Friday. 07:00 Ritz-Carlton Hotel

The couple woke up unexpectedly early. There was some grumbling about being up that early, but they decided to get cleaned up and packed up their stuff. They had breakfast at the hotel before checking out and heading back to the dorms. They went back to their rooms and changed into some gym clothes. They convinced Andern and Kristin to go to the gym with them to get a workout in.

John was a task master and made them run and lift more than they were expecting. It was not a refreshing session, but it was a workout that they all needed. They were all feeling a little soft after having a week off.

10:00 Elegance Jewelry

John walked into the upscale jewelry store expecting to spend a whole lot of money. He normally couldn’t go into one of these stories without buying a watch and Alice wasn’t around this time to tell him no. They had several watches that he liked. Ultimately, he settled on an oldie but goodie. It was a new Rolex Daytona Platinum. This one was unique since it was the three hundredth anniversary edition. The only main difference it had versus the normal models was a unique dial that looked like it was shimmering when light hit it.

After he settled on the watch, he told the salesman that there was an engagement ring he wanted to purchase as well. He brought Alice to another store during the summer and noticed what rings she had her eyes on. He chose a triple diamond platinum ring. He gave the salesman Alice’s ring size and a message, ‘Forever Yours’ to engrave on the ring.

The total cost for the ring and watch was a shade under five hundred thousand dollars. He wired the money to the account and received the ring about fifteen minutes later. He thanked them and walked out of the store.

On the way back to the dorms he called Aaron Robertson.

“Good morning, sir. Apologies for interrupting you this morning.” John said.

“Not a problem son. What can I do for you?” Aaron responded.

“Please keep this a secret between the two of us, but I’m going to ask your daughter to marry me this afternoon. I’m not asking for your blessing, just giving you a heads up as a courtesy.”

Aaron laughed. “I was genuinely curious whether or not you’d have given me a preemptive head up. In any case, thank you for that and you do in fact have both mine and Kate’s blessing.”

“Thank you, sir, have a good day.”

John ended the call and continued his walk back to the dorms. He had a big smile on his face. He was excited about what he was going to do.

12:30 Cafeteria

“So, Thomas bailed on us to have lunch with his boyfriend off campus. The girls were shopping but obviously not back yet. And Nathan is ditching us because he’s on a date?” Andern astutely summed up the current events.

“I’m actually worried about how much Theresa is going to spend.” Kevin looked worried. “Man, are we the only ones that didn’t go home?”

“Looks like it. I didn’t want to spend the majority of two days in airports.” Andern said. “I have like three connecting flights to get home.”

“Or waiting in the baggage carousel complaining about things.” Kevin laughed.

John pointed his fork at Kevin. “That’s not funny.”

“Yeah, yeah it is actually.” Andern backed Kevin up.

John relented and laughed. He then showed them all the letters he’s sent to the CEOs and various executives of all the airlines that have screwed him. There were hundreds of sent emails in that folder. They thought he simply said he was going to say something, but in actuality he did send the emails. They have appeared to do fuck all for John though.

“Any fun plans?” Kevin asked.

“Alice and I are going down to Spa Creek to take a walk around the park and watch some of the private boats come and go. Should be a quiet and relaxing afternoon. How about you guys?”

“Theresa wants to go out to dinner, so we’re heading downtown someplace. Going to a movie afterwards.” Kevin finished the last bite of his sandwich.

“Kristin and I are going to Jack’s Axes. She insists on another match. Plus, the food’s good there so there’s that.”

“Sounds like our afternoons are going to be fun. Well gentleman, I need to clean up and take care of a few things in my room. Breakfast tomorrow at 08:30 sound good?”

“You bet.” Andern was picking up his tray.

“Sure thing.” Kevin followed suit.

14:30 Spa Creek Park

Alice and John were sitting on a park bench overlooking the bay. It was a little on the humid side but there was enough wind to not be oppressively humid out. Birds were chirping and generally being annoying to anyone within earshot of them. Kids were playing in the playground equipment behind them.

“John, we have three more years of school before we graduate.”

“Good god, it’s going to take forever, right?”

She laughed and kissed his cheek.

“I wouldn’t mind if this feeling lasted forever though.”

