Kal Weber | Maui (manaiakalani) wrote in paxletalelogs, @ 2017-03-27 14:24:00 |
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Entry tags: | eris, maui |
wave the ocean wave the shore
Who: BB and Kal
What: BB demands an impromptu surf lesson
Where: The beach
When: Sunday afternoon, March 26
Notes: Complete!
Kal was determined to surf at least once a week. At least.
It was something not only ingrained in his culture but a pastime that gave him complete happiness. Well, most outdoor activities did. Rock climbing, kayaking, surfing, the list was long but when he was in the midst of the activities he found himself feeling relaxed, anxiety-free, and unstoppable.
The packing was still a slow-moving process and Kal was finding it easy to get distracted. First with Chris, then with dinner, then with Max, and now this morning he felt the ocean’s call and pulled his board free from the stand on the wall.
It had been a good morning thus far, the waves were plentiful and Kal was out of breath by the time he trudged back onto the beach. His hair was wet and hanging in his face, his wetsuit glistening in the bright sun. By the angle of the sun, he suspected that the morning had run away from him and afternoon had taken its seat.
Sitting down in the sand with his board beside him, Kal turned his sight to the ocean and watched the angry waves crashing ashore. He marveled silently at the fact that everything seemed to be fitting so perfectly--the move, the close proximity to everyone, the feel of the place and the ocean before him.
BB was not out for such peaceful settings. She'd missed her morning run, and had instead decided to take up afternoon jogging on the beach; it was hell on her thighs, digging her heels into the sand, but she managed all the same. She'd paused, hands on her hips as she doubled over sucking in air, watching a lone surfer cut through the waves with precision and skill that should've solely belonged to a fish. Her brows drew together, and once she saw him drag his board out of the water, she decided now was a perfect time to intercept.
"Hey...hey!" She ran up to him, kicking sand up behind her as she closed the distance between them. "OK, like, one, how are you not a bear in a human suit, and two, how did you do all of that?" She gestured vaguely toward the ocean with one hand. "The surfing! I've seen tons of people out there. Are you, like, professional?"
It took a moment for Kal to realize the loud girl was talking to him, but sure enough, she was. He blinked up at her for a moment before slowly smiling, his grin large and like a shark’s. A friendly one, at least. “Thanks,” he replied, happy by the compliment. A professional, if only. He chose to ignore the comment about being a bear in a suit. Granted, it wasn’t the first time someone compared him to a large animal for various reasons. “And I do that because I’ve been surfing since I was a kid. Years and years of experience here and in Hawaii. Have you never surfed before?”
She shrugged, simultaneously shaking and nodding her head for a moment. "Once, like, years ago. Couldn't get up past my knees, and then there was a lot of falling involved, annnnd yeah," she supplied, her hands moving through the air as she spoke. They eventually landed back on her hips.
"So, what, your mom like glued you to a surfboard and tossed you out there to see how you'd do?"
“No, not exactly,” he replied with ease but deep in his gut there was a small twist that always came when someone mentioned his mother. It wasn't necessarily one of sadness but certainly of regret that he never was about to know or experience the woman. Between his two parents, his mother certainly wasn't the one who deserved her fate. “I'm Hawaiian though, so, close. The first time I went to Hawaii my cousins had me on a surfboard. I think I practiced in pools to get my balance. Maybe. I'm not really sure, it's a fuzzy memory. Maybe that's what you need. Get comfortable with your balance and then move onto the sea.”
BB crossed her arms over her chest as one hip cocked out, her eyes narrowing. "Fuzzy memory? You get hit on the head or something?"
Kal narrowed his eyes but the look of annoyance was only a display. “I was a child. You remember learning how to do shit when you were five?” He smiled at the woman. “I’m Kal, by the way. I live over at that apartment complex, Pax?”
"I do," she shot back, though her focus was quickly altered by the fact that they shared the same living arrangement. "No shit? Me too! I'm on the second floor. You're not, like, on the fourth, by any chance, right?"
“Third,” he replied, brushing now-dried sand off of parts of his wetsuit. He kept his eyes on her and a bit of a smile on his lips. “Why? Someone die on the fourth? Is it haunted?”
"Yes," she replied, looking visibly relieved. Alice's type ran more to the lean, nerdy folk, but one less dude to worry about was always better in her book. "Very haunted. I advise staying away at all costs.
"You're hella recent, though; I def would've remembered you lumbering around the halls. How the fuck did you move in so quietly? And do you have more of those?" She pointed at his surfboard.
