"I was, once. But my interests seem to have gravitated more toward women these last few years..."
The girl shifted her weight off her knees and sat cross-legged beside me, pulling the heel of her foot under her dress against her crotch.
"So have mine lately."
I paused for a moment, wondering how far I should take our little flirtation.
"You've never even been kissed?" I said.
The girl chuckled as she looked towards the front door of her hut.
"Not unless you count all the pecks on my cheek by my matua. I'm expected to remain chaste until the day I'm given away."
"Given away?" I said, shaking my head in confusion.
"Any potential mate must first be approved by my father. Not many suitors have stepped forward in deference to his authority."
"How many men are there in your tribe of marrying age?” I asked. “I can't imagine any young man or woman not being attracted to your physical beauty."
"It would have to be a man," the girl frowned. "It's considered tapu for a woman to sleep with another woman after she's reached childbearing age.
"That's a shame, because it's a singular pleasure to be properly kissed by a girl."
She paused for a moment as she looked longingly into my eyes.
"I suppose it wouldn't be a sin if we were to kiss briefly. My grandmother says the exchange of saliva acts as a potion in the case of snakebite. Something about the built-in immunity I've acquired from so many of my own snake bites. In this case, it would be more medicinal—"
>
I pulled the girl's hand toward me as I lifted my head up to her face.
"What's your name?" I whispered in her ear.
"Teuila. It means red flower in our native language."
"My name's Jade. It means pretty green stone in my language. Kiss me, Teuila."
The girl leaned forward, and when our lips touched, it was like a lightning bolt passed through me. I could feel goose bumps on my arms as my heart pounded in my chest. As she pursed her lips awkwardly against mine, I felt the sweet taste of her wetness filling my mouth. But as I reached up with my hands to cradle her head, I heard the loud flap of the blanket covering the front door sweep aside and the thud of heavy footsteps on the wood lattice floor.
"O le a lea?" a gruff middle-aged man shouted in front of the doorway, flanked by the older woman who'd treated me earlier.
Teuila shot up into an erect position and said something in her native language to the man. He looked at me with an angry expression and continued talking to her in an agitated manner. It was apparent from her submissive body language that the man was her father and the chief of the village. He obviously disapproved of a foreigner in his house as he pointed at me and motioned with his finger in the direction of the beach. He continued berating Teuila for many minutes before storming out of the hut and down the front steps. The older woman said some gentle words, then followed the man out of the hut as I heard them talking some distance away.
"I'm guessing that was your father?" I said.
"Yes," the girl said. "I suppose it was a bit of a surprise to find a strange European woman lying in his house after he'd been out fishing all day."
"He seemed a little angry," I said. "Was it because of our kiss?"
"I explained to him that I was trying to administer pulu, but I don't think he was very convinced."
"What was all that gesturing about when he pointed at me and then toward the sea?"
Teuila exhaled heavily as her lips tightened into a frown.
"He said that he wants you off the island as soon as possible. If your friends don't return soon, there's a cargo ship that passes by here every month or so, where we exchange goods. He insists on your being on that ship by the latest."
I glanced up at Teuila, grunting as I tried to sit up.