Mermaid Blues

New Feelings

A week passed and Serena refused to speak to Kyle.  She was sulking.  Meeting Kyle was nice, and  Serena knew already that he would mean a lot to her, but she would give it all up if she could just go home to the ocean.  She missed the water.  She missed Serah.  Every normal part of her life had been stripped away from her so she could become a display for humans to look at.  

Kyle must have understood her silence.  He didn't try to bribe her into speaking or associating with him, which only made Serena want to talk to him even more.  He kindly respected the space she wanted, and he gave her that.  He left her food three times a day.  Seaweed, bananas, and different fruits he was letting her taste for the first time.  He even brought her a freshly opened coconut.  Serena would eat when he left the room for his breaks.

It was exactly one week until Serena would become the new display at the aquarium.  Her excellent hearing had allowed her to decipher the mumbled conversations between Kyle, the owners, and the rest of the aquarium staff.  Her new home was ready. It would only be a matter of hours before she was placed into it.

Her thinking was interrupted by a sharp knock on the glass.  She jumped slightly and saw Kyle leaned up against the glass looking handsome as always.  His slightly shaggy hair and blue eyes never failed to make Serena swoon.  But she wasn't falling for it today.  She turned away from him.  She saw him move out of the corner of her eyes.  

Moments later she noticed a shirtless Kyle peering into the water.  Serena gasped as he jumped into the water.  Kyle let his blue eyes open under water as he reached for her.  She quickly moved out of his reach but he was also fast in the water.  His hand gripped her upper arm and he pulled her towards him.  She struggled but she wasn't nearly as strong as him.  He pulled them up above the water, coughing as he shook his now-soaked hair.  He glared at her.  "Why have you been ignoring me?"

Serena gaped at him, her eyes wide, "Are you insane?  I could have hurt you!"

"No, you wouldn't have.  But you HAVE been ignoring me for a week!  What is it Serena?"

"None of your business, that's what!"

He pulled her closer to him so that she was pressed up against his body.  Her face flushed and she looked down, but she didn't try to move away.

"Do you not feel this?  Is it just me?"  He ran a finger down her arm and she shivered.  "I've known you all of two weeks and already...I feel something with you that I can't explain.  It may be weird, I know, but I can't help it.  I also know when something is wrong with you."

Serena's heart skipped a beat as she gazed into his blue eyes.  "I don't belong here, Kyle.  I've been fighting some new feelings for you.  Don't you realize that we will never work out?  I belong in the sea.  And you belong on land."

She frowned as his fingers cupped her chin.  "Stop ignoring me.  I hate it.  I really enjoy talking with you."  

Serena took a deep breath and placed her hands on his shoulders as they treaded.   Slowly she inched her face closer to his.  "I enjoy your company as well, Kyle..." she breathed.

"Tell me if you want me to stop."  In that moment Kyle bent over and pressed his lips against Serena's.  Serena moaned into his kiss.  Sure, she had kissed a few mermen in her life, but she didn't feel the electricity she did with Kyle.  Maybe it was because they weren't supposed to be together, or maybe it was because Serena was already falling for him.  

She wrapped her arms around his neck and let him push her up against the wall of the tank.  With each passing second the kiss grew until he pulled away, leaving them both breathless.  Kyle gazed deeply into her eyes before planting a soft kiss on her forehead and then pulling himself on to the platform out of the pool.

He smiled and she grinned back.

When he left the room, Serena let herself float to the bottom of the pool.  Her smile never faltered.