❀ chapter forty | we're going to hawai'i! ❀

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Seth nearly fell into the lake as he threw up his arms and shouted, "You're going to Hawai'i?!"

"Grace invited me," I explained. "I'd sure rather hear her apologies over a margarita on the beach, so I accepted."

"Margarita?" Eli snorted. "Your mom would let you drink underage?"

"If she's really sorry, yes."

Seth laughed and sat back down on the dock. We stared out at the lake, our legs dangling over the light, calming waves. If Eli's mom weren't inside his fancy house twenty feet away, Eli and Seth would be passing a joint back and forth—or daring one another to jump in the frigid water, seeing who could last the longest. Seth would win—he always did—and credit his cold-resistance to his "Russian blood".

"Isn't it cold in Hawai'i?" Eli asked. "It's December."

"Not that cold, actually," I said. "Still good to swim. Why do you think all the British and German tourists come swarming like flies around this time of year?"

Seth raised his chin. "Not the Russians. We're not weak like those Western Europe pu—"

Eli elbowed him in the ribs, promptly cutting him off. "Are you saying you wouldn't want to spend Christmas on the beach?"

Seth pushed him back. "Hell yeah I would!"

"Maybe I can convince my parents to buy you a ticket."

"For real?"

"No! They don't even like you."

"The hell did I do to deserve that?"

"A lot, Seth. A lot."

Seth leaned back on his elbows, his brows furrowing. "Am I the toxic friend?"

"Yes," Eli and I said at the same time.

"But you are getting better," Eli added.

Did Eli stick around for the potential of Seth? Did Eli think he could change him like he once thought he could change me?

Seth gave me a wink. "You should invite Eli for Christmas so he can finally thaw your frost."

Eli's lips twisted in a bitter smirk. "Too bad Jack already has. I know you like him, Romy."

Was it that obvious?

Seth looked as if Eli had just spit out the craziest conspiracy theory. "Bro, how would you know?"

"Maybe because Eli likes both me and Jack, so he pays extra attention," I said.

Seth made a hooting noise and clapped me on the back. Sometimes he really forgot I wasn't one of his frat dude friends.

"Moving on," Eli murmured. "For the holidays we usually go to Mexico City. Or California. My family would never let me spend Christmas away from them."

"So tell them all to come to Hawai'i," Seth suggested.

"Not the California family," I said. "I hooked up with his cousin when he came to tour the University of Washington campus. Eli never forgave me."

Eli scoffed, "Because you didn't even feel bad about it!"

Seth's eyes bulged. "Is this is why you two broke up?"

"We were never together," I corrected. "Axel's pretty hot. But I have to give it to you, Eli, you're far better in the bedroom department."

Eli shook his head, but his posture straightened, and I could tell he felt at least a little better after that "compliment".

Seth wrapped one arm around Eli's waist, pulling him close. "What about New Year's Eve? You wanna spend it together on a tropical island in the middle of the ocean, bro?"

I smiled at the oddly cute scene. "Eli, you'll finally have a New Year's kiss!"

"Shut uuup," Eli said, but he started laughing, letting himself fall into Seth's arms.

"It would be fun if we could afford it," I said. "I should ask Jack if he wants to come."

Seth grinned. "Do it! Do it; we're all gonna be a team."

Eli, still leaning against Seth, looked up at him skeptically. "A team? After you picked on him for years? Being a team is going to take a lot more work than you think."

"Yeah, and you've been bystanders the whole time," Seth muttered.

Eli untangled himself from him. "I know it was wrong. I've been meaning to apologize to him."

"Maybe your apology could be paying for his plane ticket," I suggested. "Can't get any better than that."

"That," Eli said, "is not a bad idea."

"You can't take Jack and not me, bro," Seth whined.

"You can come if you follow some simple rules," Eli began. "No more bullying. No more using the f-slur. I'm not putting up with that anymore. Behave yourself."

"Okay..."

Did he seriously need to be bribed? But who was I to judge? If anything, I was judging Eli—out of envy more than anything. We were all eighteen, so technically we didn't need our parents' permission to travel. But Eli—who'd never worked a day in his life—had so much money saved up from his family over the years he could afford to buy tickets to Hawai'i in the middle of December like it was nothing.

"We forgot to invite Megan," he said.

Seth shrugged. "She ditched us for the beauty pageant crowd. When was that anyway?"

Eli sat cross-legged on the dock. "It passed. She came in third place. She told me she's spending New Year's at this ski resort with her friends."

"Can I invite Anika, then?" I asked. "My juvie friend?"

"Not her! She's going to ruin the vibe."

"No, not Penelope. I'm talking about Anika. She's chill. You'd like her, Eli. She's very poetic. I can try to get Grace to pay for her ticket. She already agreed to cover Talia's."

But why was I wanting to invite Anika in the first place? To bring that part of my world into this part of my world? Just like when I'd introduced her to Talia. All these parts of me were rapidly collapsing into one...

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"Hello?"

"Hey, Anika," I said, holding the phone closer to my ear. "It's Romy. When are you going to Oregon?"

"I won't be going to Oregon anymore," she said somberly.

"What happened?"

"I discovered that the hippies I was with do heroin."

