Chapter 11 - Luau
Despite the fact that Alex had already gone on a run and done a lower body lift he was brimming with energy and had to actively restrain himself from moving faster than his grandparents. The luau started at nine and he was already suffering from a case of FOMO, even if the first few hours were just waiting for the soup to cook and watching Pierre and Lewis schmooze the Governor.
Music started to drift through the trees as they crossed over the bridge and the stone path turned to sand. His grandpa's beach wheelchair handled the transition with ease and he was able to keep pushing himself. The beach was covered in food laden tables and giant totem poles, a dance floor had been set up off to the side and Marnie was standing over the giant soup cauldron in the middle of it all. A savory scent managed to cut through the salty breeze coming off the water and his stomach growled.
Most of the town was already there, milling around, very few people, if any, ever missed the luau. He spotted Haley and Emily immediately, their bright blonde and blue hair jumping out at him from near the docks. He kept scanning the crowd until he spotted Cecilia, talking with Pierre, Lewis, and the Governor looking more upbeat than he thought he'd ever seen her. There was an intense focus in her eyes and a slight smile on her lips as she went back and forth with the Governor.
"Looks like she's got Gordon's sense for networking," George said, gesturing at her between wheel pushes.
Alex had been too young to remember Mr. Reed as anything other than a kindly farmer, but he supposed being a businessman was half of his job. He wondered what Cecilia had done at Joja and if it had given her any useful experience for her farm, she certainly looked like she knew what she was doing now. As much as he wanted to get her attention he didn't want to distract her.
It didn't take long for Caroline and Gus to make their way over and start up a conversation about the flower centerpieces on the tables. Alex was quick to excuse himself, it wasn't that he didn't like talking with his grandparents but he honestly couldn't imagine a less interesting topic. He walked over to Haley and Emily who were in the middle of their own argument.
"Come on Haley," Emily said. "I basically grew the tomatoes on my own, the least you could have done was washed them like I asked."
"I said I was sorry," Haley said, rolling her eyes.
Emily sighed and used Alex as an excuse to end the bickering.
"Hey Alex, how's it going?" she asked.
"Not bad, how 'bout you guys?"
"Pretty good, I was just going to see if Sandy got lost between here and the bus stop. She should have been here by now," she said.
"Well tell her I said hi when you find her," he said.
Emily nodded before heading back towards town.
"Well that sounded fun," he said to Haley. "But it is just tomatoes, not like you had to do composting or something."
"Well I'm not Cecilia," she retorted. "That stuff is her job."
He glanced back at Cecilia who seemed to be getting along with the Governor, or at least he was talking to her while Pierre and Lewis had their own conversation. The fact that she wasn't intimidated by him was impressive; if a Governor wasn't enough to scare her, he didn't think much would. But there was that time in the barn when she had looked downright spooked. He still had no clue what that had been about.
"So what do you think of that?" Haley asked.
He jolted, realizing he hadn't been paying attention. "What?"
"Are you even listening to me?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.
"Uh, yeah, yeah I am."
She turned to see what was distracting him and then whipped back around with a smug grin on her face.
"What?" he asked, hating how defensive he sounded.
"Oh, nothing," she replied with a knowing tone in her voice.
He decided that trying to disagree would just egg her on more so he let it go. Thankfully, she let the conversation move on to a movie that had just come out and which day they could make it to Grampleton to see it. Just as they were settling on next Friday around six in the evening, movement in his peripherals caught his attention and he looked up to see Cecilia striding off with a purpose. But before he could go after her she called out Shane's name, who had just walked onto the beach with Jas. They talked for a moment, Jas hiding behind Shane's legs and peeking up at Cecilia with her round, purple eyes, before Cecilia pulled a drawstring pouch out of her messenger bag and handed it to him. He gave her some money in return before they all started towards the giant soup cauldron.
"You know you can just go talk to her, right?" Haley said.
"She was talking to the Governor, I didn't want to interrupt her. I'd just look like a huge dick if they were talking about business or farming," he retorted.
"Oh no," she said, putting one hand on her cheek and giving him a sly look.
"What?"
"You must really like her if you're putting that much thought into it."
"Oh come on, you're over exaggerating it," he retorted.
She knew exactly how bad he was about fleeting crushes but she had been harping on this one in particular since he'd hit Cecilia with a gridball.
"I'm just saying, usually your brain shuts off when you see a pretty girl," she said, tossing her hair.
"Well, at least that means my brain is on sometimes," he retorted.
