Ha ha ha. And before Alexa can even start, I point a finger at her. ‘Groan-free zone. Remember? Even where Marilyn Monroe is concerned. Nice choice, Nat, my friend.’ And with that, I get up quick, take the DVD from her, and pop it into the DVD player before Alexa can do anything else. I might have said it was a groan-free zone, but I don’t think we made any ‘no throwing DVDs over the balcony’ pacts and I can see Alexa thinks the DVD wants to fly.
‘Wow! That was really great, Ness. You know, that Shatze’s pretty smart. She was right about getting them the apartment. I mean, it’s like here, isn’t it?’
‘In what way?’ I ask her.
‘Well, am I more likely to meet boyfriend material on the farm, or in a joint like this?’
Point taken.
‘And you were right about the outfits. They were fantastic. Do you think people really wore things like that? Like those hats and everything?’
I shake my head. ‘Sadly, no.’
Nat sighs a dreamy sigh. ‘When I move to New York, I want an outfit called “rainbow over the everglades” that I can wear to cocktail parties and afternoon getaways like Shatze. And I want a whole bunch of those champagne glasses – those ones with the wide, wide rims. And a parasol. And some of those cat’s eye glasses with rhinestones like Pola wears. But definitely the dress. That’s the first thing I’m going to buy.’
Both Alexa and I give Nat a look. Rainbow over the everglades, huh? ‘You might have to get that specially made,’ I tell her.
‘Um, Nat, they were models, remember?’ Alexa pipes up. ‘Think about the crazy things models have to get around in today. I mean, how much of what you see on the catwalk would you really wear?’
Nat sighs. ‘We don’t see many catwalks. Not in New Zealand.’
‘Ah,’ I start, but then realise she’s probably right. Fashion’s kind of thrown at you a bit harder living in Manhattan. ‘There’s probably a wool show.’
‘Yeah. Probably. I’ll remember to buy myself a ticket when I get home.’
I try to think of something to say to make her feel better. I know being dumped in NYC can be a bit overwhelming if you come from somewhere smaller. Even somewhere smaller like Sydney. ‘Living in Manhattan’s not always so amazing, you know.’
‘Isn’t it?’ Nat sits up a bit. ‘Like when?’
‘Um …’ I start again, thinking hard, but not coming up with much. ‘The apartments are tiny.’
‘Holly’s apartment’s huge,’ Nat replies.
I grimace. Well, that’s true. But then most people aren’t Hollywood actresses, either.
‘There aren’t many trees,’ Alexa tries.
‘There’s Central Park,’ Nat counters.
‘Summer!’ I blurt out, suddenly thinking of something. ‘Summer’s awful. It’s all hot and grimy and sooty. It’s disgusting. Seriously! You blow your nose in summer and the tissue comes back grey.’
‘That’s true,’ Alexa seconds. ‘Summer’s revolting. Though the tissue’s probably a little too much information.’
‘Oh,’ Nat says, pausing to think for a second. ‘Well, summer in New Zealand isn’t too bad, actually. As long as you’re not wearing your fashionable wool beanie and scarf set, that is.’
The three of us crack up at this.
‘Do you think Jason likes wool?’
‘NAT!!!’
Holly’s blood pressure returns to normal, she gets the all-clear to hang about and drink fruit-based mocktails from the gorgeous Dr Reid, and Dad finally manages to calm down and start enjoying himself. Unfortunately for the rest of the tourists on the island, this involves him showing off his professor’s study tan and daggy old Speedos.
Nice going, Dad.
The tan/Speedos thing does mean Holly gets a wide berth on the beach, however, which is good, because it means that no-one much realises she’s ‘the’ Holly Isles. Funny that. I mean, no-one’s really expecting to see ‘the’ Holly Isles at twice her normal size cavorting with some skinny daggy-togged old dude (yes, yes, daggy-swimsuited old dude. All right already! Can we please all get over the togs thing?).
Over the following two days, Nat, Alexa and I barely seem to have a minute to ourselves. We’re either in the boys’ apartment (fine … penthouse), they’re in ours, or we’re out doing something together. Mostly, this is thanks to Nat, who’s suddenly decided she’ll be heading up the social committee this trip. We each buy a four-day pass on the Waikiki Trolley, this cool tourist bus line that has buses that look just like San Francisco trolleys (why, I have no idea, but they’re still cool), and head on out to see the sights. We take trips out to the gigantic Ala Moana shopping centre, the zoo and the Diamond Head lookout.
