The Future of Sulani | 2
Living on one's own for the first time may mean freedom, but it also comes along with all the slightly less fun aspects of adulthood, like laundry. So Noelani and Malia head to the newly-opened laundromat, another sign of Sulani's progress toward modernity, even if the island is still a few decades behind the curve.
The other half of the laundromat serves as a small coffee shop, and everyone on the beach this morning seems suddenly in desperate need of an overpriced, average quality cup of joe. By the time Noelani gets close enough to the counter to place an order, their laundry might already be done.
Somehow, Malia managed to snag one of the first cappuccinos of the morning and is already set up in a corner all by herself, blissfully removed from the chaos unfolding mere feet away.
How on earth did she manage that? Noelani wonders, and then the realization slowly dawns. Of course. Malia haphazardly flung all of their clothes into washing machines without even sorting them and then stuck Noelani with the agonizingly slow task of inserting quarters one by one into each machine to get them started. She had managed the whole thing smoothly enough that it didn't even seem like she was leaving Noelani in the lurch.
"Well, that took forever," Noelani grumbles, finally traipsing over to join Malia some 15 minutes later. They take a bite of their scone, chew and swallow carefully, and then grimace. "And all I got out of it is one dreadfully dry pastry. How can this already be stale? They just opened!"
Later, as they wait for the washing machines to wind down, Malia blurts impatiently, "So are we going to talk about the elephant in the room now or what?"
Noelani is careful to keep their expression perfectly blank. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Oh, come on!" Malia heaves an exasperated sigh. "She's not even here, and it's like the entire room is positively swimming in her presence anyway. Don't try to tell me that little display in the hot tub was innocent. You guys are so into each other. Just end all this coy, barely there flirtation and ask the girl out already!"
"Give me a break! It's not as easy as you make it sound, okay? We've been friends for so long. What if it doesn't work out, and all that is completely ruined? Besides, I've never asked anyone out before. I've never even kissed anyone! It's totally obvious I have no idea what I'm doing. What if I just make an embarrassment of myself?"
"I'll let you in on a little secret. Nani has no idea what she's doing either. That's what makes it so perfect! Neither of you knows what to expect, so there will be no expectations. You can't lose. Besides, she's so crazy about you, she'll think everything's perfect no matter what you do."
"You really think so?" Noelani asks quietly.
"I know so. It's totally obvious to anyone who has eyes." She catches sight of Noelani's flushed face and laughs. "Well, anyone but the actual object of her affection, I guess."
While Noelani and Malia have a heart to heart soundtracked by the hum of washing machines, Nani has been out gathering fresh ingredients for an extravagant feast. Tonight, the three of them are planning to throw a housewarming dinner party. They're excited for their families to see the new home they've made for themselves.
"Hey, Nani!" Malia exclaims when they arrive back home with bags full of dripping laundry to hang on the line. "Long time, no see! Noelani's got something they've been dying to ask you!"
"Shut up!" Noelani says sharply before adding quickly to Nani, "It's nothing." Nani lingers for a moment, a curious smirk on her face, but then heads back into the house to begin prepping dinner. "You just couldn't help yourself, could you?" they grumble to Malia once Nani is safely out of earshot. Malia only raises a mischievous eyebrow in response.
Together, Malia and Nani get to work on the food. Neither of them have done much cooking before, but they spent hours scouring over recipes online to make sure they get every element of their carefully-planned meal right.
"Hey, thanks for all the help with dinner," Nani sarcastically tells Noelani, who's mostly been sitting at the table watching them and occasionally stealing stray vegetable slices. "We couldn't have done it without you."
Noelani is just relieved Nani already seems to have forgotten - or is at least conveniently ignoring - the weird exchange from earlier. "Trust me," they respond with as much breeziness as they can muster, "my talents are for more useful elsewhere." Oh, God, they think immediately, that totally sounded like a euphemism, didn't it?
All they really meant was that they were far more adept behind the bar than in front of the oven. To prove their point (and to sneak in an early splash of liquid courage before springing the big question on Nani), they whip up a quick gin and tonic. "All right," Nani concedes playfully. "Now go wipe down the counters, and we'll call it even."
