"Layer me," I command Alana after she's done lathering herself with a chalky-white coat of sunscreen.

She squirts the protective lotion into her palms, slapping it roughly on my back as she quips out, "Your wish is my command."

The rough impact has me pulling away, and I swat back at my friend, "Gentle, asshole. Also, this better be reef-safe sunscreen you're putting on my body."

"Oh calm down, Greta Thunberg. Of course, it's reef-safe." I'm thankful to feel her strokes become more gentle as she works the sunscreen into my skin, and finally, she asks, "You told them the right beach, right? I'm in dire need of masculine presence, and I'm not entirely sure how much longer I can wait."

"Yes, Alana," I giggle at her impatience and apprehensiveness. "Waimea Bay. I texted it to Brodie last night. I'm sure they'll be here soon."

My eyes squint, my hand covering my forehead and blocking my eyes from the glare of the sun as I search the wide-open beach and the parking lot in the far distance. Brodie and his friends have no clue what I have in store for them today, but I can't wait to see the look on their faces when they figure it out. I bring my attention back to myself, making sure to coat my chest, stomach, and legs in a layer of sunblock because I know the sunny day ahead will be brutal on my skin if I don't. Growing up in Hawaii, I've become accustomed to the heat of the sun, but that also means I stay cautious of its effects; blistered shoulders and cheeks are not on the checklist for today.

"Is that them?" Alana speaks out excitedly, drawing my attention. Her finger points to the walkway leading onto the beach, falling onto a group of three boys making their way over in our direction.

My eyes focus on the blurry silhouettes of the men, finally recognizing Brodie's tan skin and brown hair strewn messily on top of his head. I fight hard to bite back my smile, taking in his bright yellow swim trunks and bare chest. I gather enough air back into my lungs, keeping the enthusiasm hidden in my voice as I speak out cooly, "It sure is."

Alana and I watch them tread their feet across the beach for a couple of moments longer, their images becoming clearer the closer they get to us. I wave my hands above my head, calling for their attention and shouting out, "Brodie! Over here!"

He instantly recognizes my voice, trailing his eyes over to me. Instantly, his boyish grin crosses his face, baring all of his pearly whites. Alana must see it too because she turns to me, smirking and declaring, "Well, someone looks very excited to see you."

"No embarrassing me today, got it?" I grit out through my teeth, sending her a warning glare.

"Now, Lela," she starts antagonizing, "you know I can't promise that. I lack a filter, remember?"

"Alana," I threaten, trying to keep back my rising chuckles. "I'm serious."

"I'm serious, too. Embarrassing you is my forte." Before I know it, footsteps are already closely approaching us and I dart my head back, hoping her smart mouth doesn't mutter a single mortifying word or phrase before the day is up. She skips over to Brodie, embracing him in a warm, but over-exaggerated hug as she sings out, "Brodie! Long time no see. How've you been? Taken cover in any more closets, since I last saw you?"

"Nice to see you again, too," he chuckles, accepting her hug. Firing back in a witty manner, he asks, "It's Amanda, right?"

"Hahaha," she laughs fakely, "So funny. Hilarious. We've got a comedian on our hands."

I can't help but giggle at her sudden dismay. "Don't mind, Alana," I add, joining alongside Brodie's teasing, "She suffers from DishItOutButCan'tTakeIt syndrome. Poor thing has had it her whole life."

"Bite my ass," she fires back, crossing her arms against her chest in defeat.

"Lelani, Alana," Brodie says, motioning behind him to his friends, "This is Delk and this is Murphy. Delk, Murphy; meet Alana and Lelani."

A gingered hair man steps around him, being the first to formally introduce himself. Pale, freckled skin comes into view as he smiles over to me, offering out his hand for me to shake. "Well, I declare!" He hoots out in a deep southern accent, "She's a lot prettier than I remembered her to be."

I accept his hand, gripping and squeezing against it tightly and making him flinch in response. Usually, I would take no amusement in the borderline sexist comment, but I decide to keep the mood light-hearted, grinning from ear-to-ear as I spit back, "And you're a lot shorter than I remember."

Everyone's laughing at the comment, even the butt of the joke as he plays back, "Damn Dawson, she's a feisty one." He keeps his playful stare locked on me as he admits, "I like it. Name's Murphy."

"Pleasure to meet you, Murph," I smirk back. I pull my hand away from his hold, bringing my attention to the bulky man towering beside him. "And you must be, Delk?"

"Mhmm," he hums out through a warm smile, meeting his walnut brown gaze to mine. "Please ignore our friend, here," he says, tapping a finger against the red curls flowing from Murphy's head, "The lights are on in there, but nobody's home-"

"Eat chicken shit," he howls back, his lanky arms swatting Delk away.

