A special shout-out thank you to MsMicoleKatherine for officially being the first person to comment on/review any of my stories :D thanks! Glad you like it.
So here's chapter 1, or 2 depending how you look at it. Enjoy!
...
2006
Walking into my living room, it looked like a bomb had gone off. I literally froze in my tracks for a moment, balancing a plate of food and a bottle of juice while I stared and started to laugh. My daughter, Leilani Zahia Alaka'i, seemed to be the epicentre of the toy explosion; she was sitting in the middle of the room, playing with her dolls and turned when I started laughing, her big hazel eyes staring at me innocently. I just had to smile.
I left my food on the coffee table and sat down behind my girl, giving her a big hug and kiss on top of her head.
"Hi mommy," she said sweetly.
"Hi baby," I replied. "Did you make all this mess?"
She nodded. "I was looking for Ms. Sunny."
"Of course you were," I smiled. "But remember, you'll have to clean this up, ya brah?"
"I will mommy."
"Good girl," I said, moving to the couch. I grabbed the tv remote and started flipping channels. I stopped on some bounty hunting show, didn't sound terribly interesting but hey, didn't have anything else that needed doing just yet.
Some old guy with a blond mullet came on screen, yelling and swearing at various people around him. This went on for awhile until they caught the guy, then they had a nice, inspirational talk and some religion near the end. Can you tell I wasn't really paying attention? That is, until the camera turned to focus on one person in particular: a young guy, with long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, tanned skin, lots of tattoos and great muscle tone.
And a face I recognised instantaneously. Sound familiar? I'd just happened to take a drink of juice when I saw him and I totally did a spit take. You know, one of those movie moments when someone takes a drink and it all comes spraying out? Ya, totally happened. Except a fair bit went down the wrong way and I started choking too.
"What's wrong mommy?"
My innocent little girl sat staring at me, wide eyed, as I hacked and coughed. Tears were streaming down my face as I spluttered and tried to find an answer for her.
"Nothing, baby, I'm fine," I managed, my voice still cracking in places. I went back to the kitchen, not wanting to bother her any more. I flopped into a chair; holy shit, it was him! How could it be him?
I was still sitting there in shock when a key rattled in the lock and the front door opened, revealing my boyfriend of 3 years, Toni Ka'iimamao. He tossed his keys onto the counter as he slipped his shoes off on the mat.
"Hey babe," he said walking over to me. "What's up?"
I shook my head and pointed at the tv. He turned to look. "What, a really bad mullet?" I laughed.
"No T, not him. Him." I pointed again as the camera changed to him.
"Him?" I nodded. "What's so special about him?"
"Toni, it's him," I said, looking at Leilani.
He followed my gaze and comprehension dawned across his face. "OOOhhh… him…"
"Ya.."
"Why didn't you say he was on tv?" Toni grinned.
"I didn't know he was!" I was starting to get a bit worked up and Toni could tell. He pulled me into a big bear hug and just sat there with me.
"What's the big deal ipo?"
"I don't know brah," I sighed, shaking my head. "I guess it's just surprise?"
"Could be." I felt a nudge and looked down at the same time as Toni. Leilani stood there with a fistful of Toni's shirt, looking up at us. "Heeey Lele," he said, swinging her up in a hug.
Toni wasn't Leilani's biological father; we'd started dating just 3 months before Leilani was born. I was tiny during my pregnancy, I barely showed at all till the last month or so and when I met Toni, he couldn't even tell. He was good about it when he found out, though, and he's been a great father to my little girl ever since.
We'd always told Leilani that Toni wasn't her father; she understood, as well as any almost 3 year old could. She called him Toni and told anyone who asked that he wasn't her real daddy but she loved him anyways. And she did, and he loved her and that made me love them both so much more.
Toni went to help Leilani clean up her mess while I tidied the kitchen and started dinner for the three of us before I had to get to work. I was the bartender and a waitress at a local late-night bar, Surfer's Paradise. Kind of a cheesy name but great food, good atmosphere and nice employees.
I made fettucine alfredo. Everyone in this house loves it and it's a quick dinner fix. After eating, I cleaned up while Toni went to give Leilani a bath. When he came out, he looked like HE'D been the one having a bath. I just laughed at him and went to get dressed for work.
We didn't have specific uniforms at the bar, just general guidelines as to what we should wear. The guys generally wore black pants and a dress shirt, except the casual or themed nights we had sometimes, and the girls could wear any kind of shirt, though tight and/or low-cut were preferable, and skirts or tight pants.
Tonight I pulled on a sheer, black, lacy tank top over a tight red one with a jean miniskirt and black knee-high boots. I added a long silver chain with a silver leaf pendant, silver hoop earrings and a big silver bangle bracelet. I gave my hair a brush, sprayed on some glitter spray, added a touch of blush, mascara and lip gloss and I was ready to go.
Toni stood in the doorway of our room, leaning against the frame and watching me.
"Hi you," I said.
"Hey. Lele's in bed waiting for you."
"Thanks ipo." I went to say goodnight to Leilani, giving her a big hug and singing her bedtime song, Aloha o'e, before I had to leave her till morning.
...
JSYK:
- Ipo - Hawaiian for "sweetheart", pronounced eep oh
- "Aloha o'e" is a song from Lilo & Stitch, though I'm sure there are many versions.
- Kili's home is set in Kailua-Kona on the island of Hawai'i in the state of Hawai'i
- Leilani is pronounced lay lawn ee, Kilauea is keel a way a. Lele is pronounced lee lee for this story, as well as Kili being key lee and Kila as key la
also, if you've never heard Hawaiians talking, "brah" is pretty much like saying "bro" or "dude" :P
