Here Comes Your Man

Pyper was feeling good.

Although she had never been a fan of big girly get-together’s (i.e. baby showers or bachelorette parties), she would be lying if she said she wasn’t having fun at this one. It wasn’t themed (Thank God) but each girl was required to wear a crazy colored wig. Pyper thought this was kind of a dumb idea at first, but once she put on the light-pink wig, she changed her mind. Now she understood why Katy Perry & Lady Gaga did it, It was so liberating! In the end, this was her outfit.

The party was being thrown for one of her good friend’s, Hannah, who was getting married to Luke Munro, another pro surfer and long-time friend. A native of Australia, he had come to Maui on a surfing trip with friends during his senior year spring-break when he met Hannah. They had a week-long, whirlwind romance and everyone thought that was the end of it…except for them, apparently. They spoke either through e-mail or instant messaging every night for the next year while he was secretly saving money for a plane ticket. A year later, to the surprise of everyone (even Hannah) he showed up at her high-school graduation, confessing his love for her in front of her friends & family, and here they were four years later, getting married.

It was a disgustingly sweet story and not Pyper’s usual style but, secretly, it was one of her favorites. That’s why she had no complaints sitting here, in one of Maui’s newest (and one of 3) night clubs, Sphinx, listening to it once more.

“…And that’s our story” Hannah finished, clasping her hands together and giving a smile so full of pure joy and excitement, that only another bride-to-be could even try to match it. After the customary round of ‘awww’s’ that usually followed the end of it, the girls took sips of their drinks, setting them down in preparation of the really girly banter.

“So Hannah,” another one of their friends, Becca, purred as she seductively took a sip from her straw “have you bought anything for the honeymoon yet?”

The rest of the girl squealed in girlish delight as Hannah blushed. Pyper missed Hannah’s answer though, as she did everything in her power not to gag. She looked up, meeting
Reagan’s eyes, and couldn’t help but give hers a roll. Both girls smiled knowingly at each other; this was not their style.

Although Reagan was admittedly a little more into these things then Pyper was, she’d rather be somewhere talking to boys rather than being in a room full of girls talking about them. And Pyper, well, she didn’t mind all the boy talk and gossip so much, she just wished that there would be more than that. Did these girls not live in the real world every once in awhile where cars broke down and bosses yelled at you, or was it just her? Sometimes she wasn’t so sure.

As Pyper was pondering this, she thought she heard her name and when she looked up she found 10 pairs of eyes staring at her curiously.

“I’m sorry, what?” She asked as a few of the girls chuckled.

“I was asking about you, any boys in your life?” Hannah asked from her seat across from Pyper, as she adjusted her ‘Bachelorette’ crown that was falling sideways on her head.

Before Pyper could answer, another ‘friend’ (the term being used lightly), Brianna, scoffed from beside her.

“Oh please, why ask a question you already know the answer to?” She replied cattily as she eyed up he hunky bartender who was currently setting another round of drinks in front of the girls. “The day Pyper gets a boyfriend will be the day hell freezes over”

Reagan, who had been sitting there quietly up to this moment, would not take hearing another word said about her best friend.

“Actually, Brianna” She said her name with such distaste it looked like she had just bitten into a lemon, “Pyper is seeing someone and he’s a hell of a lot better than that $5 trailer-trash special you brought to Dane’s party last week”

The girls gasped as Pyper shot Reagan a look, to which she just shrugged.

Pyper loved Reagan and was so blessed to have her as her best friend, but lord knows she’d rather be known as a cold-hearted bitch than get these girls wrapped up in her personal life. Plus, Shaun wasn’t even hers to claim yet, was he?
Brianna noticeably recoiled, her mouth opening and closing, looking like a fish as she tried to come up with a retort.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought” Reagan stated as she set her drink back on the table. “Come on, Pype, let’s go dance. There’s too much skank in the air over here” She said matter-of-factly as she reached for Pyper’s hand and pulled her over to the dance floor.

