Chapter Three #4
“Let’s just watch our step until we get back to the trail,” Jeremy advises, wanting to get as far away from the delicate cliff’s edge as possible.
They walk along side by side in silence for a bit, Jeremy keeping his eyes peeled on the thicket, when Clark suddenly says, “You saved my life.”
“Haukea was just spooked at first,” Jeremy deflects, “She was the one that carried you outta there.”
Clark, for once, doesn’t have a response.
They continue on in contemplative silence, making it back to the group as they’re all sitting in a pasture for lunch.
Clark puts on a happy face with his co-star, sitting with her and chatting.
Eneki approaches Jeremy with a sandwich wrapped in foil, offering it as he asks, “And where did you guys run off to?”
“Clark went to hit the head and got lost. Sorry about that,” Jeremy answers simply and bites his lip. Eneki gives him a once over, puckering his lips and nodding as if he half believes him. Jeremy distracts by asking, “So, we miss anything?”
“You’re ‘last man,’ you got thirty minutes to eat then we’re starting training,” Eneki tells him.
While Jeremy chows down, Eneki and another wrangler give him a run down of the drills they’ll put the cast through. Like Clark had mentioned on the plane, there are specific scenes to prepare for and exercises to help the actors get ready for the upcoming stunt days.
The drills are intense, mostly consisting of sprinting as fast as they can across the fields while aiming dummy guns.
By the time the sun is hanging low in the sky and the clouds grow colorful, the horses and cast members are all beat.
The actors go to the front entrance for each of their independent drivers to come pick them up while Jeremy and the other wranglers take the horses to the temporary stables the ranch provides.
They get the horses watered, fed, and squared away in their stalls before getting on a bus that the crew call a “people mover.”
At first, Jeremy assumes that the bus would take them all back to the hotel they’d met at. But instead of the resort, it lands at a La Quinta Inn. Confused, Jeremy gets off and walks up to Eneki, asking, “Hey, why are we here?”
“That’s a wrap on the day, time for you guys to check in and get some sleep.”
“But,” Jeremy suddenly feels uncomfortable, “I’m staying at the other hotel.”
“The Four Seasons?” Eneki raises his brow in surprise, “Clark put you up there?”
“Um, I guess… I figured it was production.”
Eneki laughs at that, “No way. Had to have been Clark. Might want to keep that one close to your chest, e ku’u hoaloha.”
“What does that mean?” Jeremy asks, recognizing the phrase from earlier today, “What you just said.”
“It means ‘my friend,’” Eneki smiles genuinely. He looks around and rubs his car keys before turning back to Jeremy and offering, “Hey, would you like to go to an authentic Hawaiian luau?”
Jeremy smiles nervously, “What, like, right now?”
“It’s my cousin’s birthday. We’re hosting at our house.
It’ll be fun,” Eneki’s smile is warm and welcoming, hard to say no to.
Jeremy doesn’t think much more about it before hopping in Eneki’s open air Jeep with him and driving across long switchback roads down toward the beach.
There’s a small house on stilts above the sand where a large group of people are gathered around a massive bonfire.
As they park in a congested driveway and approach the group, many people turn toward Eneki and greet him with boisterous alohas.
Eneki approaches a much larger man than them and gives him a big hug, saying, “Hau’oli Lā Hānu! Cous, this is my friend - Jeremy.”
“Aloha, haole,” the man smiles wide and drunkenly at him, patting him roughly on the shoulder.
“Jeremy, this is my cousin Ikaika.”
“Happy birthday, Ikaika,” Jeremy nods, hat in his hands.
Ikaika gives him a long once over before asking, slurring his words, “Why do you look like a cowboy?”
“Because he is one!” Eneki answers, “A genuine cowboy from the continent!”
“No way! Bro, someone get this cowboy a beer!” Ikaika calls out over everyone’s heads. Getting closer, he asks, “Yo, can you do that lasso thing? Like step in and out of it?”
Jeremy nods, Ikaika and Eneki laughing and trying to get someone to go grab a rope. As they’re hooting and hollering, an elderly small woman shuffles over to Jeremy with a platter of brown, leathery squares on them. She smiles at him and says, “Pūpū.”
It sounds like she says “poopoo” and the plate is full of brown chunks, so without much thought Jeremy leans over and takes a whiff.
Eneki and Ikaika catch the interaction, laughing so hard that Ikaika almost falls over.
Eneki goes over to Jeremy and urges him to eat it.
Hesitant, Jeremy doesn’t want to seem rude so he picks up a piece in his hand and takes a bite.
It’s delicious. Similar to a softer beef jerky.
He has a second and that sends the cousins back into another fit of laughter.
Eneki gets Jeremy a beer and says, “Come on, I want you to meet someone.”
He follows Eneki through the crowd along the sand to another smaller fire closer to the tide with people sitting around it and passing a joint. Eneki calls out, “Ryan, babe!”
