I rarely saw so many elders in one place, nor so many kids, as in the one all-inclusive resort I ever went to. My parents had dragged me along for some 'family bonding' or whatever they called it, which meant they wanted to spend two whole weeks like this. To express my opinion on this: there was a reason I lived in the dorms in college. The only one I could stand was my little brother, who at least shared part of my feelings for the place. He too could find no one of around his age, so we ended up separating us from our parents often.
As the time passed by slowly, I found three things to do: tan, dive in the pool, and hang around at the bar drinking my free beer. With barely any alcohol in that beer it was difficult to numb myself to my parents' shenanigans, but I could at least take a little bit of the edge off. As long as I drank enough of it I could feel some of its influence, and if that didn't help I could go for a leak in the toilets more often than normal.
As evening fell I would usually retreat to my own room. Luckily my parents had done that for me, instead of rooming us all together. I was more than glad they didn't consider sleeping in one room part of their family bonding. And more than often my brother joined me. We wouldn't do all too much, but nevertheless we enjoyed ourselves far more than in their room. Reading a book was much favoured over discussing what our neighbours back home had done, and actually contained some semblance of intelligence.
My boredom, however, faded one day. That was the day I met Sean.
"Excuse me, is this seat taken?"
By the hearing of a rather deep voice I looked up from my plastic cup filled with my third beer of the afternoon. Behind my brother, Noah, stood a guy of my age, and my eyes grew wide with both surprise and joy.
"No, it's free," I told him, and he sat down. He was well-built, wearing shorts and a tank top that revealed much of his muscular form. His blue eyes almost seemed to light up when facing my side, which contrasted his dark hair, as it was pretty much black. After ordering a beer for himself, he extended his hand towards me, past Noah.
"I'm Sean," he said as he gave me a firm handshake, then my brother. "Good to see there's some people here between the extreme averages of age here."
"I'm Mike," I replied. "And yeah, it's like some sort of plague, right?"
Noah introduced himself as well, but if my judgement was correct Sean was even older than I was, which meant he'd have more in common with me than him.
"So, what brings you guys here?" he then asked. "Surely two fella's like yourselves aren't here alone?"
I rolled my eyes and took another sip of my beer, letting Noah do the explaining.
"Our parents took us here," he said. "To spend time bonding, or something."
"Utter bullshit, if you ask me," I added. "This entire time we've done nothing together. It's basically just me and Noah here, imprisoned by the wardens that are our parents."
"Exciting," Sean flatly responded. The boredom dripped from his voice. "So that's what's waiting for me? Damn."
"You only just got here, I take it?" I asked. He nodded.
"First day. I guess I'm lucky my parents let me go here. I can go wherever I want."
Silence returned and we were just three guys drinking their drinks. Noah wasn't old enough for alcohol, so he had some soda instead. I knew he wanted beer too, but the bartender looked strict enough to refuse. I figured the man would even kick us out when I'd let Noah have a sip of mine. All of that was easily visible with the small wristbands, coloured for convenience. Every adult over the age of 21 staying at the resort wore a red one, and all below 21 wore a blue one. Thus, my wrist was graced with red, like Sean's, and Noah had a blue band taped around his skin.
That Noah was younger became painfully apparent when Sean and I began a conversation about college and dorms. My little brother was still in high school, so much of what we discussed was out of his league. Eventually he excused himself, telling me he'd go lying in the sun if I needed him. I nodded as an answer and Sean moved to his seat.
"Ah, I didn't even realise I already missed this on the first day," Sean said with a sigh. "I'm glad we met, you know?"
"Yeah, me too," I replied. "You came here just in time."
He took another sip, emptying his second cup. "How about I take you to one of the nightclubs in the area tonight?"
My eyes grew wide, and my heart skipped a beat. "There's a nightclub close by?"
"There is," Sean said, laughing at my expression. "You didn't know? It's not that big, but it's something. I read about it before I got here."
Just as I was about to accept his offer, I thought of something that prevented me from going.
"Shit, man," I said instead. "I can't go, not before at least midnight."
Sean shrugged. "Then we'll go whenever you're ready."
"It's... it's not me, it's my parents. They always check up on me and Noah. He sleeps in their room, so yeah."
He then sighed and ordered another beer, trying to think of something as well.
"You could let your little brother cover for you," he then said. "Have him tell your parents you're still in your room when you're not."
"Absolutely not. I'm not leaving him to take the fall. I'll be in the lobby just after midnight, okay?"