“I’ve never been anyone’s last straw,” Kekoa admitted. “Well, outside of my sixth-grade math teacher, but in all fairness, she was planning to retire at the end of the year anyway.”
“And instead she retired when?” Lani asked as he plated our food.
“A week before Christmas break,” they admitted before biting into a piece of lumpia with a happy sigh.
“What happened?” I asked, reaching for a deviled egg first.
I could eat a dozen of them in a sitting and had, much to my stomach’s everlasting regret. I’d only taken four from the tray to start with, since Aunty Ina had sent us home with a lot, along with a whole side container of the shrimp kelaguen Kekoa had fallen in love with.
“I don’t know, I think she had a nervous breakdown when I asked her to explain a fraction problem to me. She broke it down on the whiteboard a couple of different ways, but each time I tried to solve the problems she created for me, I mixed up a step in the process and ended up with a completely different answer than I was supposed to. I just couldn’t grasp it.”
“Exactly how many times did you go through them before the, um, breakdown?” I asked.
“Dozens. I stayed after school more days than I care to remember, and they were always bright, sunny ones too when I really wanted to be outside and in the water. It made focusing extra difficult, but I swear I was paying attention each time she walked me through the steps. I was so close to solving the problem that pushed her over the edge that I could almost taste freedom and saltwater on my face, then I messed up the columns, subtracted the wrong things, and fucked the whole thing up again. She just took the dry erase marker from my hand, put the cap back on it, shook her head, and said no more. I thought she meant for the afternoon, and I bolted before she changed her mind. I didn’t expect her to be gone the next day or to never come back.”
“Damn, that’s, um, unexpected,” I replied. “I thought you were going to tell us you pranked her or something.”
“No, I really liked her,” Kekoa replied. “And I tried to like math, but it wasn’t until another math teacher broke those fractions down in a completely different way that I truly started to understand them.”
“Just because you’re someone’s last straw doesn’t mean you’re to blame for what went wrong,” Lani pointed out. “It sounds to me like you and your teacher both tried and just couldn’t find the right path so you could grasp it. I’d say that incident doesn’t count, not when you stand it up next to this mess.”
“I’m sorry you got dragged into it.”
“Well, technically we just got dragged along for the ride,” I pointed out.
“Look on the bright side,” Lani said. “As far as awkward third dates go, at least one didn’t end with anyone picking their nose.”
We all laughed at that and dug in with renewed enthusiasm.
“Three new changes, yippee,” Lani cheered, his voice thick with sarcasm as he peered at his phone.
“Are they big ones?” Kekoa asked.
“The menu ones seem to have sent the caterer into a bit of a frenzy trying to find some of the ingredients for the new dishes that were requested, but the pay bump seems to have motivated him not to get upset about them. My staff handled the issue perfectly, but that doesn’t mean I’m pleased about more last-minute changes.”
“Maybe it’s time to put something in your contract that gives a cutoff date, after which changes will absolutely not be made unless they are willing to pay a fee to make them?” Kekoa asked.
“Unfortunately, I already have the clause, but those two rampaging grandfathers keep paying the fees anyway. The only thing that is going to stop them is the kickoff of the event, and even then, I can just see one of them offering bonus money to my staff to pull off some last-minute ‘I’m the best grandpa’ style hail Mary and throwing the whole timetable off. Things were a lot easier when I was just doing party planning for family, friends, and people one of the aunties hooked me up with. Some of the clients I’ve worked for these past few years have been a bit much.”
“Sounds that way,” Kekoa replied. “Maybe, um, put a limit on changes, since you’ve already got a clause. Maybe that will keep people from waving their wallets around.”
“At this point, it couldn’t hurt,” Lani said.
“So, elephant in the room. How much did I damage my reputation with your mom?” Kekoa asked me, head propped on their hand as they nibbled their food.
“She… feels like you’re getting caught up in this incident is part of a larger pattern of you being reckless and putting yourself in difficult situations,” I explained. “Like the thing with your hair. Why erase a blatant warning sign when it could help keep you out of sticky situations? I know you said its original colors never served as a deterrent, but did you seriously mean not even a little bit of a deterrent?”
“Maybe a little from time to time, but my mouth more than made up for any deterrent my hair may have offered.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Do you go out of your way to provoke people?” Lani asked. “Even exhausted, you sound kind of proud of it.”
“Because I am,” Kekoa admitted.
“I just hate letting assholes get away with their bullshit,” Kekoa said. “And I got sick of being bullied. As soon as I found my voice, I stopped worrying about the consequences of speaking up. It's not like I go out of my way to call people out on their bullshit. Well, maybe a few times I have, but it was only because they were tormenting someone who was too afraid to stand up for themselves. Most times I wind up getting into it with someone, it’s because they brought their rolling shit show my way, not the other way around.”
