Addicted

At work, you had to be polite and accommodate strangers. Here, you could speak pidgin and let your hair down.

"Oh no," I heard Makani mumble under her breath.

"What is it?" I asked. I looked around and saw what had changed her mood so fast. Living on such a small, tightly-knit island was a good thing, most of the time. Knowing everyone was nice, except when you had someone to avoid.

Keno and Makani had dated, and their relationship and ended abruptly almost two months ago. It was so sudden, you could have blinked and missed it. She completely cut him off one day, and it had taken days for her to tell me what had gone wrong. I knew what was wrong now, though; she had spotted him, and if he had seen us, too, he was going to come over.

"It's okay, he probably just wants to say hi," I said reassuringly.

I liked Keno. He was a nice guy. He worked at the Four Seasons with us, and I was still friendly with him, as far as was still respectful to my friendship with Makani. She told me that she didn't mind me hanging out with him since we had all hung out together when they were dating, but I knew it would hurt her.

She hadn't taken the break up well. I hated that I had had to pick sides, but I was always nice to him when I saw him. Their breakup was so unexpected – and if we were being honest, she had left him – but she had definitely taken it harder than he had.

"Sundays are his night off; how could I forget," she admonished herself.

"Hey, Keno," I said to him as he approached. He smiled, coming up to hug me. He was wearing a black t-shirt and pants. He was a good-looking guy, with high cheekbones and dusky-colored skin.

"Howzit," he said to me. "Makani," he said slowly, looking at her. She looked at him and gave him a tight smile, not saying anything. Wow, this was about to be a long night.

"I didn't see you today, Keno," I said, trying to smooth things over a little.

"No, I didn't come by the main building today. How was work?"

Makani let me carry the conversation, only saying something when I asked her directly. I knew it was weird between them, but I wished they would just have a conversation about who they were to each other now that they weren't a couple.

"Are you here with anybody?" I asked him. I intended it to be casual, but I saw the way Makani clammed up when I said it.

"No. Just me. Are you?"

"No, we're here together," I said. "When did you get here?"

"I was just leaving," he said, glancing at Makani, who was studiously looking everywhere but at him. He sighed and told us he'd see us at work. He hugged me again, while Makani just nodded in his direction instead of doing the same.

"Oh my God," she sighed when he was out of earshot.

"I can't stand you two together," I told her, taking a sip out of my cup.

"I'm sorry. I just can't talk to him. Did I ruin your night? Do you want to leave?"

"No, we came here to have a good time. Have another drink," I suggested, trying to help her get over the meeting. She had one and slowly recovered quickly from the run-in with Keno. She was laughing and smiling again in no time.

I didn't want to tell her, but seeing the way she had become with Keno really didn't make me want to date. They had been friends at one point, so hopefully, enough time would pass when they could be friends again one day.

We hadn't driven there so nobody was too scared to have too much to drink. Two hours after we'd arrived, Makani pulled me from the party, reminding me that we had work the next day. The walk from there to my place was fifteen minutes, but was made significantly longer by how drunk we were. We managed to get there in one piece, both of us holding our shoes in our hands and howling with laughter.

Chapter Five

Nate

My body felt heavy and useless as I tried to wake up. I felt like I was awake already, but I couldn't move. I opened my eyes and immediately regretted it.

I was on the bed. On it, like on top. I had never made it under the covers the night before. I was covered in sweat and my head was pounding. I had to squint my eyes to keep them open because it was so brought in the room. Who the fuck turned on so many lights? What time was it?

I groaned and struggled into an upright sitting position. My eyes adjusted a little letting me see that no, the lights were not on, it was just daylight. Bright, sunny daylight. I had no idea what time it was or when I had even gotten to sleep. I couldn't really even remember leaving the room yesterday once I had gotten here.

All right, I had had nights like this before. First thing I had to do was figure out what time it was. I patted my pants pockets, finding my phone in the back. Thank God I hadn't been robbed since I'd obviously gone out. My eyes squinted at the lit phone screen. Twelve o’clock on a Monday afternoon.

I flopped backward back onto the bed. The action made my head hurt. So last night had been a big night, huh? Obviously because now I could hardly see three feet ahead of me, and I felt like I had a boulder inside my fucking skull.