They both broke into laughter, which was something he really liked about Haley. She could trade the most brutal jabs with him and just laugh about it.
Just before noon Marnie announced that the soup was ready. Someone turned the music down to easily ignored background noise and everyone gathered around the giant pot. As was the tradition, Marnie ladled a serving to the Governor first and the whole town waited with baited breath for his reaction.
"Ah... that's a very pleasant soup. The produce from this valley never disappoints!"
Marnie handed Lewis a bowl before doling out servings to the line that was starting to form. Last year the soup had been thick, meaty, and full of beef and potatoes and he had to say he liked this year's more. It had a chicken stock broth, cod, tomatoes, and other spring vegetables and definitely had a better protein to fat ratio.
Alex and Haley had migrated away from the tables and towards the water; somewhere in the shuffle he lost track of Cecilia and started to worry that she had gone home to work, which wouldn't have been surprising. He thought about leaving early to swing by her farm but it honestly would have looked desperate.
"I wish they would play better music. This is like tropical elevator music," Haley said.
She was right, it was like Lewis had downloaded the first result for royalty free "island" music he found on the internet.
"They should put Sam in charge of it, he always has good playlists," he said. "Emily seems to like it, though."
He gestured at the dance floor where Emily was dancing and obviously not caring what anyone thought of her moves. Haley just shook her head.
"Hey, Alex! Haley!"
They looked up to see Abigail and Sam, wearing swimsuits, approaching them with Sebastian following behind and looking at the ground.
"Hey Abby," Alex replied. "What's up?"
"Sam and I want to have a chicken fight but Sebastian, Maru, and Penny already said no. So we wanted to see if you guys were down," she said.
Haley scoffed. "Well I'm not going to do it either."
"What about Cecilia?" Abigail asked. "She seems like she might."
"Ooooh good idea," Sam said before dashing off for the tables.
He ran right up to the group of Cecilia, Leah, Harvey, and Elliott and barely explained anything before forcefully dragging her back, the others trailing along behind, curious as to what was going on.
"What's this about?" Cecilia asked.
"Abigail and I want to have a chicken fight but we need another girl to team up with Alex so it's fair," he said.
She shot a skeptical look at him and then at Alex. "And you thought I'd want to do it?"
"Come on, it'll be fun!" Abigail insisted.
"Maybe if I were twelve."
"What, are you afraid, Cecilia?" Sam taunted.
That seemed to flip some switch in her head and her expression changed from dismissive to determined.
"I definitely am not," she said, before turning to Alex. "You ready?"
"Hell yeah," he said.
Alex and Cecilia stripped out of their clothes and down to their swimsuits and then all four out of their waded out into the water, stopping at what was hip level for Alex, Sam, and Cecilia, and waist level for Abigail. The small crowd on the beach gathered right at the shore to watch the impending scuffle. Alex knelt down, going chest deep in the water and Cecilia climbed on him, hooking her muscular thighs over his shoulders. His hands automatically gripped her quads to keep her locked in place; she seemed unfazed but his mind went straight into the gutter, imagining a thousand other circumstances in which he could feel up her legs. She clamped down on him, shins squeezing his rib cage for extra stability, and he had to force himself to stay focused on Sam and Abigail. There was no way in hell he was losing to them in general, nevermind while teamed up with Cecilia.
"Having second thoughts, Sam?" Cecilia asked.
The expression on his face screamed that he had bitten off more than he could chew as he looked up at the towering stack of Alex and Cecilia. But he was quick to shake it off and take on a look of determination.
"No way, you guys are going down!" he declared.
He slogged through the water at them and Abigail lunged at Cecilia. Alex had to give them credit because he honestly expected them to crumble like wet tissue paper, but Abigail was strong and Sam was nimble enough to avoid getting body checked. But they also couldn't make Alex budge and every time Cecilia pushed against them they struggled to remain upright.
Then Abigail got a good shove in and Cecilia's center of gravity dropped off his shoulders. But he caught her by the shins and she had the core strength to pull herself back up. She retaliated by using their height against Sam and Abigail, locking hands with the other girl and pushing down on them. After a moment, Cecilia's strength won out and Abigail toppled over backwards; Sam couldn't keep a grip on her so she crashed into the water. The group watching on the beach cheered, even Sebastian.
Cecilia rested her forearms on Alex's head and leaned forward and he could hear the self-satisfied, playful, grin in her voice.
"Maybe you should have had second thoughts."
