I have always believed Hawai'i has the most beautiful sunsets in the world. When I was younger, my dad and I used to paint a picture with those skies—a glass of sweet sangria on a warm summer evening, a blast of refreshing passion orange guava juice in the morning that made our eyes squint and cheeks pucker up, an enviable cotton candy-colored horizon drenched in a sweetness we wanted to melt against our tongue.

My favorite kind of sunset reminded me of an orchid; brilliant, dreamy hues of purple fading into pink. This was the kind of sunset fading into a blackened sky as we made our way to the beach.

Jem Lin sat next to me in the backseat with the purple lei I'd spent twenty minutes picking out for her bouncing whenever the car went over a speed bump.

"I did it," she gasped in disbelief, turning to look at me with wide eyes that glimmered like starlight under the dimming sun. "I graduated high school."

"And we're so proud of you." I pressed a sloppy kiss against her cheek.

Jem shoved me away with a giggle as the wind blew silky sheets of dark hair back over her shoulder.

Emmie peeked back at us through the rearview mirror, shaking her head and biting her lip through a smile. That signature red always painted on her lips stood out amongst the hues of blue and green racing past her outside.

"Alex," Heather said from the passenger seat where she'd been self-anointed the honor of riding shotgun even though Jem had placed her bags there before we all piled into the car. "Cool it on the drinks tonight. It was a nightmare trying to find you last time."

If it were possible to drill a hole in the back of her headrest with my hard gaze—

"It's not my fault your phone died and you didn't read my text letting you know where I was going," I argued; the bitter taste of that night still lingered. "Not to mention I'd told you before that I was leaving with Kat."

Through the reflection of the window, I saw Heather roll her eyes at me.

"It'll probably be chill. No need to worry," Jem said in my defense.

Emmie, oblivious to the tension, leaned forward in her seat to get a better view as we turned off onto a dirt road, announcing we had arrived.

Jem was the first out of the car once we pulled into the parking stall, and Heather followed quickly behind. I took my time, making sure to leave Jem's sweater out on the seat in case she came back for it since she got cold easily. When I stepped out onto the gravel, Emmie was leaning up against the passenger door with a cherry-dipped smile on her face.

"He's coming tonight," she said. "Zach."

"Can't wait to meet the guy who's convinced you to date him after sliding into your dm's."

Emmie rolled her eyes, but the lingering smile betrayed her excitement. "Don't make it sound sleazy. I told you he went to Heather's old school."

"Old," I scoffed. "It's been two years since we graduated. There's no such thing as old."

Instead of responding, she hooked her arm around mine and pulled me in the direction of where Jem and Heather had disappeared. "Keep an eye out for him and let me know what you think, 'kay?"

"I will do my due diligence as your best friend."

The background noise crescendoed as we grew closer to the party already in full swing. A few people we knew from school were hosting a celebration for a few people who had graduated tonight, and Jem was one of the guests of honor.

Jem spotted us out of the corner of her eye after we'd stopped by the drinks. Sand kicked up around our feet as we walked to where she sat on a large blanket with a couple of others near the hibachi.

"You'll never believe who this is," she giggled sneakily into the palm of her hand before pointing at someone next to her.

The guy didn't look familiar.

"Remember that night we had Tyler drive us around while we got drunk and ended up in the Don Quijote parking lot? And then Alex opened the door and threw up on someone's shoes?"

My eyes closed out of embarrassment at the memory that flooded right back to me. When I peeled them open again, the guy was smiling at me—no, laughing.

"There's no way that was you."

He nodded solemnly, fully enjoying my embarrassment. "That was me."

I groaned. "Don't take this the wrong way but can I take you out to dinner or something? To make up for....you know."

"For vomiting on his shoes," Emmie clarified. "You need to make up for vomiting on his shoes."

"Yes. That."

He held his hand out in a truce. "I'm Calum. Dinner sounds good. And I threw those shoes out, by the way. The smell never quite went away."

"Fantastic update."

"I'm Emmie," my friend said from beside me, offering her hand. "I was there that night, too, but I didn't vomit on your shoes so I think I deserve extra points for that."

"Wait, Emmie?" He paused and waited for her to confirm. "You wouldn't happen to be Zach's Emmie, huh?"

Her eyes lit up. "Oh my god, wait. Duh! Calum! You're Zach's friend that he was coming here with!" She glanced around. "Is he here somewhere?"

Calum did his scan of the crowd but also came up empty. "He dropped me off 'cause he was going to grab a pack of cigs but he should be back by now..."

She flicked her wrist in the air casually. "That's fine. He'll find us." Emmie brushed her hair over her shoulder—a reset. "So what's your favorite thing about yourself?"

He looked to me for clarification.

