Meet Me in Hawaii by Georgia Toffolo (novels for beginners txt) 📕

Malie fiddled with her laptop keys. ‘Pretty much, but I’m also a realist, Zo. Me and him don’t mix.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘It means…’ she looked pointedly at the screen, ‘I’m just some surfer chick with a screwed-up fam that has no desire to fall into the’ – she did air quotes with her fingers – ‘Happily Ever After trap.’

‘The Happily Ever After trap?’

‘You and me both know that life likes to throw a curveball every once in a while…’ She thought of Koa, she thought of the car crash – moments in her life that she would give anything to change and couldn’t. ‘…And the hardest to recover from are those that hit where it hurts most… Where you love most…’

Zoe was quiet and Malie knew she was thinking the same.

‘You can’t say you don’t agree with me?’

Zoe surprised Malie with a soft smile instead. ‘Look at V, though, look at the happiness she’s found.’

‘That’s V, she was always destined for love, she has a heart of gold and Oliver is so smitten, it’s obvious. Who could question that relationship?’

Her friend shook her head with a laugh. ‘Have you looked in the mirror lately, Devil?’

Malie smiled in spite of herself, Zoe’s use of her age-old nickname giving her a much-needed boost.

‘You spend your days trying to help people, not just passing on your love of surfing but trying to help people face up to those curveballs, to not let them define you. It seems you need to give yourself a lesson.’

She ran her teeth over her lip, chewing it at the corner. Was Zoe right? Is that what she was doing? Should she be throwing caution to the wind and letting it take her wherever it may… but seriously, Todd and her…

She shook her head. ‘Doesn’t change the fact that we could never work.’

‘Why not?’

Zoe just wasn’t getting it, confusion still wrinkled up her brow, her pale skin looking even paler in the light of her laptop screen, and then she yawned again, smothering it with the back of her hand.

‘Zo, you need to get some sleep…’

‘I’ll get some sleep when you start talking sense.’

‘He’s a millionaire, Zo!’ She felt exasperated, why couldn’t Zoe just get it? ‘He’s like way up here…’ she flung her hand above her head, ‘and I’m like, way down here.’ She dropped her hand lower than the screen to emphasize her point.

‘What’s that got to do with it?’ she returned calmly.

Malie’s shoulders slumped, her voice quiet. ‘Everything. I’m a run-of-the-mill surfer chick who’s still scraping by on her past surf winnings and he’s a guy who’s made something huge of himself. He came from nothing and now he walks with the rich and famous.’

If Zoe had looked confused before she looked positively baffled now. ‘Who cares if he’s best friends with Bill Gates and dines with the Queen, what’s his wealth got to do with anything?’

‘You’re only saying that because you’ve always had money.’ It was out before Malie could stop it and she felt instantly bad. ‘Sorry, love, I didn’t mean…’

‘It’s fine.’ Zoe shook it off, ever the strong one. ‘But I think you’re lying to yourself, there’s more to this than a simple socioeconomic divide.’

More?

Well, there was, wasn’t there, but how could she confess as much to Zoe when part of the reason her guilt existed was Zoe. She loved her friend dearly, and the fact that she’d walked away from that accident quite literally, while Zoe, while Victoria… She felt tears prick at her eyes and she leaned back from the screen, not wanting Zoe to see.

‘Look, I’m just being daft,’ she said with renewed strength. ‘He’s just a guy who will be gone again in a few weeks, and I’ll forget about him in less.’

‘It doesn’t sound—’

‘Zo, please, I feel bad that I’ve kept you awake as long as I have.’

‘I’m fine, Malie, it’s more important that we talk this through.’

‘And we can, when you come out here next week.’

She could see the hesitation written in Zoe’s persistent frown but eventually she relented, her shoulders easing with a smile. ‘That’s what I was calling about, actually, when you went all crazy on me… how does Friday sound?’

Malie grinned, the gesture very real now as excitement bubbled up. There was so much she wanted to do together. She wanted to show her where her father had grown up, take her to the best cocktail bars, eat the exquisite pineapple whip, and surf, most definitely, surf! Todd’s words came back to her: you shouldn’t feel guilty; it’s the future you should be focusing on; let go of the guilt. Was he right? Would getting Zoe back on a board help her to come to terms with it all?

‘Friday’s perfect, Zo.’

Her friend’s smile morphed into another yawn.

‘And you need to go to bed, now, no more talk.’

Zoe stared at the screen harder, stopping her eyelids from drooping Malie was sure.

‘Yes, Mum… but Malie?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Sort that pig-sty out, or I’m checking into the nearest hotel.’

She swept a look behind her and cringed – busted.

She looked back at the screen. ‘You weren’t meant to see that.’

Zoe gave a soft laugh, ‘Consider yourself warned, Devil… Night-night.’

‘Sweet dreams.’

Malie closed the lid of her laptop and stared at her hand resting over it. He’s just a guy who will be gone again in a few weeks… you’ll forget about him in less.

If only she could truly feel that away.

She looked across to her bed, knowing she should climb in and get some sleep. She’d be up early tomorrow as per the norm if she was to get her morning workout in pre-surf. But the idea of rest – of being able to sleep – was laughable. Not when their kiss, his touch, his need, still had her heart racing, her body aching.

Maybe she should have stuck to their pact and dived right in, tried the old burn-him-out-of-the-system trick… because one night would have been enough – yeah, right.

No, she would just