*Ray

Shopping with her sister Beth was not for the faint of heart, or anyone in need of iced lattés on a regular basis. While Ray was proud of her general toughness, she was weak and needy when it came to lattés.

"Make it stop, please," Ray begged the retreating form of her sister's back. She picked up her pace to not lose her in the crowd of shoppers. Discount home furnishings on a Saturday without cold refreshments was another day in hell that should have been paradise. "We have everything I need. I only have one bedroom!"

"Do you have a showermat and your own set of dishware, yet? I thought not. Keep walking. We'll find something that fits the budget," Beth said, not turning, and not showing any pity.

"Dishware? What is dishware? And what is this showermat you speak of? What am I supposed to do with it?" Ray could only come to the conclusion that her sister was out of her mind.

"Trust me, Ray, you don't want random roommates touching the things you put your tongue or wet body on."

Thirty minutes ticked by one by one as Beth found the items she wanted for Ray and they stood in line for an eternity in order to pay for everything. Ray's suspicions were fully confirmed. Her sister was a full-time resident of Cray-Crayville.

Hangers, towels, bed sheets, dishes, soap (so many kinds of soap) and detergents, mats of all sorts to keep her feet from ever touching the floor, and Tupperware. Not to mention pans (how many pans did she need, there were only four burners on the stove), utensils and bleach. Lots of bleach.

"For the bathtub," Beth informed her.

"I though the mat was for the bath."

"The mat is for after the bath. The bleach is for before the bath. In the tub," Beth hissed under her breath. "Unless you want fungus growing on your feet."

Another customer in line turned and frowned. "Bleach is detrimental to aquatic life. It should be banned, and there are plenty of alternatives."

"Detrimental? I'm not using this sh—" Ray started to say.

"I saw the bathroom this morning, believe me you need it!" Beth interrupted.

Ray took the bottles of bleach and harsh cleaning detergents out of the cart and with a grim set to her lips, put them on the floor of the check out lane. "If it kills fish, I don't buy it."

"That a'girl," the plump woman said. "Get some baking soda, vinegar, and melaluca oil. The ocean will thank you for it."

"Ray," Beth said, "you have to clean that bathroom. It's been years, the build up was an inch thick in the tub."

"You won't turn me into a fish killer. Unless it's dinner. That's different. I'll pick up some natural cleaning stuff later."

She ignored Beth after that, but gave the woman a quick fist bump. Both of them pursing their lips, annoyed, walked in silence to the car. Ray cracked first.

"Can you drive me to campus for books? And then, I have to check out this place near the zoo for a job."

"What am I, your fish-murdering chauffeur? I told Russell we would be back by ten and it's already half past."

"You rock. Thanks! With all the books I need to get, it would be tough to ride my bike and this way, I'll have a better chance of being hired. So, book store first." What she wanted to say, was 'coffee shop first', but Beth was getting that harried, blood-shot, 'been locked up in a dungeon for a few too many years' look to her that Ray noticed whenever they spent more than an hour in each other's company.

But it couldn't be Ray's fault. She hadn't asked for the dishware.

Honolulu traffic was getting thicker, and it took several minutes to find a parking spot in the street near the campus. Beth muttered something about resting in the shade, and Ray waved as she ran off.

If she thought traffic was bad, though, the students at the bookstore were a herd of stampeding buffalo, tearing the place to pieces and shoving her aside in their rush to find the items on their lists.

Battered and bruised, she took up refuge in a corner, flipping through a used invertebrate zoology text book and only glanced up in alarm when someone brushed by her too closely.

Her voice caught in her throat and she forgot what she was going to say to the person. The guy. The ripped surfer-dude with an armful of books and sun-touched hair and lightly freckled cheeks. Blue eyes met hers. If she had been in a Disney movie, birds would have chirped a sweet ditty. Small rodents would have tossed flower petals. She would have been wearing a long, flowing dress and she would have twirled in it, coquettish and yet also innocent. Is such a thing in real life possible? She didn't know. She didn't care.

Surfer-boy was staring at her. Blue lagoons full of coral reefs and tropical fish were nothing compared to the blue she was drowning in now.

She felt the blush coming on and broke eye contact, spying on his selection of books; it was conversation or bust. He had one on economics, business in the tech age and another on data analysis. Exciting stuff. Not much to go on.

"Hey, so you're a business major?" she said. "Ever get out to the beach?" That should do it. She showed interest in him and gave him a hook to show interest in what she loved. Either he would take the bait or he would—

"Yeah. No. I mean, yeah. Sorry, I can't talk," he said, breathy and stressed. He grabbed his books to his chest, pulled a marine mammals from the shelf and took off for the counter to pay.

Ray kicked herself mentally. So you're a business major? A guy like that must hear pick up lines from sun-up to sun-down and then on through midnight. Her pathetic effort at conversation must have numbed his nervous system and his only recourse was to flee.

Gah.

She found the last book on her list, checked it for too many scribbles and headed off. Hopefully, Beth wouldn't notice if she stopped by the coffee shop for an iced-latté on her way to the car.

Beth noticed.

"I'm dying of heat and you didn't think to get me one, too?" She started her car, and pulled from her spot onto the street.

"I promise to get you one on Waikiki. The diving shop is right behind the library which is right next to the park which is across the street from the beach and the shops on Kalakaua, there is a café on the corner. Boom baby. Iced lattés for you and me."

"You did not just say boom baby," Beth said, glaring.

"I did. You're worth it. You're the greatest sister in the world."

Mentally, she replayed the run-in with the blue-eye-wonder in the bookstore, still furious she hadn't come up with a better conversation starter. Usually this sort of thing came naturally to her. Or the other person began first. Problem solved.

Traffic got worse the closer they got to the beach, but luckily there was parking at the zoo. It was only a two minute walk from the diving shop. Ray picked up drinks first to head off any angry comments and sent her sister to sit in the shade, which left her free to try and get herself a job.

This wouldn't be easy. While she had retail experience, it was for clothes and accessories. A sweet deal like this rental place, right off the beach would be crawling with job seekers. But all she could do was try.

She walked in, jingling a bell above the door. Shelves of snorkeling gear and flippers greeted her. No one was in.

Weird.

She headed for the back, to the counter and dinged the little bell. A man yelled he was coming from the back.

Drumming her fingers, she rehearsed her qualifications in her head. No more stupid remarks today. She would kill this interview. Slay it. Conquer it. Shred it with her bare hands and laugh at the wreckage when it fell to her feet. She would—

"Hey, beautiful, how can I help you today?" A studdly Hawaiian leaned over the counter and quirked a perfectly arched eyebrow at her. Lesser females would melt.

Game on.

"You can start by letting me fill in an application form for the sales assistant position you have open at the moment and by telling me all about your equal opportunity philosophy and how sexism and misogyny don't belong in this place of business, and then I'll explain to you how I have over 100 hours experience in scuba diving and snorkeling and have certification in both, of course, and can name over 500 native Hawaiian fish and fauna, plus explain where the best underwater sights are to be seen."

His mouth fell open.

In silence, he reached under the counter and produced an application form.

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