Not surprisingly, all the other girls got up to follow, except for Brianna and her drones, who went off to the bathroom to inevitably talk shit about Reagan. Pyper laughed and turned back to her best friend.

“You’re a bitch, you know that?” Pyper teased as she danced with Reagan.

Reagan laughed. “Yeah, but I’m your bitch”

Both girls laughed as they stopped talking and focused on the music, letting it take them and everything else, with it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“No way man” Shaun said as he climbed out of the back seat, closing the door and walking around to the front where Dane & Louie were standing waiting for him.

“Dude. Come on.” Dane said, much too seriously for the topic that they were discussing. “It’s fun” he emphasized the word to get his point across.

“Not my kind” Shaun shook his head as they stepped into the club.
“It’s just Karaoke. In front of probably like 15 people.” Dane countered, “That’s nothing compared to, let’s say…competing for Olympic gold in front of the whole entire world”

Shaun and Louie both gave him ‘don’t-even-go-there’ looks as they were seated at a corner table near the back.

“Besides, it looks like someone already beat us to it. Shucks” Louie said sarcastically as he motioned to the microphone which was now being occupied by a rather pretty girl in an neon orange wig singing a not-so-pretty version of Lady Gaga’s ‘Poker Face’.

When she was ever so politely cut off by the MC, another wigged beauty took her place, causing the guy’s curiosity to rise.

“I feel so out of place with my boring ‘do” Louie stated, bringing his hands to the top of his head “Quick Shaun, give me your hair”

Dane laughed as Shaun just gave them a blank look.

“Ha. Ha.”

This just caused them to laugh more as the girl finished her song and the MC came back up.

“Alright, alright” He quieted down the crowd “Another great song sung by a member of the Monroe Bachelorette Party!”

Upon mention of their group, the girls yelled with excitement from their table close to the front.

“Next up, we have…” The MC stared down at his list “Pyper Dixon!”
Pyper’s eyes got big as she waved her hands in front of her. “Nuh-uh, noooo way, I don’t think so”

“Oh come on, Pyper Pants” Reagan slurred, as she slumped over on to her best friend.
It was safe to say that the girl’s had consumed more than their fair share of alcohol. The whole table was pretty tipsy, Pyper probably being the most sober, as usual, but she was still feeling the effects.

“Do it for Shaun!” Hannah cheered, throwing her fist in the air dramatically, the force almost knocking her off her chair “Whoops!”

Yep, that’s right. Pyper had blabbed about Shaun. Apparently she was a chatty drunk. She’d hate herself for it in the morning, but for the most part, the girls had been really supportive about it (Aside from Brianna of course, but who cared about her anyways?)

“Fine, fine, I’ll go” She said, finishing the last of her Hawaiian Screw (a drink, not a man) and clambered up to the stage.

Shaun watched as she walked up to the mic, after whispering to the DJ what song she wanted, and started swaying to the beat as the opening notes came on.

“This is for you Shaun!” She slurred, totally unaware that he was in the building. The girls at her table cheered and Dane slapped him in the back.

‘I believe in miracles…Where you from? You sexy thing!...I believe in miracles, since you came along, you sexy thing…’

Shaun could not believe his eyes. Here was Pyper, the girl who constantly consumed his thoughts these days, openly admitting that she was digging him. She didn’t know that he was there of course, and she was slightly intoxicated, but besides those few minor details, Shaun was happy to take what he could get. What was that old saying? A drunk mind speaks a sober heart? Shaun couldn’t agree more, especially in this case, where the drunk mind was saying that she liked him.

Touch me baby…you sexy thing She sang and ran her hands seductively down her sides, causing the whole building to erupt in cheers and cat-calls.

Shaun was loving being able to see this side of Pyper, a side she kept hidden most of the time. He wasn’t trying to seem like a creep. He loved the sober Pyper, that was the girl he fell for, but it was kind of fun seeing her like this, letting her guard down a little.

