Our best adventure

Chapter 4 :)

Madelyn P.O.V.

   Caleb is home again today, which makes it very hard to slip away to the beach. Today I feel really bad, I feel guilty. Which is an odd feeling, it's like there's butterflies in my stomach.

I think I feel guilty because I'm lying to him. Well not lying, but I have this huge secret that I can't tell anyone. Anything can happen at anytime and that scares the living crap out of me.

I don't let this get to me though. I decide to go downstairs and eat breakfast anyway. On the second step my foot goes to far forward and I tumble all the way to the bottom. Which hurts badly.

I lay on the floor defeated, in a lot of pain. I hear Caleb run out of his room and down the stairs.

"Oh my God, are you okay,?" He asks attempting to pick me up.

I reach for his hand and sit up. I'm glad he didn't see that, it would of been very embarrassing. Yet, I do not feel the urge to stand up, I hurt badly.

"I'm fine, just not fully recovered yet," I say chuckling, laying my back against the wall.

"How come your home so much now," I ask, he never used to have days off.

"I wasn't sure if I was going to tell you yet, but I got offered a promotion. To run the entire business department, and I accepted," he says.

"What does that mean, we don't have to move do we," I ask.

"No, it means that I'm going to be working everyday but right now, I'm using some vacation time before the job officially starts," he says.

"Does this mean more money?" I ask.

"Yeah, it's almost one hundred and eight thousand a year," he says, which even I know is a ridiculous amount.

"Geez, that's a lot," I say.

"Yeah, well I told them I had a kid to feed and I needed the money. I think I'll pay off everything this year," he says.

"Thank you," I say standing up to hug him.

"Yeah, for what?" He asks.

"For providing for me and loving me as if I was your own child, you are the best brother in the world, and I'm so thankful for you," I say tearing up hugging him again.

My guilt makes me belittle this moment. I want so hard to tell him this one thing, and I can't. Why does this have to be so complicated.

"Madelyn,?" I can hear Caleb faintly say, but it doesn't fully register.

Maybe I should tell him, but then that runs the risk of never been seen the same way again. I wish there was an easier way to handle this.

"Madelyn," this time it registers. I was still hugging him, I let go as soon as I realize. I hasn't realized that I had yet to let go.

"Oh, sorry," I apologize quickly.

"Don't apologize, I just want to make sure your okay," He says.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I promise," I say and walk back upstairs to my room.

Please make this feeling go away. I'm not telling him for his own good.

*****
When Caleb is in the shower I slip off to the beach. It's practically empty, but it is a Monday. I stare at the water, it calls to me but I didn't move.

It was nice to be on the other side, and just look at the water. I haven't done this since becoming a mermaid.

"I was just on my way to see you," I hear and look up to see Muriel.

"Oh, hello," I say standing up.

"I wanted to tell you that I spread your message to the girls your age, and many want to meet you and your friends," she says.

"That's amazing, we would love to meet them," I say.

"We'll, there's about five or six of them, and they have their land badge, so they would like to meet on land," she says.

"What about at a beach restaurant, my treat," I say.

"I think that's perfect, that way they can earn their badge for land people communication," she says.

"Some of these girls, have grown up on land so they are familiar with the ways, which is really why I'm agreeing to this. This was a tough decision to make, so I trust you do not do anything to mess this up," she says.

"Of course, thank you so much for this opportunity. I think it will be very beneficial to meet girls our age in the same situation," I say.

"I must get back, but the girls will meet you on Thursday if that's okay" she says.

"Yes, Thursday's perfect," I say.

"Good, it was nice seeing you again, take care,"

"You too," I shoot back, and just as quickly as she appeared, she disappears.

I walk back to the house, feeling pleasantly better. It was such a relief knowing we could talk to girls that have been through this. She said that some were born on land, so maybe they went through this too.

*****
"Hey, you wanna go to Randy's for dinner," Caleb says walking into my room.

"Yeah, sure," I say, I hadn't eaten anything all day. Not on purpose, I just never got around to it.

"Let me change first," I say. Randy's wasn't somewhere you had to look nice, but I could show up in my sports bra and sweatpants.

Once I find a sweater and some jeans, I go downstairs. Caleb is on his phone, waiting on the couch.

"You ready?," I ask.

"Oh, yeah, let's go," he says getting up and grabbing his keys.

When we get to Randy's we get seated in a booth. Which I'm glad, I have a weird obsession with them. I hate regular tables and chairs.

I order a beautiful burger and Caleb orders a seafood
Plater. Which, makes me cringe but I try to ignore it.

"Madelyn," I hear my name being said.

I look over to see Peyton running at me.

"Hey, what are you doing here," I ask.

I look up to see Mark coming over.

"He was really good at his doctors appointment, so we decided to get some ice cream," Mark says.

"I was really good," Peyton says.

"That's great," I say. Though Peyton was eight, he didn't really act like it. He was as cute as could be though.

"It was great to see you, hope you come over soon," Mark says and nods at Caleb as he and Peyton leave.

The waitress comes back with our drinks, and says she food will be out here shortly. But, If you've ever been to a restaurant other than chick-fil-a, you know that's a damn lie.

Eventually though, the food does come. I can't even bring myself to look at Calebs food. I used to love seafood, now I just feel bad.

"Who was that little boy," he asks.

"That's Peyton, he's Paiges brother and their dad Mark," I say.

"It kills me that I have to miss all these moments in your life. Friends, and accomplishments. I wonder if I made the right decision accepting this promotion," he says.

"I think you made the best decision you could for yourself and I. It's hard when your not around a lot, but I think your doing an amazing job," I say.

He smiles at me and I smile back. Some days are setbacks like today, but I know it won't always be like that. Tomorrow will be a good day, a great day even.