UNEDITED: Our Forbidden Love

5: Alexander

She put her hand in mine and I honestly felt I might break it. Her hand feels so dainty and fragile, had I put anymore pressure on it I thought it might've shattered into a million pieces. I hold onto her hand for a bit longer than I probably should've but, in truth, I love it. As soon as she touches my hand I feel almost a zap of electricity go through my entire body. She keeps looking at our conjoined hands and then up to me, her blue eyes sparkling with happiness and her smile stretching from ear to ear. After about thirty seconds of us in silence, just shaking hands I smile at her and we finally break hands.
"I'm Starley," she says, something other than happiness gleaming behind her eyes. "I love you." I freeze. Maybe I didn't hear her correctly? Did she really just say that she loved me?
"I'm sorry, what was that?"
"Uhh..." she seems to freeze as well, not believing what she's just said either. As weird as it is, because we've only just met, I loved hearing her say those three words and, to be honest I'd love for her to say it again.
But why? Why do I want her to say it again? I wait a few moments to pretend to work it out, but my conscience already knows the answer, I'm just avoiding it, not wanting to confirm it: I love her. I'm sort of mad at myself for having that thought, because love is such a loaded word with a ton of meaning and I just so casually used it to describe how I feel about someone I only just met three minutes ago. But I must love her. Love must've been the feeling that told my brain to go back to the beach this afternoon and see if she was here. Love must've been the feeling that took over my vision when Madison walked through the lunchroom doors. Love must've been the connection we had when we first saw each other this morning. It had to be. Can I fall in love with someone I only just met? Is that even possible?
So if I love her and she loves me, what are we going to do about it? We can't exactly have a relationship - she's part fish. Maybe we'd go long-distance? Do they even have relationships in the mermaid world?
I continue watching her and that's when I realise how truly beautiful she is. Her skin is quite pale and I'm glad that her hair has the purple tips because it distinguishes the end of her golden hair from her pale skin. I love the colouring of her tail and how it looks like someone has just poured paint into a mould.
"I think I love you too," I respond, though I sound unsure and she picks up on it.
"I'm sorry, I don't know where that came from, you don't have to agree with me-"
I move myself and my board closer to her, reach out and touch my hand to her shoulder, the one that isn't covered by her tail. She then looks down at my hand and followed my arm up to my face and looked into my eyes. Her blue eyes look ashamed and hopeful at the same time.
"No, I love you. I know it's extreme because we only just met and the first time I saw you was this morning, but yeah. Don't be ashamed, I can see it in your eyes. You didn't want to jump into anything but I know that's how you feel, and I feel exactly the same way." In response, she smiles, takes a deep breath and says, "It is crazy but we can't change the feelings that our brain has justified for us to feel. So, are we going to do anything about us, or just leave it be?"
"Well, do you guys have relationships?" I ask and in response she nods, smiling. "Well then, will you please be my girlfriend?"
If it was even possible for her to make her smile any bigger, she did. She backs away from me a bit and then jumps out of the water and does a backflip before splashing back into the water. "Yes! I have an idea for us to make this work, I'll see you tomorrow. What school do you go to?"
Slightly confused I say, "Broadbeach state high."
"Ok, I'll see you there." Smiling, she dives into the water and quickly made her way out to sea