The One Without Words

❀ chapter forty-one | xmas in waikiki ❀

A/N: Picture above is of Waikiki, taken by my photographer sister! So many of her photos have been inspiration for my settings in my stories. Follow her on Instagram: @prestesfilm 

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The plane ride was kind of awkward—other than the views as we descended toward an ocean colored with the most vivid blues and greens I'd ever seen. Grace had wanted to sit next to me—hell no—so I'd told Anika to sit with her instead. I figured that could be her way to pay me back for the invite, but her and Grace seemed to get along well enough. 

And finally... Honolulu. I had no idea how much I'd missed the sun. Anika squinted at the light, looking like she'd just stepped onto a different planet.

"This is amazing!" Talia exclaimed, even though we were still at the airport, surrounded by concrete pillars as we waited for the Uber. "Grace... I know I already said this, but I really appreciate you bringing us here."

"It's no problem," Grace said with a smile. "I don't know you very well, but you're Romy's sister, and that means you're like a daughter to me."

Bullshit, I thought.

"And I'm the reject foster child," Anika added.

I laughed while Talia and Grace froze, taken aback by the joke-they-probably-didn't-understand-was-a-joke. They'd get used to Anika's deadpan sense of humor soon enough.

Talia muttered, "You're not a reject..."

But before Anika could respond, the Uber showed up. And after a twenty-minute drive through infamous Honolulu traffic, the bustle and commotion of cars shielding the view of the ocean, we arrived in Waikiki.

Once a retreat for Hawaiian royalty; now the focal point for tourists on the south shore of the island. I used to hate it while we lived here—everyone loved to hate on Waikiki except for Grace—but now it filled me with nostalgia. After hauling my suitcase from the Uber, I took in the sights, even spotting the sushi place we used to go to all the time. More restaurants, towering hotels, souvenir shops, and designer stores lined the crowded Kalakaua Avenue.

Tourists passed us on the sidewalk, speaking in all kinds of different languages. I recognized Japanese immediately, but also Chinese and even... German. Weird. How did I know what German sounded like now?

Beyond the famous statue of Duke Kahanamoku—one of my dad's idols—I recognized the beach where I almost drowned. With all the tourists around, you'd think someone would've stepped in to help me, but the current took me away instead.

Good thing I was always good at keeping my head above water.

Grace led us to the beachside resort we'd stay at. People in slippers with sunburned cheeks came in and out of the revolving doors. Little kids yelled in the lobby. I had to arch my head far back to see the crazy high ceiling. And after checking in, we got on an elevator and went up twenty levels before getting to the double room—Grace would stay in one, and us three pseudo-sisters would stay in the other. Both rooms had a view of the beaches of Waikiki. Surfers looked like little ants chasing after the waves, and boats lined the horizon as the blue of the ocean deepened.

"I need to get changed," Talia said. "Look at that ocean; can we please to go the beach today?"

"Not that beach," I said. "There's a lot more to see on the eastern part of the island."

"I booked a resort for a reason," Grace said. "So we don't need to travel far. There's everything we need here."

Families and crowds piling in for the holidays, all going shopping and eating and clubbing at the most commercial region of the island? No thanks, but I wasn't the one paying.