by Kaia Knight
She heard soft, stifled giggles behind her as she walked, but could not figure out where it was coming from. I’m too old for this shit. She imagined them huddled together behind a bush, waiting for her to come ask them for her bag back. She was determined to not give them the satisfaction of making her beg. Ruffling her hair and flipping it to one side of her head with her hand to help the air dry it, she calmly strutted across the parking lot and toward the main road as if she did this every day. She resisted the temptation to turn around and see whose eyes she could catch.
Her feet, though calloused from a summer of walking barefoot on beaches back home, felt each pebble on the rough asphalt shoulder. Cars slowed down, probably wondering if she was crazy. One truck honked, and a few men leered out the window and catcalled her.
Her skin crawled, and she felt the familiar itch to escape. She decided that running with intention, even in a bathing suit, had more dignity than walking home in shame. Kailani broke into a light trot, leveling her breath and immediately feeling more at ease. Feeling in control, she sped up, the breeze lifting her hair from her roots and stinging her chlorine-kissed skin.
So maybe I don’t belong.
Chapter 8
Gabriel
Gabriel’s dad set the dry erase marker down, stepping back from the white board to view his handiwork. He and Gabe convened in the office adjacent to the natatorium, recording the paces of the swimmers and determining their season target goals. Gabriel’s eyes lingered on Kailani’s name on the board.
“Kailani sure is something special, isn’t she?” Coach Steve asked.
Gabriel froze. Does he know?
“Good call on moving her to the first lane, she seemed to be holding back. We’ll have to work on that. But there’s something about her that I like,” Steve mused. “She has a tough edge, like she’s got something to prove. Once we find what makes her wheels turn, we’ll be on the way to a national title this year.” He glanced at the shelf of dust-coated trophies and sighed, gathering his bag, and heading towards the door. “Oh!” he said, turning around at the door. “I forgot to ask—Walt called today. He mentioned Eli stopped by with Kailani yesterday morning. Do you know anything about this?” His eyebrows came together, and he crossed his arms.
Gabriel opened and shut his mouth. What do I say? Yes, Eli dropped her off yesterday, but don’t worry Dad, I’m the one that kissed her.
Steve waved his hand impatiently. “Agh, evidently not. Well, when you see him, just tell him to keep his hands off my swimmers. I need her to be sharp and focused, and we both know he goes through women like tissues.” He shook his head and muttered, “That boy needs Jesus, don’t know what went wrong with him.” With a nod, he exited the office.
Gabriel narrowed his eyes and stood. “Maybe if you were around more, you’d have some idea,” he mumbled.
His dad popped his head back in the doorway, and Gabriel dropped his scowl, quickly rearranging his face to a polite smile. Did he hear me?
“Sorry, one more thing. Walt said that Josie is hurt that you haven’t been to see them, and she threatened to hand-deliver some treats if you don’t stop by soon. You don’t want to be on Josie’s bad side.” He gave Gabriel a wink and finally left the office. Waiting until the retreat of his echoing footsteps was swallowed by the slam of the exterior natatorium door, Gabriel expelled air like he had been punched in the gut. He braced himself on the desk, head hanging down as his heartbeat regulated again. This is no good. I could hardly get through one conversation with Dad without waving the white flag.
If the university officials knew for the last two nights, he had been busy kissing their new varsity scholarship athlete, the scandal would be all over the news. They would not believe that he hadn’t realized that she was the same girl whose application he and his father had carefully considered months ago. He could not believe it himself. Should I tell Dad…? No. If he brought his dad in on it too, then his career could be in jeopardy as well.
He pounded his fist on the desk, straightened, and paced the office with his hands behind his head. What am I going to do? When the walls gave no answers, he sighed. Grabbing his clipboard and keys from the desk, he strode out of the office.
Gabriel was driving home faster than usual, tensely gripping the wheel when he saw her. What the hell? Kailani was barefoot and only wearing her swimsuit. She flew down the side of the road, her wet hair swinging behind her.
