22:00 Savanah International Airport, Baggage Carousel 3B

“Every fucking time I fly my shit comes off last on these god damned things. Good god. At least they didn’t lose my fucking clubs since I shipped them separately, so they are at the house already,” John was fuming and talking to himself.

The rest of the group already had their gear. They were watching the scene unfold and were shocked and confused.

“So, I’ve flown with him like five times now and this has happened every single time. I thought he was just being crazy, but maybe he’s not crazy,” Alice said to the group.

“No, he’s crazy, but this is just bizarre. The law of averages says this shouldn’t happen,” Andern replied.

The group talked amongst themselves until John’s suitcase mercifully showed up ten minutes later. He turned around and was just grumbling about the wait. They got into a pair of waiting cabs and were off to the rental mansion. It was about a fifty-minute drive there. The cadets could hardly contain their excitement. John was furiously typing away a letter to someone at the airline.

The two cabs pulled into the massive driveway and came to a stop midway up it. John handed each cab driver a thick stack of hundred-dollar bills and told them both to keep the change. They thanked him back and wished the cadets well.

“Welcome to Case De Asombrosa,” John exclaimed.

“So how we are getting in? If we’re sleeping outside your fired from future planning,” Thomas said.

“This isn’t exactly my first rodeo,” John smiled as he walked over to the front door and flipped up the cover on a keypad, “By entering the confirmation code and pin number into this number pad.”

The door then scanned all eight individuals and confirmed them as the guests for the week. The door unlocked itself then John pushed it open.

“Viola. Alice and I are in the master bedroom,” John said as he was walking inside, “First come first serve on everything else.”

Jessica headed toward the bedroom in the hallway beyond the kitchen. Kevin and Theresa began headed to the last room on the main level. Andern stood there scanning the house.

“Hey, does this house have an off suite like the last one?” Andern asked, directing the question at John.

John was halfway up the staircase, “Yup.”

“DIBS!” Andern ran to the door to the left, opened it, and hurriedly ran around the pool to get to the off suite.

“Hey, tee time is at 07:30, we’re leaving here at 06:45 got it?” John hollered.

“Roger that, cya in the morning,” Kevin shouted from the main floor.

Thomas and Nathan followed John and Alice up the stairs and settled into separate rooms. Alice opened the doors to the master bedroom. This room wasn’t as luxurious as the previous one but was still quite nice for the pair.

Alice dropped her backpack and let go of her suitcase as she turned around and looked at John, “Very well done dear.”

She walked over to John and put her arms around his neck and kissed him.

“Why thank you,” John dropped his stuff where they were.

He wrapped his arms around Alice and kissed her again. Alice pulled her shirt off, John picked her up and placed her on the bed. Their clothes came off quickly and they were aggressive in pleasing each other. After a couple of pleasurable rounds of lovemaking, they went to sleep.

Saturday. 06:30 Downstairs Living Room

John woke up before his alarm went off. He was overly excited about this trip, more specifically he was excited to go golfing again. He kissed Alice’s forehead and carefully got out of bed and went into the bathroom to clean up. After he did that, he opened up his suitcase and put on the first of several similarly-themed golf outfits. He was wearing a pair of bright orange knickers, white and orange socks, a white shirt, and an orange driver’s hat.

Andern almost peed himself laughing at John. Kevin thought John looked like a dapper, albeit overly bright golfer from the early nineteenth century. John flicked Andern’s forehead and told him to shut up and get moving.

John grabbed his golf bag and the trio got into the golf cart that was outside and drove towards the course. Kevin was standing on the open bag position on the back of the cart. Those two would rent golf clubs at the course. They went up to the driving range and warmed up. They spent some time on putting green then they were called out to the first tee.

Andern swore John looked like a damned fool but there were at least five other people dressed like him at the course. Kevin and Andern both thought they were pretty decent golfers albeit out of practice. Not professional good by any stretch but both have been playing since they were little. They both swore John was as good as the pros are. His swing was what they’d see on TV. It was the same consistent swing every single time. And he hit as far as the pros did and spun the ball around the greens as much as them too. It was just that he looked so damned goofy according to Andern that it didn’t make any sense.

11:00 Pool

Everyone was up and relaxing. The girls had gone for a swim and were enjoying the warm sun.

“Jessica, so what’s been going on with you and Andern? I haven’t heard anything since February,” Alice asked.

“He keeps asking me but I’m still not ready to date anyone. I’m just really afraid of what might happen,” Jessica sounded distressed.

“You have to go at your own pace, but at some point, you owe him an answer one way or the other,” Theresa added, “I’m not trying to rush you or anything but that is the fair and right thing to do.”

“I know. It’s weird. If I saw him dating anyone else, I’d probably be crushed, but here I am not able to give him an answer. I’m so confused,” Jessica took a deep breath.

