Papa Bear

Chapter Twenty

CHAD

He didn't think that his life would change when he went over to the tiki bar tonight to celebrate Will's commercial debut and sort of said goodbye to his hoalohas*. He would not see them for the next 12 days. But when the two sisters from South Africa stepped into the bar, everything turned around.

Dimmi and Theo Van de Merwe were like a breath of fresh air. He still couldn't pronounce their surname even if his life depended on it, and it got a few laughs out of them.

Theo was the oldest, and more civilized, as Will would say. He always teased Chad that he was uncivilized because Chad had no care in the world. Owners banned Chad out of most of the restaurants in Honolulu. Hard Rock Cafe was a complete fuck up when he'd partied a few years back there. It was why Will got the tiki Bar, so that Chad had a place that would be just as big as his larger-than-life energy.

Dimmi was like him. She was loud, but not obnoxious. The girl was funny, and if his spirit was an eagle, hers would probably be one too. She was his match in every way, maybe more, as she sort of intimidated him a bit. He never experienced this. He never knew what not to do with picking up girls. She was making him so confused because then she would look like she was into him and the next moment she would completely shut him down with that mouth of hers. Everything was a challenge to her, and Chad didn't know if he liked it or loved it, but one thing he knew it was driving him crazy.

He had a lot of things in common with this girl, too. She could do three more accents than Chad and seven more than Will, and they each had to drink a draft of Guinness as punishment while she cheered them on.

Then it was playing darts. This little firecracker was a jack of all trades, and she drank Guinness like them. It seriously scared him just a little.

Chad tried another tactic and spoke to her in Hawaiian.

Normally girls would beg him what he said, and he thought that might get her to relax for a few minutes so that they could have a conversation but then she spoke to him in her language which sounded like Africans, but there were way too many A's in that word for him to pronounce it properly. Eliciting more laughter.

The entire night, they had a conversation like that.

"You can be glad there are so many people in this bar," Chad said in Hawaiian. "Otherwise that table would never be the same, young lady."

Max and Jared cracked themselves.

She spoke a string of words back to him in her language, saying fuck knows what. Theo screamed her laughter as her sister just looked at her and shrugged at him.

She was driving him insane.

Around the end of the night, he gave up. He didn't want to, as he really wanted her, but he couldn't. So he spoke to Theo and needed details.

"Okay, you need to explain this. She is so different from you. Are you sure you are sisters?"

"That is Dimmi for you. Way too much energy for that little body of hers."

"So what is it she had told me?" He took a sip of his beer.

"What is it you told her?"

"Yeah, I can't repeat that."

Theo threw her head back and laughed at his reply.

Chad took a sip of his draft. "She is larger than me, and I'm not speaking about size here."

"She gets drunk on life, or that is what my grandma used to say. She takes more after our father. Do you like her?"

He shook his head and Theo's smile disappeared as he came in closer to speak softer to her. "I love her."

"Then speak to her. Grab her by the shoulders and tell her to calm the hell down."

"Yeah, I love my balls."

Theo laughed again.

The rest of the night they kept talking, but he kept one eye on Dimmi as she kept on entertaining everyone with banter and jokes.

He needed pointers on how to tame that.

She could drink, too.

"She is going to be so drunk." Theo sounded afraid.

"I told you not to worry, Theo. You are here with us. We'll get you safe to where you have to be."

"You are way over the limit too, and it's like," she looked at her watch and her eyes grew wider, "Dimmi, it's four in the morning."

"What?" Dimmi yelled.

"It's four in the morning."

"Pfft," Dimmi said and laughed at something Gabby told her. She fitted in. The guys had taught her some words, and she said them perfectly throughout the night, but Chad doubted she would remember them tomorrow.

Her sister called it a night, and as they got ready to tell each other goodbye with long hugs and Hawaiian phrases, he rushed over to the bar and wrote his number down.

Chad got a hug out of the deal. She smelled like spring, warm and sweet. He should've just grabbed and kissed her then. He was such a fucking idiot.

"You are a coward, Chad," Theo said when she wrapped her arms around him.

"Yeah, tell me about it. Give her this." He slipped his number in Theo's hand. She smiled and shook her head.

They laughed at Dimmi screaming her Aloha at them just before Anthony, a cabby that worked this time of the hour, drove them home. They trust Anthony with their life and he would get them to where they should be.

Chad watched how the cab drove off with his heart until the cab disappeared around the corner.

He rubbed his face. Fuck. This wasn't good. He couldn't lose his heart over a foreigner. Chad wouldn't be in Hawaii for the next almost fifteen days, and he doubted they would still be here when he returned.

Will laughed. "That was scary."

Chad looked at him as all his friends stared at Will and laughed.

"That is Chad, in female form," Danny yelled.

"I'm fucked," Chad answered, drawing more laughs from them, and he just gave his biased little chuckle. "I don't know how to even deal with that. Fuck guys, sorry." He apologized for what he put them through every single time they went out.

"Don't you dare apologize." Gabby told him and slipped next to him, putting her arm around his back. "I'm just glad that you got to meet you, Chad."

They all cheered and partied on until the sun came up.

Will brought him another beer when all of them left and he locked up. They were both tired. He hadn't laughed and partied like that in a long time. "You took her number, right?" Will asked as they drank their beer.

"Yeah, sort of. I gave my number to Theo. Praying that she will get a word in and clarify that I really want that." Chad threw his head back and cried playfully, sounding so frustrated. A girl never made him feel like this before. He couldn't put it into words. It was like she was a witch that cast a spell on him or something.

Will laughed and tapped him on the back. "For what it's worth, it's great to see the beast out of his element. She is larger than life. You would make a great couple, Chad."

"Fuck off. My luck, I will never see her again."

Chad just laughed. "I'm sure she'll phone you."

"How do you know she said something?"

"No, just call it a haunch." He jumped up from the chair and put the last chairs on the table. Chad helped.

It terrified him just a little. Scared that he would never see her again.

*hoalohas* Friends

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Let me know in your inline comments and if you find anything that is wrong, grammar wise, please let me know.

Pun of the day: I like big books and I cannot lie.