PART 1 -- South Beach
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The mid-day streets of downtown Miami were bustling from the Friday lunch hour, with suits flooding the sidewalks and the honking of taxicabs echoing in every direction. When Brian angrily spit out of a tall office building through a revolving door it was into a crowd of people; the passers-by gave the nineteen year-old a wide berth as he growled loudly in frustration and ripped a tie from around his neck. He threw it to the concrete ground with as much strength as he could muster, and then turned to face Charlie and Miley as they came through the door's next rotation.
"Can you believe that crap?" Brian asked of his friends.
Miley tried to calm him. "Brian, you need to relax-"
"My backgrounds need work?" Brian interrupted. "The writing is cliché?!? They basically shit on our entire project, Miley!"
Charlie offered an apologetic smile to a group of passing women who were staring at Brian's tirade.
Brian continued ranting, "Pow! invited us all the way to Miami just to tell us that? They could have done that over the fucking phone!"
Miley put her hand to Brian's shoulder, "I think they're interested, hon. In fact, they really seemed to like your concept pieces. They just want to see something more polished."
"More polished my ass," Brian scowled. "It's a pulp piece, it's supposed to look dark and sketchy."
Miley bit her lip with worry, unsure of what she could say to make Brian feel better.
"I think Brian's right," Charlie said. "They totally missed the point. 'Captain Darkness' is like a period film, we gave it a specific look to match a certain era, and I purposefully wrote the dialogue to be as cheesy as those old comics used to be. I don't think they got it."
"Where the hell was Sam, the submissions editor?" Brian asked. "He was supposed to be there today. Those dickheads we just met with don't have the first damn clue what a good comic book is."
"That was pretty weird," Miley agreed. "They said he was 'out' but didn't really explain it any further. I got the sense that maybe Sam doesn't work there anymore."
"How could that be?" Charlie wondered. He looked to Brian, "Didn't you talk to him just this week?"
Brian nodded, "Yeah, we texted each other on Monday to set the appointment time up."
Miley looked confused, "That was only four days ago. Maybe he's sick or something? That would explain why he didn't re-schedule or let you guys know he wouldn't be there."
"Shit," Brian cursed. "I guess it's back to licking submissions envelopes again."
"Keep your chin up," Charlie encouraged. "It's just one meeting; one comic book publisher. There will be others."
Miley gave Brian a sympathetic look and pat him on the back, "Look on the bright side, we have the rest of the weekend to enjoy Miami?"
"I feel like going home," Brian complained.
"Oh no," Charlie shook his head. "This is the first three-day weekend I've had all summer, and I'm taking advantage of it. We can't let this discourage us. Shrug it off buddy, Captain Darkness isn't dead yet."
"Yeah," Miley agreed, thankful that Charlie had such a positive attitude. She waved for a cab, "As soon as we get back to the hotel and lay out on that glorious beach you'll forget all about comic books."
Brian looked dubious, "What's so special about the beaches here? It's not like we don't have beaches at home."
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The Carlton Hotel, where Brian, Charlie, and Miley were staying, was situated right on Miami's famous South Beach. Sand and lapping waves were only a short walk from the rear of the hotel, beyond an outdoor pool plaza.
As two stunning women dressed in dental floss bikinis walked by, Brian didn't even attempt to conceal the fact that he was ogling them, "Damn, dude."
Charlie grinned as he was applying sunscreen to his arms. The two friends were seated in the sand upon large towels, and Brian had been feasting on the eye-candy since they arrived. Beautiful women dotted the beach as far as either of them could see.
"Seriously dude, I've never seen so much scattered ass in my entire life," Brian remarked. "Even Miley would just blend in around here."
"Don't tell Miley that," Charlie replied dryly, squeezing out more sunscreen into his palm for his torso. He and Brian were wearing only baggy swim trunks, and Charlie worried about burning.
"Speaking of Miley, where is she?"
"I don't know," Charlie looked over his shoulder towards the hotel, "She said she had to get ready, but that she'd be right down."
"Ready? What is there to get ready? It's not like she's coming to a formal occasion, it's the beach."
Charlie shrugged, "She was still in the bathroom when you knocked on the door. I don't ask questions about what she does in the bathroom; I'm certain it's unfathomable."
Brian grinned, "You're so fucking whipped, dude."
Charlie didn't appear to take insult. "I've been staying at Miley's a lot this summer and I've realized the intimate relationship a woman has with her bathroom. I don't understand it, but I calculate Miley has spent roughly half her entire life in one bathroom or another."
Brian laughed, "Stacy's the same way. One time I walked in on her and she was sitting on the toilet peeing, but she didn't even care that I was in there. Then another time I interrupted her while she was doing something to her face with a tweezers and she totally freaked, yelling at me to get out."
Charlie seemed to empathize, "Women are strange creatures, my friend."
"Yeah they are, I'll never... ..."
Charlie glanced at Brian after his friend went silent.
"Holy shit," Brian half whispered.
"What?" Charlie looked in the direction his Brian was staring.
"I was totally wrong about Miley being average for South Beach."
Charlie spotted Miley, who was standing about fifty feet away looking around as though she were lost. She was wearing a yellow bikini that looked spectacular on her toned body, the bottom of which was little more than two strings across her hips that disappeared into the crack of her ass. The top was more modest to help make up for the smaller size of Miley's bosom, but lacked shoulder straps and simply stretched around her chest like a narrow band. Her dark wavy curls were tied back into a kinky pony tail, and Miley wore big movie-star sunglasses and a floppy brimmed hat.
Lacking a job, Miley had been spending the better part of her summer sunning on the roof of her apartment building, so her golden form was ready for South Beach and she put a majority of the other women in sight to shame.
