“You know what? He’s actually pretty good,” Momi reveals. “I think carrying buckets of ice or a stack of cups was not his forte. Now he sits behind a register all night and collects entrance fees. It’s perfect for him. Nothing for him to trip over.”
“Good, I was worried about who would take over my position, but it seems like it’s all working out.” Ashley’s guilt of leaving subsides.
“Yeah, it is,” Momi reassures her.
“Speaking of which, how are you and Tisha working out?” Ashley presses her cousin. She wants to know the 4-1-1.
“Oh we’re not together anymore,” Momi responds without hesitation.
“Really?!”
“Yeah, I mean we still fuck around every once in awhile, but it’s casual,” Momi explains.
“Wow, I thought you guys were in it for the long haul,” Ashley admits.
“Yeah, we tried it, but we decided it was better if we were just friends,” Momi clarifies.
“Is it awkward that you guys still have to work right next to each other?” Ashley presses further.
“No, not at all. If anything, it makes it easier ‘cause now we’re free to flirt with whoever we want. Whether it’s for a tip or for a phone number, we’re free to do as we please. We even help each other sometimes.” Momi chuckles to herself.
“Really?” Ashley’s having a hard time believing the situation.
“Yup. I mean, I’m freshly out of the closet. It’s time for me to explore my lesbianism.” Momi says the last word in her sentence like a soap opera actress.
“Oh god, here she goes.” Ashley rolls her eyes playfully.
“What? It’s true,” Momi defends her statement.
“Bitch, you’ve been exploring your lesbianism for years now,” Ashley corrects her cousin.
“You’re not wrong,” Momi concurs.
From around the corner, Parker and Simone come walking hand in hand toward the club. In their other hand, they each have their own ice cream cone from the shop just a block away. They wave hello to the two cousins and head straight to the bigger group of employees.
“Good morning!” Momi and Ashley say in unison as the couple passes by. The couple wave back politely. However, knowing that it’s early evening, Simone is confused. She looks to Parker, who explains to her that ‘Good Morning’ is just Violet lingo for ‘hello.’ She quickly catches on.
“She’s a ditz, huh?” Ashley starts back up in a private conversation with Momi.
“Nah, she’s actually really sweet,” Momi defends Simone.
“How do you know? Have you tasted her?” Ashley twists.
“I tried.” The cousins laugh remembering the infamous night that she actually did try.
“How are you and Parker anyway?” Ashley digs in.
“Fine. Like we were before, except now we’re not dating,” Momi describes their current status.
“That’s great!”
“Yeah, it really is. I mean, he’s such a good guy, you know. He could’ve been bitter and held onto a grudge and all of it would’ve been completely understandable, but he didn’t.” Momi looks at Parker chatting and laughing with the rest of the Violet employees. He randomly looks over at Momi and Momi winks one of her infamous winks at him. He smiles and goes back to conversing. “He chose not to hold onto any of that and now we’re both happier and happy for each other.”
“He Let it go,” Ashley works in the saying.
“He sure as fuck did! And quick, too! Man, we gotta put that on a shirt. ‘L.I.G.’ Let it go.”
As Momi imagines creating a shirt with the letters L.I.G. printed across the front, Alexus’ Toyota Camry pulls right up next to Ashley and Malu’s SUV. When it stops, one of the doors to the back seat is the first to open and Beau exits the car promptly.
After Beau and Karmen’s drunken hook-up, Beau realized that it was the best sex that he’s ever had. Being a hedonistic hormonal male, he eventually went back for seconds (and thirds) and now he and Karmen have developed a weird unofficial relationship. Seeing how Karmen is a transgender woman, Beau found this as a loophole to justify sleeping with her in his small mind.
The rest of the Fish y Chicks get out of the car a second later. Alexus’ pops the trunk and Beau immediately starts taking out their luggage.
“Looks like Karmen got Beau to be their bag boy,” Ashley narrates as she watches Beau lift the Fish y Chicks’ bags out one by one.
“More like bitch boy. I still can’t stand him,” Momi remarks.
“Hey, I give him credit for being open enough to be with Karmen,” Ashley admits.
“No, don’t give him any credit. He’s a male chauvinistic pig,” Momi comes back with immediately.
