by Angela Blake
“I love that place. Their chai tea is to die for,” he said taking her hand and leading her over.
“Oh yeah?” she replied, not really sure what chai tea was.
“Yep. It’s a run by a friend of mine.”
“Oh yeah? That’s nice.” Livy was beginning to feel like an awkward robot.
The guy ushered her to a seat on the outside of the coffee shop, underneath an awning where they could enjoy the cool breeze and people watch.
“So I’m Adam. And you are?” the guy held out his hand for her to shake. She took it, albeit with a reluctant smile.
“I’m Liviana.”
“Beautiful name. Italian is it?”
Livy shrugged, “I guess.”
“So Liviana, what has you talking to yourself in the middle of the street?”
Livy laughed, cheeks coloring as she swept her lashes down to cover her eyes. She opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted in a timely fashion by the waitress wanting to take their order.
“We’ll have the chai tea and split a chocolate cake, right Liviana?” Adam asked with a raised eyebrow.
She lifted her own brow right back at him for ordering for her but just nodded in answer.
“I figured whatever it is could use some chocolately therapy, always makes me feel better,” he whispered to her when the waitress left. Livy was rather touched by his concern. He didn’t even know her.
“That’s kind of you.”
Adam waved aside her gratitude, “Hey, I been there. A year ago I was homeless, couch surfing while I tried to finish college. Lucky for me it’s so warm here. Some nights I had nowhere to sleep but the beach. Trust me that will have you talking to yourself in no time.”
Her eyes got steadily wider at his confessions even though she knew he was hoping for some quid pro quo.
“That’s…horrible.” She said.
Adam shrugged, “Not really. When you’re homeless you learn pretty quick what matters and what doesn’t. If anything it really teaches you how to let go of a lot of irrelevant baggage.”
“Hmm, that’s deep. Now I feel stupid about being all upset over-” Livy stopped abruptly. She hadn’t meant to tell him anything.
“Upset over what?” Adam asked leaning in and staring at her with wide interested cerulean eyes.
Livy shrugged, “I just…my…ex I guess.”
“Your ex? You just broke up with someone?”
“No. He broke up with me…months ago. But I thought maybe…”
“You thought maybe you still had a chance?” Adam said.
Livy lifted one shoulder in acknowledgement but didn’t respond otherwise, her eyes on the table.
“And what? You found out that he had moved on?”
Livy looked up at him in surprise, “How’d you know?”
Adam folded his arms, watching her conspiratorially, “When it happens to you, it’s like the worst pain, like it hasn’t ever happened to anyone else the way it’s happened to you. But that’s not true. It’s a pretty common story.”
‘I doubt it,’ she thought as the memory of silver and purple flashed across her mind.
Their chai teas came as did the most succulently rich chocolate cake Livy had ever tasted. She had to admit, it did make her feel slightly better. It also helped that Adam had many stories to share, half of them as funny as they were horrifying. For a short while, she could confine Tane to the back of her mind.
Chapter Fourteen: Charlie Foxtrot
Tane finally managed to get rid of Sandy by claiming he needed to go to the gym. As soon as she was out the door, he called his mother.
“Mom, I know you know where Livy is staying. Please tell me.” He breathed down the line.
Nikora sighed, “What happened?” she asked tiredly.
“A misunderstanding. Where is she?”
“She’s staying at the house.”
“Thanks mom,” Tane said then hung up. He grabbed his keys and wallet and leaped out the door. The Wilson house in Honolulu was in the suburbs so he was thinking maybe he should get an Uber. He was walking down the street fumbling with his phone when something made him look up. She was sitting at a café across the street with some blonde surfer dude, their heads close together and she was laughing. Tane stared, unable to believe his eyes. She had looked so devastated when she left his apartment. Now, barely thirty minutes later, she was flirting with some other dude? Was any of it real? Was anyone genuine anymore or was everyone out to get something from him? He turned around going back to his apartment, a strange pain in his chest. He walked like a zombie to his room, fishing out his gym bag. He might as well make his excuse a real thing. Women definitely were not worth expending his energy or emotions on.
***
The gym was on one of the upper floors, and was glass along one side, which faced out over the huge indoor pool. Tane was running on the treadmill, trying to lose himself in the loud beat of the house music pouring out of the speakers.
He had chosen one of the machines closest to the glass, so he’d have something to watch; he hated exercising alone, it was so boring; one of the main reasons he started boxing was that it kept his mind busy as well as his body, and anything that distracted Tane’s mind for any amount of time was fine with him.
Tane was sent sprawling backwards off a treadmill when his eye caught a movement and he froze. He picked himself up, swearing, his eyes unconsciously seeking out the cause of his distraction. Smack dab in the middle of Tane’s line of sight, was the diving board, high above the large pool. And teetering on the end of it, lean arms stretched up above and obscenely perfect torso was a woman who was such a dead ringer for Livy that Tane was convinced for a moment she’d followed him.
Tane swore softly his heart stopping for a second as she bounced, once, twice; just enough time for Tane to take in the bright red swimming costume smooth, toned expanse of alabaster skin and dripping, slicked-back hair which was starting to curl around her ears. It wasn’t her, but the woman might as well have been a doppelganger.
