Mermaids in Hawaii

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

        When I got to the pool, I parked in an open spot, noticing there were still a few cars left. Walking in, I held the door open for a family as they left, still dripping with water. I stood as far from them as I could, but still offering up a smile, which the woman happily returned. I walked up to the front desk, and the guy turned around, jumping when he saw me. “I’m sorry. We’re just getting ready to close up for the night,” he said, gathering his things.

        “Oh, I know. The manager, Isaac, he told me to meet him here. Do you know where I could find him?” He nodded his head in the direction I was supposed to go. I thanked him and followed his directions. Near the end of the hall, I found a closed door with a sign on it that read: Manager’s Office.

        I knocked on the door and heard a voice yell, “Come in.” Poking my head in, I saw Isaac sitting at a desk, obviously on the computer.

        “Hey, you ready to get to work?” He asked, standing up and shutting his computer off. Nodding, I silently followed him out to the pools. He grabbed a few towels as I stripped out of my clothes, leaving me in a bikini. Standing by the edge of the pool, I waited. Isaac came up behind me, putting his hands on my back. “Concentrate. Focus,” he said before pushing me in. As soon as the water hit me, I turned. Coming back up to the surface, the first thing I saw was Isaac’s look of disappointment. He helped me out of the water, and I slowly dried off, lost in thought. A few shoves later, I lay on the ground, arms covering my face. “There is clearly something bothering you, which is distracting you from being able to focus. Want to share with the class?” Isaac asked, picking up a towel and starting to dry my tail.

        Sighing, I moved my arms, “Avery’s mad at me because she found out that I lied to her. I told her that I couldn’t hang out yesterday because I was behind in chemistry. Apparently, she came over to help me, and she saw us in my room.” I barely noticed the tingle as my legs came back. Extending his hand out, Isaac helped me up, moving me to the edge of the pool again, this time with me facing him. “Well, you guys are best friends. Nothing can keep you two apart. You’ll make up. Now, back to the current situation; focus. Concentrate on staying human.” Closing my eyes, I did as he said, pushing all thoughts of Avery out of my head. Feeling the cold water surround me, I resurfaced, looking down to see if it worked. It had. Slowly, purple scales began to appear on my legs as my tail appeared.

        “Seriously?! This again?! Why can’t I do this?! I’m gonna freaking drown myself!” Spinning around in the water, I floated facedown, hoping the drowning would work. I felt something hit my side and start pulling me. When I flipped back around, I saw Isaac put a long net down. Once again, pulling me out of the pool and helping me dry off, he had me face him.

        “All right, let’s try this one more time, then we’ll call it a night,” Isaac proposed. I nodded, closing my eyes to start concentrating again. All of a sudden, I felt something I did not expect: lips on mine. Isaac was kissing me. At first, I was too surprised by his actions to kiss back, but then I got past it and started kissing him back. One hand traveled down to my waist, pulling me closer while the other moved up to cup my cheek. One moment I am standing by the pool, kissing Isaac; the next, I am plunging deep into the cold water.

        I came back up, spurting water out of my mouth and glaring at him, “What the hell was that?”

        He merely shrugged, “I just wanted to try something. And, it seems to have worked.” I tilted my head to the side in wonder. “When I kissed you, that’s all you had you on your mind. Am I right?” I nodded my head, blushing. “Well, that’s what kept you human. It became your anchor, and that’s what we’re trying to accomplish. We’re trying to find your anchor.” I looked down at my legs, surprised to see them instead of a tail.

        “So, as long as I think about kissing you, I’ll stay human?” I asked, a smile slowly spreading across my face. As soon as I saw him start to nod, I swam towards the edge, hoisting myself out. I ran over to him, throwing my arms around his neck, hugging him tight. “Oh, my god! Thank you!” Pulling away from him, I jumped back into the pool, not bothering to stop my tail from appearing. Isaac laughed as I swam around and did flips. Stopping in front of him, I looked up as he crouched down.

        “Join me,” I declared. He simply shook his head. “Oh come on! Why not? You’ve seen what I look like, but I’ve never seen you. That’s a little unfair, seeing as I let you push me in the pool thousands of times,” I countered. He pondered it for a moment before kicking off his sandals and pulling his shirt over his head. As manager of the training pool, he had to wear swim trunks in case there was ever an emergency.

        “You better watch out,” he warned, and I moved off to the side as he backed up a bit. Running towards the pool, he dove in, changing as he did. I watched in awe as he surfaced and swam towards me.

        “Wow. Your tail! That was amazing,” I remarked, staring at his dark red scales.

        He noticed my staring and brought his tail up, “Go ahead, touch it.” I looked up at his face, then down at his tail again, slowly reaching my hand out. At my hesitation, he put his hand on top of mine and moved it so that it was just inches away. While taking a deep breath, my fingers made contact with the smooth scales. I ran my hand slowly across it.

        “It’s beautiful."

     “You’re beautiful,” Isaac stated. Tearing my gaze from his tail, I turned my head to find him already looking at me. He slowly leaned in towards me, eyes flickering down to my lips. Leaning in as well, I let my eyes flutter shut. Before our lips could connect, there was a sound like a door shutting. We both pulled away, heads snapping in the direction of the sound. Standing by the women’s locker room was Avery with wide eyes, and her mouth hanging open. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Isaac change back into his human form. Quickly, using my anchor, I changed back too and lifted myself out of the water. Avery saw me coming towards her and turned around, going back into the locker rooms. I ran after her, trying not to slip on water, all while calling her name. She made it outside to her car before I caught up with her and stood in front of her car door so she could not get in.

        “Move, Piper,” she hissed through clenched teeth.

        “Avery, please. Just let me explain,” I begged, not moving.

         “What’s there to explain? I saw what was going on in there! You and him, not only were you guys making out, but you’re—” she broke off, searching for the right word.

        “Mer-folk. We’re mer-folk. He’s a merman, and I’m a mermaid,” I explained to her.

        “Merfolk? This is crazy. You know that, right?” She retorted, a wild look in her eyes.

        “Look, I know it sounds crazy, but it’s the truth.”

        “Truth? You want to talk about truth? Where was all of that before because you certainly haven’t been telling it to me lately. First, you lie about not being able to hang out because you’re ‘behind in chemistry’ when really you were hanging out with your new boy toy,” she said, putting emphasis on the word, ‘boy toy’. “Then, when I ask if anything is going on between you two, you tell me no and that you’re just friends – when you clearly aren’t,” she continued.

        “We are just friends,” I commented quietly.

        “See! There you go, lying again! I just saw you two kissing! When are you going to stop lying to me, Piper?” I was quiet, feeling guilty. Instead of chewing me out some more, she pushed me out of the way and got in her car, pulling away. I stood there watching her drive away, shivering in the cold breeze that blew by. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's Note:

Oh snap! Shit just hit the fan! 

This chapter is quite possibly the longest one in the story.

I hope you enjoyed it!

Story line and characters are of my own imagination. They belong to me and nobody else. Please do not steal. Copyright 2015.