Chapter 2: Aloha, Boston

The night before I left, Annie and Ben threw me a going away party at Punters which could only be called epic. Annie had convinced Steve to let her decorate the bar with cut outs of palm trees and hula girls and plastic flamingos. I wasn’t sure what plastic flamingos had to do with Hawaii, but they sure looked cool. She had set the dress code as tacky Hawaiian.

I myself was adorned in three dozen plastic leis, a coconut bra, and a grass skirt, all thankfully, on the outside of a little black dress. I hadn’t show up like this. This may come as a shock, but I didn’t own a coconut bra. When I arrived at Punters Ben had handed me a plastic bag when I walked in and said something to the effect that I had to put all this on or I’d be thrown out, which I seriously doubted since we were in the middle of a Noreaster. There was already four inches of snow on the ground, but still my friends came out in droves. So because I have no shame, I put the outfit on and then as each guest came in, they got to lei me. More often than not a friend would ask whether I knew that Aloha means ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’? I did know that, actually. I had now become proficient enough about my new home to know that. I had gone beyond two sentences of knowledge. Thanks to Wikipedia, I was at least up to eight and feeling pretty good.

“What’ll be, Cassie?” Steve asked. “Your drinks are on the house all night and we made you up something special.” He gestured to a pitcher full of something the color of tidy bowl.

“Aww, thanks, Steve. I’ll take that blue stuff.” I tried to not sound doubtful. I’d never drank anything the color of toilet bowl cleaner before, but deep down I trusted Steve.

“It’s a blue Hawaiian.”

It tasted like tidy bowl.

“So, I hear you’re off to Hawaii. Which island?”

“Oahu.” Although a month ago, I could not have told you this. I, of course, thought I was on the island of Hawaii. Then after that, I believed I was on the island of Honolulu. Finally, I looked at a map and determined that while there was an island called Hawaii (also know as “Big Island”), I was not on this island. I was on Oahu on which the capital of Hawaii, Honolulu, was located. This should demonstrate just how little I initially knew about the place I’d be living for the next three months.

“Oh that’s great! Wife and I spent a bit of time on Kauai. If you get a chance you should get out there. That and Big Island. Go see the volcanoes.”

Although I had already planned to go to Big Island to see volcanoes, I mentally added Kauai to my list of islands. I could take or leave Maui, Lanai was small, Molokai had been a lepers colony and Ni’ihau was forbidden to tourists and all other outsiders. “Will do, Steve.”

“If you do get out that way on Kauai, you gotta try this place, Scotty’s.”

“Scotty’s, right!” When bartenders recommend bars or restaurants, you go to them. That’s the rule.

Ben came around to my left and slid a friendly arm around my waist, “how it’s hanging, Cass Master?”

Ben had a lot of stupid nicknames for me, this one I particularly loathed. “Thanks for putting this together with Annie. It’s…” I gestured around the room where my friends were drinking tidy bowl beverages and dressed in bad Hawaiian print shirts… “like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”

“Well, I wanted to have a proper send off. Long flights are always better when you’re hung over. That and I’m gonna miss you.”

“Oh so you did grow some chick parts,” I teased.

“Something like that.” His eyes lit on a girl from our Corporate Tax class who was dressed in a mini that had a sunset on it. I didn’t even know you could get a mini skirt with a sunset on it. Clearly, I was not shopping at the right places. He drifted away giving a whole new meaning to the expression, skirt chaser. I smiled, I’m not sure I’d have had Ben any other way.

My cell rang and I checked it, I was relieved that it was my parents and not Tucker. I stepped outside to take it. Around me the snowflakes were falling hard and relentless. There were not the big soft fluffy flakes of that Bing Crosby sang about. These snowflakes meant business.

“Hi, Mom!”

“Oh hi, sweetie. I just wanted to check to see if there was anything you needed before you go.”

“Nope,” I said and braced myself. My mother was an Olympic-caliber worrier so I was prepared for the barrage of questions that were to follow.

“And you got all your shots?”

“Yup.”

“And you have the address of where you’re living.”

