”

She turned about twenty shades of red, got instantly serious and put a finger in his face. “Not another fucking word from you. That doesn’t get out ever. I mean it. Ever.”

The elevator ringed and the doors opened. They walked in; Alice had turned several new shades of red as she was remembering that time. She was squirming a little remember that night of excess.

Just as the doors closed John laughed and spoke. “Technically that was totally your fault because you egged me on that night.”

She got redder. When they got up to the eight floor she turned and kissed him on the cheek, then punched him in the stomach. Yeah, he had that coming. The doors closed and up the elevator went to the eleventh floor. He got to his room and began take off his clothes and left them where they landed on the floor. Just as he was about to lay his head down a message from Alice popped up on his tablet.

‘OMG, I totally forgot about that time. You are such an ass =)’

John wrote “Yup, I have a sexy ass.” He could feel her roll her eyes at him when the notification changed to read.

“And insufferable. Love you, sleep tight.”

John responded to her and then crawled into bed.

Saturday. 06:30 John’s room

John slept like a rock. The alarm went off at 06:30, far too early for John this morning. The alarms in the cadet dorms were setup in a way that you couldn’t snooze them and they only stopped when you got up and left the room. They’d turn off only if the room sensed you out of it for a couple minutes, by which point you were awake enough to not go back to sleep. John wanted to find who developed this accursed device and find a way to destroy their life.

After a quick shower and change of clothes he was ready for chow and PE on a chilly Saturday morning. The last home game of the season was at noon. They’d have a couple hours after PE to clean up again and head to the stadium. Cadets were instructed to wear their camos for the game. That was a nice change from white uniforms. They were considerably more comfortable, and didn’t have to be dry cleaned, pressed, polished and folded perfectly like the dress uniforms.

Jessica and Andern attempted too, and completely failed to keep news of their ‘it’s not really a date but it’s pretty much a date’ plans quiet. So naturally that’s the only thing the table wanted to talk about it. Both of them were beat red and that didn’t help anything. John could sense, literally in this case, that both were uncomfortable with Jessica getting close to her breaking point. When he asked the group politely to change the topic, the group was unusually amenable to doing just that.

As they were heading to PE John had to remind Alice, again and more sternly this time, to not stir the pot. What she wanted to happen needed to take time and happen organically. She was, in effect tossing a grenade into the pot, and having the exact opposite effect on it. John eventually convinced her to cheer from the seats and not play an active role in getting them together forcibly.

After PE the group headed back to the dorms to clean up again and get ready for the football game. They decided to head over to the tailgate area of the stadium and walked around. They were offered no shortage of free food and drink from alumni and fans of the Naval Academy. Sometimes being a cadet did have advantages. The group made a mental not to hang out here before the games next fall.

The football game was tense for four quarters but ended in disappointment. It was hard-fought and neither team had pulled ahead of the other. Navy lost in a heartbreaker of a game; a result of a field goal kicked at the last second against Florida State. Utter disbelief and general annoyance reigned. The group was still sitting in their seats shellshocked. Navy played too well to give up that game.

“So, we lost.” Kevin finally broke the silence.

“And now we have to win the next two to get a bowl game.” Thomas added.

“Against two top ten teams, both of whom put forty points on opponents we lost to this season.” John added as he and Alice were getting.

“So, we’re properly fucked then.” Andern shook his head.

“Where you guys heading?” Theresa asked John.

“Drunken Cadet, drinks are necessary after that ending of a game.” John remarked as he took Alice’s hand.

“Kevin, come. We’re going with them.” Theresa ordered.

John laughed; he knew who wore the pants in that relationship. The rest of the group was finally getting up out of their seats as they were getting into the queue to exit the stadium. Twenty minutes later the couples arrived at the bar and found the last open table the bar had on the sidewalk.

15:30 The Drunken Cadet

“John, odds we make a bowl?”

“About as much as you or I winning the lottery tonight.”

“God damnit.” They both grunted and looked forlornly at their drinks.

“Amazing how a simple game just drags you both down.” Theresa said as she sipped on her glass of wine.

“Yeah, even you John. I didn’t think you were that attached to our football team.” Alice added.

“Yeah, but that’s OUR team. And they have rotten luck. Plus, I wanted them to go to a bowl game, so I had an excuse to bail on work over break.”

“What do you mean? I thought you were going to visit Andern over winter break.” Alice could tell John was annoyed. John opened his tablet and showed her the orders.

“Temporary assignment to Miami base, Desk Analyst. The transfer order came in this morning. Bunch of fucking dicks.”

