Moving to Hawaii

“Ughhhh, why did I eat Taco Bell, a whole bag of popcorn and two boxes of milk duds!” Charlotte whined. She was currently sprawled across the living room floor, in a cacoon of blankets and pillows.

Duane Lee groaned from the couch, “at least you didn’t eat fire sauce on everything.”

“You two are such cry-babies”, Leland teased. He was sitting on the end of the couch eating a bowl of cereal.

“Whatever”, Charlotte groaned. “I’m going to take a shower.” She stood up and gathered her blankets before stumbling back to her room with the items. She grabbed a solid black tank top and a pair of denim shorts before heading to the bathroom.

When she emerged, freshly showered and dressed, everyone was up and moving about. Duane Lee had left to head home, and nurse his belly ache.

“What do you have planned today?” Beth asked as she fixed Garry, Bonnie and Cecily breakfast.

“I was thinking about apartment hunting”, Charlotte answered. “I know you guys have Lyssa moving in soon and there isn’t much space left so...”

Beth nodded as if agreeing with her but Dog spoke up, “Charlie, you know you’re welcome to stay.”

“I know, and I really appreciate everything you guys have done for me. But, I feel like a free loader.”

“You’re not”, Dog told her. “You’re earning your keep.”

“Leave her alone, Big Daddy. She’s a twenty two year old woman, let her find her own space”, Beth said.

Charlotte smiled at her. She didn’t want to say it but she would like her own place, especially since she had a steady job and had saved enough for a security deposit.

“Want some help?” Leland asked. “I can help you stay in the good areas of town.”

“Actually that would be great”, Charlotte answered. “I was going to ask for some tips but if you want to come with me that would be even better.”

“Ok”, Leland nodded. “I’m ready when you are.”

Charlotte grabbed a to go coffee mug and her purse. She yelled goodbye to everyone and met Leland outside.

“Do you want to drive?” She asked. “You know the area better than me.”

Leland agreed and took the keys to Charlotte’s car. Charlotte hopped in the passenger side and checked her makeup. She didn’t wear it often but wanted to look presentable so someone would think she looked like she would pay her rent.

“Ugh, the heat is going to make me look like a raccoon. I’ll have all this makeup run off before we get to the first place.”

“Why wear it, you look great without it”, Leland said passively as he backed down the driveway.

“Because I don’t know, I guess I feel too plain”, Charlotte answered. She swiped a tissue under her eyes and tried to ignore the fact she was blushing under the layer of foundation.

“You’re not”, Leland stated.

They drove in silence for a while, not sure where to direct the conversation. Charlotte admired the landscape as it all passed. She wondered if any of the places they looked would be close to the water.

“Let’s check here first, this is where I stayed when I first moved here”, Leland told her.

“Ok”, Charlotte agreed. Leland stopped the car and she went to the main office to see if they had availability. “They have nothing”, Charlotte said when she returned quickly.

“Well, lets keep looking.”

Five hours later and Charlotte was spent. They had been to all of the reasonable apartment complexes within a sensible distance from Da Kine. It seemed like everything was taken except the bad neighborhoods, which Charlotte didn’t want and Leland refused to even drive her to.

“I’m starving”, Charlotte told Leland with a sigh. “I guess I’ll be staying with Dog and Beth a little longer.”

“It’s better than living in a shithole apartment, promise”, Leland told her. “What do you want to eat?”

“Tacos”, Charlotte answered quickly.

“Again?” Leland asked with a laugh.

“Not Taco Bell again, real tacos”, Charlotte said. “Take me somewhere authentic, somewhere local.”

“I know just the place”, Leland said. He made a u-turn into a parking lot and starting going the opposite direction.

After driving for nearly thirty minutes and into a thickly forested area Charlotte was getting curious. “You’re not taking me to the woods to murder me are you?”

“Really?”

“What? I mean, yeah it was a stupid idea but where the fart are we?”

“Almost there I promise”, Leland said with a laugh.

Just as he said it they turned on to a side street. After driving about three blocks the road dead ended at a parking lot. There was a small, like really small, building at one end of the lot and nothing but beach as far as you could see.

“This place has the best tacos and the best view, trust me”, Leland said as he killed the engine.

“With my life”, Charlotte said, exiting the car as well.

“What?” Leland asked.

Charlotte realized what she had said. “Sorry, it’s a thing I used to say with my parents. When one of us would say trust me the other would say ‘with my life’. It meant we trusted each other completely.” She felt a sad smile go across her face.

“You know, I like that”, Leland responded. He put his arm around Charlotte’s shoulders as they began walking to the little shack. “You wanna go pick a spot on the beach and I’ll order?”

Charlotte laughed, looking out to the sand. There was only one other couple sat eating and a family chasing their kids about. “Yeah, I better make sure there’s still room for us.”

She picked a spot about half way down to the water and plopped her butt in the sand, wiggling some to make it even. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath of the salty air and laid down in the sand. She didn’t move until she felt Leland’s shadow block the sun from beaming down on her face.

“I got a few different things so you could pick, I wasn’t sure which ones you would like”, he said, taking a spot beside her and handing her a bottle of water.

Charlotte opened the bag and picked one of whatever was on top. “I will eat just about anything on a taco, trust me”, she said, biting into a shrimp one.

“With my life”, Leland replied, giving her a big smile.