"Oh, damn it, you're really too late, Elizabeth!" a complaint filled with anger rang out.
Elizabeth's three friends were sitting on the beach, watching Elizabeth embrace Charles, who had gone off to fool around with a new boyfriend.
She only arrived after the game was over.
"Hey, Teresa, what's up? Just the three of you?" Elizabeth walked over and asked her classmates.
"Oh, and this is Charles, my friend!"
Elizabeth introduced Charles to them, and Charles also stepped forward to greet them.
"This is Teresa, the one with short hair reading is Camille, and that big-chested one is Lilith!"
Charles looked around and found that Camille, with her short brown hair, was the prettiest. Although her figure wasn't as good as Elizabeth's, her proportions were excellent.
As for Teresa and Lilith, Charles wasn't very interested; their figures were wild, and their looks weren't to Charles's liking.
"Jack and the others are up there," short-haired Camille said, putting away the book in her hand and pointing to the Pacific Park amusement park on the pier.
The large Ferris wheel towering in the amusement park was the one Jack mentioned to Rose in the movie "titanic": "I'm going to take you to Santa Monica to ride the Ferris wheel."
"Girls, why don't we find a bar to rest for a while, then continue tonight!" Charles suggested, clapping his hands.
Following the beach road north, the group arrived at Sony's bar and took a table.
"Order whatever you want to drink," Charles didn't care much about these things. Beer, whiskey, champagne, tequila were all fine, but Charles didn't like vodka and rum.
Teresa, Camille, Lilith, and Elizabeth all cheered, and dark beer and tequila were brought directly to the table.
Enjoying the blue Pacific Ocean view through the glass while sipping iced drinks, the earlier disappointment of losing the beach volleyball game was swept away.
Soon after, a group of four men, led by one named Jack, also arrived.
"Elizabeth, why are you just arriving now?" Jack, who was at least six feet three inches tall, walked over and looked displeased to see Elizabeth sitting with Charles.
"Jack, Charles is my friend!" Elizabeth stood up and pulled Jack.
Damn, what's going on? Is this a scene where I'm supposed to show off and slap someone's face?
Camille tugged Charles's arm and then whispered, "Jack is on the basketball team and likes Elizabeth!"
Charles understood. Basketball team, no wonder he's so mighty and strong! He probably couldn't beat him; his build was really quite large.
Charles, having grown up in the rough communities of East Los Angeles, had been in his share of fights. And now, as a new soul, he wouldn't show any mercy to an american; if he started, he would definitely go for the kill.
"Come, come, everyone, let's drink together. Tonight, we'll go to A Cup Bar; they have an EDM theme party tonight," Charles stood up directly, then asked the waiter for a few more bottles of alcohol.
"A Cup! Cool," Jack's three companions were very happy to hear this news. A Cup was one of the best nightclubs nearby, and there were many hot girls there!
The atmosphere was already there; as long as these guys had alcohol and hot girls, what couldn't be solved?
Charles sat down and accidentally knocked Camille's bag to the floor.
"Sorry, I'll pick it up for you!"
"It's okay."
Charles bent down, and a book fell out of the bag; it must have been the one she was reading earlier.
He picked it up casually. The author, Ann Brashares, published it in 2001: "the sisterhood of the traveling pants"!
"Camille, this novel!" Charles picked up the novel and held it up.
"A good novel. Charles, have you read it too?" Camille didn't expect to meet a young man who liked this type of novel.
Charles shook his head. In his memory, there was only the movie adaptation of the novel, "the sisterhood of the traveling pants," and two parts were filmed.
One of the female leads was Blake Lively.
"Is this novel very popular?"
Camille paused, but a fat man next to them sneered, "A boring novel, I don't know how it stayed on the bestseller list for so long?"
"Camille, this is so uninteresting, it's just a story about four high school students and a pair of jeans!"
Facing the fat man's ridicule, Camille raised her middle finger and retorted, "Damn it, Roger, this is a story about friendship and growth between four girls, such a meaningful book!"
The fat man continued, "It's only popular among female readers; we wouldn't read it."
Charles reached up and stroked his chin, his eyes darting back and forth over the novel. This kind of young adult novel about friendship and growth?
Now Charles knew that Elizabeth and Camille were both from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, but Elizabeth was in the Journalism and Public Relations program, while Camille was in Media Studies.
"the sisterhood of the traveling pants" didn't have high box office numbers. He had seen the movie, mainly for Blake Lively's performance.
Why were two parts filmed? Anyway, the movie's reputation seemed to be good.
"Camille, let me see this book!"
As Charles spoke, he snapped his fingers, called a waiter over, and handed him his credit card.
The meaning was clear: everyone could drink whatever they wanted, and the credit card would be charged directly later.
Charles wanted to find a quiet place to read this book properly. As for beautiful hot girls, how could they be more important than making money?
Charles didn't notice that the card he handed to the waiter was an American Express Centurion Black Card, which not only surprised the waiter but also these young college students.
"Sir..."
"I'm going to read for a while. Take good care of them!" Charles stood up with the book.
"Everyone, I find myself really wanting to finish this book right now. Please excuse me for a bit; I'll be back later!" To everyone's surprise, Charles walked out.
The fat man wiped his face with his hand and, with his mouth wide open, said, "God, he used an Amex Black Card, issued only four years ago. Is he a multimillionaire?"
Everyone looked at Elizabeth again. She shrugged helplessly and laughed, "Charles said he works behind the scenes in movies, so maybe his parents are big shots in Hollywood."
Even Jack, the wealthiest among them, was surprised. Amex Black Card holders have requirements for funds and income! His family was only middle class, not enough.
Of course, Charles didn't know their thoughts. After all, the black card had been exaggerated by some Chinese media, with all sorts of ridiculous stories about planes turning back, trains stopping, and so on.
It was all nonsense. It still came down to one thing: you needed to have money. Which big star didn't have a few black cards? The Amex card was just the most famous and the earliest issued.
However, it did offer many discounts and conveniences for things like hotel stays and airport access.
Charles, meanwhile, went to where he had parked his car, found a quiet spot, and sat down to read the novel "the sisterhood of the traveling pants."