After their buffoonery calms down, the two of them take their time introducing themselves to Alana, who smiles happily at the attention their eyes are giving her. Her hands start to motion in big gestures as she leads them into a conversation about God knows what, but whatever she's saying has both of them in a complete trance the second the words start falling from her mouth. I take the moment of distraction as my chance to bring my awareness back to Brodie and he does the same, trailing his hand to the small of my back and pulling me into him as he whispers in my ear, "Green is a nice color on you."

I can already feel myself blushing as his eyes trail down to the emerald bikini strung against my chest and hips. "You think so?" I tease back with confidence.

"I fucking know so." His fingertips graze across my shoulders, making me aware of how much I had missed his touch since feeling it on my body last night. The evening only granted us so much time before my mom was calling my phone, wondering how much longer it would take me to close up the restaurant. I'm holding onto the hope that today's escapades will grant us the privilege of having some more quality time together. Brodie's voice speaks up again, "Now, what the hell do you have planned for us today, Miss Lani?"

I cut a devious glance up to him as I ask, "You're not scared of heights, now are you, Maverick?"

"After our trip to Heaven the other week, I think I can conquer anything."

"Good," I say, twisting him around to face the sparkling ocean stretching out in front of us. My arms reach past him, pointing his gaze ahead of us to the charcoal black, rock formation protruding out of the surface of the sapphire waters. The huge monolith stands at least 25 feet tall from its highest point, and we watch pedestrians climb along its rugged ridges, clambering their way to the top. Some stand along its jagged borders, conjuring up enough bravery to take the jump, while other adrenaline junkies flip off of its edges within seconds of reaching the top. Brodie's eyes widen, watching a handful of people leap from the tall cliff. Salty water splashes around their bodies as they plunge into the Pacific Ocean billowing below. "You ready to take that leap of faith?"

His mouth drops, a look of awe and surprise taking over his entire expression. "You're going to be the death of me, you know that?"

I giggle, bringing myself to the tips of my toes and drawing my lips to meet against his. I place a quick kiss against them, skipping off towards the cliff before he has any more time to object. I call back, "You coming or what?"

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Alana is the first to make her way up to the highest point of the cliff, and Delk and Murphy watch her the entire way up, impressed by her unfaltering bravery. The sun radiates off of her as she peers down to the four of us still floating in the water below.

"Oh, come on you guys!" She shouts, "You call yourselves Marines?"

"I think I'm in love," Murphy drools out beside us, grinning from ear to ear as he squints up to my friend above.

Delk chuckles at the comment, quipping out, "You wouldn't know love if it slapped you in your ugly, freckled face."

"Fuck you, Delk," he argues back, splashing water.

"Hey!" Alana yells down one more time, breaking up their quarrel before it even has time to begin. "Get your asses up here!"

Delk darts his head over to Murphy, "I'll see you from the top, chicken legs!" With that, his arms begin pedaling fast in the water, swiftly propelling him towards the rock. Murphy calls after him to stop, but he's already starting to clamber his way up the cliff and all the helpless ginger can do is try his best to catch up as he chases after him.

"They're a fucking mess," Brodie laughs, pulling me into him beneath the water encasing us. I allow my legs to wrap themselves around his waist, and he holds onto the edge of the boulder, keeping our heads above the surface.

"Alana likes messes," I smirk back, feeling the heat of his body against mine. Wet strands of hair fall against his forehead, and I push them away from his face, allowing my eyes to get a better glimpse of his masculine features. His eyebrows are thick, making his brown, sleepy eyes appear even darker than usual. Drops of saltwater run from the roots of his hair, trailing down his angular, round face to his mouth. His tongue slides against his plump, pinkish lips, licking it away and making my chest constrict at the sight. Brodie always seemed to have this sort of boyish charm about him, his expression gentle but perplexing enough to make you wonder what goes on inside that effortlessly handsome mask of his. We stay quiet as my gaze continues to skim over him, nothing but the sound of waves filling our ears.

Dropping my hands down to his neck, I allow my fingers to glide against his wet chest and torso, loving the feeling of his skin beneath them. Without meaning to, my touch slips across the scar etched into Brodie's side and he immediately winces at the contact. I abruptly retrieve my hand away, muttering out a quick, "Sorry."

"You're okay," Brodie's voice reassures me in a low hum, "And what about you? Do you like messes?"

My head tilts at the question, bewildered at the meaning behind it. His eyes pull away from me, and without him even having to say another word, I know that his question was referring to himself. Whether it be from the trauma of his childhood or other afflictions from his past, this must be how Brodie sees himself; a mess.

I say the first thing that comes to mind, "La'i lua ke kai." He pulls his eyes back up to me, allowing the Hawaiin phrase to soak in. I ask, "You know what that means?"

