After spending about five hours and forty minutes in the air, the plane slowly began its descent. It wasn't too long after that when the passengers were able to finally gather their belongings before exiting the aircraft and heading off on their seperate ways. As soon as his family got off the plane, the 19-year-old became excited and anxious to see his grandparents and get his Summer vacation officially started. The group five made their way through the busy building and towards the luggage claim area so they could claim the rest of their things before leaving the airport to meet up with Matt's parents, Craig and Amy. After a few minutes, the Jensen family made their way outside to the main entrance of the airport to get picked up my Matt's folks. As they patiently waited, Clay glanced around, seeing the beautiful scenery beyond the airport that is Hawaii. All the palm trees surrounding the area, the cool breeze blowing by, the warmth of the sun, and the small hint of the salty scent wafting in the air really made it feel like a true Summer vacation.
Craig and Amy were very welcoming and happy people, so, when it came to greetings, more actions than words were shared. Matt's parents were huggers, and it definitely seemed like they didn't know their own strength as the hugs were stronger than Clay had anticipated them to be. After greeting one another, the Jensen clan packed their bags into the trunk of Amy's white Chevrolet Suburban. Once their belongings were in place, the group of seven split up as some went with Craig in his yellow, roofless and doorless jeep, while the others went with Amy in her car to begin their decent drive to the awaiting beach house.
The trek to the secluded home wasn't all that bad. The house was located just outside of Honolulu, away from the city and crowds. Once the two seperated groups arrived to the beach home, Clay climbed out of his grandpa's jeep, just looking at the house and its scenery in awe. The house wasn't the size of a mansion, but it wasn't small either. The building was two stories, and it looked like it could be labeled as almost being a mansion. The house looked really well kept, and just like someone had been living there year-round to keep it looking as nice and clean as it currently did. One reason for the specific location of the beach home was for the peace and quiet. There were no busy, bustling cities nearby, meaning that there were no tourist crowds around this area either. This was a plus side, because no tourists or cities meant that the beach just behind the house was practically theirs.
"Go ahead and take a look around, Kiddo." Craig said once everything was unloaded from Amy's car. Hearing his grandpa's words, Clay glanced back at the older man, as if he was asking if it was ok. "You're on vacation. Go on and explore a little bit." Amy said with a smile as she stood beside her husband. Briefly looking at his parents and receiving nods of approval from them, Clay headed back outside to explore a little bit - but not before removing his shoes and socks and leaving them outside by the front door of the house.
The 19-year-old Jensen teen spent a good chunk of time exploring the beach. He had walked along the shoreline, and even found a few small tide pools among some rocks a little ways away from the house. After his outdoor exploration, Clay headed back to the house. Once the boy got back inside, he wandered around the cozy home, seeing what all it had to offer. Upon his indoor exploration, the blue-eyed teen soon discovered that the house actually consisted of three stories as there was a basement level as well. After further investigation, the basement appeared to serve as a game room in the house as there were all sorts of games stored down there, along with a mini fridge that was stocked with beverages and refrigerated snack foods.
Leaving the basement after a few minutes, the teenager made his way to the top floor, where the bedrooms were mainly located. On the upper level, there were four guest bedrooms. One room had a queen-sized bed, white walls, a personal bathroom, and some beach-related decor - such as some marine life artwork hanging on the walls, and a three-panel landscape painting of a beach shore during sunrise. Since there was already some lugage in the room, Clay realized that his parents had claimed it. Looking through the other rooms, they had a similar set up. Ocean-themed decorations, a queen-sized bed, personal bathroom, and a three-panel paining - one room had an underwater painting of a reef setting with some colorfull fish, another room's painting was themed around a Hawaiian luau on the beach, and the third consisted of a beach shore lined with a few palm trees on either side.
The last room Clay came to was different from the others in the sense that it included a small balcony space that overlooked the ocean. The blue-eyed teen smiled to himself when he realized that his luggage was already in the room, and he slightly shook his head to himself when he took notice of a blue button-up collared shirt lying neatly on the bed. The shirt wasn't just blue, though. To accompany the blue color, white Hawaiian flowers decorated the shirt. Taking notice of another object, the boy picked up a small note and read it to himself. The note was basically informing Clay that he was to wear the blue and white Hawaiian shirt tonight when the family would head out together to do something that Amy and Craig insisted they do on their first night in Hawaii.