He knew he should keep driving. He knew that being alone in his truck with Kailani would not help their situation, but as cars slowed down ahead of him, he thought of all the people who would be happy to stop for a young woman in a skin-tight, revealing swimsuit. He growled, abruptly pulling over.
“Kai. What are you doing?” he yelled out the window as he rolled forward to keep pace with her.
She glanced at him briefly as recognition struck her and she shrugged, continuing to run.
“What does it look like I’m doing? Running.” She breathed heavily, her brows furrowed with the effort of her breakneck pace.
“Where are your clothes?” he demanded.
“This is more aerodynamic.”
He dragged his hand through his hair and glanced at the road to keep his trajectory straight. “Please get in the truck, Kai. Let me take you home.”
“No thanks!” She panted as she bounced past the window of his car. Hitting the brakes, he got out, slamming the door behind him and sprinted after her.
“Kailani, stop!’ She ran on. He caught up to her and laid a hand on her shoulder. “Hey!” She recoiled from the volume and came to a stop.
“Sorry,” he gasped for air. “What’s going on?”
Gabriel wanted to hold her left shoulder down to keep it from shrugging. Even though she feigned indifference, he could see the hurt in her eyes.
“I guess the girls thought it would be funny. I forgot hazing was a thing, I should have seen it coming.” She laughed dryly, but her voice betrayed her.
Gabriel thought back to ten minutes earlier, when Samantha dropped by the office to ask about morning practice, fully clothed. Clearly the hazing didn’t apply to all new swimmers.
“We have morning practice in less than eleven hours, and I want you there in one piece. So please just let me give you a ride.” He glanced around, just in time to see a middle-aged man lean out of his window and whistle at her as they passed. He shielded her with his body, gesturing towards his truck impatiently. “Please?”
“Why, so we can kiss again?” she asked bitterly.
His face darkened. “Look. You know we can’t talk about that anymore. We didn’t know. I’m your coach, and if it’s discovered…it could not only mean my job, but your spot on the team. Your scholarship.” He looked her in the eyes. “Kai, I am so sorry. Just let me drive you home.”
Her posture drooped. “Fine,” she said quietly as she turned toward his truck. He could tell it took every ounce of her strength to accept this ride, waves of shame rolling off her. Silence fell between them as they both slammed the doors. Gabriel started the engine and merged onto the road.
“How did this happen?” Kailani dragged her hands down her face as she slid down in the seat.
He sighed. “I have no idea. The funny thing is – I knew your name – I had seen it on the roster, saw your swimming stats, and was excited to meet you today. But the other day…when you introduced yourself as Kai, I was thinking it was a nickname for Kylie or something. I didn’t even make the connection. In fact, I didn’t even stop to think you were a student because you were older.”
“Well, given that I’m a junior in college, I suppose I am. And I was led to believe that you were some surfer dude —”
“Surf rescue.” She had better be kidding about that.
“Sure. So, what do we do now?” Her voice was bleak.
“Well, we can’t see each other...like that anymore.”
“Obviously!” She threw her hands up in the air before letting them land with a soft slap on her thighs
. “I have no interest in giving up on a dream I’ve worked at for seventeen years, which is conveniently my ticket to finishing my degree. If I lose this, I lose…everything. I meant how do we make sure this doesn’t get out?”
“I would say not being alone together, but it looks like I’ve already messed that up,” said Gabriel wryly. “Though I would do this for anyone on the team. I’d say this was an extenuating circumstance.”
“Okay, so maybe going forward, we need to set some rules in place?”
Gabriel nodded. “Good call. Uh…rule number one: don’t kiss again.”
“Uh, yeah. You think?” She laughed, shaking her head. “Rule number two. Don’t talk to me any differently than you would with anyone else on the team.”
He sighed and gestured to her and back to himself. “Rule three. No being alone together.”
