Edge of Reality [Elvis]

1961 - An Orange Sunset in Hawaii

Priscilla was still in Germany. We had been sending each other records, and I had been calling her since I arrived back home last year. I had been home for a little over a year, and I was already on my fourth movie since being back. And this one took place in one of my favorite places on the planet—Hawaii. The tropical atmosphere, the beaches, the warmth, the scenery... It was so alluring and almost seductive. I wanted to put a home on Oahu just like I wanted to put a home in New Orleans.

I was told by my father that I had a love disease, one that made me fall in love on the drop of a hat. It happened with so many girls in my life, including Meara, Dixie, Barbara, June, Anita, Priscilla, some girls I acted with in films... It happened with my co-star for my current film Blue Hawaii back when I met her in 1957. I thought she was beautiful and wanted to act with her in a movie. 1961 came, and I got my chance, and in a beautiful tropical paradise, too. We stood on the beach after we finished up the scene where Chad goes out swimming with his girlfriend Maile and he meets up with his beach friends. The "Aloha Oe" song scene. Those guys were dinking around as I stood there with Joan, and we both had our swimsuits on. The sun was high and warm.

"You cold, Joan?" I asked Joan as she hugged herself. "It has to be nearly ninety out here."

"No, I'm not cold. I'm just used to wearing more, that's all."

"But it looks great on ya. You should wear it more often."

She smiled as a cute blush grazed her cheeks, and she elbowed me. "Really, El..."

"El" was a nickname that she had called me since we met up again for the movie. I didn't mind it. It seemed kind of intimate. I liked to think that we were because we practically shared a hotel room. Well, it was a joint room, but we left the adjoining door open quite often, so it was like we lived together.

I knew she felt something for me. I could see it in her pretty brown eyes. We flirted, hugged, and I had seen her in some things that could be considered as underwear, and she had seen me in things similar. We even kissed, and not for the movie. She only waved those instances off, mainly since I was the one who kissed her first.

"What?" I said to her protest. I leaned in close to her and whispered, "C'mon, you know I've seen ya in daintier things than that bathing suit."

Her eyes widened, and she shoved me. "Elvis Presley!"

I laughed. "It's true, though. We're basically a married couple, minus the really intimate stuff."

She shook her head, swishing her wavy brown hair that went to her shoulders. "Golly, I can't believe you just said that."

"Don't you agree?"

"It's not that I agree or disagree, just don't say things like that out loud, okay?  People could hear you."

Her constant flushed cheeks on her tanned skin were another reminder that she had feelings for me. I just wished she would admit it.

"Okay, but you know I'm right."

She said nothing to that, and we watched the film crew and other actors walking around on the beach near where my character Chad's beach hut was. The Colonel wasn't around, so I felt a little freer to do things, and the director Norman Taurog felt so as well. The Colonel seemed like a director himself since he sometimes bossed the directors around.

My vision caught some curly blonde hair over by the water, and my heart pulsed. "Hold on a minute..."

"What?" Joan asked and looked at where I was looking. The young woman in a pink blouse and tan pants turned and wasn't who I thought she was. My heart eased a bit.