"Ah come on, you guys are like ten feet tall together. I'm just glad Alex didn't tackle me," Sam said.
"Let's go again!" Abigail exclaimed. "I want best out of three."
But Cecilia was already climbing off of Alex. She unhooked her legs from his shoulders, wrapped her arms around his neck, and slid herself down his back. When he turned around she was tugging her bikini top down into place. She trudged through the water to shake Abigail and Sam's hands.
"Maybe we can go again next year," she said.
The crowd dispersed, Abigail and Sam going with them, but Cecilia stayed in the water, wading out to her chest before kicking her legs up and floating.
"Do you swim much Mr. Gridball Champion?" she called out to him, already moving away from the shore.
"Just in the winter," he said, following her.
"In the ocean?" she said, incredulously.
"No, in the spa. There's a pool. I do laps sometimes to change it up."
She slid gracefully through the water, covering more distance per stroke than he did, and eventually rolled onto her back and kicked idly until he caught up. They passed the furthest section of the docs and all he could hear of the music was the muted bass.
"What did you bring for the soup?" she asked.
"Granny and I grew some red cabbage."
"Oh, did you catch the farming bug?"
"Well she's always been really into gardening, but it's not too bad," he said.
She ducked under the water to wash her dark hair back out of her face. Her nose and cheeks were already pink from sunburn.
"Hey, you remember that sweet pea flower you gave me?" he asked.
"Yeah?"
"It still hasn't wilted."
She opened her mouth like she was about to say something only to change her mind and close it. After a moment she gathered her thoughts.
"There's something up with this valley."
"What kind of something?" he asked.
"Something weird. Flowers not wilting, plants growing faster than normal," she said before pointedly looking at him. "The junimos."
"You still visit them?" he asked.
Somehow she managed to make it impossible to figure out if she was serious or just pulling his chain when it came to the junimos. But he had seen them so at least he knew they existed.
"Yeah, they're pretty friendly. I just wish I knew what they were doing in the community center."
"Did you ever try just asking them?" he asked coyly.
She laughed before splashing him in the face. "Come on, I'm not dumb.
He splashed her back and they launched into their own roughhousing fight. But he had never been very buoyant and was gassed after just a few minutes.
"Aw come on, are you tired?" she taunted.
"I know it's a shock, but yes," he said. "Muscle doesn't really float."
"That sounds like an excuse to me," she said.
Then she pressed down on his shoulders, dunking him underwater. When he resurfaced - sputtering - he found she was already out of reach.
"Alright, I think I've had enough swimming for one day, I'm starting to get pruney," he said.
"Fine, fine," she said. "I'm getting pretty hungry anyway."
They swam back to shore and trudged out of the water before briefly splitting up to get towels and clothes. When they approached the tables, they barely got a chance to look at the food before Gus descended on them. Neither turned down anything he insisted they try until their plates couldn't hold anything else without collapsing. They barely sat down before inhaling their food, Cecilia easily keeping pace with him.
"That's it, I'm going to plant wheat and get Robin to build me a mill. I can't live without bread anymore," she said, finishing a roll.
"You know there are a lot easier ways to get bread."
"Yeah, but it seems like something a legit farmer would do," she said.
He laughed. "You are a legit farmer."
She shrugged. "We'll see. It's only been a few months."
Sometimes she could be so serious it made him think there was something on her mind beyond just the success of the farm. He thought about teasing her about whatever had spooked her in the barn but the way her eyebrows furrowed over her gray eyes gave him second thoughts. But a generic "you can do it" line felt less than useless. He stabbed at a piece of grilled chicken, trying to come up with anything to say to her.
"Hey Cecilia!"
They looked up to see Leah approaching them.
"We're gonna go back to Harvey's place and watch this really old movie I found if you want to come," she said.
"Oh yeah, that sounds great," she said, standing up and taking her plate. "I'll see you later, Alex."
Before he could even try to get her attention she was already gone, dashing off to throw out her trash and then rejoining Leah. They walked to the treeline where Elliott and Harvey were waiting and then all four disappeared over the bridge.
Well that sucks.
It felt like someone dropped a wet blanket on him, that hadn't exactly been how he'd imagined ending the luau. He sighed and stood up, gathering his plate, before going off to find Haley. Cecilia really was going to make him work hard to get anywhere with her. Thankfully, he wasn't one to back down from a challenge.
AN: I got the idea in my head for a chicken fight and couldn't get rid of it, so here it is lol
Thank you so much for reading, any feedback is greatly appreciated.