Four words: You blew me away.

Naomi spent the rest of the morning at the Hukilao. She reads the Honolulu Star Tribune from cover to cover and had three cups of coffee, oblivious to the rest of the customers as they come and go. When the place got a little crowded at half past eleven, she went out and stood beside the water for a long time, chain smoking. She avoids the crowd lately, doesn't see the comfort of that so many people to her.

Naomi realizes how far she is from home as she stares at the vast sea in front of her. She let out a bitter smirk at that thought. She can't call it home now. This is her home; at least she'll try to call it that: an island in the middle of the Pacific halfway across the globe to England, away from the people she once knew and chose to forget. She drinks in lungful of sea breeze and drops the butt of cigarette on the grass and steps on it, crushing it against the heel of her shoe. She contemplates in quitting smoking, finding the fresh wind from the ocean healthier for her. She smiles while securing another cancer stick between her lips, knowing that old habits die hard.

She stops on her seventh stick and settles in watching a lone boat travel towards the horizon until it's only a blob, finally out of sight before she decides to go back in.

Only a handful of people remain and Naomi sat herself on one of the booths by the window. Her seat's facing the door and not long after, she sees a rather beaten up yellow convertible park in front of the Café with the familiar redhead as the driver. Naomi watches as Emily checks her phone before going out the car.

The door chimes rattles again as Emily pushes on the door. She scans the place and smiles when she caught sight of Naomi. "Hi sorry for the wait," Emily greets her as she slides on the booth opposite her. Emily had shed the blue and white plaid shirt she was wearing earlier and a gray singlet's now hugging her torso, showing the reddish pale skin of her shoulders.

"That's alright."

Naomi finds herself asking Emily where Micah is.

"He's still in school, I'll pick him up at three," Emily answers with a smile. "Have you eaten lunch?" Naomi shakes her head in reply. "Let's get something to eat before I show you the house then?"

She's not really hungry after the amount of coffee and cigarette she consumed but she chose to agree. She got salad and a glass of iced tea while Emily orders a Hawaiian burger, French fries on the side.

"I want to ask you a couple of questions if you don't mind?" Emily asks when Sue went to get their orders. "You know those precautionary measures to make sure your housemate's not a serial killer," she grins.

Naomi cracks a small smile. "Go ahead."

"Yeah, first question: are you a serial killer?"

The small smile went a little wider. "No I'm not."

"That's a good thing then."

"You should know that a real serial killer doesn't admit that he is actually one when asked."

"Yeah but you strike me as an honest person."

Naomi bit her lip to stop the full on smile on her face. Emily thought she has a beautiful smile, it brings more light to her deep blue eyes. When she's not smiling, the tired glint in them are evident, the effect of lack of sleep and grief.

"Next question?"

Emily realized they've been silent for a while and she was staring unabashedly.

"Right, uhm… how old are you?" she asks the first thing that popped into her head.

"Twenty one."

"No strange sleeping patterns?"

"No."

"Any weird habits or anything like that I should know of?"

Naomi shrugs and shook her head. "Nothing weird, no."

"Great."

"Well actually…" she trails off, not sure if that piece of information would bother Emily.

"Yeah?"

"I normally sleep naked," she says, suddenly grew fascinated at the stack of napkins and the ketchup bottle, staring at them instead of Emily.

"Oh," Emily says and a faint blush creeps up her cheeks. "And… do you put clothes on when you wake up?"

Naomi looks up to see the trace of pink on Emily's cheeks. "Most of the time. I might have to do it all the time if I move in."

"You might," Emily agrees and they both grin, the awkwardness disappears as fast as it arrived.

A waiter brought their orders. He's wearing a tie dyed shirt with a pair of what used to be pants but are tattered around the knees, making them now shorts. Emily thanked him and called him Mike. Naomi assumed that's his name. As Mike was serving them, Naomi's eyes linger at Emily's hair. The glare of the sun's hitting her hair, making it more wildly vibrant as it already is. Like a burning flame, so bright, so stunning that you're compelled to look and admire.

"I'm starving, I had to make thirteen floral arrangements this morning," Emily says conversationally as she takes a big bite of her burger.

"You run a floral shop?" she asks and stabs the lettuce of her salad with her fork.

Emily shook her head and wipes the ketchup on the side of her mouth. "No, I just work for them. I do floral arrangement and help keep the flower gardens."

Naomi doesn't approve of the idea of cutting off flowers from its stem and being admired for a mere couple of hours before it withers away. She thinks it's ridiculous and stupid. Can't people be bothered in giving away potted flowers instead? She keeps her mouth shut on the subject though, doesn't think Emily would appreciate her smart ass opinion.

"What about you? What did you study in school?" Emily was asking her.

"Politics," she shrugs. It's no use for me now, she thought.

"You're planning to be a lawyer or something?"

"I was."

Emily notices Naomi's change of demeanor; she abandons her fork on the plate and crossed her arms in front of her while a slight scowl's gracing her face. She figured the topic about Naomi's past is a touchy subject and decided to steer clear of that.

The rest of the conversation went well after that. They ended up sharing Emily's fries, the salad abandoned on the side. Emily thinks Naomi's a good candidate for a housemate. For one, she seems normal enough. Second, Micah already like her and Naomi moving in wouldn't be too difficult for him to adjust with. Third, Emily does like her too. She finds the blonde compelling.

After lunch, they left Hukilao and drove to Emily's house; Emily in her car, Naomi's rented car following behind. The house is ten minutes away from the Café.

