Santiago runs his finger over my bottom lip and my red lipstick slightly smudges.
"Santi," I hiss. He leans down and nicks my bottom lip in return.
"It's Mr. Alvaro to you, secretary," he rumbles. He ran his hand that was resting on my hips down to...
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The cab comes to a halt in front of my childhood home. It still just as I remember. The chipping yellow paint on our board-built house still has its charming aspects. My mother's flower garden is still flourishing as ever. The porch looks freshly painted with a new fresh coat of white. The coconut tree my brother and I used to climb all the time still stands proudly displaying its benefits.
"We're here," the cab driver says. "$85."
Jesus. But that's my fault for spontaneously showing up in Hawaii instead of calling someone to come pick me up. I reach inside my purse and grab all the money I have. "Shit. I'm five dollars short."
The driver rolls his eyes. He hands me a reader. "I take credit cards." How wonderful. I take out my credit card and stick it into the bottom. The card goes through, and the cab driver pops open the trunk. "Have a nice one," he says.
I slid out of the car and grabbed my suitcase from the trunk. When I'm far away, he drives off. Before I can even walk up the porch, the front door flies open. A chocolate skinned, lean teenager flies to the spot next to me. He lets out a pained groan when he lands.
I turned to the front door to see my little cousin, Lela, standing in the doorway. I can see her pregnancy bump growing. She looks completely pissed. "ʻO ʻoe ka puaʻa lepo! I can't believe your bum ass would cheat on me. Especially when I'm pregnant with your baby." |Hawaiian- You dirty pig!|
The teenager rises from the ground. "Koʻu aloha, I told you she's just a friend from work. She wanted to know if we could trade shifts because of her brother's birthday." |Hawaiian- My love.|
Lela crosses her arms. She looks thoughtfully for a split second before her angry persona comes back. "Yeah, but she didn't have to add the multiple kissy faces and hearts. A thumbs up would've sufficed. Her ass didn't have to be so grateful, and you didn't have to reply back with laughing emojis."
"Lela, all I said was no problem. It's not that big of a deal," the teenager pleaded. That was obviously the wrong choice. Lela marches down the porch with a vengeance. She grabbed the boy by his right ear and dragged him across the lawn. "Go get me some sushi and boba and maybe I'll think about forgiving this little indiscretion."
The teenager scampers off to his car and drives off for the sushi. Lela finally turns her attention over to me. "Leilani! You're back! Welcome home."
Lela wraps her arms around me. I hugged her and added a pat on the back. When she releases me, I take in her form. "W-Wow...I can't believe you're pregnant. Aren't you fifteen?"
"Sixteen now. And yeah, I am, but it wasn't exactly planned. I was borrowing Aora's birth control, and she used the last of it. I took one a couple days prior, and I thought it would still be okay. It wasn't okay."
