Chapter Three #3
The pilot starts talking about their descent over the intercom as they race toward a thin landing strip that protrudes out of the land and into the ocean.
Jeremy gulps and the plane leans to the side once more to line up with the landing strip, out of view now.
The moon and stars are reflected in the black ocean below, making the sky seem endless.
The plane descends and Jeremy’s stomach lifts with the inertia. He grabs onto the seat cushion beside his leg and looks straight ahead at nothing. He sets a straight face but it’s still obvious that he’s panicking.
A fingertip rests alongside Jeremy’s pinky finger.
He glances over and Clark is side eyeing him too, now sitting so close that their skin is touching.
Jeremy finds his heart racing for an entirely different reason now as the plane roars through the skies.
They’re hurtling straight toward some beautiful place but the destination and purpose are forgotten.
Jeremy has a much bigger issue: his crush on Clark is reignited, burning bright in his chest from a simple touch and glance.
Waves crash in the distance and a phone rings. Jeremy blearily wakes up in a plush and unfamiliar bed. He reaches blindly for a nightstand where the ringing is coming from and grabs for the phone, “Hello?”
“Aloha kakahiaka, Mr. Munday. This is your courtesy wake up call,” the concierge greets. He rubs his eyes and stands up, walking over to the window as she continues, “The current time is seven AM. The weather is eighty degrees, clear skies. Would you like breakfast brought to your room?”
Pulling the curtain back, a sunny day over the ocean out front of Jeremy’s room blinds him.
“Mr. Munday?”
“What? No, I don’t need breakfast. Thank you,” he says, examining the tall window and realizing that it’s actually a sliding glass door to a narrow balcony.
The concierge says goodbye in the native Hawaiian tongue and Jeremy loosely holds the phone at his side as he steps outside, slack jawed.
There is a clear view to the beach, straight ahead the waves lap at the sand and sparkle as the sea foam crests against the wind.
Jeremy could sit here and stare at the endless waters forever. He’s never seen the ocean like this, up close and personal, didn’t see what all the fuss was about frankly. Until now. Even the smell enchants him, salty and special with some mysterious specific scent.
He thinks about pulling up a chair, or better yet, going down to the sandy beach and touching the lapping waters.
But then his body jolts, he’s supposed to meet with Clark and the horse wrangling team downstairs in fifteen minutes.
Once they’d checked into the hotel last night, Jeremy had studied the coded call sheet and done some independent research about the film industry.
Somehow, he felt even more lost than when he’d began.
Getting ready in his usual work clothes and heading downstairs to face the music, Jeremy’s met by a huddled group in the middle of the lobby. Clark looks over his shoulder and catches Jeremy’s eye, smiling and waving him over.
“Morning,” Jeremy greets as he approaches.
“Aloha,” Clark corrects him. He pulls Jeremy into the inner circle and introduces him to an equally tall but buffed out man, “Eneki, this is the guy I was telling you about.”
Eneki is covered with Polynesian tattoos and is intimidating as he crosses his arms, sizing Jeremy up with a cocked brow. Jeremy nods his head as a hello. The man suddenly cracks a smile and claps a hand on Jeremy’s back, “Ah! The cowboy from Colorado!”
Clark laughs along, “That’s right! Jeremy, this is Eneki Kamaka. He’s the head horse wrangler. So, your boss - besides me, of course.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Jeremy extends his hand.
Eneki takes it and shakes it roughly with a friendly smile, “Welcome to Oahu, e ku’u hoaloha.”
“It’s beautiful here,” he comments, putting his hands in his pockets.
“You haven’t seen nothin’ yet,” Eneki winks at him, “We’re just waiting for a few more then we’ll take the cast on a hike up to the ranch.”
“There’s a ranch out here?”
Eneki and Clark laugh, Jeremy biting the inside of his cheek to stave off the unsourced embarrassment.
“Yes,” Clark nods, “C’mon, dude. Kualoa Ranch? It’s where they filmed Jurassic Park, Godzilla, Fifty First Dates-”
“And where Crystal Island is filming as well. It’s only four thousand acres,” Eneki adds.
“Wow,” Jeremy whistles, “What kind of herds y’all running out there?”
Eneki shakes his head, “Not me or anybody else. The ranch is exclusively for filming, touring, and events. The equine actors and our horses are all here in trailers, me and the crew brought them from my family’s stables this morning.”
“Oh. Makes sense.”
Clark casually leans into Jeremy and whispers, “Say ‘copy that.’”
Jeremy clears his throat and repeats, “Copy that.”
Eneki laughs and pats him on the back again, obviously amused by Jeremy’s inexperience.