While Noelani dutifully does as they're told, Malia surreptitiously slides a taco onto a plate and starts chowing down. "Excuse me!" Nani exclaims. "What do you think you're doing?"
"What?" Malia asks with a full mouth, lashes fluttering innocently. "Somebody has to make sure the food is actually edible before we serve it to our guests, right?"
Nani rolls her eyes dramatically. "You two cause me nothing but grief. You're lucky I put up with you."
"It must be love," Malia replies, drawing out the final syllable and winking at a clearly mortified Noelani in a way that makes Nani's mouth go dry. It's like the two of them have been speaking in code all afternoon. But their little asides aren't exactly subtle enough to go over Nani's head. She's aware of the ridiculous dance she and Noelani have been engaged in, both of them backing away the moment things get too intense. She's tried a million times to take it to the next level, but her courage always fails her. Is it the same for Noelani, or is it just that she's entirely misreading what for them is nothing more than a bit of casual fun?
Anyway, there's no time to stew over her possibly unrequited desire for something deeper right now. Before she knows it, the party is beginning. Noelani's parents are the first to arrive, and their father, Alvin, characteristically makes a beeline for the bar to concoct an entirely spontaneous drink. All of a sudden, it's perfectly clear where Noelani picked up their natural flair for mixology.
"It's good to see you, Dad," Noelani says, accepting Alvin's warm embrace. "But leave the bartending to me, okay? You're way too heavy-handed, and alcohol is expensive, you know?"
Nani's mother, Lilliana, overhears their exchange and chuckles good-naturedly. "Already penny-pinching?" she asks. "I guess you're learning quickly that adulthood isn't all sunshine and rainbows."
"Well, I'll take scrounging to live on my own over helping you guys look after a fussy toddler any day," Nani replies.
"Your little sister is an absolute angel," Nani's father, Makoa, protests, "and we'd love you to come over and babysit sometime. Your mom and I could use a proper night out for a change."
"Sorry, you'll have to redirect your babysitting needs to Malia. It would be inconsiderate of me to poach her territory."
Everyone has rave reviews for the food, even Lilliana, a self-proclaimed amateur chef who is notoriously difficult to impress. "This macaroni and cheese is perfection," she gushes. "Where on earth did you get this delivered from?"
"Delivery, ha!" Nani exclaims. "Malia and I made this totally from scratch. I guess I'm doing pretty well at this whole adulting thing after all, huh? Soon enough, I'll probably be giving you a run for your money."
"Now, let's not get carried away..." But Lilliana quickly clears her plate and then goes in search of seconds.
Noelani's mother, Gaby, catches Malia's arm as she passes by the table. "How are you holding up, honey?
"Oh, I'm doing okay. Great, really. Things are going well."
"You must be missing your grandparents right now. I wish they could be here to celebrate with the rest of us."
"Of course I miss them. But sometimes I feel like they're still here in spirit. It's like I can feel them watching over me."
"That's certainly a comforting though," Gaby says carefully. She thinks I'm speaking metaphorically, Malia realizes, and maybe she is. She's not really sure herself. It seems crazy to believe otherwise, but ever since they died, she's felt the presence of something gauzy and flickering lingering in her peripheral vision, and she's certain it's them. She's half-convinced herself that if she just turns her head to look at the perfect moment, they'll actually materialize before her eyes. But she hasn't managed to make it happen yet.
Across the room, Noelani and Alvin continue to catch up. "So, kiddo, how's that love life of yours going?" he asks without preamble.
"Oh my God, Dad, please. Even if I had a love life to talk about, you're the last person I'd want to discuss it with."
"You mean you still haven't worked up the nerve to ask Nani out? Life is short, kid! You've got to reach out for what you want before the chance slips away."
Noelani groans and hunches over, burying their face in their hands. "Why is everyone suddenly on my case? Have I really been that obvious?"
Alvin doesn't respond to that, just smirks in a self-satisfied way, which Noelani interprets as a resounding yes. Apparently, their hopeless, fumbling crush on Nani has been an open secret all along.
Noelani abruptly springs up from their chair and stomps away, even more confused and embarrassed than before, when they foolishly believed they were only privately pining for romance. Alvin is undeterred, clapping loudly and tipsily cheering Noelani on. "That's right! Get your butt over there and sweep that girl off her feet this instant!"
