by Atul Todi
Jolly and Abhay waited in the car for the girls to return.
As he had expected, after a few minutes he saw Precious running towards the car. Immediately he reversed towards her. Getting inside, she said, "Mad fucker let his dog out on us. Go, go, go… drive."
She had left Tia behind.
Not thinking twice, Abhay opened his door and ran in the direction of the house they went to steal from. He didn't see Tia coming back out from the house and knew she was in trouble. He screamed at Jolly to take the wheel and be ready to drive.
As he had expected, Tia had stumbled and fallen. Struggling to fight the dogs, she was throwing oranges at them and screaming, trying to scare them away. Picking her up, he ran back towards the car. Two ferocious dogs chased them.
He just could not believe what he had done; he was shit scared of dogs. Screaming out loud, he ran, but the dogs soon outran him.
The dogs were no cuddle buddies; they attacked him.
The next thing Abhay remembered was waking up in a hospital. One of the dogs had bitten him in the leg before the owner got there. Bleeding from his calves, he had fainted.
They took him to the nearby hospital and got the wound taken care off. Luckily, the dogs were immunized; so besides losing some blood and a seven-inch stitch mark on his calves, he was safe. The owner was sorry, but the fault was theirs. Without creating a scene, they thanked the dog owner for his help and left.
Sitting beside him in the hospital, Tia was terribly sorry for what she had done. Red like a tomato, her eyes were filled with tears. She had blood marks on her sweatshirt because she was one who picked him up and took him to the hospital.
Showing Khushi the bite marks on his calf, Abhay smiled, thinking about how worried Tia had gotten. It was all good and he was not mad at her.
After that little hiccup, everyone had a quick lunch, freshened-up and were back on the road in no time. Trying to cheer Tia up, he took the only orange she was able to hold onto in the whole stealing episode and told her that they were equal. She didn't need to feel bad. Seeing her still upset, he peeled the orange and teased her with it. Dangling the orange in front of her eye, he slowly ate the orange one peel at a time, waiting for her to react. She finally did; she bit his finger and snatched the remaining orange.
Shrieking in pain, he said, "You like to bite, you naughty girl."
Laughing out loud, as if she could visualize the whole scene, Khushi said, "She sounds really awesome; I am sure you fell in love with her."
"Don't know about love, but she was turning out to be a lot more fun than I thought she would be. A serious girl like her had this wild side that was waiting to let loose. Even Precious was quite surprised to see her open up so quickly to me."
Abhay told Khushi that after the dog incidence, they reached Panama City without any other hindrance; Tia continued to be apologetic in the remainder of the trip. However, once they reached the destination, the excitement of seeing the blue ocean and white beaches made everyone forget about everything else and relish the serene view all around.
They crossed over a bridge with blue ocean on both sides and were welcomed with a big road sign that said: "Welcome to Panama City".
Precious and her girls were staying at the Sterling Resort, in the Calypso Towers. They had booked a high-end condo, with a beachfront, a few miles away from the central Spring Break spot. Abhay and his friends were staying at the Holiday Inn on Front Beach Road, right in the heart of Spring Break Party scene. The boys did not want to miss out on any of the wild parties.
Yawning but smiling, Khushi looked sleepy. By that time, it was already past midnight in Cumbum Valley. So Abhay asked Khushi to go to bed as they had a long day ahead on the vineyard. Khushi insisted on him continuing with the story and that she was not sleepy; he promised to tell her more the next day.
He could not say no to her, so he continued to describe Panama City to her. Khushi fell asleep on the beanbag. Watching her sleep, he wondered what it would have been like to have a daughter like her.
CHAPTER 6: PARTY IN PANAMA CITY
With Khushi fallen asleep, Abhay sat in the balcony reminiscing about the trip.
Reaching Panama City that evening, the girls went to their hotel to check-in and get ready for the party at night. Abhay and his boys let the girls go only after getting their phone numbers. They planned to meet up later to go out to the clubs.
With the girls gone, the boys decided to go to a popular local bar called Sharky's, before going to their hotel. They wanted to check out the scene and have a few beers to get the party started right-away.
The beach town was brimming with life. Filled with college students from all over the country, it was like a massive get-together for people wanting to go crazy. Wearing the skimpiest of clothes, girls in bikinis and guys in shorts, they were all drinking out in the open. There was no inhibition and no rules; it was like a rave happening in the whole city. Even the cops patrolling around town was minimal; their main concern was to make sure there were no fights and brawls.
The roads were packed with fancy cars with over-sized tires and extra loud boombox playing hip-hop music. Girls in colourful bikinis sat on top of car roofs, screaming out to strangers, sending out flying-kisses and even shaking their assets every time someone honked at them.
On every corner of the city, there were college students dancing and making out in the open. Alcohol was flowing everywhere; it was like everyone was there to have the time of their life without holding back. Staring at the crowd, Abhay and Jolly wondered where had they been the whole time and why didn't they come for Spring Breaks before.
