Chasing Aloha

by Nikki Godwin

  She flips through the radio stations, unable to settle on anything in particular, while we ride in an awkward silence. I debate asking questions, but my confidence is at an all time low. I’ve never been this quiet and unsure of myself. Talking to girls was never a problem when I could pretend I was a Hawaiian Casanova, but now I’m the guy in the mugshot. It’s a different world.

  “So, um, are your friends meeting us there?” I ask. “Wherever we’re going?”

  “Actually, they’re not coming,” she admits.

  A long sigh exits my mouth. “Well. Can’t say I blame them. I wouldn’t want to be around me either,” I say.

  It’s all true. I can’t blame anyone for keeping their distance from me. That photo of A.J.’s car was in every newspaper and on every surf forum. I’m sure the news channels air it here just as they did back in Cali. Even if I had nothing to do with A.J.’s wreck, that car is the image tied to this scandal, and my name is in every article.

  But it still hurts. This isn’t who I am. This isn’t who I want people to see.

  “I didn’t invite them,” Leilani says. She steers her car into a parking lot near a beach. “It’s not because of your reputation, either. I wanted to hang out with you like old times, and I was afraid you would say no if you thought it was just us because you’re trying to protect my image.”

  I don’t say anything as I take in the surroundings. I’ve been here before, years ago, as a kid. I was with my parents, and Leilani’s siblings were here too. We wanted to explore the caves, but our parents said we were too small, and they wanted to spend a day on the beach, not indulging Leilani’s daydreams of mermaids actually existing.

  “This is Starlight Cavern,” I say, ignoring her admission that she didn’t invite her friends along. “We always said we’d come back here.”

  “I’ve been here a few times,” she says, pointing out toward the actual caves. “It’s really pretty. The waterfalls are amazing. But any time I came out here, I always thought of you, and it felt wrong to explore when you weren’t here. Silly, I know. Childhood promises shouldn’t be taken seriously.”

  I wish I could go back to the days of childhood, where the most important thing was finding out if mermaids were real and if dolphins could talk to them. We once spent an entire afternoon at the public library combing through folklore books in hopes of finding something substantial. We thought if we proved our point, our parents would have to let us search the caves.

  “They’re closed this late at night,” she says, glancing back toward me. “You know, safety precautions. I don’t want to risk getting you in trouble, but we can still go down to the beach.”

  Sometimes, growing up, I wondered if Leilani was actually a mermaid, like it was her deep dark secret and she was dying to tell me but couldn’t, and all of this folklore and legend talk was her way of hinting something bigger to me.

  I know better now, but I still secretly hope she’s the siren who can save me.

  Chapter Ten – Leilani

  I grab a large beach towel from my backseat, and we make our way down toward the sand. He helps me spread it out on the ground and kicks off his flip-flops before sitting and staring out at the ocean.

  “It’s nice to see it so empty out there,” I say, stretching my legs out next to him. “During the day, this place is covered with tourists and surfers and kids running around on the beach. It’s not what it was when we were growing up.”

  He laughs. “Tourism isn’t the worst thing. Crescent Cove was pretty much a tourist town, but that’s what leads you to places like Horn Island,” he says. “It’s not a place you put on a postcard, but it has depth. Gritty. Real. I don’t think Hawaii even has places like it.”

  “Do you miss it?” I ask. I’m not sure if I want the real answer to that.

  He nods, slowly. “Yeah, actually, I do. But I missed it here too,” he says. “I wanted to have both, and now I have neither. I don’t think I even realized how much I loved California until I was so deep with the Burkses that I couldn’t find my way out.”

  “What really happened?” I ask, forcing myself to look toward him. “How did you get involved? Why you?”

  “Are you sure you want to hear this?” he asks.

  “Yes, from the beginning,” I say.

  He starts from the day his friend Topher sent a letter to the Burkses with nothing more than the name ‘Colby Taylor’ written in chicken-scratch handwriting. Nothing happened for a while, and eventually everyone moved along and forgot.

