Steve sat at the dining table with Mary Ann for breakfast. While Steve had a full breakfast of bacon and eggs, 4 pieces of toast, 2 bananas and a giant protein shake, his little sister was eating some cereal. The two siblings looked over when their dad John rushed down the stairs and gave them a half-hearted wave before heading out to work. Steve didn't really get to spend much time with his dad and neither did Mary Ann; his job at the precinct took up most of his time. Steve had always respected his dad for that and learned to appreciate the small amount of time they did get to spend together.
His mother Doris walked through the front door with the morning paper. She sat down with Steve and Mary Ann after getting a cup of coffee that had been freshly brewed just an hour ago. "I just met our new neighbors," Doris said.
"Who are they?" Mary Ann asked.
"A woman and her son, they seem really nice. I invited them over for dinner tonight to welcome them to the neighborhood," Doris replied.
"Cool," Mary Ann said with an excited smile.
Steve completely zoned out as Mary Ann and Doris continued to chatter. He couldn't stop thinking about the guy on the beach. He could feel himself going red in the cheeks from the thought of him, he smirked, before eating another piece of toast.
"Steven?" Doris asked softly.
Steve looked up at his mother and pretended like he was actually listening the entire time. "What?"
"You'll be here tonight, right? I think the boy is the same age as you, and I want you to be nice enough and introduce yourself to him"
"I'm going surfing with Chin and Kono," Steve said.
Steve and Chin had been good friends for years; they were both on the Kukui High football team, but then Chin graduated. Chin was now working as a rookie cop with Steve's dad at the precinct, so Steve and Chin had kept in touch. Kono was Chin's little cousin, who Chin looked after – a lot. She was a killer surfer for an 8 year old girl, so when they all got together, they would always head straight for the beach.
"Well, you can bring them over too. The more, the merrier," Doris said enthusiastically.
"Yeah, and I can hang out with Kono!" Mary Ann said brightly.
"Sure," Steve said with a shrug.
"Well good, it's settled," Doris said with another smile. A wave of silence hit the table as all three of them quickly finished eating their breakfast. Steve gulped down the last of his protein shake and excused himself from the table.
"I better get to school," Steve tells his mother as he brushes her cheek with an affectionate kiss.
"Okay, sweetheart, have a good day," Doris replies. Mary Ann hurried to catch up with him after grabbing her book bag.
Like most teenage boys, Steve didn't really enjoy school. He hated the tedious routines of it all and the boring classes he had to attend. Though he has always enjoyed physics, he also loved working out the logic and found that he was good at it.
He had a few buddies, mostly from the football team who would always be cracking jokes and fooling around. Outside of school, he was always hanging out with Chin even though he had graduated and was a few years older than him.
Steve sat down in his physics class, right at the back. None of his friends from the football team were in the class, so he was able to get down into his work. The bell rang as everyone took their regular spots.
The teacher, Mr. Mills, began speaking, while Steve was distracted looking at his notes from the previous class.
"Class, we have a new student. This is Danny Williams. Danny, why don't you tell us about yourself?" Mr. Mills asked as he addressed the new student.
"Uh, hi, I'm Danny and I just moved her with my mom from New Jersey"
Steve glanced up from his textbook and noticed the boy, surprised to see that it was the guy from the beach. Steve couldn't believe it. He had been thinking about this guy – Danny – all day and now he was in his class. Steve locked eyes and was excited when Danny looked back and smiled while he was talking. It almost looked like he had gone red in the face.
"That's nice, Danny. Welcome to the class. You can take a seat anywhere that is available," Mr. Mills said.
Danny looked flustered and almost shocked ever since he had noticed Steve in the class. He shuffled off and sat towards the front of the classroom, never once taking his eyes off of Steve. Steve only smiled at him and stuck his head back into the book. He had really struck some luck this time.
Steve could hardly concentrate as Mr. Mills was teaching. He kept focusing his direction on the back of Danny's head and wondering what he was thinking. He wondered if Danny enjoyed physics or if he was like other people and loathed it. Maybe he should talk to him after class and joke about the moment on the beach. But what exactly would he say?
"Steve, what do you think about this?" Mr. Mills asked. Steve was oblivious. He had no idea what the lesson was about.
"Um, what was the question?" Steve replied honestly.
The whole class turned around to look at Steve as he tried to stumble his way through. Danny also turned and grinned at him. Steve looked at Danny and smiled before trying to answer Mr. Mills' question. Luckily he knew enough about physics to fake his way through it.