“We’re here for you if you want to chat. Remember that,” Alice reassured her friend.

Just then the golfers came back. Andern ran in trying to find Thomas and Nathan. He had to show them John’s golf attire.

“Oh… My… God… What in the hell are you wearing John?” Alice stood up from the lounge chair, “That is absolutely a terrible outfit to wear.”

“I will have you know I was complimented by many people on the course today. I happen to look like a proper and quite dapper golfer,” John said confidently

John then did a mini-model walk down the side of the pool. Turned at the end and did some model-like movements and started walking back the other way. Nathan recorded John’s model walk for posterity's sake.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“No, no you really don’t. It’s just so orange honey,” Alice loved John, but what he was wearing was hurting her eyes to see.

She grabbed her tablet and snapped a few pictures of John. She immediately sent them to her brothers and friends for their opinions.

“I’m with Alice, that is an awful outfit. Sorry,” Jessica was not convinced.

“My dad goes golfing like that from time to time, so I don’t see the problem with it,” Theresa was likely less opposed to the outfit because she was already exposed to it.

Andern found Thomas and Nathan and they were now joining the crowd.

“Hey, he looks the part. He can rock it. I sure as shit can’t and wouldn’t try,” Kevin added.

“Your goofy looking, but then your goofy looking in normal clothes so this is not that strange to me,” Thomas didn’t seem to care one way or the other.

“Nah I get it. This is a golf thing. Would I wear that to a course? Nope. But it’s cool,” Nathan gave John a thumbs up.

“No, you look absolutely ridiculous,” Alice was not convinced.

“Wait till you see tomorrow’s kit,” John just smiled, gave zero fucks to the negative feedback, and went into the house to change into some swimming trunks.

“You gotta admit Alice, that amount of confidence is sexy as hell,” Theresa just laughed, “And no Kevin, I’m not attracted to him.”

“Love you!” Kevin waved and smiled as he walked into the house.

“See Jessica, that’s what you need to emulate. Not the clothes mind you, never wear those, but that attitude,” Alice said.

“Where does that confidence come from?” Jessica asked.

“You should ask him. You know he’d give you the straight truth,” Theresa smiled.

Alice asked Nathan for the video he took. She sent the video of John doing the model walk to her brothers and some friends back home too. She would receive responses later in the day. Her brothers all shared John’s opinion that it was dapper and that he did in fact rock the outfit. Markie mentioned that the next time they all get together with John they need to golf wearing similar outfits. Terry told the group that if John washes out of the military at least he can be a model as a backup career. Alice was not impressed with her brothers.

Her friends on the other hand generally agreed that the specific shade of orange and how bright it felt was rather hideous but the look itself had a charm to it because of its old-school nature. They also shared similar sentiment that he literally gave zero fucks what anyone else thought and was rocking it. Alice truly thought everyone had lost their damned minds.

18:00 Mansion

John had the grill going. Baked potatoes, New York strip steaks, and asparagus, were on the grill. On the stovetop, he was also steaming some veggies. In only minutes a feast would be served. The grill smelled amazing. Alice and Jessica were busy in the kitchen putting together salads. The girl’s rule of salads first continued with this trip as well.

“Meats done. Head to the table,” John hollered.

There wasn’t an outside dinner table here, so John pulled all the meat off the grill and placed it on a tray. The potatoes and asparagus went into a bowl. Thomas grabbed the bowl. Andern took the steamed veggies and John followed them walking into the mansion.

A couple of nice bottles of wine were opened, and the group had a great dinner. The topic of the day was John’s golf attire. Alice dearly loved John, but she simply hated the outfit. John showed images of golfers during the first half of the nineteenth century. He insisted they had a style that doesn’t exist today. The main difference was the bright colors, which he did admit were a bit garish, but had a certain charm to them despite that. As was typical in most arguments with John, once his mind was determined you had no chance of changing it.

After dinner, the group split into three. The girls went on a run. Kevin, Thomas, and Nathan went to the gym to work out and Andern and John were on dish duty.

“Dude, I am so fucking full,” Andern slapped his belly.

“Right? Baked potatoes with cheese, chives, bacon bits, and sour cream are so good. Alice looked pissed at me that the ratio of potato versus toppings was one to one though.”

Andern laughed, “Wait till you get married, she’s going to win ninety percent of those arguments you guys have.”

“Well, she ain’t winning the golf attire or heart attack burger ones.”

The two laughed. They were almost done cleaning.

“Hey, when they are done in the gym let’s get a workout in,” John said.

“Sure,” Andern was putting away the dishes, “Hey, can I ask you a hypothetical?”

John washed his hands and grabbed a beer from the fridge and tossed one to Andern, “Fire away.”

“So, Jessica and I have had no progress since Christmas break.”