She nodded. “Rule four…no touching. I think that about covers it. Anything else?”
Gabriel shook his head, deep in thought. A few minutes passed before he glanced at Kailani. She sat rigidly, not touching the seat with her back as she looked out the window. She was still breathing hard from running, her chest rising and falling as beads of lingering water trailed down her neck and arms from her wet hair. He quickly looked away before his thoughts took him elsewhere.
But he could not help but glance at her again as she frowned at the window. He wished he could see where her thoughts were taking her. Probably thinking about the girls. “Look, about the team. What they did is not acceptable. Dad—uh, Coach Steve put you in a tough spot today, singling you out like that. They’re naturally competitive, so I think they just felt threatened. They’ve never done anything like this before. I’ll have a talk with them tomorrow.”
“No!” She turned to look at him with an earnest expression. “They’ll think I said something. I just have to ride this out myself, it’s not a big deal.”
“It is a big deal, though. I don’t want harassment on my team just because you think you can handle it. You don’t get points for being tough.”
She stuck her chin out. “Then I’ll talk to them. I can fight my own battles.”
Gabriel sighed and bit back his response, knowing it would fall on deaf ears. He pulled into the entrance of Lilac Ranch and put the truck in park at the mouth of the driveway. “I hope you don’t mind if I drop you off here. It’s probably best if I’m not seen here with you.” The words sounded cutting, and he hated how they fell flat in the silence.
“It’s okay. Thank you for the ride.”
At her melancholy tone, Gabriel wanted to pull her towards him and tell her she couldn’t leave until he figured her out, piece by piece. Instead, he just gave her a nod. “See you tomorrow morning.”
As she hopped out of the truck, she grimaced. “Ugh! My bathing suit soaked the seat. Uh, let me—” She glanced around as if looking for something to dry it off with as her face turned a deep shade of red.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s had worse, like Eli’s sweaty bum.” Gabriel chuckled as she recoiled in disgust. “But I did want to ask. How are you getting to practice tomorrow?”
“Running, why?”
“Are you planning on getting a car eventually? You can’t just run everywhere. You live almost four miles from campus, that’s sixteen miles a day. There’s also a bus about two miles from here, that would probably help.”
“I’ll manage.”
He rolled his eyes. “Are you always so stubborn?”
She glared at him. “Rule number two.” She slammed the door and walked down the dirt lane, her posture tense.
He furrowed his brows. What even was rule number two? He watched her walk down the lane, her bare feet stirring up dust that glimmered in the truck’s headlights. The words from earlier echoed in his head. “She sure is something special, isn’t she?” As Kailani disappeared into the waning summer night, he felt an ache, the opening of a new wound. She sure is.
He sighed and turned around in the mouth of the driveway. Glancing at the seat beside him, soaked with a comically perfect heart-shaped stamp of her cheeks, he shook his head with a chuckle and drove away.
Chapter 9
Kailani
Kailani opened the door to the inn and noticed a large pair of shoes by the front door that were not her own. Warily, she wandered into the main room.
“Hello? Anyone here?” The unmistakable smell of cumin and cilantro wafted towards her.
From the kitchen a low voice sang, “Hello, just a moment!”
Her housemate was a guy? She sighed. He walked from the kitchen with a dish towel slung over his shoulder. The first thing that caught her attention was his confident smile, turned up at one side.
“Hey! How’s it…” his face fell as he stepped closer. “Uh….”
She glanced down at herself and cringed. He probably thinks I’m crazy, waltzing in half-naked, barefoot, and covered in dirt. She could feel his bold gaze rake down her body, lingering on her chest as her body responded to the cold evening air.
Kailani tightly folded her arms across her chest and forced a laugh, “Yeah, it’s a long story. Lost my gym bag during practice, it’s been a wild ride.”
“I’m Cristiano. Nice to meet you,” he extended his hand, which she reluctantly uncrossed her arms to shake. His voice had a musical, flowing cadence, and he flourished the ends of his words with an extra syllable.