But Noelani can't work up the nerve, especially in front of so many people. It would be the most mortifying experience of their life if Nani turned them down. They would surely never recover. They'd have to change their name and move to another country rather than keep living in the same house as the person who brutally rejected them. Instead, they slide past Nani without a word and pour the strongest drink they know how to make. This is going to be a long night.
It isn't long before Noelani's mother joins in on the game. "You two are clearly crazy for one another," Gaby insists. "I don't understand why you don't just seal the deal already!"
"You two would make such a cute couple!" Lilliana chimes in from across the room. Luckily, Nani chose this exact moment to slip away for a bathroom break.
"I thought this was supposed to be a housewarming party, but apparently it's Everybody Gang Up on Noelani Night. I don't need anyone's help, okay? I moved out so that you would stop controlling my life."
But, as usual, Gaby hears only what she wants to, and takes Noelani's words as further encouragement to keep pushing. When Nani returns, she lays it on thick, making pointed remarks and not-so-subtle innuendos at every opportunity. She keeps waggling her eyebrows at Noelani while gesturing in Nani's direction. Noelani tries their best to keep their face expressionless, which means keeping their eyes glued to their nearly empty glass. It would be torture right now to meet Nani's gaze.
Still, there's nowhere left to hide when Nani abruptly pulls them aside and drags them to a quiet corner beneath the stairs. "Okay, is it just me, or are our parents acting super weird tonight?" she asks. "I mean, they're always weird, but they're definitely being weirder than normal, right?" Noelani fumbles for a response that doesn't entirely give them away, but Nani barrels forward. "Come to think of it, you seem weird, too. It's like there's some big joke I'm not in on. What gives?"
"Nani, I..." Noelani stalls, searching for the right words. Should they throw Nani off the trail entirely, or should they just suck it up and spit out what they've really been dying to say? They sigh dejectedly. "Look, it's complicated. I don't know where to even start."
Nani smiles like she knows where this is headed. "Why don't we talk upstairs, just the two of us?"
Away from their nosy families, Noelani feels a massive weight lifted from their shoulders. Finally, they think they might be able to find the right words to speak. "The thing is I've been crushing on you forever, which it turns out has been totally obvious to everyone all along. And unless I'm misinterpreting things, I think you like me, too. So I was wondering if... you would like to go out... on a date?"
"Oh my God!" Nani exclaims in genuine surprise. "Talk about crossed signals! I've been coming onto you so hard, and I was afraid you weren't into it, so I decided I should hang back a little. I've been dying to ask you the same question, but I thought it might be too much."
"So... is that a yes then?" Noelani asks uncertainly.
"Of course! Although I hope you won't have to drink as much to actually go on the date as you did just to ask me."
"Don't worry!" Noelani exclaims. Swept up on a wave of daring, they sling their arm over Nani's shoulders and pull her in closer. "I'll be stone cold sober. I want to remember every moment of it! Oh my God, where are we going to go? We have so much planning to do!"
Nani chuckles and experimentally places a hand on Noelani's thigh. "Easy there. We don't have to decide right now. Besides, the only thing that matters is that I'm with you. I don't care about where."
Downstairs, after Nani's family says their goodbyes, Malia is left alone with Gaby and Alvin. "I know how hard it can be to lose the people who looked after you your whole life, especially right when you're becoming an adult and starting to make decisions for yourself," Gaby tells her. "If you ever need advice about anything, please don't hesitate to ask. I know we can never replace your grandparents, but you really are like family to us. We'll always be here for you."
"I couldn't have said it better myself," Alvin adds, nodding approvingly.
"Oh, you guys are the best," Malia says, giving each of them a loving embrace. "Thank you for being so supportive and kind. I really couldn't ask for better surrogate parents than you."