  “We thought maybe the address was wrong or they never received it, but one day, this number I didn’t know called my phone, and I answered it because I figured maybe it was someone I’d given my number to at one time,” Kale explains. “But it was Colby’s mom. She found me through social media, and long story short, I was the weakest link. I didn’t see that until my lawyers played that card. I was offended at first, but they were right. I was the weak link that broke the Drenaline Surf chain.”

  At first, it was just a little money to take photographs and send them proof that Colby Taylor was indeed their ‘missing and presumed dead’ son. Then it was eavesdropping on conversations, finding out where Colby would be and when.

  “I gave them info on surf competitions and events his sponsors were holding,” he says. “It seemed harmless, and Topher had always said that Colby had it coming. When you play with fire, you get burned, and eventually the flames would catch up to him. I didn’t realize I was the one flicking the lighter all the time, though. The stakes kept getting higher – plant this device, we’ll send a bigger dollar amount. Leave this here, we’ll send more. The money was nice. It was my ticket to Hawaii. Then it turned into what you’ve seen on the news.”

  I’ll never forget the day that Keiko banged on my bedroom door, telling me I had to see whose mugshot was on the internet. I sat on my bed crying, saying it had to be a mistake, while my brother thumbed through image after image of a crushed maroon car that’d been smashed into a tree. I watched footage of Drenaline Surf’s press conference. I watched Kale apologize on live TV. And I sobbed through every second of it because I knew it couldn’t be real.

  “I never wanted to hurt Drenaline Surf,” Kale says, a real sadness floating in his eyes. “Never. They were my family there. They welcomed me in, no questions asked. That was where it all fell apart. I didn’t mind ratting Colby out, and it wasn’t a Colby issue. I like the guy. He’s chill, he’s a great surfer, and he’s not a bad guy. Stupid, maybe, and a bad decision maker, but I’m not one to talk anymore. I assumed his lies would all come out in the end anyway. But when they went after Shark’s memory and his legacy and all that Vin had done to build Drenaline Surf up after that, it was too late to back out, and it all fell apart.”

  Anyone who is a surf fan knows about Colby Taylor and this scandal. He’s going to be the most famous surfer on the planet. It’s destiny. But if you know about Colby, you know about Drenaline Surf, and if you know about Drenaline Surf, you know about the tragedy of Shark McAllister. Anyone on the outside would say they’ve been through enough already. I thought that too before I saw Kale’s picture in the paper.

  “You don’t blame Colby now?” I question. “I mean, if you look at the root of all of this, he’s the one who started it. He lied to everyone. He let his family believe he was dead. He started the web of lies to begin with.”

  Kale nods. “I used to think that. I used to think he had it coming, but the more I dealt with his parents and saw the chokehold they had on me, I realized it was probably a hundred times worse for him,” he says. “The threats, the power trips, the egos… Death is the only way to escape his parents. He did what he had to in order to survive. If anything, I wish I had stopped Topher from mailing that piece of paper.”

  I can’t give him back his California friends or Drenaline Surf, but there’s an authenticity to what he’s saying, a tone of genuine remorse in his words. I don’t like playing dirty with my own brother, but Keiko owes me a favor, and I t
hink it’s time to cash it in.

  “Do you remember Surf-N-Swells? The surf shop out on Stingray Drive?” I ask.

  “Of course,” he says. “I bought my first actual board there. Is it still around?”

  I nod. “My brother is actually the manager there,” I tell him. “He swears that when Peko retires, he’s going to see if he can buy the place. They’ve expanded. It’s a lot bigger than you’ll remember. A little more commercial but they get a good bit of business.”

  “That’s awesome. More power to the little guys,” he says.

  “I’m going to see if Keiko will get you a job there,” I say. “Wait – before you argue with me, hear me out. My brother owes me a favor, and I’ve been hanging on to it for two years now because Keiko is pretty set in his ways. All strong-minded and stubborn. You know how he’s always been. But he’ll do this for me, and it’ll be good for you. For both of us.”

  He shakes his head. “I can’t do that. He hates me.”

