his mirth rumbled through his chest, erupting in bright, happy sounds, a soothing balm for Ferris’s soul. A devilish look appeared in eyes the color of a starless night, and Ferris braced himself. Miko grabbed him around the waist, still laughing, and together they splashed into the shallow water.
Ferris ducked under the surface and reemerged shaking his head. Just for a moment he forgot to be miserable, just for a moment he recalled happiness. He opened his eyes to find Miko staring at him, nose inches from Ferris’s. Ferris froze. Time stood still, the two men gazing into each other’s eyes. Ferris’s heart clenched. Miko moved closer. Ferris held still. A kiss. They were going to kiss. A thousand thoughts raced through his head in those few brief heartbeats. Should I? Do I want to? Does he expect more? Just when he’d resigned himself, the moment shattered. Miko’s calm self-assurance dissipated like the mist from the waterfall, borne away by the wind. He broke eye contact, rising and offering Ferris a hand up. “Come, I have more to show you,” he said. The moment came and went, and Ferris lost out because he didn’t act. Did that make him a saint or a fool?
Over the next few days Ferris took the kind of tour only found with someone who lived locally, knew the island, and owned a beat-up Subaru he wasn’t afraid to take off the beaten path. His camera bounded and his teeth rattled as the car juddered down rutted and pitted unpaved roads through pineapple fields. “I worked here during the summer when I was in high school,” Miko said. He winced. “Now you see why I like dancing.”
Pineapples, as far as the eye could see. Ferris easily imagine “Chief Miko”, machete in hand, whacking away at the low plants, harvesting the sweet fruit.
They pulled to the side of the dirt track and got out. Miko introduced the grower, and Ferris spent the next few moments learning more than he ever dreamed possible about a key ingredient of pina coladas.
“This is where you live?” Ferris took in the cramped apartment, seeing it all from two feet inside the door.
“Yeah, me and three other guys, but one’s on the mainland visiting his mother, and the other two are leading an island hopper tour. They won’t be back for a few days. We have the place to ourselves.”
“You have three roommates?” Ferris blurted before thinking, wondering how four men could fit into such a tiny space.
Miko shrugged. “On Waikiki, a two bedroom place like this costs seventeen hundred a month. Even with working the shows and as a groundskeeper I only bring in so much. Besides, I’m saving money for college.” He fumbled in the refrigerator, giving Ferris a view of his ass. Ferris licked his lips. Although his host hadn’t repeated the advances from their first meeting, and no more near-kiss opportunities arose, every so often Ferris caught a certain appraising look shooting his way that said loud and clear the offer for more hadn’t reached its expiration date.
The charming islander retrieved two beers and then led the way out onto the lanai, overlooking a busy street.
They’d had a lovely time thus far, and Ferris hadn’t deliberately led the man on, yet his conscience rankled, believing the guy still held out hope for sex. It was time to make things perfectly clear.
“Miko, you know I’ve enjoyed spending time with you these last few days, right?”
“Likewise.” Miko dropped down into a plastic chair and patted the one next to him.
Ferris sat, taking a long, hard pull from his beer bottle. He might as well get the truth out to be dealt with. “I recently lost my partner.”
Unfazed, Miko quietly asked, “Not a business partner, I take it?”
“No.” Ferris stared out over the evening shadows, creeping down from the mountains in the distance. Even small, lower-end apartments afforded spectacular views on Oahu, apparently.
“And that’s why you wouldn’t go to bed with me.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes.”
Miko turned a smile on Ferris that’d melt the hardest of hearts. “For a moment there I thought I’d lost my touch.” More seriously he added, “Want to talk about it?”
Ferris glanced away, considering. Did he really want to spill his soul to someone he’d never see again after a few more days. Who better? And as Riley often admonished, sooner or later Ferris needed to open up to someone. “Connor and I met while I was in college. His brother and I were roommates.”