They set up the tiki torches, string up lights along both bars, setup the karaoke machine, put pineapples and coconuts down in the sand, and put air in a blow up limbo game.
"Hey, I'm gonna go to the snack bar and grab some water," Dahlia tells everyone, wiping the sweat from her forehead. "Does anyone want anything?"
Jenna, Jordan, and Mia ask her to get them all waters, and Jenna also asks for a hotdog, too. Aaliyah's sitting down on her phone, already drinking a cocktail, so Dahlia nods at them and makes her way to the snack bar.
She orders then and is again surprised at how nice Jason is to her, even though she's pretty sure she had been accidentally giving him really mean look as she approached the bar. And then she feels bad that Jason's being nice to her, so she thinks it all over while Jason gets their waters and hotdogs (Dahlia ordered one too)
"I hope this isn't weird, but...what do you think about Jenna?" Dahlia asks him, gathering the water bottles in her arms and gulping.
"Oh man, she's so cool and beautiful, you know?" Jason smiles, nodding. Dahlia doesn't really know what she expected him to say, but her heart still sinks regardless. "But hey, dude, I'd never go after your girl. Not cool."
"My girl?" Dahlia asks, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. Didn't she say they had a thing going? Weren't they flirting in secret on purpose just so she wouldn't think she and Dahlia were together?
"Yeah, man, she told me about you guys' relationship a few nights ago," Jason nods, seeming oblivious to the fact that Dahlia's confused. "You're lucky!"
"Yeah," Dahlia nods, still trying to process all of this at once. "Yeah, I definitely am."
"Okay, enjoy your food!" Jason smiles as Dahlia walks away. She's trying to figure out what's going on at the same time that she's also trying to hold four water bottles and two hotdogs.
They all take a break when she gets back, sitting down on the tennis court to enjoy their water and hotdogs. Dahlia purposely distances she and Jenna from the others so she can talk to her.
"So I actually just talked to Jason about you," Dahlia tells her, keeping her voice low. Jenna chokes a little on her hotdog, but then quickly recovers and swallows it down.
"Uh...why exactly?" She asks, whipping her head around to look at her.
"Doesn't matter why ," Dahlia shrugs, taking a bite out of her hotdog now. She chews it up and swallows it, taking her time because she knows Jenna's extremely curious now. And she's enjoying watching her get squeamish over it. "So he said that you told him we were dating. But I thought you two had a thing going, so I'm sort of confused."
"I obviously couldn't risk my family knowing about me flirting with Jason, Dahlia," Jenna scoffs and rolls her eyes, taking another bite. "Besides, the thing we have is...more in my mind, really."
"Yeah, but you could have just as easily told him the truth, though," Dahlia shrugs and smiles, taking another bite of her hotdog too. "You know, told him we were faking it so your family would get off your back. He seems pretty laid back; I'm sure he'd understand."
"What exactly do you think is going on here?" she narrows her eyes, looking annoyed with her.
"Why don't you tell me?" Dahlia asks, shrugging. "I assume you were trying to make me jealous about him, but if-"
"-I was not trying to make you jealous," she interrupts her and laughs incredulously, shoving the rest of her hotdog in her mouth, chewing it, and then saying, "I would never try to make you jealous. Mostly because I don't have to try-I could tell you already were."
"I wasn't even a little bit jealous," Dahlia scoffs, gulping down her water. "I don't care what you do or...or who you do."
"The fact that you just had to clarify that means that you probably do care," Jenna rolls her eyes, as she eats the last bit of her hotdog.
"Yeah, you wish," Dahlia says through a full mouth, wiping her lips with a napkin.
"You wish I'd wish," Jenna huffs, standing up. "I'm done with this conversation. You're so ridiculous."
"You are," Dahlia replies, handing her the trash as she goes to throw it away.
She lays down on the tennis court then, closing her eyes and soaking up the warm sun. She feels a shadow hanging over her, and she smiles and says, "That was fast."
But when she opens her eyes, it's not Jenna-it's Aaliyah.
"Oh sorry, I thought you were Jenna," Dahlia laughs, sitting up slightly. She has absolutely no idea what's going on, and it's making her nervous.
"It's okay," she laughs, sitting down beside her. "I was just thinking about it, and...I don't know, I just feel bad about yesterday. When you came to Mia's room?"
She puts her hand on Dahlia's leg, smiling and getting slightly closer to her. Dahlia looks down at her hand, completely in disbelief that this is actually happening right now. Jenna warned her, but she thought she might have been exaggerating a little.