Finally, the bell rang for the end of class. Steve packed up his books quickly in order to talk to Danny. He had no idea what he was going to open with. He thought 'hello' would be the best option. But before he knew it, Danny had rushed out before everyone else – leaving Steve with bounds of energy.
Steve sat with his half dim-witted friends near the canteen over lunch. They were talking about how they wanted to get with girls, which disinterested Steve like always. As they were talking, he realized that maybe he was always disinterested about girls this whole time and liking Danny had reconfirmed this. Steve wondered what Danny was doing and if he had made some friends and if he wasn't alone for his first lunch at a new school. Danny looked like he was confident within himself and could easily make friends. Steve ran through several scenarios in his mind as his friends continued to talk amongst themselves.
As Steve was in a daydream, a girl with long black hair and beading blue eyes casually approached him.
"Hey," the girl greeted as Steve's friends ignored her while they got deeper into their twisted stories.
"Hey yourself," Steve greeted back with a smile.
It was Catherine, Steve's closest friend that was a girl. Their mothers were old friends, so they had to grown up together. Steve had never had feelings for Catherine – she was almost like a sister to him. She would also always bring him back down to earth whenever any problems at home happened – which they often did.
"Do you want to go for a walk?" Catherine asked.
Steve looked over at his friends, who were now snorting milk through their nostrils.
"Yes, I do," Steve replied as he rolled his eyes.
He grabbed his books for his classes after lunch and walked with Catherine across the football field, catching up from what happened over the weekend.
"Something's happened to you, Steve, something that you're not telling me," Catherine said as she gently pushed on his shoulder.
Steve had been distracted as they spoke, still smiling every time he thought of Danny.
"What? No, it's nothing," Steve lied. He looked down at the ground, trying not to make eye contact with Catherine.
Catherine laughed. She had known Steve so long that she always knew when something was up with him. "Come on, Steve, you can tell me anything," Catherine said. "You've met someone, haven't you?"
Steve sighed and turned to look at her. "Yeah, and I haven't stopped thinking about them," he confessed quietly.
Catherine grinned. She loved seeing Steve so happy. Ever since his parents had started fighting, she hardly ever saw a smile on Steve's face.
"Look, Cat, you can't tell anyone, okay?" He reached out and gripped Catherine's hand in a soft, firm grasp.
"I promise I won't tell anyone, Steve," Catherine vowed softly.
"I met them on the beach this morning and now they are in my physics class. And, well, it's a guy,"
Steve looked so nervous. He hadn't even admitted to himself that he might be gay, but admitting it to his closest friend felt like a big step. He told her the whole story from the beach and how strange but excited he felt.
Catherine's eyes widened before she gave Steve a soft, sweet smile. "Well, you must really like him. You haven't wiped that smile off your face since you mentioned him to me," she tells him.
"I just don't know what to do next though, Catherine. I tried to talk to him in class but I feel so nervous around him. I've never felt like that before," Steve admitted.
Catherine held onto Steve's hand tightly. "You'll have plenty of chances to talk to him. He's in your classes. He's at your school and you saw him at the beach. Time will tell"
Steve tilted his head. "Since when did you get so wise?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I guess I just want to see you happy," Catherine said and smiled one more time.
Steve hugged Catherine. He didn't know what he would do without her in his life.
After school, Steve headed towards Waikiki Beach to meet up with Chin and Kono. On his way, he tried his best to not think about Danny, because he wasn't ready to admit it to Chin and Kono. He wasn't ashamed, but he just wasn't one hundred percent sure yet what his feelings were.
Steve loved spending time with Chin. They always had such a blast, laughing and having fun together. Kono was always tagging along with Chin whenever she could. Steve found her a bit of a drag at first, but he soon realized how cool and mature she was for an eight year old. She looked up to Chin and wanted to be like him.
Steve, Chin and Kono sat on the sand, and hung out before they hit the waves. Steve tried his hardest, but he couldn't get Danny off his mind. He had felt distracted the whole day and wasn't himself. Though he thought maybe it was a good thing. With all the problems at home with his Mom and Dad, something new and different in his life might be for the best.
"Ready for the waves brah?" Chin said, eager.
"In a sec, you go ahead" Steve replied.
"Yeah coz, I just have to finish putting on my gear" Kono said.
Chin jumped up off the sand and ran down to the water with his board. As soon as he left, Kono turned to Steve.
"What's up?" Kono asked.
Steve turned to Kono, "Nothing."
"I know when's something's up with you, spill"
Steve sighed, "I kinda of have a crush on someone"
Kono giggled and hit Steve on the shoulder, "Who?"
