Documentary

by Sand, A. J.

  “You know you take the fun out of it when you tell the story about my name,” she told him when they finally had a few minutes alone. They went to the bar together for more of those purple drinks. On the same floor, they found two empty armchairs facing each other near a window when a couple got up and walked away.

  “What? I can’t tell the story anymore?” Kai asked as they sat down. She kicked her feet up on his seat out of habit, and he shook his head when she immediately tried to put them back down.

  “You should tell them about my work—oh wait, you didn’t actually watch my films,” she teased before dipping her lip over the edge of the white plastic rim of her cup. She tapped his thigh with her shoe.

  Kai squeezed her leg just below her calf and she felt tingles from the touch. “Oh really? Don’t make me quiz you on Kai White trivia. So you really never listened to Evernight at all? That kind of hurt.” His thumb skimmed the bone of her ankle. “And we weren’t a boy band. We played instruments.”

  “Fine, I did like one song,” she admitted with a smile. “‘Earthquake.’ But it was never released as a single, right?” She hadn’t been entirely truthful during the interview. She had liked Evernight, and she had fallen in love with the song, playing it on what had to have been a misery-inducing loop for her family when she belted it off-key through the walls.

  Kai nodded then used his fingers to wipe his mouth. “‘Earthquake’ is the only one I ever sang lead on. That’s probably why my album isn’t doing well, because people don’t realize I can sing since it was all Jeremy.” His smile was bitter and his tone held a subtle acidic edge to it. In her magazine article research, she had discovered that in old interviews the two guys had definitely been involved in a serious bromance. To Jeremy, he had been “K, and to Kai, he was “Jer.” Together, they had been jokingly known as “Jerk.” There was not a single article where she had ever seen him refer to his old friend by his complete first name.

  Dylan set her cup down on the windowsill. “Well, they need to! Your album is amazing, Kai.” She hoped he didn’t think she was being purely consolatory because she genuinely thought that he had told a beautiful story on his LP. She had listened to the album in its entirety without skipping any songs.

  Kai pumped one fist in celebration. “I guess I can forgive you now for the whole Evernight thing.” She was relieved when his smile got friendlier than it had been a few seconds before. A period of silence followed before he leaned toward her, resting his elbows on his knees. “So, what was your ‘Screw Your Roommate’ costume?”

  “The Mario Brothers mushroom.”

  “Ha! What was your date’s?”

  “The Princess.”

  “Nice,” Kai said, laughing with a slow nod. “I can see a guy being okay with having to wear a pink dress for you.”

  “Well,” Dylan lilted, as her face grew hot. “He didn’t know ahead of time it was going to be me.”

  He gulped down and his eyes shifted from the left to the right. “So, you haven’t checked your phone once since you got here. ‘Screw Your Roommate’ guy isn’t waiting anxiously to hear from you?”

  “Nope. I didn’t actually go,” she explained. “I met him though. Decided to apologize in person.”

  “Anyone expecting your call at all?”

  Was that a really longwinded way of asking if she had a boyfriend? Dylan’s face warmed up more. “Other than my two best friends?” She hadn’t dated anyone since last school year. His name was Danny and he went to the University of San Francisco, but that had been close to fizzling out before Christmas break that year, and when she got back to school she was so focused on the progression of Mac’s illness that she never returned any of his calls.

  Kai sat back and smiled before he finished the rest of his drink.

  “What? Why the smiling?” she asked, tapping his thigh with her shoe and rolling her eyes. “I hope you’re not getting any ideas about me and my friends. That only happens in porn.”

  Kai’s shoulders bounced as he laughed. “A beautiful—and funny—girl just told me she’s single and you expect me not to smile?”

  Another rush of heat exploded all over her skin. “What about you?” she asked. Yeardley’s absence pretty much confirmed that they weren’t together, but she wanted to hear it from him. Why does it matter? You shouldn’t even be concerned about that, she thought.

  “Well, my manager told me today that Celebrity Daily wanted me to go on the record about whether I’m dating Stephanie….” Kai’s brow furrowed when he trailed off. “…Whatever her last name is. She was just on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Someone snapped a picture of us in the same store last time I was in L.A. and now apparently we’re together. Models… they love putting me with models.” He shrugged.

