“I suppose.”
My new mate was getting a kick out of my mom giving me shit, which shouldn’t have surprised me after how much he and Lani had picked on me earlier.
“I still hope to see you tomorrow at the station, though,” she said, turning her attention back to Kekoa.
“He’s really been an issue for a long time, hasn’t he?” they asked.
“Yes,” Mom and I replied.
“I’ll be there,” they said. “I’ll come down after breakfast.”
“Thank you.”
“Lani, there is no way they’re going to be able to eat all of that!” My mother said he held a piece of Latiya to Kekoa’s lips.
There were toasted coconut flakes on top of the pudding-covered cake and everything.
“Oh, yum,” Kekoa moaned. “I haven’t had this since I was, like, sixteen. That was the last time we got to come over on vacation.
Not only did they dive back in, quickly devouring it in three more bites, but they sucked the pudding off Lani’s fingers when they were through. Watching my mate’s pleasure-filled gaze asKekoa sucked his fingers long after the pudding was gone was enough to make me wish the fiesta was over.
Too bad we were just reaching the entertainment portion of the night. The tapping of sticks drew my attention, and we turned our backs to the food to see what was going on. Kekoa had snagged the dessert plate from Lani so Lani could continue feeding him pieces in between taking bites as the stick dancers began to display their skills on the wooden stage they’d snapped together beneath an awning covered in gold and silver Christmas lights.
The rhythm of the sticks clapping together accompanied the drumbeat and singing as the dancers moved around one another, tapping their sticks together and then with each other, moving back-to-back, turning to the side, and even tapping sticks under their legs without ever losing the beat. The first group was young and doing the traditional Tippi Tippit Tan stick dance with the audience clapping along to the tapping of their sticks.
“I remember learning the basic version of that in school,” Kekoa murmured. “It was so much fun, especially seeing the teachers do it. My brothers were really good at it too, but they were older and had several gym classes worth of lessons. We’d pick up sticks from the yard and do it long after we left the island and would sing the song too.”
“Did you guys keep up with the rest of the language too?” Lani asked.
“Uh-huh, I’ve tried to keep up with the bits of all the languages I’ve learned,” they replied, which left me curious to learn how many others they knew.”
“Does that mean you want to give it a go?” I asked.
“Only if you intend to join me.”
Groaning, I just shook my head. “And I’ve walked into something else, haven’t I?
“Boy, you jumped on that like it was a surfboard,” Mom said. “You might as well get up and get to it.”
She had me there, and Lani was already pulling his phone out, so Kekoa and I headed up there to get in line only to find ourselves ushered to the head of it. By then, Kekoa was laughing and bouncing with exuberance, especially after several cups of punch over the course of dinner. Spiked, for certain, since he’d always gone for the green. The red was for the kids and the only flavor that wasn’t being watched over by an adult.
Seeing Kekoa easily fall into the flow of the song reminded me of the way I’d watched them play pool against Nuno. Maybe sticks just did it for them, I thought, my mind bouncing to several lewd possibilities until they started upping the tempo. We finished out strong, laughing and earning a round of applause from those around us. The best part of the night, besides the big red cup of green ecto punch someone passed me, was seeing Lani’s smiling face when we finished and seeing him wave his phone at me.
“I got all of it,” he said. “That’s joining the collection.”
“Collection?” Kekoa asked.
“Of digital scrapbooks and home movies,” I explained. “Neither of us has time for actual scrapbooking, so we’ve created digital versions of our adventures and misadventures alike.”
“It’s a good thing I love movie nights, especially when it’s raining outside,” Kekoa said before taking a sip from the matching cup he held.
“I just keep on walking into things, don’t I?” I said as Kekoa wrapped an arm around Lani and hugged him close.
We were sweaty from dancing, and once I joined in the hug, all I could smell was the lingering scent of the sea, musk, and arousal with a hint of sunscreen. I wanted alone time with them, not for sex, just to cuddle after a warm shower and mingle our scents further. I wanted to scrub everything else off them untilthere was nothing but fresh canvas that I could rub myself all over.
Kekoa leaned against me, half-hugging, half-hiding the fact that they were licking the side of my neck and nibbling enough to throw thoughts of innocent cuddling right out the window.
“Getting tired?” I asked.
