when you least expect it | sean lew

[ one ]

***

"Are you serious?!" Kailani screamed, frantically jumping up and down.

Her mom sighed. "Your dad and I agreed that this is a great opportunity for you and dance does mean a lot to you.. but the second your visa is up, you are coming home and focusing on nothing but your schoolwork."

Kailani could feel tears beginning to well up in her eyes as she hugged her mom. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, mama! You won't regret it!" she said before running up to her room to FaceTime her cousin and childhood best friend, Julian.

When Kailani had lived in the US as a child, she was closest with her cousin Julian because they were close in age and both shared a passion of dancing since they were both young. But then her parents decided to move her back to the Philippines and she had spent a majority of her pre-teen years there. Her and Julian kept in touch and over the years, Julian slowly became well-known as a dancer and moved to LA to pursue his dancing career. He encouraged her to attend Matt Steffanina's workshop when he was in Manila and Matt was blown away by her talent. He offered for her to come dance in LA and train with some of the best young dancers in the country and she couldn't be more excited. When she told Julian, he couldn't offer up letting her stay at his apartment during her stay quick enough. They hadn't seen each other in years and now she would get to dance with him again, just like old times. Her mom was more willing since she would be with Julian and he had already adjusted to the LA life, along with Matt offering to cover a majority of her expenses and to watch over her while she was here. It was the opportunity of a lifetime.

After a few rings of the Facetime tone, Julian finally picked up. "Kai, what do you want? It's 4am over here." he groaned.

"JULES, MY PARENTS SAID YES!" she screamed.

"Holy shit, are you serious?!" he asked, wide awake now.

"Yes!! I'm flying out in two days!"

Kailani watched him sit up and turn his lamp on. He had tired eyes but also a wide smile on his face. "I can't believe it. Wow, I can't wait for you to meet all my friends. And we finally get to dance together!"

She laughed. "The OG dynamic duo."

"Always." he chuckled. "Hey, I gotta be up in a few hours for a workshop but keep me updated! And let me know when you fly out!"

"Will do! Ingat ka(Take care)!" she said, hanging up the call.

****

After a grueling day of flying, layovers, and delays for 15 hours of flying, Kailani had finally made it to LAX. She exited the airport after finally getting through customs and scanned the line of cars for Julian. After double-checking her texts that she was in the right spot, she looked up and saw him a few cars down holding a paper sign that said "DeGuzman" on it.

She giggled and ran over to him, knocking the stupid sign out of his hands before giving him a big hug. "You're such a dork." she laughed.

"Um, excuse me, ma'am, this is no way to be treating your chauffeur." he smirked, hugging her back.

"Again, you're a dork." she giggled.

He chuckled. "Mabuhay," he greeted, reading the word written on his palm. Julian knew not a single word of Tagalog, the Filipino language, which made messing with him way more fun to Kailani. "and welcome to LA, my wonderful, amazingly talented cousin!"

Her eyes flickered with excitement. "Ay jusko(my goodness)," she laughed. "Thank you, my wonderful, equally amazingly talented cousin." she said, nudging his shoulder. "Now can we please get going? The sooner I get to dance again with my favorite person in the whole world, the better!"

"Aren't you tired?" he asked, putting her luggage in the back of his car.

She shakes her head. "Too much excitement and adrenaline.. give me a few hours though and I will knock out."

He laughed as they both get into the car and he pulls out onto the road. "Well, you got here just in time. Matt's hosting a workshop down at Millennium tonight so you get to meet all my friends!" he says before looking over at her.

He smirked when he noticed that she's already fallen asleep against the window.

*****

After a few hours of getting settled at Julian's apartment and taking a good nap, Kailani hopped out of the shower and into her carefully picked out dance clothes. She was never one to care about what kind of clothes she was wearing when she went to dance but she knew she had to look nice to make a good first impression on Julian's friends. Kailani knew Julian and his group of friends had a big following and were really popular on social media but oddly enough, she knew nothing about any of his friends except for the fact that they were amazing dancers. But that alone was enough for her to be anxious about meeting them.. and for her stomach to do flips as she thought about dancing alongside them.

What if she wasn't good enough?

She sighed, shaking off the nerves and putting on a tad bit of makeup. Her eyes were still a little groggy from the flight and she just wanted to brighten them up a bit. She piled her long dark hair onto the top of her head into a messy bun and took one last look at herself in the mirror.

This'll have to do, she thought.

"Hey Kai? Are you ready?" Julian called from outside as he tapped on the door of her room.

She nods to herself, swinging open the door with her water bottle and cell phone. "Let's do this."

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a/n:

hellooo! first chapter done and more comin at ya since i've written a bunch before i decided to post this on here. not much goin on but it's just the set up for the next few chapters :)

had to incorporate some filipino language in for kailani's filipino authenticity but i actually don't speak it despite being filipino haha but i do understand some.

also! kailani's name is pronounces as KY-lahn-ee if that helps while you're reading at all :)

okie have a good night/morning everyoneee.

--justlewserthings