"No one you know."
"Then, if you have a crush on someone, why do you seem sad?"
"I'm not sad, I don't know, just confused I guess," Steve admitted.
"It's okay, that's all apart of love," Kono said proudly.
Steve widened his eyes and laughed. Before Kono could become wiser Chin yelled over at them.
"Come on guys, what are you waiting for?"
Steve laughed and lightly punched Kono on the shoulder.
"Hey!" Kono said and laughed. They both got up and chased each other over to Chin.
After a long surf session, the three of them headed over to Steve's house for dinner. As soon as they arrived, Mary-Ann came running out of her bedroom to see Kono. They hugged each other before running out the back.
Doris was in the kitchen preparing dinner, "Steve, the new neighbours are outside, go make them welcome, I'll be out soon"
"Chin, how are you? Working hard with John?" Doris asked and chuckled.
Steve left them to it and headed outside. He didn't really like meeting new people, but his Mom was so keen, he thought he better act on his best behaviour.
A woman was sitting outside in the patio, sipping a drink.
She smiled at Steve, "Hi there, I 'm Marie, you must be Steve." She stood up and reached her hand out.
"Hi, nice to meet you," Steve replied politely.
"Like wise."
"So what brings you to Hawaii?" Steve was never good at small talk, he always thought he might come off too blunt, but he just wanted to be friendly.
"My sister lives here, and she's sick, so my son and I moved over to spend time with her. The rest of our family are all back home, so it's been tough" Marie admitted.
"I'm sorry to hear that. Hawaii is a beautiful place, so I'm sure it will get easier" Steve said.
Marie smiled and sighed. "Thank you. My son is over there watching the waves, I would love you to introduce yourself, he doesn't really know anyone his age yet" she said.
"Sure" Steve said and started to head over to the beach.
Marie's son was standing next to the white deck chairs, looking out into the ocean.
"Hi, I'm Steve."
There was no reply. Steve noticed that the guy had headphones in, with music blaring. Steve tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.
Before Steve could react, the guy quickly gripped onto Steve's hand, swung around and grabbed Steve's thigh and then flipped Steve over flat on his back on the sand. He then sat on Steve's stomach, with his legs bent against Steve's sides, to keep Steve still. Steve could see stars in his eyes; the guy had taken the breath out of him. It was such a shock, self-defense at its best. The guy was about to hit Steve in the face but he hesitated.
"Hi" the guy said and smiled.
Steve blinked a few times before he realized who was sitting onto of him. It was Danny.
"Hi" Steve replied and snickered.
Danny pushed himself off Steve, and then helped him up off the ground.
"That was, uh, impressive" Steve said as he stretched his back. Danny was shorter than Steve, but he had such a strong build, with perfect toned muscles.
"Thanks, I picked it up back in Jersey" Danny and shuffled his feet. Steve noticed that Danny looked uneasy; perhaps he had a rough past back home.
Steve smiled awkwardly, before trying to speak again. Danny laughed and put his hands on his hips.
"What?" Steve asked.
"I thought you would of had it all figured out," Danny said.
"What? What do you mean?"
"It can't be that surprising. I mean, you see me on the beach in the morning, which by the way was nice, then at school you see me, and your Mom would have told you that you have new neighbors. Wouldn't you have put one and one together and realized it was me?" Danny said.
Steve noticed the way Danny used his hands quite forcefully as he spoke, probably to get his point across. He liked that.
Steve sighed and laughed casually, trying to act cool. He hadn't put any of those things together, he hadn't even thought about it. He knew that all day he had only been thinking about Danny, and now he was standing in front of him.
"No I didn't realize, it's not like I've been thinking about you all day, I've been busy" Steve said.
He wasn't a very good liar, he became very tense and the tone of his voice was short and crisp.
Danny snickered and smiled at Steve, he could tell he was lying.
"So what, you're saying that you figured it all out? That you've been thinking about me all day?" Steve said before Danny could say anything back.
Danny stared straight eyed at Steve, he had gone blank.
"No, it's just…" Danny stuttered.
Steve laughed and shook his head.
"Let's start again, okay?" Steve said.
Danny sighed, "Danny"
Steve put out his hand out to shake, "Steve"
Neither of them could seem to separate their hand shake, instead they continued to smile at each other.
Hi guys, thanks for a lovely welcoming! :P Let me know what you think, would love to hear any suggestions or comments :)
I have a lot of ideas for this story, so another chapter will be up real soon :)