We went back to the resort, back to our rooms. I lay down in bed and flicked on the TV. I found that I enjoyed watching the local Hawaiian news at night, it made me feel like I was really here, like I was truly experiencing Hawaii.
While Lisa had a shower, I watched the screen, but the words weren’t clicking through my brain. No matter what I did to try and forget him, that stranger kept coming back into my head.
Those beautiful blue eyes, the hard muscles of his arms, that perfect amount of stubble... it was more than I could take. Every time I closed my eyes I could see him. I wanted to see him again. That smile... No. I couldn’t have these thoughts. Surely it was just because I was drunk. Maybe I’d had one or two mai tais too many while I was out with Lisa. The alcohol had obviously just gone to my head. In the morning, I’d be fine.
Sure enough, the next day I was back to normal. I thought about the guy once or twice, but for the most part, I had moved on. After all, I was never going to see him again. What was the point of pining after a stranger, someone I didn’t even know?
Lisa and I went out for breakfast then spent the day hanging out by the pool, lounging in the sun.
“This is basically the perfect life,” she told me, and I nodded.
“Sure is. When I found out we were going to Hawaii, this was exactly what I had been expecting.”
The next morning I got up and got ready for my surfing lesson. It wasn’t with the hotel directly, but was with a company the resort partnered with. Based out of Ala Moana beach, the resort offered a shuttle, but seeing as it was only a 20 minute walk, I decided I’d take the fresh air route. Waikiki in the mornings was nice. The heat of the day hadn’t set in yet, and I loved the feeling of the fresh ocean air on my face. We didn’t get a lot of it in Minneapolis.
I found the shack with the company name on it I was looking for, with the perfect stereotypical surfer waiting out the front for us: wearing a short wetsuit, his shoulder length blonde hair still damp with the odd drop of water dripping and disappearing into the black fabric of his suit. I went up to him, and introduced myself.
“Hi. I’m Caroline, I think I’m signed up for a beginner’s lesson with you today,” I started shyly.
“Aloha, Caroline. I’m Stevo,” the man replied in an obviously Australian accent, holding out his hand. “As I’m sure you’ll notice, I’m not exactly a born and bred local, but I came out here for a surfing vacation a few years back, and loved it enough to make it my home,” he told me as he grabbed some paperwork and a pen for me to fill it out. Age, date of birth, medical problems, height and weight, skill level. All things I knew how to fill out, thankfully. “When you’re finished, just leave the sheet there and we’ll get you set up with a board.” You’re wearing your bathing suit under your clothes? Good, you can take them off wherever and I’ll give you a box to keep them in. You’re the first one here from today’s group, I’m sure the others will show up pretty quickly.”
Stevo was talkative and friendly, and about five minutes after he set me up with a huge Malibu board (“I know they’re huge, but they’re way easier to balance on, which is awesome if you’re just starting out.”) another couple showed up, having signed up online for the lesson. Ten minutes later, after another three people had showed up, Stevo was just about ready to take us out.
“We’re just waiting on one more person, and if I’m not mistaken, here he comes now,” he told us, and I looked to where he was looking.
As soon as I saw the man he was looking at, my heart froze in my chest. It was that same guy! I would have recognized that wavy brown hair anywhere. He was topless now, showing off a muscular chest with just the perfect amount of hair. I wanted to run my hands through it so badly, I wanted to lie on top of him and stroke that muscular body, slide my hands down to his abs, tracing the visible lines of his abs, the perfect six pack adorning him, before moving even further down, down towards his...
Stop it, Caroline. What the hell is wrong with you? I forced my brain to stop thinking about it, but it was too late. I could feel my body reacting to the fantasy I’d just had. Great. Just great. I turned away from him and grabbed my board as Stevo got the guy checked in. I didn’t want to see if he recognized me.
Obviously he isn’t going to recognize you. You were just some random chick he ran into in the hotel. I’m sure he forgot you existed like two seconds after it happened. A part of me wanted to believe I was more memorable than that, especially since I couldn’t get him out of my head, but I knew I wasn’t. I was just a kind-of-on-the-pretty-side girl from Oklahoma, he was a God in human form.