“Who says it wouldn’t?” John smiled.

“You know, no one believes me when I say that you can be the most romantic person ever. They only see you, being you. They never see this side of you.”

John burst out laughing. “Why would I show my romantic side to Andern or Kevin. They’d think that’d be weird. And if I showed that to Jessica or Theresa, that’d piss you off.”

“But you really are sweet more times than you are a gross pig.”

“Well, nobody’s perfect right?”

“Hey, so what do you think about going on a cruise during fall break?”

“Just the two of us or the crew?”

“The crew, New Year’s it’s going to be just us though.”

“I’d be lying to you if I said cruises were the first thing I’d look at but hell, it’s worth researching right?”

“Well let me do some recon work on that.”

“Aye aye ma’am! Hey, let’s go for a walk around this park.” John stood up and offered a hand to Alice to help her up.

They meandered here and there all the while talking about their future. Eventually they walked to an area of the park that had a gazebo overlooking the bay. The sun was glinting off the still waters. John pointed out a dolphin that crested for air then splashed the surface as it was going back underwater in the bay. He took a step behind Alice, reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring case and got down on one knee.

Alice turned around and saw John in the standard engagement pose and froze. Her eyes got wide, and a smile began forming on her face. Her hands were over her mouth, and she was trembling all over.

“Alice, you mean the world to me. Through my ups and downs the last year you’ve been there at my side and I’m a better person because you’ve always been there for me. I want to be there for you as well for the rest of my life. Would you do the honor of marrying me?”

Tears of joy began streaming down Alice’s face. She couldn’t say the word yes, but she nodded her head yes. John took the ring out of the box, took her hand and slid the ring on her ring finger. He stood up, kissed her and hugged her.

She finally composed herself enough to say. “I love you.”

John gave her a handkerchief and she gladly accepted and tried to clean up the mess John created. She was shaking with excitement and joy and was a little unsteady on her feet. John recommended she sit down and calm down before they go.

“So, you know I love you, and obviously I said yes. And since we’re a team was this purchase one of those that you should’ve consulted with me first?”

“That one, kinda but not really. You did look at that and I know you loved that ring when you saw it over the summer. This purchase on the other hand you probably would’ve wanted to give me the green light for.” John pointed at his new watch. “But I figured since you were getting something I should too, you know, keep the scales balanced and all.”

Alice started to laugh. “I have a feeling this is going to be a losing argument for me.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think it’s an argument we should always have. Proper communication is key, I think we do that well, but it could be better.”

Alice smiled and agreed. “Well thank you so much John. I’m still in shock.”

“I really don’t want to thin the herd any though.”

Alice smiled and rolled her head. “You are going to be in the doghouse if you keep this better to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission.”

John shrugged. “I will endeavor to better myself.”

Alice couldn’t be mad at him. How could she? Well, she figured she could be a little mad but not the serious kind of mad. Clearly his watch collection was absurd, but it’s not like he doesn’t have the money to pay for everything. That conversation though about shared expenses and heads up was necessary though. And to dial back the blatant thievery, she wasn’t keen on any charges that could be brought against him.

“I’m not mad, but honey, you are a lovable dumbass.” She kissed him on the cheek. “And you likely have a problem.”

“Say cheese.” John put an arm around her shoulder and took a selfie on his tablet. “Hey, so it’s good that you said yes. Because honestly had you said no, I’d be up shit creek without a paddle.”

The couple walked out of the gazebo and towards the main street.

“Why’s that?”

“I kinda submitted an application for us to live in the couple’s dorm. That’s the one behind our current dorm across the quad.”

Alice punched his arm. “That’s a great idea, but I’ll let this one slide since it totally would’ve spoiled the surprise.”

“Right? I figured you’d be cool with it. Plus, all summer you’ve been saying you wanted to live together so I wasn’t exactly far off.”

Alice stopped, gently grabbed his face and kissed him. “I love you. Thank you so much for everything.”

John gave her a big hug, picked her up and swung her around. He set her down and the couple continued to walk back to the street. They hailed down a cab and headed back to the dorm. When they got back to the dorms she went up to his room. The two made love until dinner.

17:30 Cafeteria

“So, where the hell is everyone?” Alice asked.