Naomi slows her drive when she sees Emily turn right, off the main road. A rough road extends. She realizes Emily's house is by the bay as she notice the water's only meters away on the left side of the road. She caught sight of the house. From a distance, it looks like a cluster of little houses but when she's close enough, it looked more like there was originally the tallest part of the house and another part was built beside it, a smaller one. A little far off the main house is another small building that serves as the garage.

Naomi steps out the car, another cool breeze welcoming her, rustling the group of trees that surrounds the house. She squints against the sunlight to survey the place closely. Three very tall coconut trees sat beside each other on this side of the house by its driveway, a lone one on the opposite end while other smaller trees and plants are scattered around the rest of the grounds. The house is dominantly made of wood and the roof out of cheap material. She notices how old the structure look, with the roof already rusting away and the paint on the walls fading. She didn't care though, it only adds to the appeal of the whole thing. From the back of the house, there's a wooden dock extending far away to the bay, around a hundred meters long, a little shelter at the end of it made also from mismatched woods. This place is like a tropical haven in Naomi's eyes.

"What do you think?" Emily appears beside her.

She was awarded by Naomi's smile, now no lip bite to stop it. "It's... perfect."

Emily grins back. "Come see the rest."

She unlocks the door, waits for Naomi to step inside before she closes it. First thing Naomi notices was how spacey everything is, very different from her flat in London. The living room alone is way bigger than Naomi's hotel room. There are windows everywhere, letting the cool wind from outside comes in.

Emily gave Naomi a grand tour of the house. It has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a dining area, and the living room.

"This is going to be your room, if you decide to move in," Emily says as she opens the only door on the second floor. "There's the room beside ours but I thought you'd like a little privacy here."

Emily and Micah's bedroom are on the ground floor just beside the living room.

Naomi steps in the room and falls in love with it immediately. There's a bed in the middle of the room, the upper end of it's against the wall, a big window on that side. Naomi peers out and could see the dock. She smiles when she realizes this is the side where the sun rises in the morning. Beside the bed is a study table with a dusty lamp perched on the wooden surface. A drawer for clothes painted with royal blue is in the opposite corner of the room. The color reminds her of the TARDIS.

"It's a bit dusty and the lights need changing," Emily says as she stands beside the other window by the drawer. She runs her index finger over the surface of the drawer. Dusts collected on the tip as she retrieves it. "No one stayed here in years."

"I'll take it," Naomi says quietly. There's a bookshelf filled with old books rigged on the wall, the same side as the door, and she's absorbed checking them out.

"You will?" Emily's surprised and relieved voice comes from behind. She nods and turns to look at her.

"Yes, I'll take it."

"Are the books bothering you? They used to be gran's. I could clear it out if you don't want them there."

"No they're fine."

Emily claps her hands together. "Great! Give me a day to clean this place up then?" Naomi agrees, even offered to help it get cleaned up but Emily waved it off. "It's not your job to do that. I suggest you enjoy your stay in the hotel before moving in."

Naomi takes one last glance inside the room before she follows Emily back downstairs towards the kitchen. There's a beaded curtain separating the kitchen from the dining area and it reminded Naomi of her mother's house, how it also had one of those. She threw it away among the other things in the house when she stripped it bare from any belongings before she put it on sale. Naomi never understood the purpose of them, they just irritates and makes annoying sound when you walk past them.

"If you want a curtain, get a real fucking curtain," she told her mother once when her hair got stuck into it. "Or a shitting door where it would leave my fucking hair alone."

Emily gives Naomi a glass of water, four cubes of ice floats on the surface. Naomi's finding herself thirsty all the time. She never thought the weather would be an issue to her but it turned out it's one of the most pressing dilemma she has since she was here. She has been here before but she was too young to remember much from that trip. She was only five and her father had not fuck off somewhere then. But one thing Naomi remembers is it was a fun trip, she was happy. They were happy.

"You're not used to Hawaiian heat huh?" Emily observes as she pours Naomi another glass of water.

"It's really fucking hot here," she says. She looked sheepish with her word choice. "Sorry, didn't mean to swear."

Emily smiles. "Don't worry about it. Maybe limit it if Micah's around."

"Yeah, 'course," Naomi agrees hastily.

They went outside and walked the length of the dock, stopping at the covered part at the end, completing Naomi's tour of the whole place. They sat on the beach chairs that's propped facing the sea where they talked about the rent. They settled in an amount quick, Naomi agreeing at Emily's first price since she was already half in love with the place. Emily convinces Naomi to help her buy stuff she will need when she found out Naomi pretty much have nothing with her except her clothes.

"This is a lovely place," Naomi says. Her head tilts to look around them. There's a mountain towering over them on the left side. Naomi could hear the faint sound of birds that nests on the nearby trees, mixing with the sound of the waves hitting the sandy shore.

"You'll love it here," Emily says with unbridled confidence.

"I think I already do," she says and settles back on the chair. They laze around for a while, sharing the silence.

They both left the house when it's almost three since Emily needs to pick Micah up from school.

"I'll see you in Wednesday then new housemate?" Emily says as they walk back to their cars.

"Yeah, I'll call you."

"Okay," Emily smiles and opens the door to her car.

"Emily?"

She glances back at Naomi who's looking unsure, one hand on the door handle. "Yes?"

"Thank you. You've been really nice." It was delivered with a hint of shyness and gratitude that Emily finds herself smiling. "This is a warm place, but people are warmer."

"You're welcome."

"Well see you then," was Naomi's last words before she gets in her car and drives off.

The silver car was gone by the time Emily reaches the main road.

If you go watch 50 First Dates, my description of the places would make a little more sense. :]

Oh, and I change my icon because that's what I think Micah should look like, with black hair instead of blonde. I'm too shit in photoshop to know how to change the hair color.