The weird thing is, though, that Seth never comes with us. He always has some excuse – that he’s working, that he’s going for a surf later, that he has to make some phone calls. Both Jason and Connor give him evil looks every time he ducks out of yet another trip, but he gives them the same looks back. I can’t work out what’s going on with them. In some ways, it seems like Seth doesn’t even want to be in Hawaii. As if Jason and Connor have dragged him along on the trip. Maybe because it’s his dad’s penthouse? I don’t know and I don’t really know him well enough to ask him what’s going on either.
Anyway, by Waikiki day four, I’m beat. I didn’t know Spring Break in Hawaii by pj yay could take so much out of you, but, believe me, it can.
‘Can we please take it easy today, Nat?’ I groan (oops about the groan-free zone thing) from the sofa. Half an hour after getting up, I’m already tired again. Unless I slow down now, I have no idea how I’m going to go back to school and get through a whole day without napping like I’m in kindergarten once more (hey, that’s a thought – maybe I could take Holly’s yoga mat and have a well-earned, mid-afternoon sleep on the floor. During Mr Phillips’s Geometry class would be a good time for me. Not sure about him). ‘Just pick one thing to do today and we’ll do that.’
‘I already have!’ Nat springs over from the kitchen towards me like some kind of a gazelle jumped up on energy drinks.
‘What’s that?’ Alexa says from the other sofa. I think she’s Hawaiid out as well. ‘Not the Sea Life park. You know how I feel about seals.’
Alexa had a bad seal-kiss experience once that she still has nightmares about.
‘You’re weird.’ Nat gives her a look. ‘What happened?’
I turn my head to look at Alexa now, interested. Come to think of it, she’s never really said. I mean, I know the incident involved Alexa and a seal, but as to the nitty gritty of what happened, this remains a mystery.
But Alexa just shakes her head. ‘I’m not talking about it. Just no seals. That’s it. Final.’
‘Riiiiight.’ Nat rolls her eyes. ‘No seals. What about dolphins?’
‘Dolphins I don’t have an issue with.’
‘Dugongs?’
‘What?’
‘I think they call them manatees,’ I tell Nat.
‘Weird, but whatever. Manatees? Sting rays? Goldfish?’
I can’t help myself. I crack up now.
‘It’s not funny!’ Alexa huffs.
Nat and I look at each other and crack up again.
Another huff from Alexa. ‘You know, one day a seal will try something on you and then you’ll both be sorry.’
My eyes widen at this. ‘Maybe we should go to the Sea Life park then,’ I say to Nat. ‘If we’re looking for a little vacation action, that is.’
‘So where are we going?’ Alexa tries to change the subject (not so fast, sister. Believe me, I’ll get that seal story out of you one day).
‘Pearl Harbor.’ Nat waves a brochure in the air.
I sit up a bit. ‘Oh, cool. I’ve always wanted to go there. Good idea, Nat.’
‘Thanks!’
Both of us turn to Huff and Puff Alexa, to see what she thinks of going to Pearl Harbor. She twists her mouth to one side and tries not to laugh. ‘Well, all right. I never said anything about Navy SEALS.
They’re more than okay with me.’
‘Okay. The shuttle’s all organised,’ Nat says, checking the time. ‘We’ve got forty minutes before we need to be down in the lobby with the boys.’
Across the kitchen bench, Alexa and I give each other a look over our bowls of cereal.
‘You know, we don’t have to do everything with the boys,’ Alexa says it for me.
‘But they’re fun!’
‘Fine. But how fun are we for them?’ Alexa asks her and, by that, I can see what she’s really thinking is how fun is it for them to have fourteen-year-old Nat tag along with them every day of their vacation, but she’s too nice to say it.
Nat shrugs. ‘They keep saying they want to go places with us when I ask. All they have to say is no.’
‘Maybe Holly and Professor Mulholland would like to come?’ Alexa tries attacking from another angle.
‘I’m not pure evil. I asked them. But Holly’s having a sleep in. They said we’d have dinner together.’
Hmmm. This doesn’t sound like all my dad would say. ‘And?’ I try.
