Bus rides were a normal part of my summer. The only part I actually enjoyed, to be honest.

I sat at the back of the bus by the window on the left side. Yes, I had a specific side I sat on because I could see the beach from this particular spot. I pressed my forehead against the glass and sighed, taking in the water gleam from the rising sunrays. Sometimes, if I concentrated long enough, I could smell the ocean. I know, it's weird.

There weren't many people on the beach yet. Mostly elderly walking their pets, or surfers catching an early wave before the crowd took over. I wanted to have a normal summer like every other teenager who would go to parties and the beach with their friends. Instead, I'm sitting in a taco shop no one comes into, and wasting my summer away.

Drew Tabor sang in my ears, and I took a deep breath while the beach continued to pass by. I the song of on repeat on my phone, and I can't get enough of it. Her tone is relaxing. Mindlessly, my thumb clicked the side of my phone to increase the volume. Mom wasn't here to complain my music was too loud.

Another sigh later, my sight concentrated on the glimmering sea until I heard a muffled, "Drew Tabor. Nice choice."

I blinked, pulling my forehead from the window and turned around at the same time of pulling an earbud out of my ear. My mouth dropped open when I saw who was sitting across from me. I gulped and quickly dragged my hand down the side of my messy curls to straighten them out of their frizz. 

There, with his Colgate white smile, was Ryan O'Malley, or as he was known at school: "Boy Hawaii".

I'm not sure why people called him that other than that's where he moved from. Margarite claims it's because he's beautiful, and Hawaii made beautiful people. But then I wondered if perhaps they should have called him Beautiful boy...?

I'm sure I looked stupid just sitting there with my mouth hanging open so I cleared my throat and straightened in my seat. I pulled the other earbud out and rolled them both around my phone as I smiled, nodding my thanks. "Drew Tabor's actually my favorite artist at the moment."

"At the moment?" Ryan asked, tilting his head with a grin. He twisted in his seat to face me.

I bit my lip, nodding that my deep appreciation for music was hard to just pick one artist when there were so many with really great songs.

Ryan's brows furrowed, nodding then smiled. He claimed he never thought of music that way before, but that he just might from now on. Cue my soul leaving my body.

Ryan raised a brow, nodding at my phone. "'Moonlight'... am I right?"

The smile on my face widened as I nodded that was what I had been listening to. I tilted my head, lowering a brow and questioned how Ryan knew about Drew Tabor.

Boy Hawaii chuckled, glancing to the side before admitting that I was listening to the song loud enough for him to hear the singer. I blushed, reminding myself to ease up on the volume next time. Boy Hawaii added how his mom was actually into the Indie music genre.

"She's a total hippie," Ryan mused, grinning as he gestured from his neck down. "Clothes and all."

I laughed, then caught myself and apologized that I didn't mean to.

Ryan smiled, shaking his head that he wasn't offended. "You have a different kind of laugh. It's... There's something about it that doesn't sound rude," he admitted.

For all that is green and holy, RYAN O'MALLEY JUST COMPLIMENTED ME!

Tucking my hair behind my ear, I glanced away with my bottom lip between my teeth. When I looked back at Ryan, he hadn't looked away. He was still smiling at me. To be brave, I extended my hand and introduced myself. 

He shook my hand, replying with a smile, "Ryan."

Oh. I know who you are, you perfect Mahalo Boy.

"You sat next to me all year in homeroom, right?" Ryan asked, his brows dipping.

I nodded, reluctantly retracting my hand from his and asked him why he was on the bus. Ryan replied he was going into town to look around for a new surfboard. He shrugged that his current one broke in half when he last took it out.

"Wiped out pretty bad, let me tell you," Ryan chuckled. "So why are you on the bus? Just looking around, too? You and I should look around together."

I groaned, wishing I could hang out with Ryan. But alas, I sighed that I was actually going into town to get ready to open my family's taco shop.

Ryan's brows rose so high they disappeared behind his brown curtain of hair. "Tacos?! Almost a year I've been here and just now I'm learning there are tacos in this small town?"

Stunned, I stammered, "You—-you like tacos?"

If he could smile any brighter, I would be blind. 

Ryan chirped how much he loved tacos. "Mom would order tacos all the time from this little joint back in Hawaii. She really enjoyed them when she was pregnant with me, and passed on the love of Mexican food."

Well, then...

He asked what time the taco shop opened and where it was located. Ryan nodded, grinning that he remembered Kim Wu talking about her family's smoothie-slash-ice cream parlor so Ryan would be sure to find that shop and look across the street for mine. The fact Ryan was willing to skip out on Kim's shop for mine was making this day so much better.

