*~*Kamalei’s POV*~*

It had felt like only an hour but before we knew it, hours had passed. I had sat with my brother, his friends, and Kelly and we had just drank and talked. Drink after drink he poured more and more until I told him I couldn’t do more shots. It was going to make me sick soon, especially since I hadn’t eaten since this morning.

“Hey Matty-poo. I’m fucking hungry.” I told him, instantly annoying him with the nickname I called him after he told me not to.

“Stop calling me that.” He yelled across the table at me. “I don’t know what we have here but let’s look.” He said opening up a cabinet in the kitchen area.

A box of Lucky Charms and a bag of chips flew out as soon as he opened the cupboard.
“Oooo… Doritos.” I said, my mouth watering at the thought.

“Those are mine but I’ll share them with you…” Zacky said from behind me on the couch.

Zacky and Brian were in a heated duel on Guitar Hero, of course playing their own song.

“Really Zacky!? AWWW SO SWEET!!!” I yelled drunk, throwing my arms around his neck screwing up his high score.

“AHHH!! NOOoooooo! I’m losing!!” He cried as Brian laughed.

“Muahahahaha!” Brian laughed as he won the battle. “Thanks for the win Lei…haha Zacky beat your ass again!”

“Aw I’m sorry Zacky.” I said as he looked up at me with a playful pout. “We can eat Doritos though!”

He grabbed the Doritos from me and opened them up reaching in and grabbing a handful before passing the guitar to Jimmy.

“You made me lose. I need another beer now.” He said getting up handing the bag back to me and padding over to the fridge.

Before he could open it, I jumped up and grabbed him in a hug pressing my face to his chest, “I’M SORRY ZACKY!!! DON’T HATE ME!! I JUST WANTED DORITOS!!” I yelled slurring my words and laughing.

He patted my head, “its ok. I was playing drunk girl…”

“Sit down!” Matt said wrenching me out of Zacky’s arms into my seat.

I looked at him a little surprised by his reaction. His ears were turning red. I looked up at him with puppy dog eyes saying my sorry without words.

“So tell me more Lei… Your life is so fascinating to me. I’ve never gone to Hawaii… Do you think you would be our tour guide if we came out there?” He asked me handing me another beer.

“Of course I would. Kelly and I would take off work for you guys, yeah Kelly?” I yelled over to her where she sat next to Brian on the couch.

“Shit yeah we would. I don’t know how much vacation time we could get since we’re here now but I’m sure they could make an exception since it is the greatest band in the fucking world… maybe we could trade them some signed shit or something…” Kelly replied taking another sip of her beer.

“What do you mean? Where do you girls work?” Matt asked confused a little.

“We work at the only real record store left on the island. It’s called Requests Music. It’s a cool little shop. Bosses are cool and they were nice enough to let us take off and come out here. Taking more time off though, I think she’s right and we would have to bribe them.” I told him.

“I know I’d be more than happy to help out my lil’ sis get off work by signing some shit. Shit, I’ll come in and meet the damn managers if I gotta.” Matt said.

“You’re the best brother ever.” I said throwing my arms around him over the table.

“What about Jimmy?” Jimmy asked sadly.

“You’re also the best brother Jimmy. There isn’t ducks, but I have duckies in my bathroom at home.” I replied cheerfully knowing of his obsession of ducks.

“Yay! Duckies! Do you have a stallion duck?”

“She actually does. He lights up too.” Kelly told him.

“WOOOHOOOO!! AAAANNNNDDDD KILLED IT! SUCK IT BRIAN!” Jimmy yelled jumping up and throwing the guitar controller on the ground, proceeding to dance in front of Brian.

“Fuck.” Was all Brian could say.

“Do you and Kelly live together?” Matt asked me, getting back to his 21 questions.

“No. She lives with Micah…” Kelly said from the couch before mumbling, “I don’t know why though…”

“Who’s Micah?” Matt turned to me.

“My boyfriend.” I answered.

Zacky started to cough and choked a little on his beer, earning him some looks.

“Sorry…” was all he could muster as he got up and went into the bathroom.

Kelly looked at me wide eyed before turning her head towards Brian with a smug look on her face. Brian looked from me to her and just smiled when he saw the look she was giving him. She was definitely drunk. I made a mental note to keep an eye on her.

Matt turned back to me, “Oh, that’s cool. He’s gotta be great if my sister picked him… What does he do?”

“He works construction. We’ve been living together for like 4 years or something… since I got out of high school.” I said looking down at my beer wishing I could just drown in it.

I don’t want to talk about him. I was just starting to forget about him. I was starting to forget about the hell I will have to pay when I get back. He was mad when I left and now I’m sure he’s going to be even more mad. Fuck I wish I never had to go back.

*~*Matt’s POV*~*

There is something wrong. She doesn’t seem happy to talk about him. I should change the subject. It’s not my business. YET. Maybe after some time she will tell me what’s up.

“That’s pretty awesome you were able to move out of the house after high school. I wasn’t able to do that for a while after high school.” I said trying to lighten her mood and change subjects at the same time.

“Do you girls surf? I mean I know that’s kind of stereotypical to ask but?” I asked looking at both of them.

“Yeah. It’s hard not being by the water. We’ve only been away like 2 days and I’m getting withdrawals…” Lei joked with me.

There was a loud crash in the back before Zacky slammed the bathroom door open and walked over wordlessly to the fridge and grabbed another beer out. He opened it and chugged half of it before setting it down on the counter. I don’t know what got into the man all of a sudden but he was upset about something.

“Shots?” He asked looking at me.

“Nah, I’m good. You ok man?” I asked him curiously.

