CHAPTER 14

"So Sam says you were in the war. See any action?" Anthony, Sam's 18 year old brother, asked eagerly, almost immediately after the group had sat down to eat. Miguel coughed on a sip of water he had just drank. He closed his eyes briefly. He had seen more 'action' than any man should have to witness. He had seen his SEAL brothers die both to enemies abroad and to their mental demons at home.

"Anthony!" Sam snapped, nervously seeing Miguel's troubled facial expression. She squeezed his hand under the table. "Miguel, you don't have to answer that."

"Yeah, I saw a little." Miguel eventually replied.

"You know, I'm thinking about enlisting, too." Anthony said.

"No, you're not." Daniel stated, immediately.

"Yes, I am! I want a real-life experience." Anthony exclaimed. "What am I gonna learn at Princeton that I couldn't learn from the Internet?"

"What it feels like to touch a live girl?" Sam remarked. The table couldn't help but snigger as Anthony blushed furiously and bit his tongue.

"Well, you know, if you truly want to be a SEAL, I think you should enlist." Miguel remarked, earning a glare from Daniel. "But only if it's actually what you want to do with your life. If you're just trying to piss off your parents, I've heard that hitch-hiking through Thailand is just as effective. Trust me, the people who try to become SEALs for bragging rights, or pissing off parents, or for a way to pick up girls don't even last a day in training."

"Is SEAL training really as hard as people say? Like all of us read stories and see videos on the internet about how tough the training is. Is that myth or fact?" Daniel asked, curiously. Miguel chuckled and shook his head.

"Honestly, it's not nearly as hard as people make it out to be, IF you have the right mindset going in. It's really a mental test more than a physical one. Having to wake up at 3:30 in the morning and going to sleep at 11:30 at night, and spending the whole day in between being brutally pushed to your body's limits day after day after day for half a year… It's getting up in the morning, knowing what's ahead that's the hardest part. But if you truly want to be there and want to become a SEAL, it's pretty easy."

"Do a lot of people drop out during the training course?" Amanda asked. She was intrigued. Although Miguel was clearly very fit, he was NOT what Amanda or Daniel had expected when Sam had told them she was dating a SEAL. They were expecting someone who was completely bulked out with as much muscle as a bodybuilder. Someone who worked out all day, chugged raw eggs as protein, and then worked out all night.

"Well yeah, quite a few. When we first arrived for training, one of the Drill Instructors looked at all of us and told us to 'look at the person to your left, the person to your right, the person in front of you and the person behind. One of the five of you might graduate.'"

"Seriously? Only 1 in 5 people pass?!" Amanda exclaimed. Miguel shook his head.

"Not even. I think the current percentage is 9.5%." Miguel replied.

"Wow. Well, Anthony, I guess it's safe to say you're not getting through." Amanda remarked.

"Hey!" Anthony cried as the group laughed at him.

"Anyways, as interesting as my job seems, it's definitely not as interesting as yours. After all, who could compete with 'slashing prices' and 'kicking the competition?'" Miguel remarked, referring to the slogans of Larusso Auto.

"Oh, you've seen the billboards?" Daniel asked. Miguel nodded.

"Yeah. I actually grew up here so I'd see them everywhere." Miguel replied.

"You grew up in California?" Amanda asked, surprised. Sam hadn't mentioned that before.

"Well, kinda. I spent the first 12 years of my life in Ecuador, where I'm from. Then I moved to L.A at age 13 to Reseda and I spent 5 years there. I couldn't afford a car back then so I used to ride my bike past your dealership every day on the way home from school."

"You rode a motorcycle?" Daniel asked, narrowing his eyes slightly. He knew the biker type from back when he was in high school. People like Johnny Lawrence. That was NOT the kind of person he wanted his daughter dated, even if the guy seemed nice on the outside.

"Ha. I wish." Miguel chuckled. "No, I rode a manual bike up until I enlisted."

"Oh, right." Daniel replied, slowly warming up to Miguel more and more every second. "Speaking of which? Why did you enlist? I mean the Navy isn't the most common post-high school choice, is it?"

"Yeah, it really isn't, is it?" Miguel chuckled. "I mean the main reason I enlisted was because my family didn't have any money for college. A recruiter told me that serving an enlistment in the military would make me eligible for a paid education program. They were willing to pay part, if not all, of my college tuition fees and help me become an engineer."

"Oh, that's cool. But, at risk of sounding dumb, haven't you been there for more than a deployment?" Amanda asked. Miguel laughed.

"Yeah, little bit." He remarked. "Yeah, so I served my enlistment as a seaman…"

"Hehehe… Semen." Anthony sniggered, earning him a glare from his parents and Sam.

"Anthony!" Amanda snapped. "Please ignore him, Miguel. He seems to have accidentally forgotten to grow up."

"It's fine. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that joke, I probably could retire tomorrow." Miguel remarked. "Anyways, I worked for 3 years as an engineer on various warships and I was supposed to retire and go to college right after but I didn't really want to leave at that point. I had found a home in the Navy and had been recommended to SEAL training. I felt like there were more people in the world who needed my help so I've re-enlisted three times and I haven't looked back."

"Wow, that's really awesome." Amanda said. Miguel smiled faintly.

"Thanks. You know, I gotta say. You guys are a lot nicer than the other car dealership owner I met. That Tom Cole guy is the worst!"

"Hahahaha, I like this guy already." Amanda laughed, patting Miguel on the shoulder.