  “Sounds like a really hard life,” she joked. The knowledge that he was single made her heart beat a little faster. Sure, work had brought her here, but there was no denying that her attraction to Kai had factored in as well. He was sexy and really nice, but there were doubts about him, draping over her thoughts like gray storm clouds. She still didn’t know how to handle what happened outside the nightclub.

  “Okay, I have one last person you have to meet,” he promised as a woman who had just been mingling walked in their direction. When they stood, Kai’s hand wrapped around Dylan’s almost instinctively. The woman was young but older than they were. She looked to be in her early thirties, and she had long straight black hair, and brown eyes that soaked up everything with particular attention. She wore a tight-fitting black dress, Christian Louboutins, and clutched a pack of Marlboros.

  “This is Caroline Eckhart, the—”

  “Daughter of Lava founder, Kenneth Eckhart, and head of Lava Surf,” Dylan said, taking over. Caroline looked impressed when they shook hands, and Dylan felt triumphant. She knew how to hold her own. She had memorized the names and faces of the important people in Kai’s circle, especially when they were high-ranking women.

  “This is her house,” Kai explained.

  “Not full time. This isn’t my primary residence. We really only rent it out when surfers are in town, or use it to host things,” Caroline added. She pulled a cigarette from the carton but didn’t light it. She pivoted toward Kai. “I can never keep up with who you’re dating these days. This isn’t Yeardley. I didn’t catch a name.”

  Kai laughed but he looked as embarrassed as Dylan suddenly felt, and he dropped her hand. “This isn’t my girlfriend. She’s the one doing the web series.”

  Understanding lit up in Caroline’s eyes beneath her heavy lashes, and she followed with an apologetic smile. “Oh! You must be Dylan Carroll. I’ve heard a lot about you.” Caroline held a knowing smile.

  “Oh…” Dylan glanced over at Kai, and when he didn’t meet her eyes, she knew he was the one talking about her. “I’m excited to be working with Lava’s media team. The Trent Aoku movie was amazing.” Aoku was a surfer who had chronicled his return to the sport after fracturing his spine and sustaining a concussion following a failed landing on a recreational BMX course. She had watched it a few days ago for the first time. Caroline appeared pleased.

  Kai looked at his watch. “You promised me one game of beer pong,” he reminded her. Caroline’s face shifted to a look of annoyance that she probably flashed at Kai frequently because he was unmoved by it. He returned an expectant stare back.

  “I’ve been out of college eleven years. I’m not playing beer pong with you. I said that so you would shut up about it,” she said matter-of-factly as she twirled the cigarette trapped between her fingers. “Plus, I need to smoke to keep from worrying about how much shit might get broken tonight. And please tell Abel and/or Wes to stop gawking at Clementine Barker before her boyfriend loses it.” She jutted her chin at Dylan. “How about her? I bet she’ll play.” She walked away without waiting for his retort, but Kai seemed to love the idea.

  He held out his hand. “Come on… be my beer pong partner!” Kai spoke in such a way that made it im
possible to debate. She was already powerless when it came to that smile, especially with those blue eyes drilling into her.

  “Okay, but only if it gets me in good with everyone at Lava,” Dylan said as their fingers locked. Kai’s palm was warm and she was surprised by how much she liked holding hands with him. They walked down to the first floor, to an area near the patio. Much like the floor above, the furniture angles were severely acute, and the hues rich.

  Red plastic cups were scattered on each end of a netless table tennis table, and there were two guys on each side, too. Dylan recognized two of them as the identical twin Elliott brothers, Abel and Wesley. Wesley was a really good friend of Kai’s, but he had known them both since they were young teenagers, she had read. They were professional surfers sponsored by Lava Surf and had the stereotypical surfer boy features: Tattoos, light blue eyes, curly blond hair, and they were lean and muscular.

  A woman was curled around Abel—he was the one with the shaggy hair—with one of her legs hooked over his. One of Abel’s hands had a pretty firm grip on her butt, and his tongue struck her lips before spearing through them. They didn’t look like they would actually leave the room before having sex.

  “We’re playing,” Kai announced to the guys opposite the brothers.