Nani and Noelani seem to have disappeared upstairs for the rest of the night, so once Alvin and Gaby leave, Malia takes advantage of her momentary solitude to burn some homemade incense her grandmother gave to her shortly before her death. She was mysterious about why it was so special, only said it was a family blend passed down over the years and that it would help Malia get in touch with her spiritual side more deeply. When Malia asked more questions, Mele only brushed them off, saying that she would know when the time was right to bring it out and refusing to say another word on the subject. Somehow, tonight feels like the perfect moment, her grandparents being so fresh in her mind. It immediately releases a heavenly scent into the air, rich and layered with aromas Malia can recognize but many others she cannot. Malia closes her eyes and slows her breath, trying to focus all of her attention on the wave-like motion of her deep, heavy inhales and exhales.
She is far back in the recesses of her own mind, in a nearly trance-like, half-conscious state, when she is jolted back into her surroundings by a sudden, ghostly whoosh. The room feels 20 degrees cooler, and goosebumps prickle on her skin. When she finally ventures to open her eyes, she sees what is unmistakably the transparent outline of her grandfather hovering before her. It takes everything within her not to scream.
"Hey, baby girl," he says, his ghostly arms enveloping her, and somehow they feel like the most solid things in the world, despite her more rational side telling her that none of this should be possible.
As they hug, her grandmother materializes behind him. It's exactly what Malia has been hoping would happen all along without really believing it ever could. "We were wondering when you would finally call on us."
Moments later, Malia is sitting on the sofa between her two dead grandparents as if it's entirely normal. This is a direction she never could've predicted the night would take. "Call on you?" she repeats, confusion and surprise clouding her mind. "You mean, I did this? But how? How can any of this possibly be happening?"
"Why, the incense, darling! I knew you would find the perfect time to use it."
Malia shakes her head in disbelief. "The incense, of course. That mysterious ancestral recipe. But I hardly knew it would do this. What even is this? Do I need to save your souls from forever wandering the earthly plane? Do you have unfinished business you need my help completing before you cross over?"
"Oh, no, our souls are fine," Mele replies, laughing softly. "And it's you who has unfinished business, my dear."
"What does that mean?"
Mele sighs heavily, which is a sign that she's settling into a long story. "Spirituality has always been embedded in our family history. Going back as far on the family tree as anyone can remember, those with the Kahananui bloodline running through them have possessed unique extra-sensory abilities. You know there are some on these islands who call themselves the Children of the Sea. Well, we like to call ourselves the Children of the Skies."
"Children of the Skies?" Malia interrupts. "Can we fly?"
"No, no, no." Mele chuckles again, and Malia wishes she would stop treating her like she's ridiculous for asking such things. After all, Mele can hardly expect her to understand everything she's saying with perfect clarity considering she's never mentioned any of it before. Anyway, Malia's still trying to come to terms with the whole suddenly-speaking-with-her-dead-grandparents-like-it's-nothing thing. She forces herself to concentrate as Mele continues her explanation. "Well, I suppose you could say we are capable of flying metaphorically. We can cross the invisible boundary separating this world and the spiritual world - the afterlife, if you will, though it's much more complicated than that. For us, it's as though there is no boundary. We can communicate with beings that others do not even know exist let alone have access to. For some, such a gift is too overwhelming. Your mother couldn't embrace her abilities, and so she spent her entire life running away from them instead."
Mele shakes her head sadly, remembering her daughter's lost
potential.
Alika takes over for her. "But you were always a strong girl, and we can see that you're now a strong woman. Now that your gift has been bestowed upon you, you will come to love it, we're certain." He pauses weightily. "And, in time, you will do great things with it."
Malia furrows her brow, a million more questions bumping into each other inside her head. "But how will I do great things if I don't even know what I'm supposed to be doing? Please tell me there's an instruction manual for all this."
"You'll have to be your own instruction manual, baby girl. You'll learn as you go. But now that your gift has been activated, you'll see that there are spirits all around you. They are Sulani's ancient protectors. Treat the island well, and they will bless you. They only want to know that their home is in good hands."
"And can I call on you guys again if I need help?"
"We will always be here," Alika replies. "But it takes great energy to occupy our human forms. Next time you see us, we may not look so familiar. But I'm sure you'll recognize us anyway."
With that, both he and Mele begin to fade away, as if slowly evaporating into the air, leaving Malia stunned speechless on the sofa, the mystical scent of incense still hanging like a veil around her. What on earth have I just gotten myself into? she wonders.