"Sooooo, there's a party tonight at the beach." Ryan raised his brows, pursing his mouth to the side. "Will I catch you there?"

Oh. My. God. Was this actually happening? 

I stumbled for words so the safe thing I could do was nod. I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and raised a shoulder in a coy shrug. "I'll only be able to stay a few hours though. I have to close the shop tonight."

"Oh, well I guess we'll have to make the most of those few hours then, huh?" Ryan smiled.

Giggling as my face heat up, I nodded that I would be going with my two friends and maybe Ryan and I could talk some more when I showed up.

"Definitely! Maybe you can talk to me about what else is on your playlist and I'll pass on the word to my mom." Ryan turned to me, standing up after pulling the yellow cord lining across the window for the next stop. "Perhaps I'll stop by after buying my board and buy a taco." He stepped onto the platform and waved with a cheerful, "See ya, Gemma!" before making his way off the bus and out onto the sidewalk. Ryan turned to the back window and continued to wave to me as the bus drove on.

I fell back against my seat and couldn't stop smiling. My cheeks hurt.

Ryan talked to me! He shook my hand! We talked about the music his Hippie mother and I had in common, and then he suggested we continue our talk at the party tonight. And what was even better was that he loved tacos! He was planning on coming by to grab one!

My head was spinning. I couldn't believe what a turn this day was taking. I have to say my heart and head were so far up in Cloud Nine, I didn't even care that I had missed my stop, or that I had to walk the few blocks back.

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 The doorway at this angle looked so much better than when I was sitting up straight on the stool. With my upper torso sprawled to the side in the usual lazy manner on the counter, my head laid on my now numbing arm.

I was staring at my reflection in the glass windows of the shop. I could see Mom and Dad's reflections passing by the small window back and forth behind me. I still never understood what they were cooking. No one ordered anything. Ever. Perhaps they were making our dinner to take home?

If you're wondering if I thought of how I'm going to get out of here without my parents catching me then you'd be wrong. For half the day, I had been thinking about my moment with Ryan, and how sweet he is. I'd been daydreaming about him waltzing in here and proclaiming this massive crush on me.

I rolled my eyes as I took a sloth pace to sit up straight again.

Ryan was too perfect to like someone like me. He was a Hawaiian God and I was... well... Gemma. Even my name wasn't a good ring with his. Ryan and Gemma. Gemma and Ryan. Gemyan. Ryemma. Nope. Not even our ship names sounded appealing.

"Arrrrrgggggh!" I groaned, sliding against the counter top with my head buried in my arms. 

My life sucked. I really wanted to see Ryan tonight but how, was the real question, when Mom and Dad were going to be here until we closed. There had to be a cook the whole time we were here.

Frowning, I pursed my mouth to the side as my finger tapped lightly on the counter. Through my pondering, the small bell above the door jingled and I jumped up at Ryan leaning against the door to make room for this huge blue surfboard being wedged through the open space.

My throat went dry and my fingers gripped tightly to the counter's edge as Ryan was looking around the taco shop. He was making his way over to me as he studied everything. Even the chairs and tables. I swear I almost fainted. Ryan was in my family's taco shop! The girly-girl inside my head was bouncing around, squealing like the cheerleaders at school.

"Cool place you got here, Gem."

Gem. He called me by my nickname!

The corners of my lips tugged up into a smile. I sat there like an idiot, smiling widely in what I hoped wasn't a creepy way, as Ryan placed his board against the counter. He turned his green eyes to me.

Not sure if he heard my sigh, but at the moment I didn't care because Ryan had kept his word of coming into the shop. Sure, it was already the afternoon that he strolled in, but I'm not complaining!

Ryan looked above me at the menu, his eyes strolling from side to side then looked back at me. Boy, did I feel stupid when I saw his mouth move a few times and then seeing how his face scrunched in confusion.

I blinked, shaking my head and scrunched my nose. "Huh?"

Boy Hawaii grinned, raising a brow. "I asked what you recommend."

Stupid Gemma! Get your shit together!

My shoulders rose towards my ears as I stammered, "Oh..." then froze for a second before spinning in my stool to look at the menu myself. Sadly, I hadn't been able to suggest a good order since no one ever came into the shop and now that I'm being asked, I have no clue. How were we still running this place?

There was a lot of good stuff Dad could whip up, but I wanted to impress Ryan since he was really big on Mexican food. His mother eats it too and usually when a boy's mother doesn't like something then the boy won't either. Sigh. I'm toast.

Spinning back around to Ryan, I tilted my head and raised a brow to accompany my smirk. "Our Sopes are pretty bomb."