“Well, Andern and Kristin are throwing axes. Thomas is with his boyfriend, Theresa and Kevin are eating out someplace. Nathan on a date, or at least was earlier today.” John just shrugged. There were only five other recruits in the cafeteria besides them.

“I wanted to share the big news.”

“Well, you can do that to your folks and brothers tonight. Can either share it tonight or just spring it on them at breakfast in the morning.”

“Yeah, but I really really want to tell my mom the good news.” Alice was practically shining.

Dinner was done soon enough, and the couple retreated to the lounge. John grabbed the remote and switched it over and had an IndyCar race on. He typed out a message to his adopted family that paraphrased the year.

Good evening,

Hope all is well. It’s been an eventful year at the Naval Academy. We won all our wargames during bootcamp. Met a girl there that became my girlfriend and we’ve grown quite close over the past year. Finished the year at the top of the class. I quit working for Intelligence too over Christmas break. Got wrapped up in some BS conspiracy, you probably heard about that in the paper. Yeah, I was that unnamed cadet. Oh, I also proposed to Alice (she said yes), so I’ve got a fiancé now. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to visit but probably next year sometime may work.

John

He wasn’t particularly close to his adopted family, but he figured they’d still want an update of sorts. Alice and her mom were both squealing with excitement over the announcement. Aaron appeared happy.

“Hi Kate, nice to see you again.” John waived at the holo-image.

“John, I was wondering when you’d pop the question, I had assumed it was going to be this year sometime.” John was surprised with Kate’s reaction; he didn’t think she had approved of him that much.

“Well in truth I knew about this since the morning, John was kind enough to give me a warning but swore me to secrecy.” Aaron said.

“You actually asked for blessing first?” Alice looked shocked.

“Hell no, I told your father very specifically that I wasn’t asking for his blessing, but it was a courtesy call. He did give their blessing anyways.”

“We both love you, Alice. I’ll let Paul know, he’s in a meeting in the other room at the moment. I think your other brothers will be interested in this wonderful news.” Kate said.

“Thanks. Love you guys.” Alice said and then cut the call.

“I can’t believe you talked to dad ahead of time.”

“Oh, come on, I can have a degree of decorum when the situation demands it.”

Alice smiled and attempted to contact her brothers. They were all unavailable and out of system. So, the couple decided to record a short message. The couple then decided to play a few games of cornhole. Alice was surprisingly good at the game. She accused John of using his gifts once and he swore up and down that he wasn’t, he just had superior hand eye coordination. She didn’t completely buy his excuse, but he was actually being truthful.

Around 21:00 their friends began showing up at the dorms. Kristin noticed the shiny ring on Alice’s finger and ran over to her, hugged her and was squealing in delight.

“The hell is all that about.” Andern said casually.

“You win?”

“Hell, yeah I did. So, what the hell?”

“Oh, I proposed to Alice.”

“Jesus, you work fast. Congrats.”

Alice looked at the two and gave a ‘what the hell’ look at both of them.

“Dude, you should congratulate her.” John whispered to Andern.

“Oh yeah, Alice congrats on getting engaged!”

“Thanks Jacob. But when the two of you get together neither one of you has any tact.”

The two friends just shrugged it off. “Couples game?” Andern asked.

The four played a few games of cornhole. Thomas and his boyfriend were the next to get to the dorm. Thomas noticed the ring and congratulated the two immediately. Kevin and Theresa were the last ones to get back to the dorm. Theresa, like Kristin noticed the ring on Alice’s finger and had a very similar reaction to Kristin. Kevin reacted better, at least in the eyes of the girls, than Andern did.

The cadets had just three more days until the fall semester started. Alice and John would move their stuff into their new dorm room Saturday morning. The sophomores on campus would be tasked to help the incoming freshman get situated into their rooms Sunday morning when they arrived from bootcamp.

It had been a hell of a year. Through thick and thin John achieved his goals. He learned many life lessons. He met the love of his life, and she accepted his marriage proposal. He was determined to improve his political game, he had to if he wanted to succeed and get the command he wanted too in the future. More than anything else though, he was hungry to experience more and succeed. He welcomed the challenged and was excited about the upcoming year.