Our Forbidden Love 2

Epilogue

1986, Gold Coast, Australia (Danger's Home)
Fourteen-year-old Coral Parker dressed in a red and white stripy shirt underneath denim overalls. Rolling around in the park across the road from her house. Her best friend is also at the park with her. He hates his name though, Fred, he thinks it's more of an 'old-persons name'. Both of them collapsed in a pile at the base of the tree they always leaned on to read. They entered a fit of giggles and leaned back against the tree. Suddenly, Fred fell silent.
"What's wrong?" Coral asked.
"Have you ever kissed anyone?" he asked. Playfully, Coral slapped his arm and made a disgusted face.
"Why do you want to know?"
He shrugged. "I just do."
"Fine then, no," Coral answered. "Why? Have you?"
"No, I haven't either." He pauses. "Why don't we be each other's first kiss?"
Coral screwed up her face in disgust and defiantly shook her head. "We're best friends it would be weird. Wouldn't it?"
"Well, it's not like anyone will see," he said. Yes, he had a point. The tree was big enough to hide them from the park on the other side. "It'll only be us who would know; unless you and your big mouth shared it."
"I wouldn't share that. Everyone would make fun of us."
"So, can I kiss you?" he asked. Coral shrugged.
"I don't mind, but I want my first kiss to be special. Don't waste my first." Fred nodded.

Fred leaned into Coral and a wave of excitement rushed through her. Fred Stonal was actually going to kiss her; one of the most attractive people in the whole school, blonde almost-white hair, bright electric green eyes. His eyes were closed but Coral's were still open, however his face was going blurry from being so close to her. Her eyes fluttered shut. His lips met hers. She expected them to be cracked and hard like they usually looked but they were soft and supple against hers. He opened his mouth and this caught Coral by surprise. She hadn't expected this. What was she meant to do? He put his tongue inside her mouth and Coral's first reaction was to instantly pull away and be disgusted. It was disgusting, his tongue was travelling over her's, no one had ever done this before. Going against her better instincts, Coral stayed put and began to do the same thing to his tongue as he was doing to hers. Almost as soon as it had begun, it ended and Fred pulled away from Coral, leaving her tongue sticking out of her mouth. Hurriedly she tucked it back inside her mouth and tried to ignore Fred's laugh.
"What? Why are you laughing?" Coral asked.
"You're so funny," he responded, and Coral can't help but get lost in his beautiful eyes. "Was that special enough for your first kiss?"
"Hey! That was your first one too, don't try and pretend it was all for me. You wanted it first. But no, it wasn't; Kerri has had her first kiss she said it felt like fireworks, but I didn't feel any fireworks when you kissed me. I just felt disgusted. You put your tongue in my mouth!"
Fred laughed again, and ran his hands through his hair, neatening it, though Coral preferred it messy.
"That's how you're meant to do it!" he said, still laughing.
"Well, how was the kiss for you?"
"It was average," Fred said.
"How would you know what 'average' is?" Coral pointed out.
"I have my sources," he responded. "You're seriously going to tell me you think Luke hadn't kissed anyone?"
"Yeah, okay. But if you leave out the disgustingness, it was actually good for me."
Fred put his head back on the tree trunk and closed his eyes. Coral moved over and put her head on his shoulder. She expected him to pull away from her, but he didn't and continued leaning against the tree. Suddenly, a girl came around the corner of their tree. She had bright blue eyes and straight, dirty-blonde hair down to her shoulders. She ooked the same age as Coral. She had a pair of denim shorts on, frayed a little at the edges with an ice blue coloured t-shirt on.
"Can I be friends with you guys please? I don't have anyone," she said.
"Of course," Coral answered instantly. Fred was more hesitant. He'd only ever had Coral as a friend that was a girl, he didn't know how to feel about this new mystery girl.
"I'm Sandy," the girl said. "And if you ever forget just look at my hair." She picked a bit of hair that was sitting on her shoulder and threw it backwards. Coral got up from beside Fred and instantly embraced Sandy.
For the next two months, the three became best friends though sadly and non-negotiable reason tore Sandy from the trio, with no hope of ever meeting them again.
And on the day Sandy left, Coral embraced her and whispered, "best friends today, tomorrow and always." Sandy repeated the mantra and turned to leave.
***
1995, Gold Coast, Australia (Danger's Home)
"Thank you for coming," Coral told Fred.
"You look beautiful as always," he said, hugging her and lightly kissing her cheek.
"Thank you," Coral said, shyly looking down at the white dress she wore and the small bouquet of light-pink roses.
"Ahh, Coral. There you are, I've been looking for you," Brock exclaimed, advancing towards them. "And who's this?"
"Brock, this is Fred. We grew up together, we both lived here on the coast."
The young men exchanged a handshake, and various greetings of 'nice to meet you' and 'Coral's told me so much about you'. Brock put his arm around his new wife's waist as they talked to Fred. Coral's eyes flicked to the tree she knew Fred had looked at as well. So many memories kept in the tree that stood only metres away from us. The large tree with a sturdy trunk that was at least five metres in diameter in all directions was the perfect hiding place for the teenagers that used to live here. The tree held so many memories, Coral knew Fred had revisited today, many time. Where she and him had shared their first kiss; where she learnt how to sit on top of a boy and kiss him so he'd really want her; where he learnt how to make a girl instantly get butterflies; and most importantly, where they had been so scared and anxious their parents would find them the day they decided they should learn what the other gender's naked body looked like.