Ryan laughed, raising his brows. "Bomb, huh? Well, then I'll be taking an order of—" He squinted his eyes and I leaned forward to enunciate, "So-pes." to which he repeated back.

"Sopes, it is then!" he cheerfully decided, giving me the extra ingredients he'd like on top of his seven (Damn, can the boy can eat!) Sopes. He also ordered an extra plate of tacos to go. I presumed these were for his mother, and I was correct when he shrugged and told me so.

I lifted a finger and chirped, "One sec!" before spinning on my stool and jumped off. I ran over to the rectangular window to quickly tap the bell sitting on the ledge.

My parents blinked, looking over at a smiling me when I announced, "We've got two orders!"

My parents glanced at one another before they split in different directions after instructed on the specified requests. Dad was re-heating the grill and nodding to what I was saying while Mom was already carrying over a fresh lettuce to chop up.

Mom stopped at the window on her way and raised a brow as she tried to peek. "Who's here, Gemma?" she asked, still stretching to peer through the window. She happened to be as small as me.

I bit my lip to keep my excited nerves simmered and then replied, "A boy from school."

Mom raised a brow, eyeing me carefully and hummed,"Hm. I see." She had this twinkle in her eye that I didn't like.

I frowned and whispered, "Mom. Don't talk to him! Please! He's one of the most popular boys in school, and I want him to be my friend! So don't ruin this for me!"

Mom scoffed, placing her hands on her hips after setting down the head of lettuce. "Do I embarrass you?" She raised a brow, leaning forward. "Is that it? Are your Dad and I embarrassing, hm?"

Sometimes. I mentally rolled my eyes at how dramatic my mother made everything. All I asked was for her not to talk to Ryan. Nowhere in there did I say she was an embarrassment. Sure, it was implied, but I didn't say it.

Apparently waiting for a response, I sighed, "No, Mom. You don't embarrass me." It came out very robotic. Mom even noticed. She narrowed her eyes while walking over towards the door.

My eyes widened and shook my head. "Mom... Mom, where are you going?" It came out in a panicked tone but Mom ignored me; lifting her nose in the air and pushed through the swinging door. 

"Moooom?" I questioned again, but she was strutting—yes, strutting—over to where Ryan was admiring the shop again. He spun around from looking at the family photos on the wall when Mom stood at the counter with her back to me, and she asked if he was the one who ordered.

Ryan nodded. "Yes, mam'. That was me." He approached the counter right before Mom hugged Ryan. She stretched herself over the counter and wrapped her arms around his head, yes, his head, and tugged him to her.

My eyes widened, jaw dropped. I could see poor Ryan suffocating in part of my mother's boob area and her shoulder. One eye of his that wasn't hidden away looked over at me.

I ran over and started peeling Mom off Ryan. "O-kay, Mom! He gets it! You're grateful!" I snapped, tugging at her yellow sleeveless blouse.

My face was hot from this horrific moment, and I kept glancing at Ryan, hoping he wouldn't run out of the shop the moment Mom let him go. I stepped back once Mom gave me a sharp look to stop pulling at her. She released Ryan who straightened himself up after pushing back off the counter he'd been hauled over.

Ryan grinned, chuckling, "Wow..." His fingers scratched the top of his head. "All I did was order food! I never get this kind of friendly service back in Hawaii!" He added that my mother's hug was a nice welcome. I, on the other hand, was just thinking of the trillion ways I could claim why I needed to be emancipated. Immediately.

Mom smiled, patting Ryan's cheek as she cooed that he was such a handsome boy and was glad I could find such aesthetically pleasing friends to look at all the time.

I groaned, clapping a hand over my eyes then peered through two fingers to glare an eye at Mom. She threw a look my way to warn me to mind my manners, but how could I when she was embarrassing me in front of my crush? All I needed was Dad to come in and---

"Katia! What are you doing out here? You should be helping me make salsa in the back room! And maybe a little love, too."

OH. MY. GOD. Kill me now!

"Dad!" I cried, my eyes wide when he pushed through the swinging door with his smile bright under his mustache. He glanced my way then looked at Mom standing in front of Ryan.

Dad's dark eyes narrowed on the cutest boy in school then glanced at me. He continued to do this back and forth until he hummed. "So... You are the one."

Ryan blinked, tilting his head to the side—just as I did because my heart was about to go kaput if Dad somehow suddenly knew my secret!—and asked, "The one what, Sir?" He glanced at me and I mouthed, "I'm so sorry!" just before he looked back at my dad.

"Yes," Dad grunted, nodding while crossing his arms. "You're the one who ordered tacos de carne asada!"

Ryan, Mom, and I squinted; not quite sure where Dad was going with this.