“Well shit, I thought we’d have a chance to meet up over break.” Alice was annoyed, though far less than her boyfriend was.

“Right? I wanted that too. The food’s terrible there. Fucking awful luck. And the station chief said I can only take two days of PTO too. But let me know what four-day weekend works, maybe we can relax someplace in Florida.”

“So, they Navy is making you work on your off time? Who’d you piss off?” Kevin said as he finished his beer.

“Navy isn’t, Intelligence is. Technically they aren’t a branch of the Navy. And don’t ask, it’s convoluted as fuck. The plus side is I’ll get paid for it, which means Spring break’s gonna be fucking awesome.”

“What about summer?” Theresa asked.

“Y’all are getting an email on Monday. You won’t like it.”

“Summer school, eh? Test scores that bad?” Kevin looked utterly defeated. “Miss, another round please.”

“Wait, how do you know this?” Theresa was leaning in.

“I have my sources. And yeah, our group is all doing great, way above the curve. Downside is the bottom fifth of our class is absolutely tanking.” John took a drink of his beer. “Navy decided to give cadets more hands on training in the academy. Our class is the first of four planned classes to test the new curriculum. Basically, means our Senior year will be mostly hands on training on student ships. Assuming my source is correct.” John winked and finished his beer as the waitress came with another round.

“I bet you can read my emails John.” Theresa laughed then stopped when she realized what she said. “I don’t mean that as an open invitation to do so though.”

“Sure can, but don’t worry. Academy emails are monitored like hawks by intelligence. They’ll know immediately if I try anything.” John just shrugged.

“Wait, so if we do summer school does that mean that void training would be next spring semester?” Alice asked.

“That would make sense. Basically, finish terrestrial classes in the fall again, come back and get moved up to Yaeger station during the spring semester. Head back to earth for spring break and some more classes. Then we spend about a full year on a ship starting our junior and senior years.”

“That’s wild. Well, here’s to a depressing football game, good drinks and good friends.” Kevin said raising his drink. “Here here!” the rest of the group responded with. Kevin and Theresa were getting ready to leave.

“Hey, I got this tonight. Y’all run.” John said.

“John, seriously, I can pay for our share.” Kevin said.

The age-old standoff of men paying the bill. The girls rolled their eyes at them.

“Dude don’t worry about it. Besides I already paid when I took a piss earlier.”

“Bastard, that’s cheating. Well shit, Thanks man. This is on me next time we go out!”

“You’re welcome, cya around.”

Alice and John stayed to have another round and to chat. John was looking across the street and noticed Jessica and Andern were on their way back from their date. He saw something unexpected and smiled.

“So, that was a creepy smile.” Alice leaned on John and looked up. “What’s going on?”

John made some small talk to distract her. A couple minutes later his tablet vibrated, a message came in. He looked at it, a message came from Jessica. He didn’t read it. He saw what happened.

“Take a look at this email.”

“You haven’t read it.” Alice still looked down at the tablet. The sender was Jessica, and the title was “OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!” Alice got excited immediately, was about to click on the email to open it but stopped.

“Can I read it?”

“Sure, I already know what it says.”

“And how would you know that?”

“Well, I just saw Jessica kiss Andern across the street there. Then that message came in.”

“Shut the fu…” Alice read the email then slammed the tablet down on the table hard, almost knocking down their drinks.

The paraphrased message was ‘I just kissed him. I’m still confused but like where things are going but need to be slow about this.’ The end of the message detailed her kissing him on the sidewalk in front of everyone and running away from him at about Mach three.

“Oh my god. Oh my god.” Alice was in near hysterics at this point. “Oh my god. And you saw all of that?”

“Mhmm.” John deadpanned. “She turned around, kissed him, then ran across the street in a dead sprint. He stayed there stunned for a while. Good for them. Probably time for us to get back to the dorms so you can see if she’s willing to dish to you.”

“You know I was going to suggest going back to your room, but now? I think you’re getting put in the backseat.”

“Fuck. Ah well, there’s always tomorrow.” John winked at Alice as he took her hand and headed back to the dorms. At a slightly brisker pace than normal.

Two and a half weeks later

The days before Thanksgiving break flew by. A ridiculous amount of homework was assigned in every class. Even John couldn’t get all of it done during classes. Most everyone else was spending four to six hours a day in the evenings to complete all the assigned work. Everyone was once more completely exhausted and ready to relax for a few days.