She tipped forward, body rigidly straight as she completed possibly the most graceful dive Tane’s ever seen, barely causing the water to ripple as she broke the surface and sunk.
"Tane?" Pika his sometimes trainer, tapped on his shoulder, and Tane dimly registered that it wasn’t the first time Pika had spoken, distracted as he was.
‘Yeah, sorry, what?’
‘I just wanted to let you know that I was done, and that I’d see you downstairs, okay?’
The trainer looked mildly concerned. Tane worried for a second whether Pika saw his embarrassing fall. He was just starting to concoct an excuse when the other man shrugged and squeezed Tane’s shoulder, whistling as he sauntered towards the showers.
Tane stayed there for a moment longer, just watching the Livy clone splashing around below. is the girl was very playful; Tane had figured she’d be a strictly-lengths type swimmer, but she and another girl are flicking water at each other and pushing each other under like kids. It was sweet, and Tane could feel something like pain blooming in his chest. The feeling seemed to swell like a balloon distracting him until he realized he was being totally creepy and hurriedly turned away.
He headed off to find Pika, in the hope that he still had some energy left for sparring - a couple of strong knocks to the head were just what he needed right now to take his mind of Livy and her shallow treachery.
Offense, defense, upper-cut-jab-cross, left hook, right hook, jab, jab, cross.
Tane grunted with each punch, the sand-bag jerking and swaying from the impact. Not nearly as satisfying as an actual fight - or even a sparring match - but it did the job. Pika had already taken off by the time Tane tried to catch up. He didn’t know how long he had been there; the minutes all blurred together once he really got going; lost himself in the sharp rhythm of his combos and the muted sting from the impact. He didn’t bother wrapping his knuckles this time. They barely hurt anymo
re. Honestly, he didn’t care if that was from nerve damage rather than sheer strength and endurance.
But fuck, was he angry.
The dangerous angry, too. The angry that made everyone around him leave a safe perimeter between them and him. The angry that once, on a particularly memorable occasion, had even his mother steering clear of his during a fight with another boy from school. It tinted his vision red and fuzzed his mind and sent his, well...Sent him punching, made him take his aggression out on this stupid punching bag instead of the woman he really wanted to knock senseless.
Who the hell did Livy think she was anyway? Showing up at his door, acting all superior and hurt, all the while flirting willy nilly with any surfer dude that caught her fancy. She thought she was fucking God, obviously, but Tane’s always been an atheist and he was so not having it. He wasn’t going to waste another goddamn minute thinking about that girl. She had lost him enough peace of mind already.
He knew he only had himself to blame for pushing her away. But that wasn’t anything he could do something about. She could not know about the mers. But she just kept asking! It was push her away or put her in jeopardy. His father never really had explained what the consequences of knowledge were. But just from his serious demeanor and the fact that he’d never told mom indicated to Tane that they were fucking serious. He saw a lot of his mom in Livy. He could see why they were friends. Maybe he could have found another way to handle the situation without pushing her away. He could own up to his mistakes, even if he was told it was right, and even if he didn’t really have much of a choice. What’s more was he didn’t regret it, not really. His past was what made his Tane, made him stronger and better and, in the end, kinder. He needed to go through what he did to become the man he was. A better person who knew how to handle his shit better.
And that’s why Livy’s actions seemed like an attack on both of them. If this was some petty revenge on him, it really was beneath Livy. Especially since she hadn’t even waited until they’d had a proper conversation. He still didn’t know why she was even here. Tane wished he’d said more to her. He wished he’d made her stay and discuss whatever it was she’d come all this way to say. He wondered if it was something to do with the mer thing. Had she found out something else? He doubted it. However persistent she was, there just wasn’t much to find unless she’d learned to breathe for a full day underwater.
He wondered if they were done. He really didn’t know how long the standard period was before one could declare a relationship dead forever. But before he could stop and think Tane needed to get all his anger out now so it didn’t bubble up inside him and explode later. Just thinking about that whole fiasco boiled his blood and he punched harder, faster, practically growling with every thud of impact. That stupid, inconsiderate, ungrateful, pain-in-the-ass, pretentious, weak-minded, cruel, pathetic excuse of a—
The hinges of the punching bag gave out with a clang and the bag itself flew back a couple feet, skidding across the wooden floor before slowing to a stop, the sand from the top leaking out with a soft hushing sound. Tane stared at it blankly, absently rolling his wrists.
Huh. Guess he was stronger than he thought.
***
Livy unlocked the door of the Wilson house, heart heavy in her chest again. Meeting Adam and letting him distract her had only worked for as long as he was right in front of her. Now she was back to misery and pain. She checked her phone to see if anyone had texted but it was depressingly free of new messages. Did he not care at all that she had come all this way? He must be at least curious surely?
She tossed her phone on the couch and followed it, throwing herself down on it with a sigh staring sightlessly up at the ceiling.
“What now?” she asked the empty house.
She retrieved her phone, ordered a pizza and went to bed.
***
Where are you?