“Just make sure this lug doesn’t fall off his saddle onto his head,” Eneki jokes, thumbing at Clark.
Jeremy affords himself a smile, nodding once more in understanding.
The rest of the cast arrive, greet their horse wranglers, and they enjoy a quick ready-to-serve breakfast before all heading outside to the back parking lot of the hotel.
Trailers are all lined up in a row, horses neighing and eager to get out.
Jeremy is nearly knocked down when he’s introduced to his and Clark’s horses - two magnificent thoroughbreds.
His is a bloodbay color named Kau, friendly and immediately taken with Jeremy as she rubs her muzzle against his arm.
Clark’s horse, Haukea, is a rare palomino and possibly the most beautiful horse Jeremy has ever seen with his own two eyes.
Jeremy tacks Kau and then checks Clark’s work, feeling Eneki watching him from afar. Clark shoulders Jeremy aside and steps into the stirrup, biting out, “What? Don’t trust me?”
“Better safe than sorry,” Jeremy tells him.
Clark rolls his eyes as he gets up on the saddle, telling him from above, “Well make sure somebody double checks your work too.”
“Remember why they pay me the big bucks,” Jeremy sarcastically replies to the movie star, walking away.
“Ha!” Clark calls out after him.
Getting up on his own saddle, he gets in line with the other wranglers and Eneki. He instructs them all on the route they’ll take, finishing by telling them, “Guys, stick close to your partner. Remember: if they’re not in sight, something’s not right.”
Jeremy takes that warning to heart, continually glancing over to Clark beside him as they walk in a line of two down the town’s streets and onto the tropically forested trail.
Somehow, the actor compliments the thoroughbred so well that Haukea looks extra majestic.
The handsome man and his horse look as if they were meant to ride together.
As they make it past the gate of Kualoa Ranch, Clark looks over to Jeremy and catches him staring.
He quickly looks away, readjusting on his seat and gnawing on a peppermint toothpick.
“Hey,” Clark gets his attention again.
Jeremy answers without looking back, “Yeah?”
“I gotta take a leak,” Clark says, moving Haukea out of line and into some thicket.
Following closely behind, Clark looks over his shoulder and scowls, “What are you doing?”
“Eneki said not to separate.”
“Well what do you want, to hold my dick while I piss? Just chill here, I’ll be right back.”
Jeremy rolls his eyes as Clark disappears behind some brush, calling out, “Alright, just hurry up! I don’t want to lose the group.”
But the group does travel on out of sight, Kau shifting her weight impatiently as the minutes drag on.
Worst case scenarios tumble through Jeremy’s head and he begins to worry.
Anxiously splitting the used toothpick in half and pocketing it, he decides to go look for Clark but panic starts to set in when there’s no sight of him in the first few hundred yards.
Continuing to search, there’s the sound of rushing water up ahead and Jeremy hurries to the noise.
Following his instincts work, Haukea’s cream colored tail swishing in the distance. Jeremy trots closer, calling out, “Clark! The fuck?”
“There you are,” the actor looks behind his shoulder and smiles to Jeremy as if he’d been waiting for him, “Come check this out.”
Jeremy huffs, going over to Clark’s side at a cliff’s edge with a fat scowl, “What?”
“Look!” Clark gestures in front of them.
His gaze briefly shifts before he does a double take at the wide and awesome waterfall gushing downward into a the greenery below. Jeremy blinks and gazes in awe, “Holy shit.”
“Right?” Clark’s voice has a smile in it. There’s a long pause and Jeremy looks over to find Clark taking his picture with a small film camera. He tilts his hat down to hide his eyes and looks away again, blushing. Clark says, “C’mon, race ya back to the group.”
“Nah, we should take it slow,” Jeremy looks back at him seriously, “Who knows where the cliff’s edge is around here.”
Clark rolls his eyes, “Why are you being such a buzzkill today?”
“You asked me to come here with you, so just listen to me about this stuff, okay?”
“Fine,” he groans, turning Haukea around, “But let me tell you, you’re missing out. These thoroughbreds can really-”
Haukea neighs and throws her head, Jeremy looking down in a split second to see her back hoof sinking as the ground crumbles underneath her.
Immediately, he pushes Kau closer to grab the side of Haukea’s headpiece and yank her forward as Kau trots backward.
He tugs them away from the falling edge and back to the thick tree line.
Clark looks behind him to where the rocks are still falling, eyes wide and face pale as he glances back at Jeremy, “Oh my god.”
“You okay?” Jeremy asks, heart racing and eyes searching Clark’s closed off face.
He hands the reins back and Clark nods his head, taking a moment to breathe before answering, “Yeah. That was crazy.”