It was going to be three days, seventy-two hours of non-stop partying before they had to head back to the Midwest and be back in the daily grind of college life. Each one of them wanted to make the most of it and go back without any regrets.
Downing their beers, they joined the madness on their way to their hotel.
The Holiday Inn Resort where Abhay and his friends were staying was the epicenter of the Spring Break parties. Big beach shows were planned on its beachfront and besides a number of small music bands, T.I., the popular rapper was going to take the stage to entertain all the spring-breakers.
At the Holiday-Inn Resort, special check-in counters were made for all the college students on Spring Break. Everyone was welcomed with garlands of lilies and shots of exotic fruit juice. After filling out the various forms and signing security documents, each guest was given a neon-coloured wristband for entering the resort. The hotel wanted to ensure maximum security and was taking all possible precautions to prevent any mishaps.
After taking care of all the hotel formalities, the boys picked up their bags and headed to the room on the eleventh floor. Checking into their large suite, they quickly got the room ready for a party. The fridge was stocked with cases of beer and the dining table in the attached living room was lined with bottles of liquor of every type. In their large king size room with two twin beds, they moved everything to the side and put together a mock beer-pong table in the center.
Abhay always said that a party was incomplete without a few rounds of beer pong. Aiming ping-pong balls at opponent’s thirteen red cups, set in a triangle shape and filled with beer, the goal was to make the ball land in a cup. Every time the ball went inside a cup, the opponent team members had to drink the beer in the cup. When one team ran out of cups, they were considered beaten and had to drink all of the opponents leftover cups filled with beer.
As the game progressed, everyone got drunk, and their aims at opponent’s cups got worse, which in turn made sure that they got even more drunk. In the process, everyone had fun watching drunk people try to get small table-tennis balls inside cups kept around eight feet away from them.
Later that night, Jolly called the girls to come join them for a few rounds of drinks in the room. The girls had planned to meet up with some other friends, so declined their offer and suggested they meet later at the club.
The clubs w
ere technically open till 4 am, but they reopened at 6am in the morning, for sunrise parties. When people were not in the club, they were out on the beaches, sunbathing, playing volleyball or just sitting next to the waves drinking and socializing. There was no time for staying sober.
Even though they were a little disheartened that the girls didn't come out with them, there was more than enough to look forward to; the city was filled with beautiful ladies. So on the first night in Panama City, after few drinks in the room, Abhay, Jolly, Nathan and Charlie headed to Club La Vela, the biggest nightclub in United States of America. A multi-level club, it was bigger than what they could have even imagined. Abhay and his friends had only heard stories about the club and the wild parties that went on inside there.
Getting in with VIP passes that Nathan arranged from his sources, they bypassed the long line outside and walked into the club dressed in black tuxedos. Dressed to impress, there were hot women everywhere they looked. Blondes, brunettes, and redheads, they were all there, turning up their seduction games. Red lipstick and purple lipstick, straight hair and curly hair, high heels and slippers, short height and tall, petite and wholesome, everyone was represented in that club. It was like the world was there to party.
The club was divided into multiple rooms with different themes. It was like a restaurant serving cuisines from around the world.
The boys started the night with the ‘Rocks Den', a live music room with an American band playing. The place was jam-packed. Keeping with the essence of rock music, the room had a 1970's spirit. With big metal tubes running through the roof and chocolate brown wooden floor, the place felt like a Mid-western bar. The bartenders were dressed as cowboys with brown hats, leather pants, and boots. The band playing on the stage was called the "Howling Owl" and were wearing costumes to look like their mascot: An owl.
With loud bass and electrifying guitar blasting Led Zeppelin beats, the band members were doing strange antics on the stage. The crowd responded with similar vigor. As the night progressed, bringing people from the crowd onstage, the band members started to make them chug whiskey straight from Jack Daniels bottles.
With a dozen people jumping around on an elevated stage, it was a matter of time before the wooden platform collapsed. But the club personnel were least concerned; they were happy to see the crowd going insane and spending their precious dollars.
Shots and drinks, then another round of shots and drinks, soon Abhay and his friends were dancing on the dance floor with the ‘Howling Owl' band members. The party was just getting started, and they were already out of control.
Finding a group of hot girls from the University of California, the boys got them a round of fire-shots to get their attention. Talking to them, they found out that they were not into rock music and wanted to check out another room in the club. Sensing an opportunity, Nathan insisted that they all went with them.
Getting drunk and chasing women was fun. So, like a herd of sheep following their master, the boys followed the blond-haired Californian beauties to the ‘Thunderdome'. It was another themed room in the club that was located at the center of Club La Vela, with a pool in front.
Unlike the ‘Rocks Den’, ‘Thunderdome’ had a more European theme.