A guy that couldn’t be heavier than ninety pounds lifts his head and jumps up. He runs over to Eneki and wraps his arms around him, unabashedly kissing his face and whining in an effeminate voice, “Baby! I missed you!”
“Alright, alright. How much have you had to drink already?” Eneki laughs, staving off the man and turning to Jeremy, “Ryan, this is Clark Radison’s personal horse wrangler, Jeremy Munday. Jeremy, this is my husband Ryan.”
Ryan holds out his hand palm side down and bats his eyelashes, “Enchante.”
Jeremy grabs his fingertips and shakes his hand delicately, “Nice to meet you.”
“Okay,” Ryan’s smile is tight as he yanks his hand back and wraps himself around Eneki’s arm, “Come sit with us, please.”
Eneki nods for Jeremy to join, asking Ryan, “Is Roberto with you?”
“Mhm! Roberto! Look who I found!” Ryan calls out in a sing-song voice.
Another twink with a longer face looks over his shoulder and squeals, “Eneki! Honey, how are you?”
“And look,” Ryan pretends to whisper as they draw closer, taking the two spots next to Roberto and forcing Jeremy to sit on the other side of them, “A cowboy.”
“Hi,” Roberto bats his lashes as Jeremy sits down next to him, “I’m Roberto. What’s your name?”
“Jeremy,” he smiles politely, sipping on his beer as soon as he’s settled on a blanket. The crashing waves are so loud in his ear, tempting him to run into their watery embrace.
“Jeremy,” Roberto repeats slowly, leaning closer and tonguing his teeth, “So. Where’s your girlfriend?”
Uncomfortable, Jeremy shakes his head and looks away.
“No?” Roberto teases, lightly poking at Jeremy’s arm, “Oh my god, do I make you nervous?”
“Cut it out,” Eneki tells him, “Not everyone is ready for your level of gayness.”
Jeremy feels bad so he jumps in, “It’s okay. I just don’t think I’m your type, is all.”
“Oh yeah?” Roberto grins, twinkle in his eye, “How do you figure?”
“I’m- Well, uh,” he glances between Eneki and Ryan before telling Roberto, “We’re the same.”
Roberto’s brow scrunches. They sit in silence for a beat before Ryan cries out, “Shut up!”
The three of them look to Ryan whose jaw is wide open. He smiles and seals his lips, patting his hands on his lap and smirking to himself. Roberto catches on next, whipping back around to him and gasping, “You bottom!”
Jeremy half smirks and takes a big swig from his beer.
Roberto twists his mouth before flaring his fingers and saying, “Girl, I’ll top you. Try me.”
Ryan spits out his mixed drink, guffawing, “Bitch! Yeah right! When? In what world? How?”
“I’mma show this cowboy tonight! I’ll brokeback his mountain, mhm,” Roberto snaps in a zigzag formation.
Jeremy does not end up taking Roberto up on his offer, but he enjoys laughing along with them and finishing his beer.
Eneki offers him a ride back to the hotel but Jeremy’s already called an Uber.
He says his thanks and goodbyes, getting a lift to the car rental lot where his truck is ready. It’s an old Ford and Jeremy is in love.
Getting his map app out for the Four Seasons, he notices a missed call from Barry. He chews on that as he drives through Oahu, windows rolled down and smoking a cigarette in the humid tropical air. Before anything, he needs a long shower after riding a horse for ten hours.
The hot water washes over him and he suddenly realizes how much more comfortable he is now than he was this morning.
Surprisingly, a lot of the work feels like his early days of wrangling on Willmaker Ranch before he steered more toward cattle driving as his profession.
He figured cowboying was where the money was, but he would have never expected this sort of opportunity.
Toweling off, he calls Barry back and puts him on speaker as he shaves his face in the mirror. The ranch hand picks up, “Jeremy. Hey, it’s kind of late for you, huh?”
He looks at his phone clock - midnight, must be five AM for Barry. He smirks and asks, “Yeah. You just startin’ your day?”
“Yep… Man, it feels weird without you here.”
“It feels weird not to be there,” Jeremy admits.
Barry takes a moment to answer, the background noise shifting, “How’s Hawaii? Are you ready to throw Clark into the ocean?”
“He almost did that to himself today.”
Barry laughs, thinking that Jeremy is joking, “Well, what’s it like there?”
Jeremy rinses his razor, thinking of how to explain the island effect. He shrugs to himself, shaving the other half of his jaw as he puts it simply, “Gorgeous. Nothin’ like it.”
“Even the beautiful Colorado mountains?”
Jeremy shakes his head to himself, “It’s different… They have mountains here too. And waterfalls.”
“Did you see a waterfall today?”
“Mhm. There’s even a ranch. Four thousand acres. It’s what we’re filming on,” Jeremy tells him, “They made Jurassic Park there.”