“Wow, you really have turned lesbian,” Ashley jokes. “No, I meant I give him credit for being with Karmen because she’s dumb as a rock.
“Well… like attracts like, right?” Momi convinces.
From around another corner, Chyna and Lopaka pop out of nowhere and walk toward the two cousins. They join the two girls in their conversation.
“Who would’ve thought, huh? Beau and Karmen,” Lopaka starts off with.
“That’s what we were just talking about!” Ashley reveals.
“I knew!” Chyna admits, “I knew it was only a matter of time with that one.” She lifts her head and motions toward Beau.
“Really?” Ashley asks.
“Girl, I’ve met many of men in my time… if you know what I mean,” Chyna implies that she’s been a hooker for a long time. “He’s a classic Craigslist type. You know the ones: they swear up and down that they’re straight, but hitting my ad up left and right when they’re home alone.”
Lopaka looks back at Beau and Karmen, who are now making out like animals. With a disgusted look on his face, he says, “Well, good for them, I guess.” He then looks over to the group of Violet workers and notices his ex-boyfriend, Ryan, among the others.
“What is Ryan doing here?” Lopaka asks hastily.
“He’s new security,” Ashley informs. “He’s gonna work the door with Malu and Sam.”
“Since when?” Lopaka is shocked to hear this news.
“Since tonight. Tonight’s his first night, I think,” Momi responds.
“Malu said they needed help monitoring the entire club, so he asked Ryan and Ryan said ‘yes,’” Ashley delivers as stoically as possible, trying to inform Lopaka without triggering him.
“Why him of all people?” Lopaka is completely thrown off.
“Did you know that Ryan was the one that threw the guys off of Malu when he got stabbed,” Ashley enlightens her friend.
“No.” Lopaka thought Malu took care of his attackers himself, but just got stabbed in the process.
“Yeah, if Ryan hadn’t been there at that time, Malu might be dead right now,” Ashley paints out the horrible possibility. “Look, I’m not saying that that excuses him for everything he did to you in the past, but look at you now, you’re on TV! Who cares about all that old shit? He’s probably regretting he ever treated you like that.”
“L.I.G. Paka,” Momi asserts.
“What?” Lopaka has no idea what Momi is talking about.
“Let it go,” Momi explains the acronym.
“You know, if it wasn’t for him breaking your heart, you might never have even tried drag. Everything happens for a reason. Remember I said that earlier?” Chyna voices the hard truth. Lopaka nods his head reluctantly. “Go talk to him. Squash it and move on.”
Lopaka walks over to the rest of the group. Everyone’s there: his brother Malu, Sam, Parker and Simone, Chico, Tisha, Yuki, Beau, the four Fish y Chicks and Ryan.
“What’s up guys,” Lopaka says mildly.
“Oh la la! Here he is! America’s Next Top Drag Queen!” Chico shouts and everyone starts applauding and cheering.
“No, we don’t know that yet!” Lopaka stops his friends from assuming that he won, even though he already knows he has.
“Well, you might be!�
� Tisha encourages. The Fish y Chicks rolls their eyes out of jealousy.
“Yeah, tonight’s the big night!” Malu tries to hype his brother up.
“Are you nervous?” Yuki asks innocently.
“Nah, it’s already all recorded and set. All I have to do now is watch,” Lopaka downplays.
“Oh, so, are you admitting that you won?” Sam plays detective.
“Nice try! and I’m not admitting anything.” Lopaka isn’t falling for any traps. “You’ll just have to wait and find out like everyone else. It’s just a couple more hours. Jeez.”
Malu walks up to Lopaka and gives him a hug. He pulls him aside to have a private conversation of their own. “Hey, I just want you to know how proud I am of you and I can’t wait for everybody else to find out because number one, this secret is killing me and number two, there’s never been anyone more deserving.”
“Aww thank you, Malu.” Lopaka is touched by his brother’s kind words.
“I mean that. You’ve been through a lot of shit and it’s about time for you to catch a break.” Malu continues in a quieter tone, “A hundred thousand dollar break at that. Shit.” The brothers share a laugh.
“I noticed that you put Ryan on the team,” Lopaka confronts head on.