"You were worried about Jenna, and I was just...I don't know, jealous, I guess? You're just really cute, and I feel guilty for thinking that because she's my sister, you know?" She sighs, biting her lip and tilting her head and now rubbing her hand on her leg. Dahlia sees Jenna from the corner of her eye, making her way towards them. "I just didn't know how to react, and I feel bad. I hope you can forgive me."
Dahlia thinks about Jenna, and the look Aaliyah was giving her earlier after Jason had interrupted her just to talk to Jenna. Aaliyah's obviously trying to get back at her, even though it wasn't even Jenna's fault.
But Dahlia suddenly notices the annoyed face on Jenna as she approaches them, and sees the way her arms are crossed as she sees Aaliyah's hand on her leg, and something about that makes Dahlia feel good.
"Yeah, that's okay, Aaliyah," Dahlia nods and smiles at her, putting her hand on top of the one of hers that's on her leg. "Don't worry about it."
"What are we talking about?" Jenna asks, putting on this awful fake smile as she stands there looking down on them.
"We're just talking about something from yesterday," Dahlia shrugs, purposely being vague to her. She grits her teeth.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to start a fight or anything," Aaliyah laughs innocently, before removing her hand from her leg.
She thinks she was successful, but she wasn't. Not in the way she thought, at least. She was trying to get Jenna back for the Jason thing by flirting with Dahlia, but the fact that they aren't dating means
Jenna isn't actually hurt by it. But Dahlia-after seeing her annoyed at her for talking to Aaliyah-immaturely wants her to be jealous over it. Especially after she knows she was trying to make her jealous with Jason-she had to have been doing it purposely.
"Excuse me," Jenna laughs, sitting down in between them and getting comfortable, before turning Dahlia to face her and kissing her deeply. She throws her arm around her neck then, pulling her closer, pushing her fingers through her hair and letting out a small (but loud enough for Aaliyah to hear it) sigh.
Dahlia kisses her back, smiling into it triumphantly as Aaliyah lets out an annoyed huff and walks away.
"What the hell was that, Dahlia?" Jenna pulls back, her breathing shallow as she stares her down in annoyance.
"Maybe I should make you jealous more often," Dahlia smiles proudly, shrugging her shoulders.
"I'm not jealous," Jenna laughs out, shaking her head in disbelief. "I just...I warned you about her. And now she probably thinks since you flirted back that we have a bad relationship."
"I wasn't actually flirting with her," Dahlia replies, laying back down and yawning. "I can't flirt to save my life."
"That's true, but she thought you were flirting with her," Jenna looks at her, still annoyed. "And she'll use that."
"It's not like I like her or anything," Dahlia laughs, opening her eyes to look at her. Jenna's shoulders relax.
"Good," she nods, now laying down beside her. "Because I swear I'll never forgive you if you start hooking up. She'll tell the whole family just to screw me over and embarrass me."
"We won't hook up," Dahlia shakes her head, turning to look at her. She actually feels bad now for worrying her about it, knowing she's right. Her family is so awful. "Ever."
"That's exactly what Mia's ex said," Jenna laughs, and Dahlia gulps.
"I was really just messing around," Dahlia assures her, sighing. "I would never do that to you."
It would have been as nearly as bad if she hadn't said "to you" at the end. It made it feel a lot weirder than it should have, and now she's looking at her and she's looking at her and everything feels awkward.
"Everyone ready to start again?" Mia asks, looking around at the four of them, standing up. "We still have lots to do!"
Jenna stands up too then and Dahlia follows, just glad they were saved from that uncomfortable moment.
So they now unload more boxes and setup a "refreshments" table with small coconut and pineapple-shaped cups, a stack of mini umbrellas for their drinks, then they string up more lights. Then they set out wooden chairs on a row in the sand that's facing everything else-the two in the middle decorated with leaves and hibiscus flowers-and then they line basically everything with a row of grass skirts.
"Okay, so it's almost four now and this thing starts at five thirty," Mia states, all of them grossly sweating down from how hot it is outside. "The catering and projector guy should be here around four forty-five to bring food and setup the screen, so I figured we could all go get ready, and ten get back here then. That way we can make sure everything's set up correctly before they all get back from shopping at five fifteen."
"Sounds great," Jenna nods, grabbing Dahlia's arm and heading to the dock. Aaliyah's relaxed against a chair, drinking her third cocktail already.
"Wait! You can't leave without your outfits, silly," Mia laughs, grabbing a few things from a box, before handing it over to them. "You better be wearing this when you come back!"
"Of course," Jenna nods with a sigh, tucking the items beneath her arm. "We'll see you guys in an hour."
"Can't wait!" Mia replies, waving behind them.