No new love progress was made between Andern and Jessica, though that wasn’t surprising to John. They went on another date, and they shared a single more normal or expected kiss. Both of them wanted progress to be made but were very hesitant to move any farther forward. They were also afraid to not be too forward about the next steps for fear of driving the other away. This awkward dance could be resolved, but it certainly wasn’t going to be resolved before Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving week mercifully came just as the cadets hit their breaking points. On Tuesday Jessica headed home on an afternoon flight after her last class in the morning. Nathan was going with Thomas because some things came up for his family. Kevin was going to rural New Mexico with Theresa. Andern was currently in the library trying to get as much homework done so he could limit what he needed bring home. He was heading home Wednesday afternoon and wanted to do nothing more than eat and relax and not worry about school.

That left Alice and John. They had an 08:00 flight on Wednesday to her parent’s home in Mobile. After dinner Tuesday night they retreated to John’s room. They were pent up and wanted to release that pent up carnal energy that they had been bottling up for the last week.

Wednesday. 06:00 John’s room

John’s alarm began going off. He was balls deep in Alice; the sweaty couple had been screwing all night long. They were completely unaware of what time it actually was.

“Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.” Alice said.

She hopped off John, apologized, and was frantically searching his room for her clothes and hurriedly putting them on.

“He yelled out of the bedroom; I’ll be at your room in fifteen.”

“Yup, lo...” The door slammed shut before she could finish her sentence. He could hear her sprint down the hallway faintly.

He jumped into a cold shower, lathered up and got all the sex sweat and juices off of him. He dried off, threw some casual clothes on. John grabbed all his dirty clothes and bedding and tossed it into the washer-dryer. Lastly, he grabbed a couple towels and wiped down his room and tossed them into the washer. He’d re-wash it when he got back as everything would be wrinkly as hell. He turned the washer on and looked for his bag.

He grabbed his duffle bag and threw in some socks, underwear, a few shirts, some gym wear and grabbed his toiletry kit. He looked at his watch, twelve minutes had gone by. Scanned his room for his tablet, grabbed that and ran out of his room to the elevator. On the elevator he checked the pair in for their flight. He also, bending the rules slightly, waived them through the security line. That should save them an extra fifteen to thirty minutes. Finally, he got a cab lined up to pick them up outside.

John ran out of his room and headed toward the elevator; the door opened up immediate when he pressed the call button. He ran down then hall to Alice’s room. He looked at his watch. He was about to knock exactly as fifteen minutes had gone by but out came a disheveled looking Alice with wet hair.

“We need to run.” She grabbed his hand.

The couple ran down the hall and got to the elevator. Which was stuck open because John placed the bag to prevent the door from closing fully. John picked it up as they ran into the elevator. He pressed the ground floor button and the doors closed behind them.

“Smooth.” Alice smiled.

“Yup, we’re already checked in, got us a security waiver and there’s a cab pulling up for us in 90 seconds.”

“Out fucking standing John. How was it 06:00?”

“Well, when you’re having fun time flies eh?” John slapped her ass and smirked.

“Not one word about last night to any of them. Capiche?”

“Hey, I’ve told the group precisely fuck-all about our love life.”

When they got to the ground level the couple sprinted out the doors when they opened. A cab was pulling up outside just as they reached doors to the street. The cabby was surprised to see the two cadets running at near full speed towards his car. John grabbed her bag and tossed it into the trunk. He closed the trunk as he ran around the passenger side and hopped in. Alice had already told the cabby to head to the airport. It was a tense forty-minute drive as there was more traffic around the airport than expected. John pulled out five hundred dollars, thanked the driver and said to keep the change. They flew out the doors, with Alice heading inside to get inline and John grabbing their gear from the trunk.

“So, you have the money to afford all this shit, but still, you…” Alice shouted back at him from the doors to the airport.

“Not the time honey. Not the fucking time.”

John needed to thank her mom for booking them first class on the flight. There was no line there to get to a ticketing agent, so they were able to check both their bags quickly. The couple ran to the stairs and headed up two floors to where the security checkpoint was. Here they bypassed about eight hundred people that were already waiting in line. Without John’s little bit of hacking, they would not have made their flight. They were waived through and kept running down the terminal to get to their gate.

Boarding was called just as they got to the gate. They bent over, hands on their knees and were breathing so hard. John and Alice felt a wave of relief as they collected themselves and walked down the jet bridge toward the plane. They could feel the adrenaline valve shut off as they walked onto the plane. They had made their flight.

Alice fell asleep shortly after buckling herself in. By the time the plane was rotating off the ground John was also asleep. The overly tired and idiotic couple was getting some rest they should have received the night before. But as John said, time flew by when they were having fun. In a few short hours John would begin meeting her family. He was confident of his abilities, but he had no idea whether or not they would accept him.