“Oh,” Malu is caught off guard, “Yeah, I meant to talk to you about that first, sorry. He’s really—”
“It’s cool,” Lopaka cuts him off. “I heard he saved you.”
“Yup. He’s pretty strong cause the guy that got me with the knife was a bigger guy,” Malu describes.
“Thank God he was there,” Lopaka expresses.
“Yessah!”
“How are you doing anyway?” Lopaka asks. Malu lifts up his shirt to reveal his scar of where he got stabbed.
“All healed!” Malu says in a cocky manner. “And now I get one fancy doodle mark on my body. I let the kids color around it with their markers.”
“Maybe I should thank Ryan,” Lopaka jokes, but Malu takes him seriously.
“Really? I’ll call him over. You want me to?”
“Shit, why not?” Lopaka figures he has to talk to his ex sooner or later.
“Ryan! Try come,” Malu yells. Ryan walks over and joins the two brothers.
Ryan walks up to Malu and asks, “What’s up?” He looks over at Lopaka and gives a cordial, “Hey,” trying to test the waters.
“Lopaka wanted to talk to you.” Malu turns around quickly and walks back to the group leaving the two exes to speak privately.
“Hey,” Ryan starts.
“Hey,” Lopaka responds. For a brief moment, there’s an awkward silence between the two of them.
“Congratulations on tonight. I mean, if you win… But even if you don’t win, still congratulations. I mean, that’s pretty cool that you—”
“Ryan, shut up,” Lopaka cuts him off. “I want to say thank you.”
“Really?” Ryan is confused and isn’t sure where this is going.
“Yes. I want to say thank you for saving my brother and…” Lopaka pauses, “Also, for saving me in a way.” Ryan decides to stay silent and let him finish. “Honestly, Ryan, you really hurt me.”
“I know and I’m sorry,” Ryan apologizes.
“But that hurt turned into anger and that anger turned into passion. Passion that took me all the way to the top, to the finale, to tonight. This crazy gay fame thing wouldn’t be happening if I never met you. So, I want to say thank you.”
“Ok, my turn,” Ryan turns the tables, “I’m sorry, Paka. I was a dick. I stood you up on more than one occasion and I played with your emotions. I knew what I was doing to you the whole time, but… I was dumb. There’s no excuse. Hey, look, I know you’re gonna be busy now that you’re a hotshot celebrity and all…”
“Shut up,” Lopaka says through a smile.
“But maybe, if you ever have some free time, we should go out to dinner,” Ryan offers.
“HELL NO!” Lopaka comes back with immediately. “I’m never waiting for your ass at a restaurant ever again!” Ryan laughs, knowing his attempt was a longshot.
“Fair enough,” Ryan states unhurt.
“But maybe if it’s a group thing and we all go as friends,” Lopaka tweaks the conditions.
“Deal.”
Parker’s phone buzzes. He reaches into his pocket to check it. On the lock screen, there’s a text from Kaleo. “Oh here it is ladies and gentlemen. Let’s see what the problem is this time,” Parker announces to the group of Violet employees.
The entire group congregates. Momi, Ashley and Chyna join in from the left and Lopaka and Ryan rejoin from the right.
Finally getting his phone situated, Parker reads the text out loud, “I’m running late.”
“Yeah, no shit,” Momi expresses.
“We figured that much out,” Ashley backs up her cousin.
“Tell him I said to get his ass over here,” Lopaka instructs.
“Yeah, her highness is getting a blister standing around so long,” Beau says sarcastically. Lopaka shoots him a sharp look.
“Oh wait, he’s typing…” Parker adds to the conversation. Three dots flash in his text to Kaleo, indicating that Kaleo is typing and about to send something through. “‘But I’m just around the corner.’” Kaleo’s text comes through and Parker reads it aloud.
“Yeah, we’ll see about that,” Alexus, of the Fish y Chicks, says under her breath.
Without as much as a beat passing, a Prius turns the corner and pulls up to the entrance of Violet. On both sides of the car, there’s an advertisement that reads “Jimmy Wong, Wong Realty” with a picture of Jimmy smiling. Matching the photo on the side of his car, Jimmy drives up to the group of friends with the same huge smile and Kaleo in the passenger seat. He puts it in park and both of them get out.