  “No, he hates who he thinks you are,” I correct him. “Once he sees that you’re on the path to redemption, he’ll help you out. He’s not as bad as you think he is. I’ve just gotta prove you both wrong to each other.”

  Chapter Eleven – Kale

  “I’m only doing this for Lani,” Keiko says, as if that wasn’t already obvious. “Uniform is simple enough. Khakis or khaki shorts, and a Surf-N-Swells T-shirt, which we provide. You know how to work a register, so I’ll have you train for a few days on it to learn our system. We’re a surf shop. Regardless of anything I think about you, you know surfing, so trust your gut, and if you can help it, stay out of scandals, okay?”

  “Got it,” I say, even though I still want to knock this guy out because he can be such an ass. I don’t remember him being this bad when I was younger, but then again, maybe it’s just me and my reputation that bring out the worst in him.

  Keiko steps closer, lowering his voice. “I’ll work around your community service and trial dates,” he says. “Just keep me informed, and if you need time off, that’s fine. It is what it is. That comes first. Assuming it all works out, we can give you more hours after it’s all said and done.”

  He hands me a T-shirt to change into, and I join a girl named Tori at the register to learn their software system. Keiko tells her to keep an eye on me before he disappears into the back office to handle all that manager business. He’s another Vin Brooks in the making, except he actually surfs and is pretty damn good at it, which I hate to admit.

  After checking out a few customers and realizing this is incredibly similar to working at Drenaline Surf, I feel a lot better about my ability to work here. Now if I could just escape the whispers and stares, we’d be in business. I’m in the process of scanning a pair of sunglasses when Tori walks back toward the register.

  “Hey, you surf, right?” she asks. “Because I don’t. There’s a kid over there, probably about twelve-ish or so, and he’s looking for his first ‘real’ board. Think you could help him out?”

  She points to a boy with messy black hair lingering around the surfboards. He wears a Hurley T-shirt and board shorts. I loosen my shoulders and walk over, hoping this kid doesn’t watch the news with his parents.

  “I heard you’re looking for your first real surfboard,” I say, approaching him. “I’m Kale. What’s your name?”

  “Tao,” he says, eyeball deep and overwhelmed by the selection.

  “Well, Tao, let’s talk surfing,” I say. “Are you more into the whole power surfing aspect or the new game of aerials and crazy maneuvers?”

  He looks up at me. “All of it. John John Florence is my favorite surfer, and he does it all, so I want to do it all,” he says.

  Classic of a Hawaiian kid to be a JJF fan. I can’t blame him, though. He’s one of my favorites too. The guy can surf his brain out like no one else can.

  “That explains the Hurley shirt,” I say, nodding at the logo on his chest. “You hoping to follow in his footsteps someday? Be a big star on the world tour?”

  Tao quickly shakes his head, his messy hair flopping around. “That’s not for me,” he says. “I love surfing, and it’d be cool to work somewhere like here. You know, so I could be around surf stuff, but I don’t want to do all that traveling because then I’d be on planes and I’d rather be on a surfboard.”

  It drives through me like a board slicing a wave. Miles used to say that big league surfing wasn’t for him, and I always thought he was crazy for it. Who wouldn’t want to travel the world and surf the best swells and experience all the different cultures and countries on Earth? That was my plan. I was going to bust my ass to be as good as Topher and make the world tour. I was going to be that cool guy from Hawaii who was friends with everyone and loved to surf and enjoyed life. I had a plan before I got mixed up with Colby’s parents.

  But maybe this kid is on to something. Hawaii has some of the best waves on the planet. Surfers from all over the world come here for our swells. All I have to do is walk outside and paddle out. Why spend time flying around the world hoping your boards make it in one piece when you’re just a few feet away from the best of the best?

  “You know what? I think you’re right,” I tell Tao. “Surfing for fun, with your friends, is pretty much the best it gets. Let’s get your measurements, and I’ll help you find the perfect board.”

