Brittle

Chapter 9

The fresh smell of the ocean and sand surrounded Liam as he rolled down his window. "Check it out!" Justin said pushing Liams arm and motioning out his window. "All these chicks in their swimsuits. It's like a choose your own adventure game." Ryan and Adam laughed but Liam being too observant for his own good at times couldn't help but notice something wasn't quite right. As he looked out at the crowd of girls he saw there was an alarmingly low guy to girl raito. "Oh my god that's gross." Adam said sounding sick. The others turned to look.

On the side walk across the street they noticed a lot of guys walking up and down the walk way holding hands. "Well that makes sense now." Liam noted out loud. "Want to clue the rest of us in?" Justin asked. "Sorry I just noticed there were very few guys with all the girls and now I know why." "Oh, well good observation captain obvious." Adam said rolling his eyes. "At least you don't have an excuse for not being able to find a girl here." Ryan said to Adam defending Liam from Adams attempts to pick on him. Adam was the only one of the four who was still a virgin and with the exception of Liam the others had no problem reminding him of it.

"Alright grab the bags and let's get settled in the hotel rooms." Ryan said opening the trunk. "Liam and I will share a room. Adam you and Justin will take the other." As they walked into the lobby Liam noticed a flyer on the wall advertising the local beach. "Maybe we could check this out guys." He said pulling it off the wall. The others crowded around to have a look. "Heck yah, seems like fun." Adam said pointing to the part about a concert. "I always wanted to see this band anyways."

Liam sat his bag down on the end of his bed and walked over to the sliding glass door in their hotel room. "Check this out man, we have a balcony." The balcony had a glass top picnic table with an umbrella sticking up through the middle of it and two matching cushion chairs that doubled as tanning beds. "This is sweet" Ryan said folding his chair down and stretching out. "What time was that concert?" He asked looking over at Liam. "I think it said six." Liam said pulling the flyer out of his pocket and unfolding it. "Yep and at nine there is an after party at one of the local beach bars."

Adam and Justin made their way down the beach each of them holding an end of the giant cooler they had just filled with beer. "Hey! You guys want to help us out here?" They asked as they neared their friends who were tossing a football. Liam turned around and laughed as he watched them waddle trying to hold the giant cooler and keep their balance in the sand. "Pass it." Ryan said quickly asking for the ball. Liam tossed it over to him and Ryan took aim. "Wait...Now!" Ryan threw the ball as hard as he could right at Justin. "Justin Catch!" Liam yelled but it was too late. Justin looked up just as the ball smacked him right in the nose. "Arrghh.." Justin moaned dropping his end of the cooler and grabbing his nose. "Fuck!" Adam screamed as the cooler came crashing down and landing on his foot.

"Two for one." Ryan said laughing. Liam couldn't help but join his friend in laughter, after all, he had managed to damage both of their friends egos with one throw of a ball. "Come on guys, we're trying to pick up chicks and you're making us look bad." Adam said as they reached them. "Looks like he has an excuse after all." Justin joked. "A toast." Ryan said holding up his beer. The others quickly grabbed a beer from the cooler and joined him. "To what?" Liam asked. "To our paradise vacation." Ryan said smiling. "And to hopefully Adam getting laid." Justin added. The four of them laughed and clanked their bottles together.

"Check that out." Adam said pointing to a girl walking their direction. Liam looked up from the tree he was sitting under. "Yah buddy, go for it." He heard Justin say. "I don't know guys she has to be taken already, I mean, look at her." Liam said interrupting them. "Oh don't be a buzz kill and give the man his chance." Justin complained. "Hey girl, what's your name?" Adam asked as she started to walk past them. "My name is Lexi. What's yours?" She asked staring down at him. He jumped to his feet and brushed his shorts off. "The names Adam but you can call me Adam." He said with a wink.

Justin and Liam nearly fell off their chairs laughing. Adam shot a daring look back at them before returning his attention to Lexi. "Listen if you're not busy maybe later we could get a drink." He said winking at her again. "Sorry, you're cute, but my boyfriend might not approve of that." Lexi said smiling at him. Maybe it was the alcohol or maybe it was the frustration of yet another girl turning him down but Adam finally snapped. "Whatever girl, I'd kick your boyfriends ass and show you what a real man is."

Liam and Justin both looked at each other in shock. Their friend had gone crazy. He had never been in a fight before in his life. Was he being serious? "Ok, I'll call him and when he gets here if you can kick his ass I'll let you take me out." She responded pulling out her cell phone. "Wait a minute man, you might be going to far." Liam said with Justin adding a "Yep, way too far." In the background. "Whatever man. You guys are always on me, well now it's my time, besides I'm not exactly a push over." It was true, Adam wasn't exactly little. Standing 6'4" tall and weighing in around 270 pounds, all of which was solid muscle, to anyone who didn't know him he could come off as very intimidating. The problem was his friends did know him, he was a teddy bear, not a fighter.

A black limo pulled up near them. "Here he is." Lexi said as the limo door opened. Now Adam might be big but this guy made him look like Liam. About Adams height but twice his size the guy was also solid muscle. "Check it out, that guys arms are as big as you." Justin said elbowing Liam. "Yes I can see that. Adam is in trouble." He responded not looking away from the two. "You the guy who wants to kick my ass and take my girl out?" The large man asked. "Yah what about it?" Adam said puffing out his chest.

Before Justin or Liam could say anything the man hit Adam right in the middle of his face sending him flying back four or five feet. "Ooh shit!" Justin said running over to Adam who was now snoring. "He's out cold." Justin said looking back at Liam. "He will be alright. I barely hit him" The large man said putting his arm around Lexi and walking past Liam. When the man got next to Liam he stopped and looked at him. "Did you want to try?" He asked picking up one of the beers. "No sir." Liam said looking up. "The beers warm I think." He added. The guy laughed and put it back down in the cooler. "Thanks for the tip, see yah." He said as he walked away.

Ryan took the pitcher of iced water and dumped it on Adams face causing him to shoot straight up from the bed. "What the fuck, where am I, What happened?" He asked wiping the water from his eyes. "You're in your hotel room Mr.. badass. You're lucky that guy was cool and didn't kill you." Justin said lighting a cigarette. "Hey, how come you didn't help me out Liam!?" Adam accused. "Because I'm the size of that guys dick dumbass." Liam retorted causing Ryan to spit out some of his beer. "He's not wrong." Justin said passing the cigarette to Liam. "Doesn't matter now anyways. Good thing is we're all fine and can still make the concert." Ryan noted pointing to the clock.

"That was awesome!" Liam exclaimed as they walked out of the arena. "Hell yah!" Justin nodded. "Let's get back to the hotel. I don't feel like hitting up the bar." Adam said rubbing the side of his head. Between the punch and the loud music he must've had the worst headache known to man. "Yah I'm not really interested either." Liam said trying to comfort his friend. Actually he did want to go but how could he? His friend was in pain and he was pretty exhausted himself from the eventful day. A good nights sleep was best for all of them he thought.

Liam and Ryan loaded the bags into the trunk. "This has been great, thanks man." Liam said looking over at Ryan. "Indeed it has, we should do it again some time." Ryan shut the trunk and gave Liam a pat on the back. "Let's get out of here." Ryan said shaking the car keys. The ride home was quiet. They were all content with just listening to the music and replaying their adventure in their heads. Liam stared out his window at the desert passing by. He was, for once, at peace and didn't want that to end.