Dad uncrossed his arms, using them to fling about as he claimed how he had to make a fresh batch of food because Ryan happened to choose the one type of meat we were running low on. I'd like to concur that this may be true, but that's because Dad keeps making us the food to take home at the end of the day.

Mom, thankfully, jumped in and sighed, "Oh, Peter." She walked over with a smile and shaking her head of dark curls. She patted my dad on his chest and smiled up at him. "I know how much you love carne asada so I saved some leftovers for you at home."

Now Dad was in a better mood. He turned to Ryan with an enormous smile, relaying that Ryan's order was almost ready before waving for Mom to follow him back into the kitchen. I watched my parents disappear—after Mom winked at me and gave me a thumbs up—then realized that I was not alone in the front part of the shop.

I bit my lip, slowly turning to face Ryan smiled that my parents were nice. 

I forced a grin and muttered my thanks while raising my shoulders and walked back to the counter. With a brush of my hand, I pushed back my unruly hair in a back wave, feeling it slowly slop to the side because of how heavy it was. I really shouldn't touch my hair otherwise it was going to look worse than it already was.

We stood there awkwardly for however many minutes passed, and the whole time I wanted to say something to him.

'How's it going?' or 'Nice board.' or even, 'Let's totally take advantage of this moment alone and exchange saliva.' Ugh. I'm so desperate.

"So... will I be seeing you at the party tonight after all?"

My eyes widened at the question while my fingers fumbled with the hem of my t-shirt. I crossed one ankle over the other and nervously shrugged a shoulder that I wasn't very positive that I'd make the party after all.

"Oh, well that's a shame." Ryan leaned on the counter, grinning that he'd like to see a friendly face in the party crowd.

Blinking, I lowered my chin towards my chest and asked, "Don't you have friends?" Good going, Gemma. He has friends, obviously!

Ryan chuckled, nodding that he did but that he liked making new ones too. "It keeps my life interesting. Especially with said interesting people who are actually worth the time."

Clearing my throat, I admitted that I wanted to go to the party and I was hoping to ask my parents to go for a little while before returning to my shift.

Truthfully, I knew they wouldn't let me, period. They'd say that I would have to learn the difference between playtime and responsibility. But I was seventeen, I was supposed to be enjoying myself at this age, not dying of boredom behind a counter in my family's taco shop.

The little bell on the window dinged twice and had both Ryan and I look over to see Mom holding two white foam containers. She lifted them up with a smile, announcing, "Order up!" before motioning me over.

I headed over to take the food, knowing that I'd have to put them in a bag to go along with some napkins and the forks and spoons we had.

Mom's brown eyes twinkled when she whispered, "How nice, Gemma, that your friend likes a good Mexican meal! Says a lot about him, no?"

I narrowed my eyes, sniffing, "Mom... he's a friend."

"Mm-hm," she raised a brow. "And you're adopted."

Tilting my head with my eyes still narrowed, I sometimes truly believed that I was adopted. Still, I replied, "That's uncalled for, Mom." I took the boxes from her and shot her a look over my shoulder on the way back to Ryan because she decided to whisper a little too loudly to ask if he had a brother for Rose.

Rolling my eyes (once I faced away from her), I set the boxes on the counter to start placing them in one of the plastic bags we kept under the counter. There was a whole box of them that we didn't use for obvious reasons.

As I was placing Ryan's order into the bag, Ryan thanked me and then again said that he hoped he'd see me at the party. I blushed, swallowing hard before pushing the tied up bag towards his side of the counter. "I'll... uh.. try." was my lame response.

Ryan chuckled, nodding that he would hold me to it before reaching for his bag. He raised a hand for a high five and gave me a nod. "Well alright then, Gem, I'll be seeing you later."

Grinning, I slapped my hand against his (and yes, before you ask, I had tingles).

Boy Hawaii smirked when I replied with a weak "bye" and he scooped up his board like it didn't weigh a ton before strolling towards the door. He twisted around to push the door open with his back, nodding to me once more and holding up the bag of food to thank me silently.

Once he was out of sight, I squealed. I jumped up and down, spinning around in circles behind the counter and muttered, "Ryan totally likes me, Ryan totally like me!" with that "cha-cha" rhythm so it easy to dance to.

Of course, my lovely moment was short-lived. Why, you ask?

Well, there were now three people in the doorway of my family's taco shop. Two of them were sneering at me while the one in the middle had a beyond-pissed look on her face. 

That's right. It was the devil-incarnate. The human form of evil, Kim Wu, was standing in the shop. And she looked like she was out for blood. Dammit. I didn't even hear the bell...

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