“Are we almost there?” Darren grunted under the weight of all the booze he was carrying.
“Yeah, just a little longer. What’s wrong? Don’t tell me you’re tired? Summer practices for you at LSU are going to be a hell of a lot harder than this!” Ricardo slowed down and turned to look at his best friend and teammate.
“No of course not! Maybe if you helped me carry some of this shit, I wouldn’t be so tired!” Darren protested.
“But you’re doing such a great job!’ Ricardo laughed as he led his friend through the thick vegetation on their way to the beach.
The two high school football stars both felt the sweat pour down their backs as they fought the oppressive humidity, even though it was dark. Darren breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed a clearing ahead.
Ricardo was the first one through, leading them to the beach. When they both made their way out of the clearing, they heard Ricardo’s girlfriend, Tracy, calling their names. Both of them immediately stopped and turned towards the sound of her voice.
“Over here! You guys went one beach over!” Tracy shouted. Standing next to her was Darren’s girlfriend, Natalie, who was frantically waving her arms to get their attention.
Darren dropped the thirty pack he was carrying in the sand and let the backpack full of liquor slide off his back as well. Ricardo turned and looked at his friend, then looked at the booze that he had just dropped on the sand.
“Not there yet! Come on!” Ricardo ordered as his teammate bent down and gathered the booze for the final leg of their march to the beach.
Almost a half hour later, the two star athletes arrived at the correct beach. The two girls were elated to finally see their boyfriends arrive. The fact that they had brought a lot of booze with them didn’t damper their spirits either.
“We were starting to get worried!” Natalie rushed over to Darren and immediately eased his burden by helping him with the liquor and beer he had brought.
Tracy hugged Ricardo and gave him several kisses. Soon after they arrived, they started a fire in the middle of the beach. Darren ventured out into the nearby woods to collect some firewood. While he was searching, he heard Ricardo bragging to the girls about how he was planning to be the starting Quarterback this fall at Clemson.
Natalie went to tell Darren to stop looking for wood and to come and have some drinks. Armful of wood, Darren reluctantly abandoned his quest to find more and succumbed to his girlfriend’s demands. Ricardo handed his friend a beer.
“Take a break, bro, you did a good job,” Ricardo praised his teammate.
“Thanks, dad,” Darren sarcastically replied as he accepted the beer.
They continued to drink with all of them becoming very drunk. Darren made sure that the fire was going strong while the other three jumped into the ocean. After a little while, and some goading by his girlfriend, Darren jointed them while they frolicked in the surf.
“Hey Tracy!” Ricardo shouted to his girlfriend while he held his beer above the rising waves.
“What’s up babe?” She swam closer to him so she could hear his question above the noisy ocean.
“Tell me about your neighbor’s speedboat again,” Ricardo asked.
“What do you want to know?” She asked.
“You told me that he leaves the keys out in plain sight and leaves it unlocked?” Ricardo wanted her to clarify her claim from the other day.
“Yes, I did,” Tracy slurred her words as she attempted to navigate the rising surf.
“Hey Darren?” Ricardo turned to his friend who happened to be floating towards him with his girlfriend clinging to him like a lost relative.
“What’s up?’ His friend asked while he balanced his beer and his girlfriend in the midst of the incoming waves.
“You said that you’re uncle has a speedboat?” Ricardo reminded his friend of this fact that he had told him a few weeks ago.
“Yeah. An awesome one,” he proudly declared.
“So, you know how to drive it?” Ricardo floated closer to his friend and his girl.
“Of course! He lets me drive it all the time!” Darren almost got inundated by a rogue wave that almost carried him out to the ocean.
“Well, what do you say?” Ricardo asked.
“I say its time to get out of the water before I get swept away to the Bahamas!” Darren cried as he finished his beer.
Ricardo followed suit as they swam back to shore. Once they were back on the beach, Ricardo asked his friend the question that he had planned on asking him while they were just out in the ocean.
“What do you say we go to Tracy’s house and take her neighbor’s speedboat out for a test drive? Can you drive a speedboat right now?” Ricardo asked.
“Dude! I can drive anything! Anytime!” Darren bragged. He felt like he had to make a case for himself as a skilled speedboat captain to impress Natalie. Darren was tired of hearing Ricardo brag all the time about how good of a quarterback he was all the time.
“Well, then what are we waiting for?” Ricardo stood up and began to gather the rest of the booze while Darren reluctantly began to put out the fire.
Despite the fact that all of them were equally intoxicated, they managed to make it to Tracy’s parents’ house in one piece. The house was surrounded by a deep canal which essentially served as access to the bay which led directly to the ocean. The two football players rushed down to the docks where they saw the neighbor’s boat. The opulent speedboat was a breathtaking sight to behold.
“This is the nicest boat I’ve ever seen!” Darren struggled to contain his excitement.
Ricardo was already in the process of boarding the vessel, when Tracy and Natalie, as inebriated as they were, expressed opposition in what they were about to do. Darren assured the girls that he knew exactly what he was doing since he drove his uncle’s speedboat all the time. Ricardo reassured the nervous girls that they would be right back. Despite Tracy’s overwhelming concern about this, Ricardo and Darren were determined.