"This should be such a blast," Jenna says in sarcasm, looking down at the various items in her hands.
"Why didn't you ever tell me about the party?" Dahlia asks, right as Jenna opens the door to their room. "Is there a reason?"
"Um..." she hesitates, narrowing her eyes and trying to think. "My family just does things...a certain way."
"What does that mean exactly?" Dahlia asks, watching her pull her shirt off.
"They're just weird," she shrugs, still not going into detail about it. "It's not some human sacrifice or something if that's what you're thinking."
"I wasn't thinking that until you said it," Dahlia laughs a little, breathing out. "I just don't get why you can't tell me."
"Because it's not, like, one specific thing they do, Dahlia," she laughs, shaking her head as she pulls her shorts off too. Dahlia feels weird just standing here, but now she's getting more and more nervous about the party and wants to figure this out. "Seriously, you're making this a way bigger deal than it actually is. I just didn't want to make you all anxious thinking about it or whatever-that's why I didn't tell you. That's it."
"Yeah?" She asks, letting out a relaxed breath.
"Yeah," Jenna laughs, patting her on the shoulder as she makes her way to the shower. "Now unless you want to see my fully wet, naked body in this shower within the next five seconds, you might want to leave now. But if you do want to see that, then take a seat and enjoy the show."
"I'm going, I'm going," Dahlia sighs, making her way through the back door and falling down into the chair there. Like every other night, she sits and admires the sky, and the water, and everything around her.
"Your turn," Jenna swings the back door open twenty minutes later, already making her way to her suitcase when she walks in. She has a flower in her hair, a coconut bra on, a short grass skirt around her waist, and a pink and green lei draped around her neck.
"Don't even say anything about the outfit," Jenna shakes her head, rubbing the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "Apparently we have to hypersexualize cultural appropriation now, too. My family are a bunch of idiots."
"There's no way I have to wear that as well" Dahlia replies, looking down at her outfit that's lying on the bed.
Jenna shrugs, laughing a little. Dahlia gulps. Then, smiling, she walks out and says, "I'll let you take your shower."
Dahlia looks down at the outfit with a sigh, completely nervous for this party. Of course ehe would rather be able to wear a shirt-especially while around Jenna's crazy sister-but that's not her biggest concern. They haven't really all been together doing something at once yet, and the thought of actually having to soon makes Dahlia want to fake sick again. The drama with Aaliyah is bad enough, but then there's the fact that Jenna's mom is going to be there, and also the fact that Jenna just told her that her family does weird things. Not that she didn't know that already, but still-it's very disconcerting.
So Dahlia just shakes her thoughts away and takes her shower, trying not to dwell on any of it for too long.
She goes and gets Jenna once she puts on her outfit and lei, opening the door for her.
"How...festive," Jenna looks at her and smiles, glancing over her outfit and lei and lack of clothing.
"You're one to talk, coconut bra," Dahlia laughs and walks to the bathroom, fixing her hair.
"Shut up,you have that too" she groans, falling back on the bed and sighing. Dahlia makes sure to tuck away any loose strand of hair, before walking back into the room.
"Ready?" She asks, standing by the door now.
It's impossible for her to look at her now without picturing her crying, and lonely, and upset, and vulnerable. Dahlia wishes she could show her that without being drunk.
"No, but I don't think I'll ever be," Jenna sighs, standing up. "So I guess we might as well go now."
"Wait," Dahlia stops her, before going to grab her phone.
"What are you doing?" Jenna asks, curiously watching her.
"Maddie's been dying for a picture of us," Dahlia laughs, opening up the camera. "So I thought maybe if we sent one she'd finally stop blowing my phone up all day."
"Doubtful, but worth a shot," Jenna shrugs, laughing a little. "Man, I miss Maddie."
"Me too," Dahlia agrees with a sigh, before Jenna grabs the phone from her hand, and holds it up to take the picture. Then she counts down to one, both of them smiling, before she turns and kisses her cheek right at the last second. Dahlia's pretty sure she's blushing in the picture.
"Send her that," Jenna grins, shoving the phone against her chest. "She'll be over the moon for weeks."
"You could have told me you were doing that," Dahlia laughs a little, suddenly feeling warm and antsy.
"Nah, it would have taken forever to convince you," Jenna shrugs, crossing her arms. "It had to be a surprise or it would have never worked."
Dahlia just shakes her head as she sends the picture to Maddie, and then sets her phone down on the nightstand before following Jenna outside.
"Yay you guys are here!" they hear from across the dock, looking over to see Mia waving at them and lighting the tiki torches. "Look how beautiful it is!"