  “Just won’t accept your punishment, huh? And you can’t distract me with hot girls, dude,” Wesley said, but he trained his eyes on Dylan. “Wes Elliott.” He walked around the table to shake her hand and simultaneously check her out.

  “Dylan. And I’m not here to distract you. I’m about to beat you,” she said without hiding her arrogance. The small group of spectators gave off a cheer in response. She had lost few beer pong games after the first one she ever played. Having to drink a beer you dipped your fingers in to retrieve a ball that had been in someone else’s hand was a high price to pay, even with the so-called ‘rinsing’ water cup, so she had mastered it.

  Abel tore the woman off him, accepting the challenge with a sly grin. The boys arranged ten new red plastic cups into the perfect triangular formation on each side and poured fresh beer in them. Abel tossed Dylan a small white ball.

  She caught it, and he almost looked surprised that she had. She smiled smugly at him. “Are we re-racking?” she asked, referring to the method of re-shaping the formation of the cups so that they stayed close together even after cups were removed.

  “You can do whatever you want with your rack,” Wes taunted, letting his smile spread slowly. Dylan only aimed a confident smirk at him in return.

  “Watch yourself, Wes.” Kai hissed the threat with clenched teeth. Men always talked shit when she played beer pong, and she never sweated it. She shrugged her hair off her shoulders and pulled her hand back to throw when Kai elbowed her, looking playfully disgruntled. “No team powwow? No plan? No motivational cheer?” He was squinting and frowning, doing his best to look pissed.

  “Team name?” she asked, tossing the ball between her palms.

  “Kai-Lan?” he offered. “Team Dyl-Kai… Team Deh…K—”

  “Team Dick?” she said, giggling. She raised her hand for a high-five.

  Kai laughed heartily, and he clapped his palm against hers. “We’re Team Dick.” He winked, making her heart cinch, and she started to ask if he was on the opposing team because his methods of distraction were pretty effective.

  “Come on, ladies. We don’t have all night,” Wes whined impatiently. After he counted to three, Abel and Dylan looked each other in the eyes, in a standoff, and simultaneously chucked their respective balls over to the other side. Hers landed in the cup at the top point of the triangle, and his bounced off the edge of one and flew into the air.

  “Lucky break,” Abel muttered, but from the looks on their faces, the Elliott boys immediately knew they were in trouble.

  Hell A – Chapter 6

  The game lasted almost an hour due much to the obligatory trash talk, and everyone stood silent when Dylan hit the last cup on the Elliotts’ side until the ball plopped over the rim. Then, they went crazy. Dylan had drunk the least out of everyone, managing to distract and swat away balls when she could. She was disgusted the times she had to drink, but after the game she felt much more welcome within their club. She was so thrilled, she leaped into Kai’s arms upon the victory, and he spun her around, pressing his face to her bare shoulder. She gasped as the contact injected her with an acute awareness of how sensual the hug was. Her breasts were pressed against his chest, his arms locked firm against the small of her back and his warm lips sunk into her skin, right at the bend of her neck. She was embarrassed by the lustful moan she let out before he put her down. His face flushed red.

  But he licked his lips like he liked the taste of her skin.

  Like he still wanted to taste it.

  God knows she wanted him to.

  The deejay transitioned the music to a hip-hop and electronica mix, and most people abandoned the beer pong table for the middle of the room. Leko appeared and offered his hands, suggesting that they dance.

  “Was it my amazing beer pong skills?” Dylan asked as she allowed him to lead her away. She wanted to ask Kai if he would dance with her afterward, but they were separated when one of the Lava guys summoned him to a chair in the corner. Leko wasn’t a bad dancer, though a little offbeat because he was wasted. She was certain that if she licked the side of his face, she would get alcohol poisoning. Liquor was wafting out through his pores. He held her hips and pulled her in closer to him, and she threw her arms around his neck as they rocked. She kept peeking over at Kai, looking for a moment to signal him to take Leko’s place, but he was deeply involved in a conversation.