The two boys hopped on the boat and the keys were laying out in plain view. Darren knew exactly what he was doing and soon they were racing out on to the open water. The wind whipped through their hair as they cheered. Graduation was two days away and they were standing on the precipice of their future. However, as bright as it was, self sabotage was on the horizon for both of them and they were completely oblivious.
“This boat is fucking awesome!” Ricardo cheered as he drained the rest of his beer.
“This is a Tecnomar Lambourghini!” Darren shouted back to his friend over the sound of the roaring waves.
“What?” Ricardo asked as he reached for another beer.
“This boat is worth around 4 million dollars!” Darren exclaimed.
Ricardo’s eyes widened as big as hubcaps when he heard that. While Darren had the boat flying across the water at full speed, Ricardo headed inside to look at the cabin. His jaw dropped when he glanced around at all the expensive liquor and champagne that seemed to be everywhere.
Ricardo was about to investigate further, when the boat started to lurch, before regaining speed. He looked around briefly but soon resumed his quest to uncover what other opulent pleasures were hidden throughout the cabin. A few moments later, the boat lurched again and the engines started to slow down, almost as if they were gasping for air. Ricardo immediately returned to the front and stood next to his teammate.
“What the hell is wrong?” Ricardo asked.
“We are about to run out of gas,” Darren stared at the gas gauge, cursing himself that he didn’t check it before they decided to take the boat for a ride.
“You got to be kidding me! Do we have enough to get back? “ Ricardo shouted.
“No! I’m going to head over to that island over there!” Darren pointed to a cluster of rocks ahead that were an extension of a larger piece of land. Ricardo didn’t hear what he said but he got the message.
The bay was infested with all sorts of islands of various sizes. Some of them were occupied by rich billionaires with spacious properties and gigantic mansions while some of them were uninhabited. The island that they were headed to was one of the uninhabited ones. However, there were several other islands nearby in which there were some homes that belonged to some famous celebrities.
The boat slowed down as Darren managed to guide it to around the rocks to a small beach. They both breathed a sigh of relief as the luxury speedboat came to a stop near the shore. After Darren threw out the anchor which he found quicker than Ricardo had expected, they noticed some bright lights in the distance.
“Who is that?” Ricardo asked as he pointed towards the incoming lights.
“Well, it looks like a boat headed for us!” Darren exclaimed, just as nervous as his friend as to what was in store for them.
Both of them basically froze as the lights came closer, revealing a small boat. The hum of the boat’s motor echoed through the tropical breeze as the two boys waited. As it came closer, they both noticed that is was from the Coast Guard. Two men were visible with one of them holding a loudspeaker.
“This is the U.S. Coast Guard! We are coming to inspect your vessel!” The man with the loudspeaker exclaimed.
“Shit! What do we do?” Ricardo turned and looked at Darren.
“Whatever the fuck they say!” Darren exclaimed.
The Coast Guard vessel was close enough to them, when one of the men jumped onto the luxury speedboat. He turned to look at the two terrified high schoolers. “Just stay right there!” he said as he pulled out some keys from his pocket.
The second man had dropped the anchor on their boat and a few minutes later, he joined his partner and boarded the speedboat. The first man was on his knees, in the process of unlocking a hidden compartment in the floor which he had just revealed. The two frightened football stars along with the other man from the Coast Guard stood still and watched.
The man who just unlocked the hidden compartment reached deep inside. While his hand was buried under the deck, he shot the two boys a dirty look. A few moments later, he pulled out a thick white brick which heavily wrapped in plastic. The two Coast Guard officials smiled simultaneously as they looked at the brick. The two boys felt their hearts drop to the floor.
“It’s all here!” the first man said as he locked the compartment and rearranged the camouflage in which it was surrounded.
“Well, that’s really good news for you two!” The other man said as he stared at the two boys.
“You aren’t from the Coast Guard are you?” Darren suddenly asked.
The second man shone his flashlight into their eyes. “ Now why would you think that?” he asked.
The first man’s cell phone was ringing, which momentarily commanded everyone’s attention. “ Yeah, I was just about to call you! Yes! It’s all here! And we got the assholes that stole it! Yup! I’m looking right at both of them right now! Ok! They aren’t going anywhere, believe me!” The first man ended the conversation and pulled his pistol from his holster.
“This one was right about one thing! We aren’t from the Coast Guard!” The second man informed them.
“By the time we’re done with you, you’re going to wish we were the Coast Guard!” The first man said,
“The next time you two fuckheads see an expensive speedboat with the keys out in the open, walk away! Just to let you know, because you’re obviously to fucking stupid!” The second man just shook his head and looked away in disgust.
“Why the fuck do you think he left the keys out in the open?” The first man asked. The two drunk teenagers both shook their heads.
“Because nobody is stupid enough to steal from the son of one of the most powerful Cuban drug cartels in Miami!” The second man added.
The two boys who were so certain about their future not more than an hour ago, were now uncertain about even surviving to graduation.