“Yeah. I’m not getting drunk enough. I need more.” Was the reply I got as he grabbed the shot glass and the bottle of Jack.

“You up for another one Lei? Brian? Kelly? Jimmy?” he asked going around.

He received no’s from everyone except for Kamalei. She hesitated before answering.

“I’ll take one with you Zacky. I can’t let you do one on your own. That’s not pono.” She said.

“What’s pono? Sounds like a porno! Hahahahaha!” A drunken Brian laughed out before leaning over on Kelly’s shoulder.

“It means to do what is right. Kind of like another version of good.” Kelly said.

“Pornos are good too. Pornos are PONO!!” Brian screamed before him and Kelly burst into laughter.

Zacky had poured the shot for himself and my sister. I sat back and let them take them. Zacky looked high. That would explain why he wasn’t getting drunk fast enough. I got up and made my way to the bathroom to check it out.

When I got inside the small space there was blood in the sink and splattered on the mirror. On the floor was his broken bottle from the beer he had originally taken with him, it looked like he had smashed it on the wall and cut his hand doing so. I looked on the counter and found what I suspected. Little bits of white powder and a rolled up dollar on the floor where he obviously was too high to put it back in his pocket. I just shook my head and brushed the rest of the powder off the counter, picked up the dollar slipping it into my pocket, and picking up the broken glass dumping it into the trash can.

We will talk about this later Baker. Don’t think that I’m ok with you doing this around my sister and her friend. They just got here, you couldn’t try to ease them into the fact that we are rock stars could you?

I came out of the bathroom and saw Zacky chatting away with Brian, confirming my suspicions. He was definitely high as a kite. He saw me staring at him and stopped talking, getting up and walking back towards his bunk, looking for something. Kamalei looked at me with a worried look.

“Matt. Is everything ok?” she asked me sweetly.

“Yeah, I’ll be right back.” I told her turning on my heels and heading straight to Zacky’s bunk.

I went up to him and lightly pushed him into the back room, closing the door behind me. His face knew what I was getting at as soon as he saw the look in my eyes.

“Zack. What the fuck? You had to do that shit now? My fucking sister and her friend are here. Like they JUST got here. You couldn’t wait a few fucking days to start snorting blow in the fucking bathroom? I don’t want her seeing that shit.” I told him sternly but trying to keep my voice down and anger under control.

“Sorry man. I just… I just thought about some stuff and I got mad. You know that it cheers me up. I didn’t want to kill the good mood we had going on… You know?” He said to me, his green eyes shadowed by the size of his dilated pupils.

“Yeah but still. Could you at least have cleaned up after your fuckin self? What’s with the fuckin broken glass?” I asked him.

“I don’t know man. Sorry. I won’t do any more tonight. I promise.” He replied sincerely.

“You better not Zack. I’m not fucking playing. I’ll break your fucking nose and black your eye…” I told him turning to leave, “Or better yet, I’ll have my sister do it. She seems to be good at it.”

We came out of the back room and Jimmy came bounding up to me. “Matt… pick a movie.” He said holding up two different titles.

I picked one and Jimmy went over to the T.V. to put one in. I made my way over to the couch and plopped down. Kamalei stood up and walked over to the couch and before I could make space she just sat on the floor. Her beer in her hand, she sat leaned up against the couch in between my legs smiling up at me.

“Brother, do you have blankies and pillows?” she asked.

“Yeah let me get some.” I said stepping over her and going into the closet pulling out as many as I could find, handing them over to her.

She laid them all over the floor, moving around to make sure it was just how she wanted it.

Jimmy crawled over and lay down next to her, “Can I join your pillow bed?” he asked.

“Only if you don’t squirm a lot.” She told him smiling.

“Ok.” He said snuggling down into the blankets.

“Zacky! Come! I made you a spot too!” She said to Zack still standing in the kitchen area, tossing out the glass from the bathroom trash can. “Bring another beer and the Doritos!”

He looked at me scared before I nodded my head at him approvingly. He didn’t mean to piss me off. I knew that. He made his way over and sat on the floor on the other side of Kamalei. Kamalei leaned back again in between my legs, snatching the bag of chips from Zacky.

“Hey!”

“Hahaha Baker! Robbed again!” Brian said looking down at him from his seat next to Kelly on the couch.

We all relaxed and watched the movie, laughing and joking thru the whole thing. When it was over, I looked over and Kelly had fallen asleep on Brian’s shoulder and he had his arm around her with his head flopped back and dead to the world. Jimmy, Zacky, and Kamalei were still up and ready for another movie. The three of them looked like little children having a sleepover on the living room floor. It was kind of cute.

“Alright guys. I’m going to sleep. Val is probably gonna wake up soon if I don’t get in there with her. Get some sleep Kamalei. We have a big day tomorrow…” I said kissing the top of her head. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight big brother. I love you.” She said looking up at me with the biggest smile.

I knew at that moment that I would do anything to keep her smiling. She was my little sister. It was my job to make sure she was happy and safe.

“Love you too.” I said before walking down the hall.

Before getting in the bunk with Val, I took one last look at my sister lying on a pile of pillows and blankets between my brothers. I knew she would be safe.

I got in the bunk and cuddled up to Val and her soft snores. Smelling her hair I slowly started to drift off to sleep…

My sister will be safe. My brothers will watch out for her when I’m not there. She will be alright. Tomorrow she will meet the family and I am happy. I’m happy she found me. I'm happy she found all of us...

Notes

This one is kinda long, but there was a lot to it. I have a busy weekend so not sure if I will be able to post until Monday or Tuesday but I hope you all enjoy this installment. Keep it pono out there! Muchos mahalos for all the comments :) (I love hearing what you all think!)