  “When you’re in Lahaina, if you need anything, anything… you tell me,” Leko slurred, unable to focus on her face. Dylan bit her lip to control her smile, but he was being serious. “You say, ‘Lek, I need something,’ and I’m there. Anything, ever. Someone fucks with you, tell them you know me. Say ‘I know fucking Meleko,’ and I’ll take care of it—”

  “Just ‘fucking Meleko’ and they’ll know?” she asked, and he nodded.

  “‘Muthafuckin’ Meleko’ works too.”

  “Thank you,” she said, hugging him. She already liked him.

  The music kept getting louder, trilling against her eardrums, pumping through her like a second flow of blood. Being able to let loose for a few hours was definitely worth the inevitable exhaustion to come in the next few days. Leko spun her around and snuggled up against her back as she swung her hips to the rhythm. Wes was just off to the side, eyeing her. It wasn’t predatory, but he was clearly fascinated. Being an ace female beer pong player had an effect on guys, she guessed.

  As the beat surged on with a song transition, Dylan shut her eyes and just let the sound envelop her, dancing with her arms in the air even when Leko’s hands slipped off her. She hoped he wasn’t passed out on the ground. When she re-opened her eyes, Kai immediately snagged her gaze. The angle of his chair was significantly different than it had been before. He was still talking to the Lava guy, but his stare didn’t leave her. It was so fixated and penetrative that her breath staggered out. An unexpected feeling rolled through her with the force of an avalanche.

  She wanted to kiss him. And it was no fleeting thought.

  “Dance?” Dylan spun in the other direction until she was staring right at Wes Elliott, immediately inhaling the beer fumes rolling off him. His blue eyes held her in a confident stare. Slowly, his hands climbed, from the small of her back to her waist. He never broke eye contact, never seemed unsure. In purely superficial human sexual instinct terms, she understood his appeal, but Wes also looked like a bad habit and a heartbreak. And then the single sleeve of intertwining dark-inked tattoos that weaved up his arm did lend to curiosity about where she would end up if she followed the trail, but her interests only went as far as the thought—and they were already directed elsewhere.

  Suddenly, Kai leaned down right next to her ear. “Can’t,” Kai said to Wes with emphasis as he
shook his head, a hint of frustration in his voice. Wes furrowed his brow and smirked, and Dylan knew immediately they were having some silent conversation that they were both well versed in.

  Wes laughed, but when Kai didn’t, Wes went silent. “You’re serious…”

  “Yup. Later, Wes.” Wes didn’t resist and soon the swaying, shadowed crowd devoured him. But he re-emerged, before she could blink, caught in a tangle of limbs with some other girl.

  “You wanna dance?” Kai asked. She swiveled around, listening to the sound of her own quaking heartbeat when they were finally face-to-face. The problem was obvious. This was dangerous, their being so close, but Dylan looped her arms around Kai’s neck when he pulled her against him. The way his blue eyes drew her in scattered all her thoughts, like the cue ball smashing into the other ones. Her mind had been full before when she watched him in the chair, but now she couldn’t gather a single concrete idea and shape it into something worth saying. She relied on her senses. Skin? Warm. View? Perfect. Smell? Intoxicating. Taste? Hmmm.

  “Sorry, I hope that wasn’t awkward. We weren’t fighting over you like you were some prize or something.”

  “Am I not?” she teased. “It was weird, but I don’t think there will ever come a day where I figure guys out, anyway.”

  Kai smiled, looking relieved. “I think you have achieved something I thought was impossible. Wes Elliott might be in love with you… well, love for Wes Elliott, which usually lasts about seven minutes, if I had to guess. No one beats him in beer pong.”

  “It’s not exactly something that’ll land me the Nobel Prize but I enjoy it,” she said after a chuckle. She dropped her head to his chest and heard him breathe out hard through his nose as his hand glided up her back. Continuing to get personal with the guy she was working with was a terrible idea, but they were only dancing in a room full of other people dancing, who worked together. She hadn’t crossed any lines. Yet.

  “Team Dick will live on in our memories,” he whispered. When she started laughing, he did too. It was nice to know that they had the same kind of humor. “I think tonight makes me officially excited about this project now. You don’t seem out of place or uncomfortable, which is good. This is my life, a small fraction of it—it’s far busier and crazier and more exhausting—but you seem like you’re okay so far.”