*~*Kamalei’s POV*~*

I left the room, finding Val on the couch waiting for me. She looked at me a little concerned, probably because of Matt’s yelling. She draped her arm around my shoulders as we made our way out of the house and to her nice black car.

“Don’t let Matt get you down. We have a day of shopping to do!” She said when we got in the car.

“It’s not Matt.” I replied quietly looking out the window as we made our way to town.

“Is it Zacky? What did he do Lei? I’ll fucking kill him.” Val said supportively.

I sighed heavily, “It is Zacky but it’s not… It’s me.”

“Talk to me girl. You know it stays just between us…” she responded.

“I like him a lot Val. It’s not just a crush anymore. It’s more than that. I’m just… scared. I can’t lose my best friend because I can’t get it together. Val, what do I do?!” I pleaded.

Val thought for a minute before answering, “You take your time Lei. You heal you first. Don’t worry about Zacky… He’ll wait for you. He cares about you more than you know hunny.”

“That’s what he said…” I mumbled.

“He said what?! When?!” she exclaimed.

“Before we left this morning he said that he’d wait as long as I needed… I don’t want to string him along though Val. That’s not fair either! What if after I figure things out, I don’t want to be anything more than friends?”

“It wouldn’t be fair but Lei, think about it. Do you really think that there isn’t something with you and him? You two seem to get along better than anyone else. There is a chemistry there that reminds me of your brother and I. I know you’re scared, but I think it will all work out in the end. I think you need to just take your time to feel better and forget about Zacky for now. He’s a big boy. He’ll manage.” Val said as we pulled into the parking lot at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

“I guess you’re right Val…” I said as we got out and walked in.

“Come on now Lei. Let’s find you some stuff for your room.” Val smiled as she grabbed a cart.

We wandered around the store finding things for my new room. The walls in my new bedroom were all painted a beige-cream color except for one wall that was painted black, so I decided it needed some kind of a color to mix it up. I found a pretty darker green colored bed set that I instantly fell in love with. It had an embroidered pattern that reminded me of something royal and I knew it would look perfect in the room. Val found some gold colored curtains that matched with the green perfectly and threw them in the cart as well. She was trying her hardest to distract me, but I couldn’t help but feel like I had hurt Zacky.

The look of disappointment on his face when I said I couldn’t yet. I killed him. I’m killing him like this. It’s killing me too. I have always had a crush on him, why is it so hard for me to just say yes to him. To just let him kiss me every day. He said he likes me and he would wait for me. Is he just taking pity on me because of my situation?

“Do you like this Lei?” Val said holding up a small chandelier, shaking me from my thoughts.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool.”

“I think it would be awesome in your room. Make it more elegant…” She replied setting it into our full cart.

“Val, this stuff is so much money. I can’t have you get all of this stuff…” I said looking into the cart.

“Nonsense. Matt gave me his credit card and said to make sure we get everything you want. Your brother loves to spoil us girls you know… Now that he has you here, prepare to be spoiled.” She said pushing the cart towards some rugs.

“I’m just not used to all of this yet…” I replied.

“All of what? Kamalei, your brother is a rockstar. He doesn’t even care about money which is crazy in itself, but he cares that his friends and family are taken care of. You are one of the sweetest girls out there and what you went thru you didn’t deserve at all. Matt feels guilty for letting you get hurt, even though it’s not his fault. Matt will never let you fall again. Now come on, do you think we have all we need?” Val asked.

“Yeah I think so. I’m getting hungry.” I answered as we made our way to the checkout lines.
“Good. Matt said for us to call up Kelly and go have some lunch. The boys are all at the house moving stuff.” Val said as she checked her text messages.

We paid and picked up Kelly from Brian’s house. She had been putting her things away while we were out and was excited to have us as her lunch dates. Val took us to this cute little café along the main drag of Huntington Beach for lunch, grabbing us a table outside overlooking the beach. We were about halfway thru lunch and drinks when a young blonde woman came up to our table from the beachside.

“Hey Val! How are you?” the woman said.

“Oh hi Gena. I’m good. How about you?” Val answered her after taking another sip of her drink.

“Great. Who are these two?” Gena asked throwing dirty looks at Kelly and I.

“My name is Kamalei and this is Kelly.” I said before Val could.

“Interesting name.” She replied snobbily.

“This is Matt’s sister and Kelly is Brian’s girlfriend.” Val said putting an arm around us.

Gena’s face scrunched at the connection Kelly and I had to the guys.

“That’s nice… Brian can be quite the player dear. Be careful with that one… How’s Zee?” Gena asked.

