Chapter 8 #2
He lifted a hand and gently brushed a long strand of hair back from her face. "My mom raised me. My aunts, too. I got to see all of the stupid things they had to go through dating and breaking up with guys.
"It's crazy what people can do to each other and say they care. That's why I'm trying so hard to make sure that I don't do anything of those things."
He wasn't sure what kind of reaction he expected after that admission, but he wanted her to know where his mind was.
"Your mom and aunts sound like amazing people."
He smiled ear to ear at that. "They are. They're the best. Well," he smiled at an old memory and let Lexie in on the secret, "except when I was little, like when I was a toddler."
"Oh?"
He heard the curiosity in her voice.
"Do tell."
He tugged her along with their joined hands and as they walked, he told her some of the stories of his child hood.
"I was kind of serious when I was a kid, like super serious. Resting hundred year or man face serious."
He saw Lexie look at him out of the corner of her eyes.
He wasn't sure what she thought of what he was saying, but this was all a part of getting to know each other.
"Like any self-respecting Hawaiian family, I went to hula class."
"Hula?" Lexie's tone was lighter. Warm and smiling. "Like the dance?"
He nodded, his shoulders shaking with soft laughter.
"Absolutely the dance. I also went to ukulele class.
Music and dance is basically a way of life for us.
And watching my mom and her sisters performing at parties and events, I wanted in, too.
My aunt, Jean, was a Kumu Hula. That meant that she's like a master of Hawaiian dance.
She taught me both forms of hula. Hula auana.
And hula kahiko. Basically," he smiled at the memories flooding into his head.
"Modern hula. and Traditional. I'll show you some pictures later. "
She tugged on their joined hands. "What about video?"
He could only blame himself.
He was the one who'd brought up the topic.
"I'm sure I can get my mom to send me a few files."
Lexie skipped beside him, bouncing a little as she turned to look up into his gaze. "I get to see you dance?"
He laughed as she bounced. "Dance? Maybe... More like make a big spectacle of myself."
She slowed her steps and tugged on his hand until he looked up and met her gaze.
"I think you're too hard on yourself, Kaleo. I bet you were awesome and I can't wait to see the videos." She turned her head to look at the sign and then back at him. "Come on. It's just across this little bridge."
The bridge was made of long, thin slats of wood in a gentle curve above the water.
A sign on both sides of the bridge said that it was accessible by wheelchair.
Lexie must have seen where he was looking.
"All of the paths here in Dunne Gardens are accessible. The only time that's not true is during the rain. When the dirt paths turn to mud, but when it's dry, they pack down the dirt so it's easy for wheels to move over it."
On the other side of the bridge, Lexie drew him to the other side of the path. Since it was a weekday he didn't really expect to see very many people on the walkways.
"This area of the gardens is built around a small portion of natural wetlands.
It took a bit of planning to make sure that the water didn't overflow the banks when we have heavy rains, but they figured it out and they made sure to plant a number of the local wildflowers that you'd find in the wetlands in other parts of the state. "
"Huh," he nodded at the idea, "like a little capsule version of what you'd find 'in the wild.'"
"Exactly," she tugged him closer to the water's edge and pointed into the water, "do you see those?"
Those?
He stepped up beside her and tilted his head in toward her shoulder so he could see down her arm.
He could see what looked like little green fingers branching off of a single stem.
"Those finger things?"
She chuckled at his words. "I think they look like fingers, too."
"Or thinner green shrimp things like they had in Beetlejuice."
Lexie snapped her fingers and pointed at him. "Yes!!"
They laughed together and she gestured at the stems. "You can't see it right now, but at the tips of each, white flowers will bloom. It changes the whole look of the flowers. The plant has two names..."
He watched as she searched her memory.
She was always gorgeous, but moments like this, when she was unguarded and excited about what she was doing? She was magical.
"Waterviolet." She nodded, smiling. "And featherfoil." With a sigh, she continued on. "One day I'm going to have to look up how they got those names."
He leaned in and brushed a kiss against her cheek. "My aunt, Leilani could talk your ear off about flowers in Hawaii."
Lexi looked up at him, beaming and again, he was stunned.
He'd never seen someone so beautiful inside and out.
"I'd love to see the flowers in Hawaii!"
He wanted to invite her to go home with him when he went back for a visit, but he didn't want to push. He wasn't sure how she'd take the invitation. Would she really go with him or would that be... too much?
"Oh!" She pointed down the path and took his hand so she could bring him along with her.
"This is fireweed," she gestured at a flower with long stems and flowers branching out along it, bigger flowers at the bottom with more variations in color and as the flowers reached toward the top they were smaller and smaller.
"We have something like this back in Hawaii," he started to explain and then he hesitated, "I can't remember the whole name."
She took out her phone and snapped a picture of the purple spikes of flowers.
"Ohia," he started. "I know that's the beginning, but it's not just that."
He paused and started to go through the vowels in his head.
He didn't get past the first one before he blurted out, "Ohai! Ohai ali'i." He sighed. "It would have helped if I got the first word right."
"Well, it's better than I would have done!"
Time with Lexie was a mix of easy and fun at the same time. It was only when he was overthinking that things felt off.
He just wanted to make sure that he didn't mess things up.
He'd never expected to find someone like her in Center City. Especially not on the first day.
They continued on for a bit, him listening to her talk about the world around them and settling deeper into his heart.
The grasses ahead of them parted and a bird flew out and across their path. When it settled down on a rock a few feet away, he smiled.
This bird, he knew.
"Black crowned night heron."
She turned and smacked him lightly on the arm. "Yes!"
He grinned at her, happy to make her happy. "Don't get too excited. I only know what it is because they're native to Hawaii. My aunt Momi knows every native animal in Hawaii. She's taught classes at the university and for kids at cultural sites."
Kaleo saw the glint in Lexie's eyes and knew what she was going to ask next.
"This name, I know." He leaned in and kissed the tip of her nose. "'Auku'u."
She wrapped her arms around him and laid her cheek against his chest. "You know," he could feel her smile, "I feel like bumping into you on your first day in Center City was the best luck I've had in... forever."
He couldn't hug her any closer since they were fitted together from his knees to the top of her head, but he did his best to surround her with the warmth he felt for her. There was so much he didn't know how to say to her, but he knew how she made him feel.
Like he never wanted to let her go.