Naked Portraits Pt. 15

"I'm not one of the beautiful people," I said.

"Oh come off it," Aly said taking me by surprise. "First of all you are stunning and I know you know that. Second, before Matt, Hawk and I came along, you hung out with the heiress of Hawaiian real-estate, Betty whatshername, Honolulu's own Paris Hilton. Third, you are an extraordinarily talented artist, that alone is intimidating even to me."

My mouth dropped open. I tried to form words of protest but couldn't come up with a thing.

"And don't forget me," Hawk said. "The prodigy of two of the smartest people on the planet, multilingual, world traveler, surfing guru, handsome, athletic, good with the ladies. My list goes on."

"Oh how it does," Aly said.

Hawk pushed her making her stagger as he continued. "For the first time in his life Matt is on the inside looking out, one of the cool kids. This is all a dream to him and he's waiting to wake up. He expects this all to end badly for him."

"But I picked him," I said. "That officially makes him one of us, one of the beautiful people."

"He thinks you picked him because he's safe," Hawk said.

"Bullshit!" I barked. My outburst echoed up and down the stairwell. "I picked him because he's mysterious and funny. He made me wet with desire when I first laid eyes on him!"

A huge laugh escaped Aly. She quickly covered her mouth because the laugh sounded impossible loud in the empty stairwell.

"I tell him that all the time but the dude won't believe me, Hawk said."

"You tell him that he makes you wet with desire?" Aly asked.

It was my turn to burst into laughter. Aly and Hawk lost it too.

When we calmed down Hawk said, "I'm just saying that Matt is a little insecure and you two becoming lesbians might rock him a little is all."

"We're not lesbians just very close friends," Aly said.

"Who like to eat the others' pussy," I added.

The stairwell erupted in laughter again.

"Stupid head, Let's go find your goddess hallucination," Hawk said.

"She's real," I insisted as we exited the stairwell. On the ground floor we headed toward the sculpture courtyard.

"Poseidon take my ass it really is her," Hawk said.

I explained how and why she was here and told them what Wahine Lani's real name was.

"Her name is Clara?" Hawk asked.

"Yeah, and the chick's close to one hundred years old."

"I wanna make an offering," Aly said as she stepped up to Clara close enough to kiss.

"No fuckin' way," I said and pulled Aly roughly away from the statue.

"You flipped or somthin'?" Aly asked as she rubbed at her arm.

For the second time that night, I told the story of my secret pagan life, but this time in full detail. I started at the beginning with the dream of Betty and Botticelli's Venus and how that brought about my relationship with Hawk. Next was my first offering to Clara and how that led me to Matt. I told the story of Sally's Venus of Willendorf statues and the Kokuras. Then I told of my break in at the gallery to place offering number two at Clara's photo and how that created the freak wave that literally washed Hawk up at Aly's feet. I connected the dots with Nefertiti's drawing of the spider, my lesbianism, Oshi's garden and the odd offer that led me to Meka's secret career as a pornographer, Aly's look alike in the stairwell, Momi Alama Kanai and finally Clara standing before us in the sculpture yard. The only Goddess encounter I left out was Li's net float. I was still too creeped out the the chick to share about her.

After a long silence Hawk said, "We have to find Matt."

The night's weirdness closed in on me and I asked with panic in my voice, "Is he in trouble you think?"

"No, but I think he may want to write this all down because this is one hell of a story," he said.

I punched Hawk hard in the arm.

"I change my mind on that offering," Aly said.

"Good," I said seriously. A feeling of utter exhaustion washed over me and suddenly I could hardly stand.

Aly put an arm around me and said, "Let's take our crazy little pagan home."

I didn't protest and fell asleep on the drive back to Aly's place. Next I knew, I found myself warmly planted in the Aly's comfy bed. I felt a kiss on my cheek. "No more offerings okay?" Aly whispered. I kept my eyes closed, seconds away from deep sleep.

A second kiss followed with another whisper this time from Hawk, "I love you," he whispered. I didn't stir and pretend to be fully asleep. I heard the bedside lamp click off and the door close.

I opened my eyes as tears spilling out of me. That was the first and ONLY time he declared his love for me. "Thank you Clara," I whispered in the dark and quickly tumbled into the deep abyss of sleep.