The text was waiting for her when she woke up the next morning. It had been sent early that morning probably before Tane went to class or just as soon as he got there.
Wilson’s house on Park Street.
She replied, heart accelerating with excitement.
omw.
Was his prompt reply.
Maybe he did care after all. She ran to the bathroom, going through her morning ablutions before jumping in the shower and washing herself from head to toe. She blow dried her hair, and then brushed it straight and then went to see what she had to wear. She picked a white see through blouse with black netting underneath and a pair of black jean shorts. It was casual yet classy looking. She turned left and right, studying her image in the mirror critically, looking for flaws. She decided on some kitten heels to lengthen her shapely legs and put her hair up in a messy ponytail then added a pair of silver hoops to her ears.
She gave herself one last glance before nodding her head.
“Perfect,” she told her reflection before traipsing downstairs to make up some mimosas. She had all the ingredients and a little alcohol couldn’t hurt this conversation. She arranged some fruit on a plate and then sat down to wait. He hadn’t really said what time he would be by. She had drunk her first glass of mimosa and was just starting on her second before the doorbell rang. She jumped up, smoothing down her outfit and steadying herself from the sudden dizziness. She kicked off her heels so she could walk and sauntered to the door.
“Chill Piera, keep it cool and casz,” she told herself.
She opened the door, a smile to the ready and for a moment she couldn’t assimilate her expectations to the reality standing outside her door.
“Umm,” she said.
“Hello. Can I come in? we need to talk,” Sandra said stepping into the house without waiting for an invite.
“What are you doing here?” Livy asked, her eyes darting down the driveway to see if Tane was coming.
“He’s not coming,” Sandra said apparently seeing what she did, “I’m the one who texted you.”
Livy’s head whipped around in shock, “I beg your pardon?” she said.
“Like I said, we need to talk.”
Chapter Fifteen: The Boy is Mine
Sandra had spotted Tane as he came into their one common course – economics. It was an elective for both of them and they needed to get this particular course done before they could graduate. She was still smarting from being thrown out of Tane’s apartment the day before. Clearly he had that other girl on his mind. Sandra was finally making headway with him. She wasn’t about to let some rural upstart upset her plans. Tane Patariki was her future husband. He just maybe didn’t know it yet.
She hastened toward him, sitting on the seat next to him.
“Good morning.” She said, “You look like shit.”
“huh?” he replied looking up at her with bleary eyes.
“Did you go out last night?” she probed.
He shook his head much to her relief, “Nah. Just a long evening.”
“Doing…?”
He turned to look at her, eyebrow raised. She shrugged, acknowledging her nosiness.
“I just…you look beat to hell.”
“I feel beat to hell. I might have overdone it at the gym.”
“Oh. I thought maybe you’d had a fight with that girl who came by yesterday.”
“Who Livy? No, I haven’t seen her yet.”
“Yet? You said she wasn’t your ex or whatever.”
Tane shrugged, “Well I’m pretty sure she is now.”
It was her turn to raise her eyebrow but he just shook his head and turned away, fishing his phone out of his pocket to stare at the screen.
“Expecting a text?” she asked.
“Hoping…” he said almost inaudibly.
That was when she knew she had to nip this thing in the bud. She waited until class began and Tane’s attention was on the PowerPoint presentation before snaking her hand in the pocket of his shorts and stealing his phone. She searched the girl’s number surreptiti
ously, finding a Livy not a Liviana. She decided to text the number and see what happened.
It was an anxious hour later, just as class was winding up, that she got her reply. She quickly typed out a reply and then deleted the conversation. As they were walking out of class, she slipped his phone back in his pocket.
“So what’s your next class?” she asked.
“Marine phytophysiology,” he replied.
“Ugh, good luck with that. Meet later for coffee?”
“Yeah, why not?”
They parted ways and she went to her house and drove to Park Street right away.
***
“What do you want with my boyfriend?” she asked Livy as she posed in the doorway between the hall and the living room.
“Excuse me?” Livy said tilting her head in surprise.
“You come to Honolulu, walk into my boyfriend’s house like you own it and upset him with your presence. So I’m asking you, what the hell do you want with us?”
“Us?”
“Yes. Us. Tane and I are practically engaged,” Sandra said brandishing the tiny diamond on her finger. Livy stared at it with her mouth open, her pale skin looking sickly. Sandra almost burst out laughing at how easy it was. She took a menacing step toward the other girl.
“I don’t like it when my boyfriend is upset. So I suggest you take your gold digging ass back to wherever you came from. Tane is not the one for you.”
The girl just stared at her like she had no clue what Sandra had just said.
“Do you hear me?” Sandra asked.
“Y-yeah,” Livy replied. Her voice was shaking. Sandra nodded in satisfaction and pirouetted around her, practically prancing to the door.
“See you around,” she said airily, “Not.”
***
Livy sat in the living room, staring blankly at the opposite wall, unable to process what had just happened.
‘Tane is engaged?’ the words echoed in her mind like a tolling bell taking with them hope and happiness.
“What…?” she murmured around folded in on herself as if that would shield her from the pain.