The group talked for about another half hour as they ate, and that meant half an hour of Miguel being asked extremely invasive questions as Amanda and Daniel judged him as a person. He could practically feel the cogs turning in their brains as they internally debated whether he was good for Sam. Although he really wanted them to like him, he knew that if they didn't, he would still want to date Sam. After all, it wasn't the olden days when people had to ask a girl's parents for permission to date their daughter.

"All right, if everyone's done eating, I'm going to do the dishes really quick."

Miguel stood up.

"Please, let me do it." Miguel said. "The food was absolutely amazing. The least I can do is help clean up."

"Are you sure?" Amanda asked, unsure. Miguel nodded and Amanda smiled widely. "Wow. Sam, why can't you be more like your boyfriend?!"

"Haha, very funny." Sam rolled her eyes as she helped Miguel carry the plates into the kitchen. Once the couple were alone, Sam turned to Miguel.

"Hey, I'm sorry my parents and brother are asking so many invasive questions. They can be pretty rude sometimes." Sam remarked. Miguel chuckled.

"Hey, I'm a SEAL. I survived being waterboarded during training. I think I can survive a night with your parents." Miguel joked. "No but seriously, your parents are cool. Trust me, if you think your parents are bad, you're in for a rude awakening when you meet my stepdad."

"He also asks invasive questions?" Sam asked. Miguel chuckled and shook his head.

"Nah, he's just a dick." Miguel replied, honestly. Sam gasped and laughed.

"That's not very nice!" Sam exclaimed.

"Oh no, I know. But what better word can you use for a guy who believes that 'chicks love it when you treat them like crap?'"

Sam laughed and raised an eyebrow as the two of them cleaned the dishes together.

"Wow, he sounds like a real peach." Sam remarked. Miguel chuckled and nodded. After the two were done washing the dishes, they walked back into the living room, where Daniel and Amanda were sitting. When they made it, Daniel stood up.

"Hey, um… Miguel, would you mind helping me move one of the couches upstairs downstairs?" Daniel asked. "It's too heavy for me to lift alone so I could use your help."

"Yeah, sure. No problem." Miguel said, standing up and following Daniel out the room and upstairs. Once they were gone, Sam turned to her mom.

"So… what do you think of Miguel?" Sam asked. "You must have come to a conclusion after the millionth question you asked him."

"What?! This is the first time you've brought a serious boyfriend home to meet us! We needed to…"

"Vet him like the police?" Sam remarked.

"Get to know him." Amanda corrected. "But hey, for what it's worth, Miguel is amazing. You picked a good one. Very polite. Respectful. Certainly very attractive."

Sam giggled at the last one.

"Yeah, Miguel's awesome." She replied. Her heart sank a bit when she remembered her move to San Diego. That was going to be a HARD conversation. "I just hope dad doesn't scare him away right now…"

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

As Miguel followed Daniel into their upstairs TV room (that's right, they had two freakin' TV rooms!), he looked over and saw a picture of a teenage Daniel and an old, Japanese man in a gorgeous location that Miguel actually recognised, despite the fact that it was not in the U.S.A. Daniel noticed the picture Miguel's eyes were lingering on and he walked over to him.

"Beautiful photo." Miguel remarked, pointing at the lush forest behind the two people. Daniel nodded.

"Yeah, you just don't get that kind of beauty here. That photo was taken in Japan." Daniel said.

"Okinawa, right?" Miguel asked. He had instantly recognised the mountain in the back of the photo because he himself had been there. Daniel nodded, surprised.

"Yeah, how'd you know? It's not exactly Tokyo." Daniel asked.

"I was stationed in a warship off the coast of Japan during my first three years with the Navy. During a two week break, a couple of friends and I trekked all around Okinawa. It was an absolutely gorgeous place." Miguel replied. Daniel whistled.

"Wow, join the military and you really do get to see the world, huh?" Daniel remarked. Miguel smiled and nodded.

"Yeah. Afghanistan, Germany, France, UK, Djibouti, Iraq, Somalia, Bahrain, Japan, Korea, Bangladesh, Jordan, Yemen, India, Pakistan and Brazil so far." Miguel replied.

Daniel nodded and thought for several moments. Miguel was the opposite of everything he expected him to be. This wasn't a shredded, tattooed, rude, selfish guy. Amanda was absolutely right.

"You know Miguel, when I heard my daughter was dating someone in the military, I'll admit I wasn't happy."

"Let me guess… you thought I was some loud-mouth, insensitive jerk who was just using your daughter?" Miguel remarked. Daniel reluctantly nodded.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" He asked.

"Because that describes about 90% of my platoon." Miguel replied. Daniel chuckled and shrugged.

"Well, as much as I hate to admit when I'm wrong, you are the exact opposite of everything I thought. Sam's a grown woman so it's not like she needs my approval let alone permission to date anyone, but for what it's worth, you definitely have my thumbs up."

Miguel smiled, relieved.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Larusso. I really appreciate it. And just know that I would never do anything to hurt Sam. I really do love her a lot."

"I know. I can see that. And she clearly cares about you a lot too." Daniel replied. "God, I was so convinced something was going to go wrong tonight."

"Night's not over yet." Miguel mumbled quietly. Daniel heard him.

"What's that?" He asked. Miguel sighed. He wasn't planning to tell Daniel about who his stepfather was that night.

"Well, I mean I wasn't planning on mentioning this tonight but I might as well because you were bound to find out eventually. I think you know my stepfather from back in high school."

"Really? What's his name?" Daniel asked, curious. Miguel took a deep breath.

"Um… Johnny Lawrence." Miguel replied. Daniel's face paled…