‘Oh. And he said to be careful and to keep your cell on, Nessa, and he gave me $100 for the shuttle and lunch and stuff. And Holly said to bring her a sailor home as a souvenir. A chocolate-coated one if they have it.’
Yeah. That’s more like it.
‘So, are you ready?’
Alexa and I both look down at our pyjamas. ‘Sure,’ I say. ‘I always wear my pyjamas to memorial sites. It goes down really well, in general.’
‘I like to think yellow with bright pink love hearts is a kind of go-anywhere material,’ Alexa says, checking out her matching shorts and singlet set.
‘Just go and have a shower,’ Nat says, witheringly. ‘And don’t mess about all day with your hair like a pair of girls.’
‘We are a pair of girls,’ I tell her.
‘You know what I mean.’
Twenty minutes later, both Alexa and I report for duty in the lounge. ‘Sunscreen, cell phone, wallet, sunglasses, hat, water bottle. Anything else?’
‘Sailor?’ Alexa tries.
‘No, that’s for on the way back,’ I tell her.
‘Right. Sorry, I got a bit excited.’
‘Very funny. Let’s go get the boys,’ Nat claps us into action.
I’d roll my eyes at this, but she looks so boy happy I can’t bring myself to do it.
It’s Jason who opens the door for us. ‘Come on in.’ He waves us through the door. ‘We’re almost ready.’
‘Thanks,’ I say, stepping inside first. As I walk down the hall, I’m greeted with the sight of Connor walking through the living room with only a towel on. He’s just a little too brown, a little too muscly and a little too naked for what’s directly behind me. Quickly, I step slightly to one side, trying to block Nat’s view.
Too slow.
‘Bingo,’ Nat says, under her breath.
Behind Nat, Alexa reaches out to give her cousin a poke. ‘You’re going to behave like a regular human being today, right?’
I watch as Nat sighs a dramatic sigh and wait for her to place the back of one hand across her forehead, overacting. I’ll take that as a ‘no’. I’m actually starting to wish I’d never introduced her to How to Marry a Millionaire. In some ways it’s almost as if she’s trying to act out the movie – trying to get us all matched up with three guys (hmmm, um, not that I can talk about acting out movies in real life …). Alexa and I had a chat one night and put it down to the fact that the whole NYC/Waikiki thing is a little more than Nat can handle all at once. Scarily, it’s all kind of like my behaviour when Dad first met up with Holly. First, I came up with these hokey ‘Nessa’s Lessons in Love’, gleaned from watching too many Marilyn Monroe movies. Then I tried to get her together with this guy who turned out to be a paparazzo, and then there was the chicken fillet episode (best not to go there …). Yikes! Was I really like that? World, I apologise.
Big time.
Thankfully, Connor disappears into his room to get changed. ‘So, is Seth coming today?’ is the first question of the day from Nat.
Yeah, like she’s going to behave today. Not likely.
Jason shrugs and keeps packing his backpack. ‘Who knows? He’s never been out to Pearl Harbor, though he’s talked about going often enough.’
‘Is he in the study?’ I ask.
Jason nods.
‘I’ll go ask him, then,’ I say quickly. This whole Seth thing is getting kind of weird. Maybe I can persuade him to come with us. I start over towards the study before Nat can say anything, or come with me. She’d just scare him off. Frankly, she’s starting to scare me off with her new 50s movie ‘bingo’ lingo. And wanting Alexa and me to call her ‘Loco’? Hmmm. I don’t think so.
I cross the tiled floor and take a few steps to the right up the short hallway before I’m at Seth’s study. Jason’s right. He is in there, his back to me as he stares at the screen of his laptop. He looks like he’s been doing this for some time. I knock on the half-open door quietly. ‘Seth?’
He turns around quickly. ‘Oh hi, Nessa.’
I take a step into the room. ‘How’s it going?’
‘Trying to work. Not getting much done, unfortunately.’
‘Well, we’re all off to Pearl Harbor. Maybe you should come with us? Give yourself a break?’
Seth’s eyes move away from mine. ‘Oh, er …’
‘It’s just that Jason said you’d always wanted to go.’
‘I …’ He still doesn’t look at me.
‘I won’t bite. And neither will Alexa.’ I pause here, hoping the line he’d used on me will have some effect. ‘I can’t make any promises for Nat, however.’
