Chapter Three #2
“No, not really. But the aunties are taking really good care of me. They just bought me lots of things. Retail therapy, you know.” Putting the phone on speaker, I started trying things on as I gave him the short version.
“Auntie Kiki canceled their tickets and the hotel? Classic. I wonder what they did.” My brother laughed.
“I’m not sure, but Logan’s mother called me this morning.” I rolled my eyes.
“I never liked him anyway,” my brother replied.
“You didn’t? I thought you did.” Since Logan often stayed on the island for holidays, I’d bring him with me to whatever local family member was hosting. It had been too hard for me to go back to Los Angeles after my parents died. Usually, Max flew out and joined me.
My mom had partially grown up on O'ahu. Her family wasn’t native Hawaiian, but had lived there for generations.
She’d gone between O'ahu and Los Angeles as they moved back-and-forth for my grandfather’s work.
Actually, I had lots of family in Hawai'i on various islands. I wasn’t quite sure how I was related to most of them, the stories always seemed to change, but it was nice to have relatives close by.
Not that my dads’ families weren’t kind and loving.
They were just much further away. My mom had met my dads in Los Angeles when they were in college, which was a funny story, because my mother had gone to a Catholic women’s college.
It involved finding one of my fathers hiding in the laundry room, because he was trying to sneak out after curfew and didn’t want to be caught by the nuns.
Apparently, there was a tiny nun that was everywhere you shouldn’t be on campus at 3 o’clock in the morning.
“According to one of my friends, real friends, not ex-friends I’m no longer speaking to, they did manage to find a hotel. I’m pretty sure they’re paying for it with what Logan stole from my bank account.” I was still bitter about that, because he’d abused my trust so badly.
“Moving out and taking him off of everything was the best way to go. You should report him to your school. It seems like stealing would breach some kind of ethics clause,” he told me.
“I don’t want to sabotage him. I just want my money back and I hope the bank will do that.
I’ll probably just stay with Auntie and the uncles until graduation.
Also, I stole his car. Well, I stole my car.
My name’s on the title. The cousins actually had managed to change the car locks, so he couldn’t simply try to steal it back and claim possession.
” I hadn’t known you could re-key a car like that.
He laughed. “I love that. Though you know you shouldn’t have done that–paid for that car for him. He’s never going to pay you back. None of these people are.”
My heart sank. I’d been na?ve and let them use me.
We talked a little longer.
“I have to get dressed to go to dinner. I love you.” I ended the call and chose wide-leg, black pants and a sleeveless blouse, which went well with the black boots with the white stars on them. I’d bring my new purse. Though I’d probably get the most use out of the baby backpack.
My makeup was still done nicely, so I just fixed my hair, which was a bit of a hot mess. It was light brown, and wavy hanging to my shoulders, with the sides and back shaved.
I changed my earrings. They not only bought me a bunch of beautiful graded gold hoops for all my ear piercings, but they bought me a new eyebrow ring and nose ring as well. I took a step back and looked at myself in the mirror. Nice.
There was a knock on my door. Auntie Kiki called out, “Are you ready? Dinner reservations wait for no one.”
I came out of the room and spun around. “Will this work?”
Auntie Kiki appraised me. “That is a nice look. Don’t forget your hat.”
“Very sophisticated,” Auntie Mimi added. “I knew that bag was a good choice.”
They both wore boots and hats, along with fringed dresses with embroidery on them, and jewelry.
My hand went to my heart. “Thank you.”
I thought we were eating at the hotel, but we went somewhere else, to one of those extremely fancy restaurants, the kind with tasting menus and wine flights. I was so glad I wasn’t paying. This was way out of my budget.
But incredibly tasty.
“What? Your ex was so cheap that he never took you to a place like this?” Auntie Cookie took a bite of scallop.
“We never went out much. We’re just students. If we did, it was to this sushi place in town, or the little place on campus where we can get food late at night. We’d get poke bowls and sit and listen to the coquis,” I replied, taking a sip of wine. I never had a problem with it.
Auntie Cookie scoffed at the notion.
Auntie Tiff raised her glass. “This wine is worth more than your ex.”
We all laughed.
“We tease you, but we love you, and want you to be happy,” Auntie Mimi added.
“Thank you and thanks for bringing me here, instead of me spending a lonely week in the lab, while everyone else is on spring break.” It was nice for them to bring me with them. Especially at the last minute.
Auntie Kiki waved me off. “It’s nothing–just like your ex.”
The waiter brought out a caviar course, which was something I didn’t know existed.
“This is probably worth more than his car,” Auntie Tiff joked.
Absolutely.
I took a picture of the beautifully plated caviar course and posted it along with, Living my best life.
This was just what I needed. The table next to us erupted in cheers. Auntie Tiff shushed them. The guy looks suitably abashed.
“Sorry. The Scented Scorpions might actually win this game. If they do, that means they’re going to the finals. Can you believe it?” one of them said excitedly, waving around his phone. “But we’ll be quiet.”
“Scented Scorpion sounds like a venereal disease,” Auntie Mimi scoffed.
“It’s a hockey team,” the guy replied.
“More like an advertisement for a beauty product. Scent your scorpion with this luxury body spray,” Auntie Tiff mimicked a commercial.
I nearly snorted wine up my nose.
Yeah, no one was scenting my scorpion. I was just here for the free food.