With Hawaii being three hours behind California's time, the day seemed to last a little longer than usual. Everyone spent a majority of the day catching up and spending time out on the sandy beach together. While Matt and Lainie were talking with Amy and Craig, Allison and Clay were busy as they helped Harley build a sandcastle. Allison was helping her daughter with the structure of the castle while Clay busied himself with forming a moat around the structure and making trips to the ocean and back with a small, pink bucket to fill the moat with salty water. Pretty soon, everyone lost track of time, and, before they knew it, the sun slowly began to inch its way closer to the water as the sky slowly began to change colors.
After the sun had begun to set, everyone headed back to the house to get changed and ready for their first family outing in Hawaii. Clay glanced through the clothes he had packed before settling on dark gray cargo shorts, a plain white t-shirt, and the blue and white Hawaiian shirt that was given to him. Like he usually did with button-up shirts, the blue-eyed boy left his soft Hawaiian shirt unbuttoned. After getting dressed and putting on his usual black and white sneakers, the 19-year-old headed into the bathroom to add the finishing touch to his appearance. After applying a small amount of hair gel, the teen carefully messed up his hair, giving himself the casually messed up look that began to grow on him the more he sported the hairstyle. After exiting the bathroom, the teenager headed downstairs to join the others before the family of seven left in Amy's seven-seater Suburban to make their way to whatever the older couple had planned for them to do together.
By the time they arrived to their desired location after making a pitstop to grab some food, the sun had fully set, and it was now dark out. But there were some orange-colored lights visible a short walking distance away where the car had been parked. Once the group of seven got closer, the orange lights seemed to be moving, and it was then that Clay realized the orange lights were not lights at all. The orange-colored lights were actually fire-lit tiki torches that appeared to be guiding people in a specific direction. Like everyone else, the Jensen clan followed the torches to an open, slightly crowded space as music became louder the closer they got.
Finally coming to the big area, two young girls - possibly in their mid 20s - came up and welcomed the group, placing decorative Hawaiian leis around their necks as a welcoming gesture. Glancing down at the red flowery lei adorning his neck, Clay smiled to himself as he figured out what tonight's event was. His grandparents had brought the group to a Hawaiian Luau to kick off their family's Summer vacation. And what better way to kick it off than a Hawaiian luau?
Throughout the event, music was performed, Hawaiian dancers performed traditional luau dances, and there was even this really cool fire act as well. At one point, Allison managed to somehow convense her younger brother to go up with her and join the Hawaiian dancers in the luau as others were joining in the fun as well. When this occurred, Lainie didn't miss a beat as she was quick to pull out her phone and capture the moment by recording her son and his older sister luau-ing together and smiling as they bonded over the Hawaiian dance as they both seened to be having fun.
Later on, after the luau came to an end, everyone headed back to the house. With how everyone seemed to be pretty wiped out from their first day, they all said good night to one another before heading to bed for the night. Though when he entered his room and closed the door behind him, Clay didn't go to bed or change out of his clothes right away. The teenager kept walking and stepped outside onto the small terrace just outside his room. Seeing a white wood adirondack chair off to the side, the boy closed the sliding glass door behind him and moved to sit down in the chair as he stared out at the scenery in front of him.
As the blue-eyed teen sat alone on the terrace, he leaned back in the adirondack chair and looked up at the clear, starry sky as he heard the quiet, soothing sound of waves slowly and softly crashing against the sandy shore. As the boy stared up at the millions of stars painting the dark sky, he couldn't help but think of his friends back home. He couldn't help but wonder how Skye Miller was doing back in California. But he knew it was pointless to wonder about that since he couldn't contact and talk to her for the time being. Clearing his thoughts, Clay let out a deep breath as he just focused on the countless shiny white lights high up in the sky. Spotting a shooting star go by, Clay couldn't help but smile softly as he thought of his younger brother being up there any time he saw a shooting star fly through the night sky. Pretty soon, before he even realized it, the blue-eyed boy let the sounds of the ocean and occasional light breeze through the leaves of palm trees slowly lull him to sleep on under the clear, starry sky as he sat out there alone on the terrace.