With mind-blowing speakers playing the latest electronic music, hi-tech light show, and flashing light, the room was filled with frozen CO2 (carbon-dioxide) smoke that was blown from the roof. They could hardly see anything in the room, but it was jam packed with people jumping and fist-thumping in-sync with the electronic beats.
The Californian girls quickly got busy with other men, besides one, who enjoyed the attention Abhay and his friends were giving her. All four of them, Abhay, Jolly, Nathan and Charlie danced with her. Like a magician, she kept them all entertained. Keeping them all interested, she made them think that they had a chance with her. Kissing one guy, touching another one inappropriately, she got all their hopes up.
Someone was going to get lucky with her; the four boys took their chances and played along.
Before anything could happen, all their hopes crashed like a fighter jet nose-diving into the ocean. The golden-haired seductress was soon joined by another one of her friends. The two girls finished off the shots the men had ordered and soon started making out in the middle of the club. The boys were left high and dry. The two girls were lip-locked with their hands exploring their partner’s beautiful figures. The men felt helpless and betrayed.
As the men sulked looking at the two girls dancing, Jolly pulled them away from those evil witches and pointed towards the bar. Precious was there at the ‘Thunderdome' with her friends and a few other boys.
Wearing a short golden dress and black high heels, her 36-24-36 figure stood out in the whole crowd. She made the Californian girls look ordinary. Men all around the club drooled over her and wanted in on the action. She rejected them left, right and center. Instead, she just danced with Alex and Sophie, who looked equally hot.
As Abhay and his friends got closer, Precious noticed them. She made her evil eye contact, partly inviting and partly telling them to stay away. With her hair curled, dark long eyelashes and a black diamond necklace around her neck, she looked dangerously seductive.
The loud electronic music beating in the background and the flashing disco lights from the roof quickly faded away as Abhay approached her. She made his heart beat faster.
Finding courage, Abhay kept his eye contact, smiled at her and went closer. Surprisingly, taking a step towards Abhay, she held his hand and took him to the dance floor. He obediently followed her.
The men she was talking to earlier looked at Abhay bitterly. Alex and Sophie paired up with Nathan and Charlie and joined them on the floor. Jolly, like always was left hanging all by himself. He went to the bar sulking, wondering where the other girls were.
Smiling at Jolly, Abhay pulled Precious closer as she swerved in his arm. As if Jolly had lost some bet, he knew that he had to buy them all a round of shots. Getting a tray of shots for the group, he ensured the party went on.
Seeing his friend dance, Jolly was not complaining as the night was long, and the club was filled with beautiful prospects.
As the music got louder and the ‘Thunderdome' got colder, Abhay and Precious sweated in each other's arms. Glued by their hips, they danced and jiggled in ways Abhay had never done before. Grabbing him all over the place, Precious left no room for any embarrassment. All the men in the club were envious, wondering how did a guy like him hookup with super-hot girl like Precious. People of all colour and age stopped and stared as they danced in the middle of the club.
To make sure she had Abhay's complete attention, Precious grabbed his hair and pulled him even closer. With her red lips open, she licked his neck and bit his ears. She didn't care who was around; she was a wild child.
Abhay was a decent looking chap who could impress most girls, but Precious was out of his league. Holding her in his arm, it was like a fantasy had come to life.
As her tongue wriggled around his earlobe, shivers ran through his whole body. Unable to control himself, his hands instinctively moved behind her and explored her back. He couldn't wait to kiss her and taste her lips, but she made him wait. Every time he went in for a kiss, she pulled back. Playing mind-games, she was not going to give in that easily. He had to work for it, and she was making him sweat.
It was getting hot in there as the DJ played the best electronic-dance-music. Alex and Sophie too joined Precious with their men. It was like their sorority party, and there was no one to judge them. Those three vixens had their seduction game on, and the men had nothing to complain about. They had taken the club by storm.
Once the ‘Thunderdome' got a little too packed, holding Abhay's hand, Precious whispered in his ear, "It’s too crowded in here, let's go somewhere quieter. Just you and me."
Sneaking out from there, she led him away from the loud dance floor, and they went to the ‘Penthouse', a VIP lounge located upstairs in the ‘Thunderdome'.
With modern white décor, overlooking the club’s main room below, the place was perfect for a little mischief. With white couches and matching tables, the place even had its servers dressed in pure-white.
It was a lot classier and the drinks a lot more expensive. Obviously Abhay did not mind shelling out the money; he was having the craziest night of his live. He would have done anything to just make sure the night went on.
Less packed with people, it was a lot easier to get a drink up there. Ordering a martini for Precious and a single-malt whiskey for himself, he looked back at her. The intensity with which she looked back at him, she meant business. She wanted to waste no time, and he wanted her to say nothing.
Everything was perfect: Her mesmerizing perfume, strawberry red lipstick and soft-silky skin. Suddenly feeling a little out of place, not sure what to do, he asked her, "Where is everyone else?"