Tony and Vincent were walking around the beach when a few college guys walked past them, announcing that there was a party at the clubhouse at the other end of the beach. The boys decided to walk over there and check it out.
When they arrived, a dozen young people greeted them there, happily standing around mingling about with drinks in hand as the DJ played the latest pop tunes on some loudspeakers. There were also some kids running around, who weren’t allowed in the clubhouse, but they were playing outside instead.
The boys were walking around when Tony suddenly heard someone call his name.
“TONY! Is that you?”
He turned around and he spotted a familiar friend. It was Vanessa, a young lady he knew from college and from high school.
“Hey, Vanessa! Great to see you! What a coincidence! How have you been? What are you doing here?” Tony asked her, as the two embraced while Vincent looked on.
“I’m just hanging out. I’m stuck babysitting my nephew, Charlie. He’s fourteen and he’s running around somewhere on the beach. My parents and my brother and his wife went to another island to go scuba diving for the day and they’re spending the night there, and I was asked to watch their son for one evening. What are you doing here?” she asked him.
“I’m here with my friend Vincent from school! Vincent, meet Vanessa!” Tony said as he introduced the two.
The two shook hands and talked briefly while each was holding an unopened can of Muscle Tech-X in their hands.
“What are you guys drinking?” Vanessa asked them. “You guys wanna sit down?”
The three of them sat at a booth in the corner of the room so they could talk while they could still hear the music at the same time. Suddenly, a short, skinny boy walked in and ran straight up to their table.
“Hey, Vanessa. Umm…” the boy stammered.
“Whatcha need, Charlie?” she replied.
“I’m getting thirsty. Can I get something to drink?”
Just then, he spotted Vincent and Tony drinking from their cans of Muscle Tech-X, where the drink looked pretty much like chocolate milk to the young boy.
“Umm… Let me see what they have here, Charlie…. Let’s first see if I got any cash on me…” Vanessa said as she rummaged through her purse while she looked for her wallet.
“Can I have what these two guys are having? It looks like chocolate milk!” the boy observed.
“You want a sip of this, buddy?” Tony grinned, as he offered the boy the remainder of his can.
“You don’t need to do that. Let me see… Oh shoot, I don’t have any cash on me! Oh, crap!” Vanessa blurted out as she rummaged through her purse some more.
In the meantime, Tony handed Charlie his can of Muscle Tech-X, which had about a third of the drink left in it. The boy took the can and he quickly finished off the contents of the drink while Vanessa was not looking at him.
“Never mind! I got some chocolate milk from this guy!” Charlie grinned. “Thanks, mister!”
Vanessa gasped loudly as she saw how Charlie set the empty can on the table.
“CHARLIE! That is very rude!” she shouted, as she tried to reprimand the boy right away. “You do NOT take food or drink from other people; do you understand me?”
“I’m sorry… But I was so thirsty!” he whined in reply with a sad tone of voice.
“NO! You ask first before you take food from other people! That is vulgar!” Vanessa continued, before turning to Tony. “I apologize for my nephew’s rudeness. He was not supposed to do that!”
“It’s okay! He’s a growing kid.” Tony just smiled, hoping for Vanessa to tone down her anger.
“I will talk to this youngster later, when we get to the hotel room!” she said with a stern voice. “You’re in BIG trouble!”
“Awww…. I didn’t mean to hurt…. Uhhh…” Charlie said, before he let out a loud groan.
“Charlie? What’s going on, buddy? Are you feeling okay? CHARLIE?” Vanessa shouted as she stood up while she saw her nephew tense up. Suddenly, the boy’s muscles started to inflate…