"Don't think about it," I reassured him. "First thing that comes to mind."

"Well," he started to say as the glow from the fire illuminated the deep warmth of his skin in a way that seemed too angelic for someone with a devilish smile. "I guess I like that I've always been a glass-is-half-full kind of guy."

Emmie smiled at his answer—her kind of people.

I, being the dark cloud of pessimism over our friendly group of optimists, decided to offer my services in return for his honesty.

"You want another?" I asked, tapping his bottle with my empty cup. I gestured over to the blue tarp the drinks were placed under.

Emmie wasn't drinking since she was our designated driver, Jem was nursing whatever drink currently sloshed around her cup, and Heather was still M.I.A., which wasn't something I cared to change at the moment.

"Yeah," Calum answered. "Anything but Smirnoff."

"We have too much self-respect for Smirnoff."

It took a second for the tarp to clear out of all the other partygoers picking out drinks, but once they dispersed, I made my way in. The only light came from an old lantern that flickered as if it was seconds from giving out.

While squinting my eyes in the dark to try and locate what I wanted in the cooler below, someone behind me cleared their throat and the unexpectedly close sound made me jump into the air with a yelp. Spinning around to meet the intruder, I nearly threw the two bottles of beer at him.

He held out his hands and grabbed each of my wrists to steady me, and my eyes were immediately drawn to the tattoo sleeve all along his left arm. When a casual laugh slipped past his lips, I wanted to smack myself in the face. Wasn't one embarrassing encounter with a guy enough for tonight?

"Sorry," he chuckled. "I didn't mean to scare you."

I shook him off with ease. "It's fine. I'm just oblivious to my surroundings sometimes."

He gave me a toothy grin, borderline a taunt, and gestured at the two drinks. "Must be a hell of a night."

"This is for someone else."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys with a bottle opener dangling in the mix. Before I could politely decline the offer, he popped the tops off. I decided to give him one for his efforts and grabbed another to bring back for Calum.

"If it isn't the double-fisting, it's the permanent crease in your forehead," he noted.

I shook my head. "I'm not diving deep into my psyche right now with a stranger."

"Aren't strangers the best people to share embarrassing stories with, though?" he continued after taking a swig of beer. "You get to laugh at yourselves and move on with your lives. No strings attached."

"True—except we live on an island where everybody knows everybody, and if you don't know somebody, you know somebody who knows them. For all I know, you could be my brother's future husband."

The stranger laughed like we were old friends. "Don't you hate parties? The whole small talk thing gets annoying. I've never cared less about what someone's major is than when I'm at a party."

"Good thing I don't go to college. You must be going to the wrong parties if that's all you're hearing."

"Really?" His eyes lit up as he clinked his glass against mine. "So we're both failures to our Asian parents." He paused. "You're Asian, right? You look Asian."

"Chinese, Hawaiian, and just enough Puerto Rican for my last name to be Rivera but that's about it." I looked at him "You're mixed, too, but...?"

"Korean. So we have better food."

I gasped, entirely offended, and made a move to swipe the beer I'd given him but he dodged me. "Oh, you fuckin' wish. Nothing beats eating dim sum on a Sunday afternoon. Your Korean food could never."

"I think Korean barbecue alone says otherwise. Don't even get me started on all of our other food," he scoffed. "But I'll accept the challenge since I'm sure we'll be spending a lot more time together."

His words made me pause as it sounded like he knew something I didn't. Or he was trying to make a move. I wasn't quite sure, but I leaned toward the former. My confusion barely registered as a blip on his radar as he casually lifted the bottle to his lips to take another sip.

"I recognized you from the pictures," he said as if it would clarify anything. "Emmie has you all over her Facebook so I kind of realized who you were when you turned around."

The realization hit me. I probably should have recognized him from the handful of pictures she'd shown me as well, but I had a terrible memory that was further inhibited by being drunk. "Oh, so you're Emmie's new Zach?"

His eyes twinkled with mischief. "Is there an old Zach I should be worried about?"

"A best friend never betrays her secrets." Off in the distance, I imagined Emmie looking for the two of us. "If you promise to pay for the first meal in our food battle royale, I'll put in a good word for you with Em."

Not that he needed one. Emmie was more head over heels for this guy than she cared to admit.

He held out his hand and I looked down at it for a moment before we clasped our palms together. Our fate sealed right then and there; two people destined for a challenge in more ways than we realized.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Alexandra."

He said the elongated version of my name as if it had fallen from his lips hundreds of times before. The name I'd come to despise because it reminded me of how much my mother loved my name but didn't love us enough to stay. He'd said it and I didn't flinch. It sounded nice.

"And you and your Korean food are going down, Zachariah."