The Art of the Hustle

  ***

  After my shower, I went downstairs to the kitchen and met up with the rest of the gang. I was the last one to arrive. As soon as I got there, we left through a door in the kitchen, which led to the side of the house. We walked about twenty-five feet across a stone pathway and into a separate building on the property, to his parents’ garage.

  “Which one should we take?” Steve asked as he flipped on the lights.

  His parents had slightly less expensive taste in cars, but only slightly. There was an M class Mercedes, an S500 Mercedes, and a Lexus IS.

  “Any of these convertible?” Dan asked.

  “Yeah, this one,” he said, as he pointed to the Lexus.

  “Alright, let’s take this one.”

  We piled into the charcoal-colored Lexus, popped the top, and hit the road. The cool breeze complemented the warm sun. We were about a block away from the beach before we could smell the fresh ocean. The atmosphere was definitely consistent of summer. There were people everywhere, girls in bikinis, people walking in droves in the direction of the beach, people in shorts eating ice cream, people walking their dogs. The anticipation was painful. I just wanted to be out of this sticky leather seat and start having some fun.

  We pulled up to a red light and a carload of attractive women pulled up beside us. I smiled at the driver and she smiled back.

  “Excuse me…” I said to her “… can you please tell us how to get to your place?”

  “Yeah, take my number,” she replied.

  I quickly stored her number in my phone. The light turned green and she took off in her little four-cylinder Honda. It was at this point that it occurred to me I had forgotten to ask for her name.

  “Dude, I can’t believe that worked!” Dan said in disbelief.

  “Me neither, I was just joking around. I didn’t think she would actually give me her number.”

  “Well, what are you waiting for, call her up,” Steve said. “Ask them if they want to come to the beach with us.”

  “I just got her number five seconds ago! What about the three day rule?”

  “Are you being serious right now?” Jeremy asked, as he leaned in from the back seat. “If you don’t call her, I will. Give me the phone,” he reached his arm between the front and passenger seat and held his hand out. I slapped his hand to give him a high-five.

  “Okay okay, hold your horses. I’ll give her a call,” I took out my cell phone and scrolled through the directory. The first name in the list was ‘Ashley’. I thought about calling her, but then I figured there wasn’t much point in that. She had probably moved on by now and I didn’t want to be a creepy ex-boyfriend. I eventually found the number I was looking for and called it.

  “Hello?” a sexy female voice said.

  “Hey, it’s me.”

  “Who is this?”

  “We just met five seconds ago, have you forgotten about me already?”

  After a brief conversation, I hung up the phone.

  “So are they going to meet us, or what?” Jeremy asked.

  “Yeah, I told them I would give them a call once we found parking, then we can all meet up.”

  “Did you get a name this time, genius?” Steve asked.

  “Yeah, her name is Sam.”