  Chapter Twelve – Leilani

  “You sure about this?” Kale asks, looking out at the water like it’s foreign territory that will suck him into outer space and never bring him back. “I don’t have a good past with night surfing.”

  Water rushes over his feet next to me as I wax my board in the glow of the full moon. I drag the bar back and forth over the surface, preparing for my first night surf in ages. It’s not the ideal time to surf because you can’t see a freaking thing, but the ocean is empty right now, and that’s what’s important.

  “Do you want to surf in the morning?” I ask. “Keiko is up before the sun. I’m usually up with the sunrise, but by then, everyone else is already in the water. If you want to face a crowded lineup, be my guest.”

  I attach my leash, stand up, and position myself next to him. It’s now or never, and he knows it. The white caps of the waves glisten under the moon, rolling in like crumbling snow on top of the ocean.

  “Lead the way,” he says.

  Water gushes around us as we lunge forward into the waves, paddling over the choppiness and out into the dark beyond. It’s not a good night for surfing because the waves are as sleepy as our town, but Kale needs to feel the salt water against his skin again. He needs to feel a board under his body. He needs to paddle against the waves, pushing through against all odds. Tonight isn’t about scoring a perfect swell. It’s about reintroducing him to the ocean.

  “I’ve missed this!” he calls out. “I forgot how good it feels to have salt water in your eyes.”

  I laugh. Only a true surfer loves something that awful. I still have days where I hate it, but for the most part, I’ve adjusted. I only stop paddling when he does, and we sit adrift in the ocean, feeling little waves bump through under us.

  “Thanks for talking to your brother,” Kale says. “You didn’t have to cash in your favor for me, though. But I do appreciate it, more than you know.”

  I don’t tell Kale about the night that Keiko called me needing me to pick him up from the side of the road. He knew he was too drunk to drive, and luckily he had the sense to pull over. I had my license, but I didn’t have a car yet, and he didn’t want Mom or Dad to know. He didn’t even tell Kalani, and he’s always been closer to her.

  I snuck out my window and rode my old bike to where he was waiting, pulled off in a ditch hoping I’d get there before a police officer stopped to check on him. I loaded the bike into the trunk, drove him home, helped him get inside, and closed my window. It was sort of miraculous that no one heard us sneaking in. He thanked me the next morning and asked for my secrecy in exchange for a favor, at any given time, for whatever I want
ed or needed.

  I’ll keep my brother’s demon between us, but I knew he wouldn’t say ‘no’ when I asked him to hire Kale. He won’t admit it, but I think he’s actually happy to have a surfer working in the store instead of just teenagers who need a job and could work at any retail shop. Kale brings something new to the store. He has a knowledge of the products, the surf world, and the culture. Criminal record or not, he belongs there.

  “It wasn’t a problem,” I say, even though he won’t believe me. “I never thought I’d actually ask for a favor anyway. But this was the right thing to do, and he knew that. I believe in second chances as much as I believe in the light of Hina and the mermaid colony of Starlight Cavern.”

  He laughs. “I’m lucky that you’re my next door neighbor and not someone else,” he says. “Imagine the life I’d be building if you weren’t around.”

  I’m thankful for the night sky right now so he can’t see my cheeks blushing. A wave rolls under us, and I look up at the white caps pummeling toward us.

  “Second wave of the set is always best,” I remind him. “Hurry. You still have time to paddle!”

  He doesn’t hesitate. With true surfer instinct, he turns his board around and punches his arms into the water, paddling into the wave with impeccable timing. He pops up, carves into the water, and sprays a fan of salt water over the lip.

  I don’t know if it was the mermaids or the moon goddess or just a change in the tides that sent that wave, but the aloha spirit is alive right now, and no one deserves it more than the boy surfing into shore.

  Chapter Thirteen – Kale

  Community service isn’t so bad when the girl next door tags along. I check in and grab my gloves before we head down the beach to a new section of sand to comb through. After my debt to society is paid, I may still stroll the beaches and pick up trash just out of habit. Emily always wanted to start up her own beach cleanups back in California. She had it in her head that she could save all of the turtles.