Forever Faithful (A Khleo Thomas Fan Fiction)

Chapter 1 - Paradise🌺

Chapter 1- August 2002

Boarding the plane out of San Jose was nerve wracking, never in my life had I flown straight over the ocean. The flight attendant informed me the flight would only take about four or five hours and we would be there in no time. I sat back in my chair and tried to relax, soon after take off the flight attendant started coming by with the drink tray, Im only 12 years old so all I could drink to calm my nerves was a soda. but It did just the trick I relaxed with my headphones on blaring lil bow wow. I fell asleep after an hour or so and woke up to my grandma shaking me awake to tell me we had made it. I immediately looked out the window and saw a row of palm trees; it was nighttime so the lights on the buildings were all on. It looked incredibly beautiful this place was better than I had ever imagined. As we stepped out of the plane the humid heat of the islands immediately hit us. I was so excited to start my vacation, I started telling my grandmother where I wanted to go. She told me we needed to rest first but I was too excited to sleep. We checked into our hotel and went up to our room to look at it. My grandma went straight to bed but I stood on the balcony watching the people walk by on the street below , and just took in the sounds of the island. After 30 mins I went to bed and just laid in the dark until I dozed off to sleep.

I was the first one to wake up in the morning. so I stood on the hotel balcony and admired the view, it was so beautiful with palm trees and the sound of the ocean waves I felt at peace. After about 15 mins my grandma woke up and told me to get ready because she was taking me shopping. I jumped up and down with joy and quickly got ready, as we shopped I just admired everything we passed by, I wanted to buy everything. My grandma bought me the most beautiful Hawaiian dress at a corner Polynesian store. After shopping she surprised me with tickets to the hotel's luau that night. Since we finished shopping early we laid around the room watching Elvis movie reruns until I got up to get myself ready for the night.

I left my hair down in my natural curls and put on my new dress that went down to my ankles, it was red with white plumeria Hawaiian flowers and I had some matching flip flops to wear with it. My grandma put some blush on my cheek, I didn't wear much makeup yet. When we were ready we walked down to the lobby and went around the back of the hotel where the luau was being held. When we walked up to the entrance there was a Hawaiian man and woman there to greet the guests and present them with their lei's. The man placed our lei's around our necks. I blushed when he did mine because he was soo cute. After we got our leis we walked over to an empty table to sit down. The show started soon after and I was enjoying every bit of the luau. I was amazed at how the hula dancers were performing. It made me wanna take up hula dancing. I wanted to move my hips as fast and carefree as these women were. As I watched the men start to dance I felt like someone was staring at me. I looked over to my left and this kid who looked about my age was sitting there eyeing me, he saw me looked back at him and he smiled, embarrassed I just smiled back.

I quickly looked away after I gave him a smile and tried not to look again but I couldn't help it. He was very cute and he looked mixed. His hair was curly and came down to his ears. He had the cutest big ears. I couldn't help but laugh to myself as I thought that. Thankfully my grandma didn't notice me playing eye tag with him or it would've been 21 questions. Since entering my teen years my grandma has been on me about boys.  As soon as everyone was excused to line up to get food I noticed him following behind me. The whole time I kept thinking he couldn't be looking at me. Back home I never had much luck with my crushes. I wasn't the skinniest or what i thought was the pretty girl, and i often got bullied back home. As we filled our plates he somehow ended up next to me, every time I looked up from serving my plate he would smile at me and give me the cutest smirk.

Finally as we reached the end of the buffet table he said, "hi my name is Khleo Thomas, what's yours?" With his free hand stretched out to me I shook his hand with my free one and said " Hi my name is Malia Rodriguez ''. "Nice To meet you Malia" he said, "are you enjoying yourself" I smiled and said "yeah how about you?" he smiled "i'm having a lot of fun i've never been to Hawaii before, have you?" He asked, still smiling at me. "Nope this is my first time too, me and my grandma just got here last night."  "That's cool so did me and my family, well Malia I'll let you go eat your food are you staying at this hotel?" he said "maybe i'll see you around", I smiled up at him and said " yeah I am ill see you later then" i said with a kool aid smile as I walked away.

When I got back to my table I was glad my grandma didn't say anything. Maybe she didn't notice me talking to him. The rest of the luau was fun. I would notice Khleo looking over at me every now and then, one time he even mouthed "hi" to me. As my grandma and I started walking back to our room khleo passed me and slipped a piece of paper in my hand without my grandma or his parents noticing. I liked how sneaky he was because I really didn't want to have to answer to my grandmother. We walked into our room and my grandma told me she was going to get into her pjs and relax. I said "okay" while plopping myself down on the couch to read his note. I opened it up and it said " Meet me in the lobby in ten minutes - khleo". I thought to myself mmm should I go , five minutes went by and after whispering to myself  and pacing the room about it like a weirdo debating if i should meet him or not, I decided to go. I let my grandma know I was going to look around the hotel and gift shop downstairs and I would be right back. Surprisingly she let me go with no questions asked. I didn't bother changing, so I just put my sandals back on and went down stairs. When I got down to the lobby I didn't see him so I figured I was early. Then I heard a voice calling my name, I turned around and saw him standing by the back doors. He motioned his hands for me to follow him.

I walked over to him nervously, when i reached him he held the door open for me to walk threw and said "I'm really glad you came i didn't get to talk to you much at the luau like I wanted"  I laughed  nervously because I couldn't believe his sexy self was talking to me, he just smiled and asked me what was so funny but all i said was "Nothing".  "You're a shy person aren't you" he said "mmm yeah i am, well at least until i get to know someone" he laughed and said " well let's take a walk and you can get to know me better". "okay where are we walking to" i said smiling and never taking my eyes off him. "uhh let's go out to the beach since it's right here" he said, holding out his hand for me to grab it. I looked at him and hesitated for a minute. He smiled and said "you're safe with me I promise" , still holding out his hand. I grabbed his hand and walked with him along the beach to the water.

He spoke first which made me breathe a sigh of relief because I didn't even know where to start. "so where do you live?" he asked "San jose California" , "oh really i'm from LA" he said smiling "I love LA my uncle lives in santa monica, i wanna move there someday" I said smiling back "yeah i love it it's a cool place to live" "so how old are you" I asked " Im 13 my birthday passed january 30th"   "oh wow then we are the same age, well your a couple months older, i'll be 13 on  Halloween" he looked at me shocked when i said that and i laughed and said what? " that's my favorite holiday" i smiled and said "well good you won't forget my birthday then" we both laughed when i said that.

We walked around and sat in the sand and just talked for over an hour about things we liked, life back home and what school was like for us. I realized how late it was getting. so I said "I'm sorry khleo i have to get back to the room before my grandma sends out the search party" he laughed "alright true me too, can we hang out tomorrow ?" he said standing up smiling at me. "umm i have to see what my grandma has planned tomorrow but if i can get away yes that would be fun" "alright" he said as we stood up and walked back into the hotel

"what room are you in?" he asked ," Umm number 9" " ohh okay mines is 5 a few doors down i'll walk you up" he said giving me his grin, I just laughed and shook my head , he walked me up to the room and i told him that I would see him at the hotels breakfast in the morning then we said our goodbyes..