Ch 43: Aloha Announcement

During the next several weeks, Luke and I hung out almost every night. While shooting his movie, Luke worked long hours on set. We continued to train in the mornings when we could to keep us both in shape, and at night relaxed together like a real couple.
As she predicted, Alicia was a much better actress on land. And while her chemistry with Luke wasn’t quite as electric as my own with him, they did manage to portray a convincing romantic couple.
Besides training Luke, I still worked with old Mrs.Rosa despite the fact that she didn’t care for her daughter-in-law, once the daughter-in-law became pregnant, old Mrs. Rosa doted on her something fierce. She even bought the baby and the poodle a matching outfit.
One morning during Luke’s last week of filming, we hit the gym for a hard core leg workout. Luke squatted with the barbell while I lunged holding some dumbbells.
“Now that this movie’s over, are you still going to need a trainer?” I asked Luke.
“Well, I’m still going to work out. You know, have to keep the ladies interested.” He winked at me.
I put down my dumbbells and swatted his shoulder. “I guess I was just considering if I should try to get some other clients. I don’t want to keep relying on you.”
Luke looked at me as if he was about to say something, then turned away to change out his weights on the bar.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he said.
“Luke, I know that look. You’re hiding something.”
“Stella, you did such a great job training me and getting me to swim. Of course, I want you to help others and continue your career, it’s just that…” He turned away again, looking for another weight.
“Just what?” I asked.
“I’ve been offered a new role.”
“That’s great, Luke.” I smiled. “Of course, you’re an in-demand actor. I’m sure you could get a ton of roles.” I started lunging again with my weights.
“It’s just that this one is in Hawaii.” He turned to me, looking a little concerned.
“Hawaii. Oh.”
“It’s a long shooting schedule too.”
“Oh. So you’re going to be there awhile.” I said between breaths, then put down my weights.
“Yeah. I’ll probably rent a place. I’ll keep this place too, of course. It’s a really great role.”
“Sure it is,” I said, trying to hide my disappointment. I wasn’t sure what Luke was trying to say. Was he breaking up with me in order to go film his new movie in Hawaii? Would he be willing to do long distance? Whatever he was thinking, I couldn’t tell.
“Stella,” he walked over to me. “I don’t expect you to drop everything for me, but I was thinking…”
Great, here it is, I thought. He’s going to tell me were going different directions or something like that.
“Will you go to Hawaii with me?” he asked.
“What?” I asked, not sure I heard him correctly.
“I mean, if you want to. I think it could be great. I’m sure it’s…”
“Hold on. You want ME to come to Hawaii with you?”
“I know you don’t want to leave Daniel and Michelle. You can fly back anytime. I was thinking I could…”
“Aloha!” I yelled. “Absolutely.” I jumped into his arms.
“So that’s a yes?”
“Of course,” I said. “I thought you were going to break up with me.”
“Stella, no. I’m so into you.” He hugged me tighter. “I’ve loved getting to know you. These past few weeks have been great. I was just afraid you wouldn’t want to go.”
“Maybe I could get some training clients there. And Michelle is going to flip. I’ve never been to Hawaii.”
Luke smiled, looking more relieved. “I also thought maybe I could ask the director about hiring you to do some work on the film.”
I looked at him skeptically.
“Just hear me out,” he continued. “You did so well on the last film, and this one is going to have a ton more actors in the water. I heard they need people who can boogie board.”
“You know what,” I grabbed his hand. “I’m up for whatever, as long as I’m with you.” He kissed me. I hugged him, feeling elated about the prospect of going to Hawaii. The hard part was going to be telling Michelle and Daniel.
***
I waited for a few days, not bringing up my newfound plan with Michelle or Daniel. But after Michelle finally called that music producer, and he wanted to meet her, I thought she just might be in a good mood afterward.
Because I knew if I told her first, Daniel might get mad, we are blood related after all, and if I told him first, Michelle might get pissed, I decided to tell them together. So, I invited him, and his girlfriend, Polly, over for some dessert. That time I made one of Daniel’s favorites since childhood – a chocolate chip cookie cake. Along with vanilla ice cream, I hoped it would ease the blow of my announcement.
Daniel and Polly arrived before Michelle got home. He’d been dating her for several weeks by that point, a record for him. As I let them in, Polly took a deep breath inhaling the smell wafting from the oven.
“It smells so homey and yummy,” she said.
“Thanks. It’s a pretty easy recipe.”
“Can I have it?” she asked. “I know Daniel likes it.”
“Sure. It’s no secret,” I said. “Basically the recipe on the bag of chocolate chips.”
She nodded. “Thanks.”
I liked that she thought about Daniel, a departure from the women he usually dated. They sat on the couch and held hands, his one arm still a little less defined after having the cast removed. When Michelle came in, a few minutes later, I wasn’t sure if her meeting had gone well or not. She looked kind of concerned, but also oddly in thought.
“So?” I asked her.
“So?” she said. “There was good and there was bad.”
“Well, good thing is, I’m making chocolate chip cookie cake.”
“With vanilla ice cream?”
“You bet.”
I took the cake out of the oven, cut it, and plopped creamy balls of vanilla ice cream on top. I like to serve the cake hot so it will be gooey and the ice cream melts into the cake below, adding to the flavor. The four of us sat at the table to eat.
“Tell us, Michelle,” I said.
“I met him at the studio. It was all pretty professional. Then he asked me to sing. I sang that song, you know the one from karaoke where everyone went wild?” I nodded my head. “It went pretty well. He said I had great range and depth. Then he asked me to do some back-up vocals for a song he’s recording for Luke’s movie.”
“Really?” I said surprised.
“Yeah, but here’s the bad part,” she continued. “I got so excited, I jumped on him to hug him and practically knocked him to the floor.” We all laughed.
“But he’s OK, right?” I asked.
“Oh, yeah, sure. He wants me to come in next week to record,” she said before shoving a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth.
“That’s amazing,” I said.
“I know.” She gleamed. “I just embarrassed myself at the end.”
“Ummmm, I’ve embarrassed myself a ton of times in front of Luke and he wants to take me to Hawaii.”
“What?” Michelle and Daniel both said and turned toward me.
“Yeah, his next role is in Hawaii. And he wants me to go with him.” I clenched my teeth and made a funny smile.
Daniel nodded his head and pushed his plate away. “So that’s what this is all about. You’re a recording artist now and you’re going to Hawaii.” He nodded first to Michelle and then me.
“Just some back-up vocals. No big deal. I’m still going to go to law school. But this could be fun,” Michelle said.
“And I’m not leaving you forever. Just a little while. Luke might be able to get me some work on the film. They need strong swimmers.”
Polly looked at Daniel, who stared at his plate. “I’ll be here,” she said in a little voice.
Daniel smiled at her and squeezed her hand. He took a big bite of cake and ice cream. “Be sure to get that recipe and everything’ll be fine.” We talked and laughed like old times. I think Polly even caught on to our sense of humor.
In the end, Daniel and Michelle didn’t take the news of my leaving so bad. As it turns out, we are all moving on in our own way.
While there were a lot of details to work out before I left, I was glad I had an evening with my two best pals. I knew my next few weeks would be filled with new challenges and hurdles, and knowing they supported me meant the world to me.
Could I handle moving away from them? Who would I turn to if I had troubles with Luke? Those questions swirled around in my head as I contemplated going to Hawaii. I definitely wanted to be with Luke and make it work, but how could I be sure it was the right decision?
I took a bite of my cake and ice cream and decided I’d come that far with Luke, I’d cross an ocean for him too.