Page 31 of Hula Girl

“Who’s Hannah?” Ava asks.

“Shh!” all three of us guys say.

I spot Hannah’s platinum-blonde head outside of the open-air bar as she moves down the sidewalk with a crowd.

“She’s gone,” I declare. “You’re okay.”

Ava laughs. “Let me guess,” she says. “Bad breakup?”

“It would be if she’d accept that we’re broken up!” Hiro says.

“What? How does that work?”

“She’s kind of psycho, Ava,” I tell her. “Hiro’s broken up with her four times, and she just keeps ignoring him or acting like they’re on a break.”

“Is she so bad?” Ava asks.

“She was sweet at first,” Hiro says. “But then theFatal Attractionstuff started.”

“She killed your bunny?” Ava keeps a straight face as she references one of the famous scenes from the movie about an affair gone seriously bad.

The only reason I saw it as a twelve year old is because Hiro’s dad had a VHS copy of it and we’d heard there was nudity. Turned out there wasn’t enough of that to make it worth our while, but we watched until the end hoping to see more. Instead, we got a scene where the family bunny had been boiled to death by the psycho would-be mistress. That kind of thing leaves an impression on a kid. But it’s not a movie I would have thought Ava would know. Turns out she’s full of surprises.

“No, no dead bunnies. Yet,” Hiro says.

After a beat, we all break out laughing at the absurdity.

“No, she just has a habit of showing up almost anywhere I am—work, surfing, bars. She’s even slipped into bed with me in the middle of the night. And every time, she acts like it’s perfectly normal. No matter how I try to get her to see that we’re broken up.”

“Breakups can be tricky,” Ava sympathizes.

“I had a girl break up with me once,” Pika says, “because I made fun of the trash TV she watched. I should have known her love of theKardashiansandVanderpump Ruleswas a red flag.”

We all laugh.

“I had a girl break up with me because I brought her the wrong drink,” Hiro says. “I thought I was being all gentleman-like by getting her an iced tea.”

“What was wrong with that?” Ava asks.

“Apparently she hates iced tea. And said I should have known that. That me bringing her a drink she hates meant that I didn’t know the first thing about her,” he says with a shake of his head.

“How long were you together?”

“Two and a half glorious weeks.”

Ava laughs. “Yeah, I’d say that’s asking a bit much. The guy I was with last, we were together for twoyears. But he had no idea what I wanted.”

This confession intrigues me and I lean forward to ask her, “And what do you want?”

She hesitates, clearly regretting saying anything. But she must dismiss her reservations given the fact that we’re not meant to see each other again. It’s always easier to be forthcoming with people you don’t know well.

“I want,” she says slowly, “to have my careeranda fairy-tale romance.”

Before my buddies can make some smartass remark, I ask, “Why can’t you have that?”

“I can,” she says. “Just not with my ex. Because I realized last Christmas thathedidn’t think I was capable of that.”

“Is that what he said?” Hiro asks.

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