She had just been doing her job, checking in another guest, and I had been standing there trying very hard not to make a fool out of myself. I had been a little surprised when she said I'd walk him up to his suite. It made sense, thinking about it later, that I would do it since it was me Joseph had asked to make sure his suite was ready for him.
It was just still a little surreal, even though we'd talked and he was indeed a normal human being just like all the rest of us. It was Nate Stone. I had had him so built up in my head as this beautiful guy who wrote amazing music, and my first encounter with him had to be when he'd gotten off a long flight and wanted a nap.
Maybe I should have let her do it since I'd been a little star-struck talking to him. He hadn't made it awkward, just hard to have a conversation since he hadn't seemed to have much to say. It had sort of felt like he had been waiting for me to finally shut up and leave so he could get in the shower and go to sleep or something.
"You w
ere up there for a little while. What happened with that guy? The band guy you like?" Makani asked as we left the resort.
"I was just showing him around the suite. Telling him what he could do. How he could discover Lanai, the usual stuff."
"This guy's like your idol, right? How was he?"
"I wouldn't call him my idol," I said, smiling at her. "I just like his music. He was fine. Sort of quiet. Obviously, you saw him, too. Very hot."
"The truth comes out. You don't love him for his talent. You love him because you want to give him his firstborn child," she laughed, teasing me. I felt myself blushing. She wasn't doing this to me; she had seen him, too.
He had some scruff on his chin, a nice hard jawline, and deep hazel eyes. His hair was dark brown, sort of like Makani's. Longish, but not long enough to cover his face. Nate Stone was a cute guy. I wasn't the only one who thought so. He was really tall, and he looked like he worked out a lot, even through the hoodie he had been wearing. I also knew that one of his arms was covered in tattoos. His looks and image did nothing to hurt his band's popularity, but he was actually a really talented guy.
"I didn't hear you disagree," I said pointedly. She laughed.
"All right, maybe I saw it a little," she said. "He's good looking if you like that sort of brooding, bad-boy type."
I never got shy talking about guys with Makani. I wasn't a big dater, but we worked at a beach resort. Guys had their shirts off in front of us most of the time. A lot of the time, those guys were pretty cute. I was attracted to Nate Stone, but who knew about Remus and wasn't? I didn't need to sound like a crazy fan who'd try to steal his dirty clothes when he sent them to the laundry.
"Did you say anything to him?" she asked.
"What? No. He's here on vacation. He didn't come here to get bothered by fans."
"You didn't have to bother him. Just tell him you knew who he is and you enjoy his work."
"No, I'm glad I didn't say anything. He didn't seem like he really wanted to chat. He's here alone for a long time; that sounds like someone who's trying to get away."
"From what? He's a famous musician. I'd say that was the life," Makani quipped. I saw what she meant, but she hadn’t been there when I was talking to him. The only reason I could think of why he had come on vacation and for such a long time was because he wanted to get away from everything. He probably didn't get the kind of privacy he could get here when he was at home.
Either that, or he wanted time alone to create, which was really exciting. He was a songwriter, so maybe he was here to have some time to put music together because Remus was getting back together and releasing new music?
In either case, he had come here alone, most likely because that was what he wanted to be: alone. Maybe if he seemed a little more at ease, I'd mention that I enjoyed his music. I really wanted to tell him. His music and lyrics were good, and he deserved to know. It felt sort of silly, but his band's music meant a lot to me. I didn't feel like I was just a fan, but that's probably how every fan felt.
"He and his band just separated not that long ago; he probably just wants a break from the drama. Somewhere he can just be a normal person." Somewhere nobody knew who he was, and he could pretend what he'd left behind didn't exist. I understood if that was what he wanted to do. I could relate.
"So you just won't tell him?" she asked. I thought about it.
"If he asked me, I wouldn't lie and say I'd never heard his music, but I'm not going to say anything first. He's on vacation. I don't want to be the reason he has to be on the lookout for photographers or people who are going to try to mob him."
"Guess he's lucky he chose Lanai," Makani quipped. She asked me whether I wanted to go out to eat that night. Her treat. The sun had gone down, but the night was warm and a little balmy.
The nightlife here on Lanai had been the only one I'd ever experienced. Before moving, I'd been too young to go to clubs. Most of the places we went to have a good time were accessible by the beach, so we didn't have to drive or walk the streets.
We had changed out of our uniforms at the hotel. We had the option to eat there, too, but decided to go out. The food at the hotel was great, but it was for tourists. Good, but not authentic. There was a lot of really fancy, gourmet food and fine dining.
It was nothing like the stuff you'd get at a luau that was simple and delicious, made by people who'd been taught to cook by their families, not a culinary school. I didn't pretend I could cook Hawai'ian food, but I liked to think I'd eaten enough to know when it was good or not.
The food had been one of the biggest changes that I'd had to deal with when I moved here. We didn't tend to get a lot of poke in Rochester, Texas. Four years in, and I could eat my weight in lomi-lomi salmon any day of the week.
After stopping by my place and driving back to hers in the city to drop her car off, we decided we'd go to a little restaurant her friend owned. We walked there from her house since it was only about ten minutes away.
Unless you knew about the place, you wouldn't be able to find it. It didn't have a big lit-up sign outside or a line around the block. The only tourists you saw in there were the ones who had been smart enough to get a local to tell them where to get real Hawai'ian food.