“I’m Kailani. But I go by Kai.”
“Kai,” he said, testing her name with a flirtatious smile. His dark eyes glinted above his bronze cheeks. “I am excited to have a housemate.”
This is the last thing I need right now, freaking Fabio waltzing in with a rose in his mouth. Let me guess, he’s my calculus professor.
“Have you eaten?” Cristiano gestured to the kitchen behind him. “I just made carnitas. You’re welcome to join me.” A bright array of diced mangos and tomatoes sat on the counter. Kailani almost groaned when she saw the charred pork in the cast iron pan.
“No thanks. I’m not hungry.” At that moment, her stomach twisted and snarled in the silence between them. She blushed furiously as he raised his eyebrows. She huffed impatiently. “I’m sorry, it’s been a long day and I should probably just get to bed.” She felt dangerously close to tears and had to make her escape before she fell to pieces.
“I believe a good meal can cure even the worst of days. Join me.” He turned, peeking in the oven. “The tortillas will be done in three minutes.”
As her stomach betrayed her again, she acquiesced, drawn to the kitchen by the enticing smells and his melodic accent. She shook her head, breaking the spell.
“Uh…I should probably go shower and get some clothes on first.” Her legs were coated in grit and her feet were rubbed raw. Quickly retreating, she closed her bedroom tight behind her.
With the help of the warm water of the shower, she focused on calming herself down, pushing back the tears that still threatened to emerge. Looking in her drawers at her meager stash of clothes, she wavered. She chose an oversized hoodie and her favorite jogging sweats. Throwing her hair in a bun, she looked in the mirror. Only her hands showed. Nothing to see here, she thought with satisfaction. Try flirting now. Heading out towards the kitchen, she noticed two plates piled high with fixings.
“Wow, this looks amazing. Do you usually cook like this?”
His eyes shone. “Yes. My father owns a restaurant, so cooking is a passion of mine.”
“Well, that’s good news for me. I usually don’t have the patience for it, but I sure have the stomach for it with all the training…”
“You aren’t kidding, the refrigerator was nearly empty when I moved in. I was afraid I was housed with a vampire.”
She laughed. “Sorry to disappoint. No blood suckers here.” Taking her first bite, she closed her eyes in pleasure. “Mmm.”
“Good, no?” He grinned.
“This is incredible. So, what’s your story? Where are you from?”
“Thanks. I’m from Rio
de Janeiro. I came here for a business degree so I can take over my family’s restaurant one day.”
“Why here? It feels like a long way to come.”
“I have always been drawn to the Pacific Northwest. We visited a few times as a family and it felt right for me. Also, I can play on the soccer team here…it is too competitive in Brazil. Here, I have a chance. And you?” he purred. “You are not from here?”
“No. I’m from Hawaii. But I’m also studying business here.”
“Why here? That is a long way to come.” His eyes glinted.
“Touché.” Kailani smiled wearily. “I was going to the University of Hawaii, but I needed a fresh start, so I transferred.”
Cristiano raised his eyebrows. “A fresh start? Isn’t that what people say when they’re running from the law?”
She laughed dryly. “Better lock your door, or I’ll pawn all your stuff.” He chuckled, but she felt compelled to elaborate. “No, but really, I did come here to leave my past behind, but not in that way. I just wanted a clean slate to finally focus on myself, so it took me putting a whole ocean between us to get the freedom to live my life, you know?” She suddenly felt exhausted, the weight of the last few days heavy on her shoulders.
He nodded seriously as he stood and gathered their plates. “Yeah, actually, I do. I love my parents, but they put so much pressure on me and my future with our restaurant, the thought of living my whole life under their watch was just suffocating. So, here I am.”
Kailani joined him by the sink, drying dishes as he passed them to her. She peeked at him as he hummed and scrubbed a pan. Maybe having him as a roommate won’t be so bad after all. He’s certainly easy on the eyes…