I think they’ve recognized something, Lani thought to me as Kekoa slid along his body, using their tentacles to help propel themselves onto Lani’s back.
Swimming beside him, I extended a flipper under him as we moved away from the shallows, using our outer flippers to swim together in a turtle version of a three-legged race. Kekoa didn’t seem to mind the slower pace or the way we circled instead of heading too far into deeper waters. I wished I could speak to them and find out what they were thinking, because I was happily swimming in tranquil waters, hyper aware of my body's pulsing need to feel them against me again. The vibe between us was intense, but in the best possible way. One that left me hopeful that Lani was right about Kekoa being our mate.
You’re right, the sensation is like no other. Lani conveyed as we turned and swam overtop of a crab scuttling along the sand, its movements increasing as it made a beeline for a rock like it feared we were about to make a snack out of it.
A tentacle slid over the base of my flipper as Kekoa straddled the place where Lani and I were joined. I swore I felt Lani quiver as Kekoa lingered there, touching us both at the same time.
It wasn’t easy swimming this way, and we could not maintain it for long stretches of time, so I guided Lani back to the shallows and our sandy spot along our little slice of ocean and settled into the sand beside him, all without displacing Kekoa. We shifted not long after, water lapping along our bodies as we lay naked in the sand.
“This might sound weird, and I don’t intend for it to be,” Kekoa began, “but I feel like I’ve known you guys forever.”
I waited for them to add more, then settled deeper into the sand, disappointed when they left it at that.
“Nobody flies drones over here, do they?” Kekoa asked.
“None that I’ve ever seen,” I said.
“Good, I’d hate to think about what people do with naked-ass footage these days,” Kekoa quipped. “I’d hate to have mine wind up in some weirdly cobbled-together video.”
Lani rolled towards him and stretched his arm out over Kekoa, giving me the perfect view of his wrist and the new block of colors blooming there, the ultimate confirmation that he was meant to be ours.
“Probably put it up on one of those subscription sites,” I quipped.
“In that case I might be down for a few videos if they cut me in on the action,” Kekoa said. “I’m not in the mood to wind up homeless if the job on the renovation crew doesn’t work out, which it probably won’t if Nuno has anything to do with it.”
“Just remember, you can’t bail yourself out,” Lani said. “So before we leave the beach today, make sure we have a chance to put our numbers into your phone so we can retrieve you if you wind up tying Nuno in knots and using him for a tetherball.”
Kekoa perked up and actually looked to be contemplating how to pull that off. “I mean, there are always plenty of pipes lying around; we could easily set up a makeshift pole. Rope is easy to find too, and our lunch hour gets long and boring sometimes. I’m sure the guys wouldn’t mind if Nuno provided them with a bit of entertainment. If we get bored with tetherball, we can always use him for a piñata.”
“That’s funny,” Lani said. “Completely wrong too, but utterly hilarious and way better than he deserves. At that point, when the officers showed up, they’d just jump in because that sounds like a good time.”
“See, now that’s wrong,” Kekoa replied, giggling.
“Naa, it’s just island living,” I said. “Disturbing the peace is a big no-no, especially on the weekends when emergency responders are double swamped because more people are home getting into shit instead of at work, where they are relatively safe from bad decision-making and picking fights with their neighbors.”
“I’m willing to play nice on the jobsite as long as Nuno keeps his hands to himself.”
“And people call jellyfish deadly,” I tsked. “They should hear you sitting there promising not to cave Nuno’s skull in with one of those pipes.”
“That’s just because they don’t have to,” Lani pointed out. “All they have to do is stand there, taunt Nuno with that smirk, and wait for him to be the instrument of his own demise. Besides, it’s really more the string that’s supposed to be deadly, not the actual jellyfish. All I felt was a little tickling.”
“Only a little?” Kekoa quipped. “Next time I’ll have to up the vibration cycle on my tentacles.”
Every time I came close to mustering up the nerve for a serious conversation, they said something that made me laugh. Okay, to be fair, we were all cracking wise, but I was rapidly discovering that Kekoa was proficient in snark.
“Would you consider it lazy if I just sat here and ate my lunch in the water?” Kekoa asked.
“What happens in the cove stays in the cove,” Lani quipped.
“Oh really?” Kekoa said as they rubbed their chin. “Is that a warning or an invitation?”
“A bit of both,” Lani said, winking at him.
“If I were to touch you right now, how far would I be allowed to go before you slammed on the brakes?”
Kekoa’s question caught us both off guard. My eyes locked with Lani’s until Kekoa sat up fully and blocked my gaze.
“Sorry if that was too forward,” they muttered as they stood up in the knee-deep water like they were about to get out.