Coral peeled her eyes from the tree and met Fred's bright green ones. He gave her a small smile, obviously remembering the same as her.
"Do you want a drink, sweetheart?" Brock asked her.
"Yes please, champagne if there's any left, if mum hasn't had it all," she answered. Brock kissed her cheek and moved off to collect their drinks. Coral took this opportunity to look at the tree again.
"We have so many memories here together, I can't believe I'll be leaving all of them behind."
"You're leaving?" Fred exclaimed. "You can't leave. What about the tree?"
"Yeah, I'm going to live in Brock's home town. Somewhere out in the ocean, he tells me."
"On an island?"
"Apparently," Coral says, looking away from the tree and at Fred. "I'll come and visit though, don't you worry." Fred smiled at her. He still looked the same as he did at seventeen, the most risky day behind our tree.
"We always said we wouldn't date, but what would you have done if I had asked you out?" Fred asked.
"Probably would've disagreed and then went along with it, just like the kiss," Coral answered.
"Just like the kiss," Fred repeated, with a smile.
***
1996, Oceanum Villa, Pacific Ocean
"You're a merman?!" Coral exclaimed.
"Well, yeah, sort of," Brock replied, gesturing to his dark blue tail and fin. Brock and Coral were holding hands, part of his magic transferring through their hands to Coral's body letting her breathe, see clearly and talk under the surface of the ocean.
"Are you still okay living in my home town?" Brock asked. Coral confidently nodded. "My only worry is this, Brock." She placed her hand over her lower stomach.
"You're pregnant, I was right," he breathed. "Well, Coral, he was an accident anyway. He wasn't planned," he said so carelessly.
"Brock... you didn't mean that. We made him... together. Sure, he wasn't planned but..."
"I was talking to Tiffany, you know your friend Kerri's cousin?" Coral nodded. "I guessed this might happen, you kept vomiting every morning and I just suspected this so I talked to her about it. And well, I'm magical, yes? So, I was thinking we could gift the baby to her? And she could have it whenever she wanted."
"Oh, we'll never know him though."
"Coral, the baby won't know the difference, they never knew us and they never will. And the baby will still be yours, you're the mother. It's just like magical surrogacy."
Coral protectively placed her hand over where the baby lay.
"You're saying I won't ever see my baby?" Coral clarified.
"No, I know, Coral. I'm a Reader, remember."
"Right, yeah. Okay then. Sure, if that's what you want to do."
Brock took his other hand that wasn't holding Coral's and put it over Coral's stomach. A purple glow started seeping from his hand into her stomach and slowly the little bump that had appeared there began to skeins like someone was letting air out of a balloon.
"Coral, don't worry," Brock said, removing his hand. "The baby is still ours, just being looked after by someone else."
Unconvincingly, Coral nodded.
***
1996, Oceanum Villa
"Sandy?!"
"Coral?!"
The old friends embraced, newly reconnected in both of their husband's city.
"No way, I didn't ever think I'd see you again. How's Fred?"
"Yeah he's good, he came to the wedding."
"I can't believe it's you. Let's get you a tail," said Sandy, ushering Coral away from the men and into the Tailor in the Shopping Aisle.
Best friends, today, tomorrow and always.