The entire staff clap for Kaleo as he gets out of the car. Thinking it’s funny, Jimmy laughs, gets out of the car and bows a grand bow.
“Alright, alright. That’s enough.” Kaleo tries to get his group of friends to calm down.
“And I thought I was gonna be the one receiving the applause tonight,” Lopaka jests.
“Sorry to keep him guys,” Jimmy apologizes. “We were having dinner with my parents.”
“Ooo, dinner with the parentals,” Momi says with a grin on her face. “Intimate.”
“Shut up! It was for business,” Kaleo explains. “I was actually gonna tell everyone this later, but since we are all here… we did it! With the help of Jimmy’s power of persuasion, we got the papers signed over to us and we still own the club.” The group erupts with real cheers this time. “After Robin passed, we needed to assign someone as the new owner and today, I’m happy to say that, instead of one owner, you now have four part-owners.”
“Four?” Ashley asks.
“Yup. Me, Lopaka, Malu and Chyna,” Kaleo divulges.
“ME?!” Chyna says completely shocked. The group cheers again.
“Yes, you! Chyna, my brothers and I wouldn’t be anywhere in this world if it weren’t for you. So, this is our gift to you.”
Chyna bursts into tears. “Oh my God. I don’t know what to say. Thank you, boys! So much.”
“We talked it over and agreed that this is what Robin would’ve wanted,” Lopaka declares.
“I’m speechless.” Chyna can’t find the words to express how she’s feeling.
“Alright, alright. Now, everybody get inside and get to work. You’re all late!” Kaleo unlocks the entrance doors and swings both doors wide open. The butterfly painting on the door splits in half and looks as if its wings are flapping.
“Yeah because of you!” Sam accuses.
“You’re the one who’s late!” Beau confronts. All of the employees playfully throw jabs at Kaleo.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get it in there you buncha hoodrats!” Kaleo comes back with.
“You sound just like Robin!” Lopaka admits and then steps to the side to have a conversation with Malu and Chyna. Kaleo walks Jimmy back to his
car door, so they can speak in private.
“Ok babe, I better get in there. You made me late!” Kaleo playfully blames Jimmy.
“Not as late as you used to be!” Jimmy justifies.
“True.” Kaleo smiles and places himself an inch from Jimmy’s face. Jimmy grabs him and kisses him a sweet kiss goodbye.
“I’ll come by a little later, k?” Jimmy reassures Kaleo that he’ll be back.
“Ok. Thank you again.”
Jimmy gets back in his car, flashes his eyebrows at his boyfriend and, with a big smile still on, he pulls out and drives away.
Kaleo walks back toward the entrance of the club. With everyone else inside, the three brothers and Chyna are the only ones left outside.
“So… club owners, huh?” Malu double checks that it’s a hundred percent true.
“Yeah, do you believe it?” Kaleo confirms.
“Boys, I don’t know what to say. Thank you so much,” Chyna starts. “This club has been just as much a part of my life as it has been yours. Thank you for continuing to have me be a part of it.”
“We wouldn’t have it any other way,” Kaleo assures.
“You’re family,” Malu states.
“Yeah and now you’re stuck with us whether you like it or not!” Lopaka jokes. The four of them share a laugh.
“Well, I guess the only thing we have to worry about now is coming up with the rent every month,” Chyna thinks logically.
“I think we got that covered,” Lopaka convinces. He smiles and winks at Chyna.
Chyna’s eyes widen with surprise. With no words exchanged, she instantly realizes that Lopaka has won ‘America’s Next Top Drag Queen.’ With tears in her eyes, she hugs Lopaka and whispers in his ear, “Congratulations, love!”
32. Tequila Sunrise
- 2 oz Tequila
- 4 oz Orange Juice
- 1/2 oz Grenadine
A few hours later, Violet is packed with a long line of people still outside, waiting to enter. Everyone’s eyes are on Lopaka in full drag, who’s standing on the stage watching his own image projected on the big screen. Standing patiently to the side, he awaits anxiously as the host of the show is about to announce him as the winner.
On the Rocks Page 22