Anika once told me she grew up with opiate addiction in her family. I'd never seen her feeling down about it, but the sadness in her voice now was tangible. Even over the phone.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said. "I doubt God was in Oregon anyway. But I might have a better idea. Do you have any plans for Christmas?"

"No."

"Do you want to spend the holidays in Hawai'i with me and Talia? And, um, my friends Seth and Eli?"

Anika was silent for a long time until she quietly said the words, "Why would you ask me this?"

"Why not? My biological mom is paying for me and Talia to go. I'm getting ready for some family drama, but if you don't mind, it could be fun to have you there. The only thing is that I'd have to convince Grace to pay for your ticket. But the only reason she's loaded right now is because she got inheritance from my grandpa, so half of it should be mine anyway."

After a pause, Anika asked, "You would use part of this theoretical inheritance money of yours to pay for my ticket?"

"Um, yes?"

"Not to offend, but I had assumed you were stingy and cheap."

"Hey, I'm not planning on channeling my inner Scrooge this Christmas," I laughed. "Remember how in juvie we promised we'd have each other's backs even after we got out?"

"I didn't realize you would remember me after you got out."

"You don't realize you make one hell of an impression. Of course I'd remember you."

"I see."

I walked back to where the boys were on the dock—now wrestling and laughing their asses off. I knew what Eli liked about Seth so much, why he stuck around—Seth made his brooding self laugh like no one else could.

"Let me put you on speaker," I told Anika. "This is Eli and Seth. Guys, this is Anika."

They both stood up.

"Hi," Eli said. He wrapped his jacket tighter around him as the wind picked up and clouds slowly blotted out the sun.

"What's uuuup!" Seth exclaimed. "We're going to have a partaaaay."

"I've never been to one of those," Anika said.

"Hell yeah! First time for everything."

Leave it to Seth for the infectious enthusiasm.

"What do I need to do in exchange?" Anika asked. "What's the catch?"

"Nothing," Eli said. "Happy holidays?"

"This sounds like a human trafficking scheme."

"Oh my God, Anika, it's not," I said. "We can meet up here first if it helps. And these two aren't coming with me for Christmas. Just a legendary New Year's Eve on the island of O'ahu. Where I was born, remember?"

Anika sighed. "I suppose if I'm to be trafficked, it would be nice for my last sight to be the sea."

Eli looked disturbed. Seth cackled, "Damn, you're funny! I'm liking her already."

"So, what do you say?" I asked her. Seth inched closer to the phone to hear her response.

"I'll think about it."

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Here I was—on the same dock where a drunk Jack had launched himself onto Eli's parents' boat, and we'd drifted along the lake for hours until dawn.

Now I'd try to convince him to come with us.

I pulled up his contact on my screen. My heart beat fast, sending shockwaves up my body, way up into my brain where my thoughts scattered in all directions. I'd spent a week with no idea when or if I'd talk to him again. My throat closed up, but I couldn't go all quiet on him now. Memories from the night with him on this very lake, lost in the mountains, even arguing with him at the flower shop or in his room—they came back all at once, and I hadn't even called him yet.

"What are you waiting for?" Eli asked, his sharp gaze definitely trying to figure me out.

No time for hesitation. I pressed dial and ordered my heart to stay still. Jack was just another boy—a dork obsessed with rocks of all things—and I had no reason to be combusting into flames here. Would he even want me to call, though? Why hadn't he texted me? Why hadn't I texted him? Was he offended I gave him space?

He answered on the fourth ring.

Would he say anything? Was his arm alright? Did it matter?

"Hey," I said. "It's... Romy. You probably already knew that but, um, yeah."

All I heard was his shallow breathing from the other line. I couldn't read him at all. No nods, no glares, no pouts. I should've tried Facetime instead because this was pushing my telepathy skills to their limit. What was he possibly thinking right now? Was he nervous? Angry? Anxious?

"I hope your arm is okay," I began, hating how shaky I sounded. I couldn't read Jack's mind, but I sure felt Eli's quiet judgment beside me. I could not let him see me flustered. "We kind of have this crazy plan. Grace invited me to spend the holidays in Honolulu with her. Eli and Seth want to come and spend New Year's there. We even invited Anika. And we thought we'd invite you."

I heard Jack's light laugh from the other line.

Forget it. I just about combusted into flames despite the cloudy, humid weather. I'd cause a wildfire in winter just from that laugh alone.

"Let me talk to him," Eli said. "In private."

"Eli wants to talk to you," I said, annoyed at him interrupting. Maybe for the best, though. I needed to chill the hell out, so I gave him the phone and went back to where Seth was sitting, now smoking a cigarette.

"Better hope Eli's mom doesn't catch you with that," I said.

Seth smirked, offering me the cigarette, but I shook my head. I watched Eli talk quietly into the phone.

"I'm dying to know what they're saying," I muttered. "What do you think?"

Seth blew out a puff of smoke in their direction. "I have no clue, bro."

But it didn't matter. Because by the time Eli came back, he handed me my phone. And a new text lit up the screen.

From Jackass:

i'll go :)

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A/N: This whole chapter just to have our cast ready to go traveling together! I can't wait to write the following scenes. If Eli and Romy invited you to go spend New Year's with them, would you agree? What do you think Eli said to Jack? 😱


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