“Yup.”

“What about money, did you get traveler’s checks? Change your money?”

“Mom, Hawaii is a state. You don’t change money. They use dollars like us.”

“And Annie is going to take you to the airport?”

“Yes.”

“And she’s okay with that? Because otherwise, your father and I can come get you.”

“Nope, I’m good.”

There was a pause. “Ohhhh, my little girl is all grown up and going to Hawaii. We’re so proud of you, baby girl.” I smiled. You gotta let your mom do these things. She birthed you after all. However, I was starting to freeze out here and when I looked down, although I wasn’t entirely sure, I think the dye from the grass skirt was streaking my legs green.”

“I love you, I’ll call when I get there,” I promised.

I stepped back inside and listened to Elvis singing Blue Hawaii on the jukebox. Oh that Steve. No sooner had I stepped back into the main room of the bar when Annie made her way over with someone in tow. “This is Kai,” she said cheerfully.

I stuck out my hand eagerly. “Cassie,” I said, though I knew who he was. Kai Rogers was the other student who would be going to Hawaii with me. Pearl & Francis had a practice of taking two third year students each quarter, but they’d taken a chance on Kai, a second year, because he was from the island and I’m guessing, because he was no slouch in the academics department either. “So, happy to be going home?”

Kai smiled, big and wide. He was tall, but not overly so, with naturally tan skin and dark hair. He was absolutely adorable. “Definitely,” he said and pulled out his cell. “Give me your number, so you can call me when you get there. I can show you around. My parents want to have you over for dinner when you’re up for it. I was thinking the second night we’re there. Do you have a place to stay?”

I nodded gently. We were leaving tomorrow. I didn’t intend to live in a box under a palm tree. “I’m living at the Ohana in Waikiki.”

“Really?” His almond colored eyes went wide. “The hotel?”

I explained to him the troubles I’d run into with finding an apartment lease for three months and then I stumbled across this great deal where you could live in student housing at the Ohana. Better still, included with my rent was weekly roomservice, all utilities, and a super sweet cable package.

“Wow,” Kai said appreciatively. “My mom was going to make up the guest bedroom for you, as long as you wanted it.”

“Oh,” I said a little puzzled, wondered if he were being genuine. He sure seemed it. What a nice thing to do for a stranger. “That’s so sweet of you,” I said and I meant it. I had a feeling I was really going to like Kai.

I noticed that more than a couple of my friends were checking Kai out. Or maybe it was because he was wearing the only Hawaiian print shirt that looked good. I gave him the once over as subtly as possible. Yup, Kai was definitely a good looking guy.

“Well, give me a call when you land. I’d sure like to pick your brain on what it’s like to work for a big firm. I mean, I heard you’re going to Boulder, that’s amazing. Maybe you can give me some hints.”

Then it occurred to me. “Is this your first co-op?”

“It is.”

Wow, Kai certainly had his work cut out for him. My first co-op had been with a judge, whose clerk had patiently nurtured us and worked with us on legal research and memos. I couldn’t imagine being dropped into a firm my first time out. “If you show me around Oahu, I’ll show you around a law office,” I offered.

“You got yourself a deal,” he said and gave me that dazzling smile again. Wow for the second time, apparently the dentistry in Hawaii was really top notch.

When he had gone off to the bar, Annie arched her eyebrows. “He’s cute.” After a non-committal shrug on my part, she said, “well if you don’t want him, put in a good word for me when I come out.” She scanned the room. “No Tucker, huh?”

I shook my head.

“Excellent,” she said brightly, “let’s get you another drink!”

That quickly grew into a reoccurring theme on the night. When the tidy bowl mixture ran out Steve made something yellow and fruity. And then I drank four more of these.

The night wore on, the pile of leis grew thicker, and sometime a little after two in the morning, Tucker texted me, asking if I wanted to hang out before I left, like maybe right now. In a moment of rare good judgment under the influence, I ignored it. Soon after that Annie took me home. I woke up the next morning wearing nothing but leis and the imprint of grass skirt on my face. Class, class, class.

*****