Up on the stage, as she was singing, she scanned the crowd. Her eyes were about to go to her table of friends before a glimpse of red hair caught their attention.

No fucking way. She thought as she tried to make her blatant staring not completely obvious. Once she focused in, she saw that indeed it was Shaun, watching her make a complete fool of herself. Thankfully, the song was coming to an end and she dashed off the stage, the sound of her incoherent mumbling being drowned out by the cheers of the crowd.

Reagan’s arms were wide open as Pyper slid in the chair next to her and she wrapped her up in a hug.

“Pype! You were amazing!”

“Shaun’s here” Pyper whispered into her ear, the panic evident in her voice.

“What?” Reagan asked, the vulnerability in her best friend’s voice enough to sober her up a little bit.

“Shaun’s here. I want to leave” Pyper said, doing everything in her power to not cry.

“Ok, of course!” Reagan said, kicking in to protective mode. “Hannah, darling! It’s been wonderful, but we better get home!”

Hannah opened her mouth to protest but Reagan was already waving goodbye as she guided Pyper out of the back door.

Once they were outside, walking onto the beach, the hot night air sobered them up better than any home remedy could.

“Fuck!” Pyper yelled to the wind as Reagan plopped herself down on the sand, unsure of what to say, choosing to be silent instead.

Pyper looked out at the water, a million thoughts and emotions running through her mind. Just now realizing how tired she was, she plopped herself down next to Pyper, resting her head on her shoulder.

“I feel silly”

Reagan laughed at Pyper’s admission as she ran her hand up and down Pyper’s arm as both girls watched the ocean.

“Yeah, but that’s part of it”

“Part of what?”

“Part of liking someone.” Reagan stated, “Sometimes you’ll feel silly, but it’s not something to be ashamed of. If Shaun likes you, he’ll like all of you, even the silly parts”
Pyper smiled, in spite of herself.

“Yeah, but it wasn’t the way I wanted to tell him…Hell, it wasn’t even the way I wanted to tell myself!”

Reagan smiled and pulled Pyper down with her so that they were now looking up at the stars, the sand soft like a pillow beneath their heads.

“On the bright side…”

“There’s a bright side to this?” Pyper interrupted and Reagan gave her a look. “Sorry”

“As I was saying, on the bright side, at least it’s all out in the open. Shaun knows and now it’s up to him to do what he wants with it”

“And what do I do?”

“You wait”

“I’m not very good at waiting” Pyper admitted.

“No one is, that’s why it’s so hard”

Both girls kept their eyes steady on the stars as they pondered over this.

After a few seconds, Pyper broke the silence.

“Damn Rea, that was pretty deep for you”

Reagan, who probably should have been offended, just snorted.

“I know, right? I don’t know where that came from!”

Both girls busted out laughing before the noise of someone clearing their throat came from behind them. As they turned around, Louie & Shaun came into view. Pyper’s heart started to beat a little faster and Reagan gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

“Can we join you?” Louie asked. Reagan looked at Pyper for an answer.

“Yeah, of course” She said, looking directly at Shaun who came and sat down beside her. Louie went over to Reagan who, not very cunningly, ‘suggested’ that they should go for a walk. Pyper just smiled at her friend’s antics as she watched them walk away before turning her attention back to Shaun.

“Hey”

“Hey” She replied, unsure of what to say.

“This pink” He said, smiling, as he took a strand of her wig and twirled it around his finger. “I like it”

“Yeah?” She questioned, a smile gracing her own lips.

“Yeah, it’s pretty sexy”

Pyper felt her cheeks immediately flush. She opened her mouth to respond, but she was cut off as Shaun’s lips found their way to hers.

His lips were soft and the kiss was sweet, better then Pyper had ever imagined it.
A million thoughts were running through her head.

Was her breathe ok? What would happen next? Were they girlfriend and boyfriend now? If so, what they hell did that technically mean?...

As Shaun’s hand went to the back of her neck, pulling her closer, she decided to worry about those things tomorrow. She was busy tonight.