"Shelly, this means a lot to me. I know you appreciate that, and what this means to mom and dad."
"Mom and dad?"
"I mean my career. They really worked hard to support me in getting this far. I'm really close to making it big. I can feel it. Richard is willing to book a lot of time for me in the studio. All I need is one big hit and I'm on my way."
"But I don't have anything to wear! I can't go nightclubing around Waikiki in what I wore here. I'll look ridiculous!"
"Hi, Shelly. My, but you look lovely tonight. What a beautiful holoku!"
"Thank you, Marilyn," Shelly replied. "Auntie Marge loaned it to me."
"Oh?" Marilyn said. Her eyebrows shot up at least two inches and her mouth curled into a bemused grin. "Auntie Marge? What beautiful satin! So expensive now, yeah? I love the color. It looks like ice!"
Marilyn's last words tumbled out wrapped in laughter, the kind of laughter that seemed to convey great joy and excitement yet could have more sinister implications. Besides, there was something in her eyes that made Shelly feel as though Marilyn was aware of some secret. Was it her arranged date with her brother's producer, or did she suspect something about the powder blue satin gown Auntie Marge had insisted on loaning her? Both made Shelly feel uncomfortable, but it was the possibility that Marilyn suspected something about the dress that made her heart pound and her stomach knot.
Marilyn glanced at her watch, then her ever-present clipboard.
"Nathan, you're on in five. Break a leg!"
As Marilyn spoke a charm bracelet she was wearing clanked noisily against the clipboard. Shelly had noticed it earlier because of the interesting collection of charms attached to it. There was one she found odd, though, almost out of place. It was the word "ME" done in heavy silver. Odd, Shelly thought, because it looked too big to blend with the other charms, and also because it seemed too self centered. Now that she thought about it, the charm did match Marilyn's personality. It matched her size too. She was slender, with the legs of a dancer but at around five foot ten too tall to fit the mold of a professional show style hula dancer.
"Uh, have you seen Richard around?" Nathan asked, suddenly looking nervous.
"As a matter of fact, he was just up front, talking with the hotel's entertainment manager," Marilyn said. "Probably arranging for some special guest seating. I'll send him back here if you want."
Shelly watched her brother pick up his beloved Ovation twelve string and begin to fuss with it, polishing the tuning that was already perfect, strumming a few bars of his opening song. As always she was in awe of him, but now, seeing him so nervous, she felt a need to help that had not been there a few minutes ago.
"That's OK, Marilyn," Nathan said. "He's where he needs to be. Let him do his job, and I'll do mine."
"And you'll be incredible!" Marilyn said.
As soon as the stage manager left Shelly turned to her brother and spoke in a hushed voice.
"Nathan. I'll do it, but just for you, and just this once. And there had better not be any funny stuff, either. I'll have a drink with him, and that's it. Right?"
Nathan stopped fiddling with his guitar and looked straight into his baby sister's eyes.
"You know that's all I expect. Look. He's a nice guy. Really, a lot of fun. You might just like him if you give him half a chance. But, honestly, just a drink. That's the deal. The rest is up to the two of you. Oh, and thanks for driving down here yourself. Me and Tish going do some serious celebrating after, too. You going with Richard, well, it leaves me off the hook to go with Tish. I owe you."
"He might be nice, but to me he's old. Won't it look weird for him to be out with a sixteen year old girl?"
"Beany, you don't look sixteen."
"Don't you dare call me Beany, damn you!" Shelly squealed, leaning over and taking a swing at his shoulder. Years of practice paid off as Nathan leaned back and narrowly avoided her delicate fist.
Nathan was laughing softly, but his words were serious.
"Not a day less than twenty-one. Besides, you're kind'a famous, now. Nathan Kamaka's sister, the famous hula dancer, first runner-up in the Merry Monarch. You're a woman to be seen with, a big prize in a lot of guys' eyes."
They were both laughing hysterically when Marilyn reappeared, her headset in place, a red gelled flashlight in one hand and the clipboard tucked under her arm.
"One minute, Nathan. Robert sends his best wishes."
Shelly had been through this a hundred times, yet tonight it was strangely new. She watched her brother wipe the sweat from his face with a towel, saw the lights go up, and heard the emcee announce the new show.
"Don't worry about your clothes," Nathan whispered. "Richard said to tell you to wear the holoku."
A sly, impish grin swept over her brother's face.
"I gotta admit, even tho' you my baby sister, you really do look gorgeous in it, but. And the way he said it, I don't think so it was only one suggestion. More like one commandment or something."
At that point the emcee called out Nathan's name, in that loud, drawn out manner that leaves a performer no choice but to come scurrying in from the wings.
"Besides, Beany, I told him you was nineteen!" Nathan whispered, a big grin on his face and his teeth flashing a prankster's smile.
Then he was gone, and she was suddenly alone and just a little afraid.
Nathan had three songs to sing, then she would join him, dancing to one of his new songs, a slow, beautiful love song. With the jokes and banter added in it would be almost half an hour until she went on.
As the minutes ticked slowly by Shelly became even more aware of her dress and the effect it was having on her body. The club's air conditioning must have come from a cold storage plant, but the chill of the air alone was not what was bothering her. The arctic air kept the satin icy-cold, and the effect on her body was both impossible to ignore and wickedly enjoyable. As the sensations grew in intensity she began to think that she would dance better naked, but it felt so good she did not want this strange kind of suffering to end. She could not help thinking what it would be like to be wearing a butterfly, and the idea of it buzzing her clit only made her condition worse.
Why it took a minute or two she could not say, but eventually her thoughts turned to her date with Richard. Despite what she had said she considered him extremely attractive. It just was not acceptable for a sixteen year old girl to feel so much desire for a man in his forties. As the realization sunk in that she would get to wear her new holoku still longer, and be with Richard, the streams of warmth flowing from her heart and her crotch merged into one colossal river that even the icy cold feel of her satin dress could not freeze over.