Seth laughs now and his eyes meet mine again. ‘I have always wanted to go to Pearl Harbor …’
‘Well, what are you waiting for then? Grab your stuff and let’s go.’
‘Er …’
‘Oh come on. Whatever’s going on with Jason and Connor, it doesn’t matter. We’ll all go out and have a good time. Don’t worry about it.’
This makes Seth stop in his tracks. But this time he doesn’t look away. This time he stares straight at me until I start to feel something close to uncomfortable. Like I’m part of his Jason/Connor problem.
‘You guys coming?’ Nat says from the doorway and we both jump.
‘Yep,’ I answer her and, without stopping to think about what I’m doing, I reach forward, grab Seth’s hand and drag him from his chair. It’s only as I feel the warmth of his grasp that I realise what I’ve done and blush. Quickly, I let go of his hand. ‘Yep, we’re coming. Now, um, scoot,’ I tell him, my eyes darting away from his curious gaze. ‘You’ve got thirty-five seconds and counting.’
Seth shakes his head. ‘That’s not even enough time to paint my nails.’
Pushing him through the doorway, I laugh. ‘Don’t worry. The sailors won’t be looking at your nails. They’ll be looking at mine. And I had a manicure yesterday. Frangipani pink.’ I hold them up for all the world (and especially sailors, who know a decent manicure when they spot one and obviously would stop to admire mine, maybe even to chat a little) to see.
I make sure I end up sitting beside Seth on the shuttle, though I take great care to make it look like a complete (whoops!) accident. Alexa sits in front of us, beside Nat (all the better to control her with doggie treats, seeing as we still haven’t managed to buy a choker chain yet) and Jason and Connor end up pairing off behind us.
As the shuttle pulls out and heads down busy Kalakaua Avenue, Seth looks out the window and his expression reads he’s a million miles away.
I’m determined to get to the bottom of this.
‘You’ve been working really hard the whole trip,’ I say, making him turn back around to face me.
He nods.
‘On something for film school?’
There’s a pause before Seth says anything. A pause in which I can tell he’s not sure what he wants to say, or if he should say anything at a
ll. ‘A screenplay. But it’s not going so well.’
‘A screenplay. Really?’
Seth nods again. ‘I thought, after last time …’
‘You’ve written more than one?’
Another nod. ‘Two others. One I burnt, it was so bad.’
‘But the other?’
Seth glances back nervously at Jason and Connor, which is when I start to feel their eyes burning into the back of my neck. Hmmm. I think they might be listening in. He shrugs slightly. ‘The other one I really like.’
‘The three of us came up with the idea together. But Seth wrote it. It’s amazing,’ Jason adds.
I frown slightly. ‘So, if you really like it, what happens next? You need an agent, right? To shop it around?’
I don’t know much about how to actually sell a screenplay. All I know is that people are forever trying to get Holly to read them. Including leaving them in such weird and freakish places as her drycleaning bag (the drycleaning guy’s sister’s best friend), on top of her ensuite toilet cistern (the cleaner’s cousin’s brother-in-law) and under her dessert plate (various waiters – but at least the dessert tends to come free).
‘Yeah, we need an agent …’ Seth starts, but is quickly interrupted by Jason.
‘Or some interest from someone important. You know, from a star.’
Both Alexa and Nat turn around slightly in their seats at this and I can tell they’ve been listening-in.
‘Maybe you could leave the screenplay in a star’s drycleaning bag or something,’ I say.
‘Yeah,’ Jason pipes up from behind. ‘That’s not a bad idea.’
‘I’d go for it,’ Connor adds.
I turn around and look at Jason, but he just smiles and shrugs. Again, I get the feeling I don’t like him much. Slimy, I think is the word. Or maybe sleazy. Something starting with ‘s’, anyway.
When I turn forward once more, Seth is shaking his head. ‘You don’t need to do things like that,’ he says. ‘Not if your work’s really good. Not if you’re professional.’
I look at him. I like that take on things.
‘Yeah, right. And then you can sit around for a million years waiting for someone to recognise your genius,’ Jason pipes up again. ‘You’ve got to be a player or you’re out, man. This is Hollywood we’re talking about.’
How to Date a Millionaire Page 5