“Seen that, and I suspect your personal deadline came and went.”

“Yeah. So, what would you do in my case?” Andern shrugged as he asked that.

John took a drink of his beer, “So, I should just lay it out there that I am not all-knowing about romantic matters. Alice is my first honest-to-goodness relationship.”

Andern gave John a look of disbelief.

“It’s true. I don’t know if this is the right way to handle things. But here goes. Your feelings for her right now are unrequited. You don’t know when or even if they will be reciprocated. You need to determine how long you’re willing to wait for an answer.”

“Well, how long is that for?”

“Jesus dude, if anyone knew the answer to that they’d be rich. You gotta figure out how long you’re willing to wait.”

“I get waiting but I feel like I deserve an answer at some point.”

“Have you asked for it? Because you’re not wrong in wanting an answer.”

“Well, no.”

“Jacob, this is all confusing as hell for me. I don’t understand it all. But if I were in your shoes, I would need to make that jump. I would need to know one way or the other where I stood. Neither one of you has risked that yet. At some point, the question needs to be asked. At a bare minimum, it lets you know where you stand. I see three outcomes: rejection, I need more time or acceptance. The first and last are obvious. The middle one is basically a continuation of the current dynamic.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

“Look I get that. But life’s full of risks. But the second answer is one where you don’t have to accept it. It’d be the same as rejection in a way. You can thank her and then say that the two of you should be friends as it’s not working out. Just throwing it out there it’d be ideal if you two would, irrespective of whatever is chosen, to still be friends.”

“So, you’re saying I should give up on her.”

“No, but I’m saying that if she’s not willing or able to give you an affirmative answer, then you have to consider your self-worth and review the prospect that lets you move on and give up the romantic angle on her. You’ve waited for what, four or five months for an answer?”

“I don’t know if I can do that.”

“There are only two people that can make that leap of faith. You and her.”

“It’s so easy, but so hard.”

“Mhmm, Jacob, you both are my friends, and whether you two are together or not you’re going to continue to be my friends. I can only tell you that I couldn’t do what you’re doing now. I’m not a person that lives in the obscure, I need clarity. The only way to achieve clarity is to ask the question.”

“This shit is so god damn complicated,” Andern chugged the rest of his beer.

“Well let’s stop being serious and lift some weights. That shit is a hell of a lot less complicated,” John slapped his shoulders.

“You called me Jacob twice there,” Andern was looking at him weirdly.

“I’m aware,” John threw his can in the recycling and headed to the patio door.

Andern and John headed to the weight room and got a good workout in. Afterward, they went for a jog around the neighborhood. John continued to be assaulted by numerous questions. He kept on telling him to just ask the bloody question, so he knows for sure. It sounded like it got through to him but whether or not he actually did would remain an open question.

The first day of spring break ended without much fanfare. The question about John’s golf attire had not been satisfactorily resolved according to Alice. Jessica was still unsure about whether or not she should date Andern. Andern was beginning to question whether or not he should still pursue her. But it was still a great start to the trip.

22:00 Master Bedroom

Alice and John decided to turn in early. They both were feeling frisky. They were up for another two hours pleasuring one another. When they were finished, they went into the bathroom to clean up and shower and attempted to keep their hands off of one another. This resulted in abject failure to the surprise of neither participant.

They crawled back into bed after cleaning up when Alice rolled over and cuddled up with John.

“Can I be serious for a second?”

John smirked, “Only if you’re not going to break up with me.”

Alice slapped his chest slightly and shook her head, “I’m not doing that smart ass. Have you thought about starting a family with me?”

“So, I mean yeah I have.”

Alice smiled and squeezed him a bit.

“But we’re like at step two, which is dating. To get to that we need to get engaged, then married, get our careers to a comfortable point, then we can bring kids on board. So that’s what, four or five steps away.”

“Mhmm. I wish we could fast forward things to that point,” Alice was smiling.

“I’ll admit there’s a part of me that wants that too, but fast forwarding to that point would pass through all of these moments.”

“Your right, I suppose we’ll have to be patient. But on a serious note, we really do need to have a conversation about those golf clothes honey.”

John smiled and kissed her, “I think we should avoid that topic, neither one of us is going to win that argument.”

Alice smiled and scooted over to her side of the bed, “I’m still allowed to think it's goofy and ridiculous.”

“Fair enough. Sleep tight,” John rolled over onto his stomach and drifted off to sleep.

Alice wasn’t quite ready to fall asleep but was still looking at him and smiled. She felt she was the luckiest woman in the universe. The love of her life lay sleeping next to her. He was as interesting as he was confusing. He was incredibly loyal to his friends and would rush to the defense of anyone in distress. His fashion sense was terrible though. She laid her head back down and was looking forward to spending more time with John and her friends in the morning.