After a year and a half of trying to move on from the what-ifs, the tides have pulled Alexandra Rivera and Zachariah Kim back together again.
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In the h...
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Once Emmie and I fuel up with food, we hit the ground running with Pablo acting as our tour guide. Even though Emmie spent two years living in Seattle, she never indulged in typical tourist interest points, so we both feel like we're on a mini-adventure together.
While we're walking through the famous marketplace, Pablo lays his hand against my back and moves me out of the way as someone in slime-covered overalls catches a fish thrown at them.
"I would have whacked so many people in the face if I worked there," I say as we maneuver past the crowd gathering to watch the flying fish. The ground is sticky and the briny smell of seafood clings to the air.
Pablo laughs under his breath. "My ass is too uncoordinated to even look at them."
"This place is so cute," Emmie remarks in awe. "I don't know why people complain about it so much."
"It gets old after a while," I reply, weaving my fingers between hers so we don't get lost in the busy crowds. "It's like us avoiding Waikiki at all costs."
She shrugs. "Valid. But I want to come back here again before we leave."
After all the work she put in getting us here, I'm not about to deny her request. The smile on her face as she watches people going past, probably conjuring up stories in her head about their lives, is enough of a reason to come back.
"I'm surprised you didn't come once when you lived here," I tell her as we round a few corners, ending up in a stretch of indoor shops. It's not as crowded so there's less of a need to raise my voice or cling to her. "Doing touristy things is an obligation."
Emmie's eyes flick down for a brief moment. "To be honest, I wasn't in the right headspace. It was a lot of trying to get settled in and back into the flow of things."
My reaction is to clench up, which she notices.
"Not because of that," she insists, placing a hand on my arm. "I was mad for a long time. But I was just....upset with the whole world. And I thought running away would solve my problems."
I chuckle because everyone in our misfit group of friends is so much more alike than we realize most of the time. "I think at some point we have to accept that's our brand."
"Maybe what you guys do isn't running away," Pablo interjects. "Maybe it's taking a step back to reevaluate a situation. It's hard to come to terms with what's happening when you're stuck inside it."
Emmie perks up at this revelation as if it's the most simple yet profound thing she's ever heard. "That's a good way of looking at it." She walks backward, trusting that we'll help guide her. "You know what—people romanticize the idea of fighting too much. I think it takes courage to accept that some things need time, and stepping back can offer the clarity we need to make a healthy decision. I mean, how often do we jump back into something because we led too far with our heart instead of our mind?"
