- Hawaii lust - Jenna Ortega

002

"So," Dahlia tucks her phone between her ear and her shoulder, using her hands to grab her duffel bag from her closet. "What do I need to bring on this trip?"

"Swimming costume sets, nicer clothes for eating out and for the wedding, pajamas, obviously, shorts since it's hot, and shirts. But try to make most of those shirts or tanks sleeveless or else your farmers tan will be horrendous." She tells her, and she rolls her eyes and ravages through her drawers. Then she hears the front door of the apartment open.

"Wait, Jenna, I think someone's here," she whispers, her heart stopping as she quietly starts tip-toeing to her bedroom door to look. "And you'll need tons of sunscreen," Jenna herself walks into her room then, and tosses a bottle of coconut-scented SPF 50 at her, hanging her phone up. Dahlia grabs it from the air, looking at her like she's insane as she leans against the doorway.

"That pale skin of yours is like skin cancer city just waiting to be brought out by the Hawaiian sun."

"Jesus, Jenna give me a warning next time. And, by the way, that comment sounded like it was very close to being mean. But I'll let it pass this time," Dahlia shakes her head and takes in a breath, tucking the bottle into the side of her duffel. "You could have just told me you were about to be in my apartment when I called. To, you know, save me the heart attack."

"You're so boring," she shakes her head, rolling onto her bed with a sigh. "So what's the progress?" "I've officially packed..." she grabs the bottle of sunscreen, holding it up, "one thing."

"Christ," she groans, propping her chin on her hand. "Hey, you can't complain. You're the one who literally invited me two days before leaving," she shakes her head, getting up to grab clothes from her drawers. "Plus, I had a midterm this morning. Some people actually have things they have to do, you know."

"Okay, the only reason it was last minute is because my mom was on the phone booking flights and asking "so are you bringing a date?" in that condescending voice, so I knew I was going to get hell the entire trip. So that's when I said that yeah, I was bringing a date, without even knowing who I was bringing. I just wanted to...prove her wrong or something. Then when I got here yesterday and woke up from my nap, it hit me: I could bring one of you guys"

"So...what if we couldn't have helped? Like, what would you have done?" Dahlia laughs, grabbing a stack of shorts, shirts, Tanks and pants and stuffing them down in her duffel.

"Hired some random guy off the street to come with me," Jenna shrugs simply, "My mom had already bought the second plane ticket. Plus, I was like ninety-nine percent sure one of you could do it, or that I could convince you to, at least." "Well, you're lucky I've always wanted to go to Hawaii," Dahlia shakes her head and laughs, grabbing her bikini. "Wait, if your mom only bought two tickets...then when is she going? And why aren't we going with her?"

"She bought another for her, but it was for today instead of tomorrow. I told her about how you had a midterm today which, thank god you did, because I would have had to just make up a lie so we wouldn't have to go with her." Jenna replies, seeming annoyed at the thought of it. "What? Why?" Dahlia asks, stopping her movements so she can turn around to look at her.

"She's awful," Jenna replies, as honest as ever. "You'll see."

"I mean, you've said she doesn't approve of you being single, but...you don't get along? At all?" Dahlia asks, confused. This is the first she's heard of this, but then again, they aren't close at all, either. They spend a lot of time together, but it's almost all fighting-ever actually talking.

"She's rude, stuck up, and is very disappointed in me, her daughter who didn't go to an Ivy League school and who doesn't think the way she looks to a man or women is the most important thing in the world," she laughs bitterly with a sigh, shaking her head. "And, just to warn you, she won't approve of you either. But at least she won't make comments about how I'm going to die alone, without a man or women to love me. As if it's the only thing I need to be remotely happy."

"Oh," Dahlia nods, gulping awkwardly. She doesn't have a sad voice about it, though-it sounds more like anger to Dahlia-but the last five minutes is the most she's learned about her personal life in probably all of the years she's known her.

"Yeah, and I wouldn't be telling you this if you weren't about to meet her, so...good luck," she sighs, picking up her alarm clock and examining it.

"Umm, just like..." Dahlia starts, scratching her neck. "Okay, what about our story? Like when we realized we liked each other, how it happened, how long ago."

"Good idea, we should probably come up with a story we both can back up just in case," Jenna nods, taking a few seconds to come up with something. "Now before I say this, please-for my sanity's sake-remember that this is hypothetical in every way possible. But...here we go: we grew up going to school together but didn't really know each other well until we started going to college, where we hung out since we didn't know anyone else. Let's say that happened around...October last year. And then we started dating in November when you asked me out."

"Why do I have to be the one to ask you out?" Dahlia narrows her eyes at her, annoyed.

"God, Dahlia, really? To start off, you're ridiculous and a baby. But anyway, you had to be the one to ask me out, because my family knows me. They know I would never ask someone out" she shrugs, and she sighs because she knows it's true.

"Fine," she slumps her shoulders, abandoning the packing process altogether so she can focus on getting her story straight and her act together. She puts her hands on the floor behind her, leaning back to look at her on the bed.

"So have you ever kissed anyone before, or...?" Jenna asks, tilting her head, trying to get a read on her.

"Yeah, of course," she looks at her, narrowing her eyes in aggravation at her once again. "Why?"

"Nothing, just curiosity" Jenna replied before standing up. "I'll see you tomorrow morning"