“This is the only one I got.” Kal patted the board lovingly. “And I’m still moving in. I mean, I have the furniture in and the boxes, it’s just that the boxes haven’t been unpacked. I keep getting pulled aside to do other things but it’ll get done.”
Kal moved, easily getting to his feet and brushing sand off the back side of his wetsuit. Despite being barefoot, he still towered over the smaller woman. “So you live a few floors below me, someone ‘died’ in the apartment complex, is there more I should know? Drug deals going on? Your name, maybe?”
"Oh shit," she replied, jumping slightly. She stuck out a hand to shake his big bear paw. "Brittany Bernard, but you can call me BB, most people do. So, like, if you don't surf professionally, what do you do to pay the bills?"
Kal accepted the tiny hand in his own and gave it a firm shake. “Since we’re being real formal, let me revise. I’m called Kal but my full name is Kahale Weber. I work for Nat Geo--I’m a travel reporter. Beaches, best places to surf, hiking, adventure sports. Shit like that. What do you do to pay the bills, BB? Not surf, obviously.”
BB's face lit up, her body rising up on tip-toe. "I'm a reporter too! TMZ, you know, only the most exclusive pieces. I have a blog, too, some smaller time stuff, and a vlog, cause, you know, gotta be as spread out as you can. Oh man, I have to get your handle, do you have an Insta?? Do you do photography, too??" She started to reach into her pants, pulling the phone out that she had tucked into one nearly-unnoticeable pocket.
Kal grinned, his eyes crinkling at the sides as he witnessed the girl get excited. He chose to keep his comments of TMZ to himself--they seemed just a hair above tabloid reporters and he had little interest in celebrities--but instead fed into her social media expectations. “It’s all under my full name. Kahale Weber, no spaces, no underscores. I’m on Instagram, mainly. Sometimes I do photos for Nat Geo Expeditions on Instagram too. And yeah, I do the photos. They’re not celebrities or anything. Mainly photos and videos of the wilderness or activities and food.
“Nice to see there are other social media savvy people in the apartment though. My friend Chris who lives there doesn’t seem to get the concept.”
"Chris? Haven't met him," she commented, shooting past the offered social tangent. She pulled up her instagram app, typing in his name. "Oh my god these are amazing," she said, scrolling through. "How fucking lucky are you??? Travel the world, take pictures, that's so cool." She folded her arms across her chest again, her stance wide, looking a little like Daniel about to take on Goliath; a grin split her face. "So what was your last piece about? Where were you? How do I get to stow away in your luggage?"
“Last piece was about Costa Rica and this waterfall where people swim at the base,” Kal replied automatically, the information coming out after so much back and forth with editors and the traveling itself. He still had a nasty bug bite from the trip that was healing. “And I can bring some family or friends with me every once in awhile, but not very often. No idea where I’m going next. I heard rumor of some island in the Pacific. You travel a lot?”
BB pressed her lips together, shaking her head. "Not outside of L.A. I'm from D.C. originally, but I'm not, like, high enough staffed with TMZ just yet to get at any travel gigs. Plus, you know, the internet kinda helps deal with the whole not-in-the-right-place dealio.
"But! I am def open to whatever sordid activities you need me to do to get booked on that island vacation. Beaches, hot chicks in bikinis, I am so there. I guess you oughta teach me how to surf, too, just so I'm up to speed on everything that might be required of me." She arched a brow in his direction.
Laughing, Kal picked up his board and stuck it under his arm. “I could teach you how to surf. But only if you sign something saying you won’t sue my ass if you break an arm. Are you headed back to the apartment? I should probably get back to unpacking...I’ll walk with you and tell you about the best beach with the hottest chicks in bikinis, if that’s what you’re interested in.”
"Um, yes," BB replied, immediately starting to take a step back toward Pax. "I can def be headed in that direction, and yes, I need to know where these beaches are. For research purposes, obviously." The hand holding her phone moved down by her side, her feet dancing back and forth in the sand as she waited for him to start them off toward the apartment complex. "And sure, I'll sign a waiver. I mean, wait, like, how likely is it that I'd break an arm?"
Kal turned in the direction of the apartment, taking his long stretched steps that were one for three of hers. “Only depending on how much of a klutz you are,” he replied, looking down at the woman beside him. “Maybe we can start with getting you to balance on the board in a pool, you can even borrow mine for starters.”
"OK, if we're starting with a kiddie pool, that is definitely more my speed," she commented, burgeoning excitement creating a small ball in her stomach. She followed after him, working to keep up with Kal's larger steps. He still wasn't quite as fast as Percy, but she was going to have to invest in a Segway if this kept up.