He shakes his head no, and I continue with the translation, "The sea is very calm. All is peaceful. My grandpa used to recite that to me all the time, and as I've gotten older, I think I've developed a deeper meaning for it. Sometimes I look at the ocean, and I compare it to human beings, you know? I mean just look at it," I say, motioning out to the sea stretching far beyond us. "At a surface view, everything is beautiful, picturesque, and almost seemingly perfect. Everything is calm. But in the depths of all of that splendor, there's a lot of chaos and damage happening in its waters. Coral reefs are dying, life is practically diminishing, and sometimes I think that the ocean must feel really alone in it all." Brodie's hands cling tighter to my waist, and he keeps his stare locked on me as he listens intently to my analogy. "Humans are a lot like that, too. On the outside, others perceive us by our surface layers, yeah? They see the mask of calm and beauty that we put on, but they don't see the damage lingering on the inside. But just like the ocean, the trauma doesn't define or take away from our significance; sometimes it just helps us to see it more. Just like the ocean, people appreciate our greatness regardless of the troubles we're forced to go through. So to answer your question, yes, I like messes. People are messy. Truth is messy. Life is messy. That doesn't take away from the value of all those things."

Even with the noise coming from beachgoers on the shore and the shouts of cliff divers jumping all around us, at this moment, it's just Brodie and me. What he's not aware of, is that I'm a mess too, but being around him has made me feel so accepted, seen, and alive, despite the shitty mistakes I've made. Brodie doesn't ask about or point out the past. He just simply exists with me, and together we're completely present. I like the present.

A smile pulls across his face, and his thumb meets against my chin, drawing his head closer to mine. "Say it again," he requests.

"La'i lua ke kai," I grin.

"La'i lua ke kai," he repeats, bringing his lips to mine and filling my lungs with fire as he kisses me deeply and earnestly.

I pull away, butterflies swarming in my belly and a snigger escaping my throat. "We'll work some more on saying it without so much of that Northern accent of yours."

He chuckles, "It's better when you say it anyway."

A loud squeal sounds from above us, calling our eyes up to the highest point of the cliff. Murphy launches himself off the ledge, fear covering his entire face and screams escaping him all the way down as he pencil dives into the water. His lanky body only makes a small splash, but his dismay has us all in a fit of laughter. Red hair jolts up through the surface of the waves billowing around from where he landed, and he yells out excitedly, "Heavens to Betsey! That was fucking crazy!"

Alana and Delk follow suit, jumping together and reminding us that it was our turn to begin our climb up the slippery stone. I slither away from Brodie's hold, challenging him, "Last one to the top buys lunch!"

Without waiting for a response, I begin clambering up the rock, not caring to even look back as he starts bounding behind me. He grabs onto my hips, shaking me playfully and halting me from moving any further as he accuses, "You cheating ass!"

I wiggle out of his grip, giggling as I continue to ascend the uneven slope effortlessly. When I finally reach the top, I collapse against the warm stone, letting my lungs regain some much-needed oxygen. Brodie's body towers over me, blocking the glaring sunshine from my face as he scowls down on me. With confidence and a huge smile plastered on my face, I say confidently, "Sucks to suck, Maverick!"

"You just wait," he teases, offering out his hands and hoisting me to my feet, "I'll get you back for that one."

"I'll believe it when I see it."

Hand in hand, we approach the edge of the cliff together. My feet reach the ledge, and I peer down to the swirling blue water below, my heartbeat quickening inside of my chest at the intimidating sight. My breath hitches and so does Brodie's, and suddenly all the muscles in my body are starting to quiver from the adrenaline coursing through my veins.

"Shit," he hisses out, breathlessly, "That's a high jump."

"Yep," my voice squeaks out, all at once feeling nervous about my insane decision to bring us here today.

My hands are trembling, and he squeezes them encouragingly. "This is nothing," he pathetically lies. "It's fine. We're fine."

He glances back down nervously, and I can see his Adam's apple bob in his throat. Finally, I speak back up, weakly trying to convince myself, "We're fine. This will be a blassst. On three?"

Brown eyes dart over to me, causing another surge of bravery to rush through me. A handsome smirk crosses Brodie's face as he agrees, "On three."

"One," I start to count off, squeezing tighter against his hand.

"Two," he continues, and we take another step closer to the edge. We both exhale a deep, shaky breath, giving each other one last look before shouting in unison, "THREE!"

Our fingers stay intertwined as we spring off of the tall boulder, and my nerves are tingling as the humid wind rushes against my skin. The journey down is short and sweet, and I'm filled with relief when my feet collide into the ocean, submerging every inch of my body into the salty water. Our hands separate and my stomach is churning as my arms propel me up, my lungs gasping for air as I break through the surface of the waves. Brodie pops up with me, and we're both laughing with pride that we conquered the terrifying jump together.

"Lelani Kahale," he sings out, swimming towards me. His body crashes into mine and his fingers lace around my neck, his eyes full of life as they look me over carefully. "You make every goddamn risk worth it."

"Brodie Dawson," I chime back, "We're just getting started."

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