“He’s doing fantastic. His clothing line is doing great and I know he’s really excited for the upcoming tour. All the guys are really. Zacky has really perked up though these last few months, probably because of his new friend.” Val said smirking at me.

I had a feeling I was missing something major about Gena. At first I figured she was one of the people that they knew from before the band took off, but I was getting the feeling it was something more.

“Oh well that’s good. My boyfriend is planning us a trip somewhere but he won’t tell me… I told him I wanted to go to Hawaii but I don’t know what he’s planning. He’s always full of surprises.” Gena said stressing the ‘My boyfriend’.

“Oh really, well it’s beautiful. We all just came from there. Kamalei and Kelly are from Hawaii actually.” Val said a little bit dramatically and I could feel her trying to get a reaction out of Gena.

“How nice. Why on earth would you come to California then?” She asked me.

“Because my brother wanted me to come home with him and the guys.” I replied taking another sip of my alcohol.

Gena scoffed at my words, turning back to Val, “Wow… ‘the guys’ huh? Well I guess I should get going. I’ll see you around Val. Nice talking with you…”

After she walked away, Kelly couldn’t wait to ask, “Who was that?”

“Zacky’s ex. Wasn’t the prettiest of breakups. Did Zacky ever tell you about her?” Val asked me.

“No. Was it bad?” I asked her.

“Kinda… I’d rather not say. It’s his business and you should ask him.” Val told me.

We finished eating and made our way back to our house. All the cars filled the driveway as we pulled in and began pulling out bags of stuff for my room. We came into the house and found the 5 guys in the living room drinking beers and playing video games.

“Some help would be nice…” Val said, Matt and Zacky jumping up and grabbing things from me and her.

I followed them upstairs to my new room and was shocked at how nice they had made it with what was there already. There was a big black dresser and I pulled open one of the drawers to find my clothes nicely folded. There was a black vanity in one corner of the room and there was a big box of my makeup next to it, waiting to be put away.

“Wow. It looks so different in here.” I said as I walked around to the closet.

“Alright so that’s all of your stuff you got right?” Matt asked me as he set down the last of the bags.

“Yeah. I better get started…” I started to say before Matt’s large hands were turning me around and shoving me out of the room.

“Nope! Get out! Me and the guys have work to do. Go watch TV in the living room.” He said pushing me out of my own room.

I looked at Val and she just put her hands up and shrugged. We walked down the stairs and made our way to the couch as my brother yelled at the rest of the guys to come up and help.

“Drinks ladies?” Val asked Kelly and I.

“Yes please.” I responded.

We relaxed on the couches watching TV hearing numerous banging noises and fits of laughter from upstairs for over an hour before my brother came out into the hallway and leaning over the banister called for me to come upstairs. I was hesitant to go, but I did trust him. I made my way upstairs and Matt came and put his hands of my eyes, guiding me into the room.

“Ok, are you ready?” He said.

I nodded and he let go. My hands instantly flew over my mouth as tears filled my eyes.

“It’s beautiful…” was all I could muster.

“Why are you crying little one?” Jimmy asked.

“This is the nicest thing anyone has done for me…” I said turning and hugging my brother.

I released him and walked around the room looking at everything they had been doing. The chandelier was hanging beautifully in the middle of the room, lighting up the golden colored canopy the guys had made on the bed. They had made the bed and like I had imagined, it matched the room perfectly with the gold curtains on the windows. There was a nice compact Bose stereo on the bedside table that doubled as an alarm clock. The most beautiful thing they had done was taken all of my pictures from my house and hung them on the walls in new frames. There were about 4 pictures that they had simply stuck in the vanity’s mirror so I could see them daily. I turned around and hugged each of them one by one, thanking them for everything.

“You’re my little princess and you deserve to be treated like one.” Matt said kissing the top of my head.

“Thank you so much Matt. It’s so beautiful.” I told him again.

“You’re welcome. I’m glad you like it.” He said walking towards the door, “I’ll let you get more settled in. I have something else for you too so don’t take too long up here…”

“What?! More?!” I exclaimed.

He simply nodded as the guys followed him out. I sat on the bed for a minute before falling back onto the pillows. I grabbed my phone from my pocket and looked at the picture of Zacky and I at my family land. I hugged it to my chest as I closed my eyes, thinking about my talk with him earlier, quickly falling asleep.

Notes

Another update this week for you lovely readers! I am still trying to get this story in order but I now have more of a plan, so hopefully more updates more often. I hope you all enjoy! Much mahalos for your support and comments! I love them and they are definitely a great motivator! I have plans to get my newest tattoo in honor of Jimmy today, so hopefully on my next update I can add a picture in the notes section ;) Much love and aloha <3 <3 <3 XoXo