Hook, Line & Sinking (Completed)

8: Cave Talk

I surfaced inside the cave and eagerly looked around while I made my way to the edge. Already I was feeling more at ease in my changed body and more confident with the way I could move in the water. This big tail instead of legs had felt and seemed clumsy at first but already that wasn't the case anymore.

Unless I compared myself to how Matt moved. He was sleek like a shark when he cut through the water after me and then easily draped himself half over a ledge of rocks. There was a step or bench surrounding the entire pool, creating a comfortable seat and as he settled himself on it he spread his arms wide on the stones of the cave floor, owning the place.

I settled on the ledge to his left, curling on my side, one elbow on the flat stones surrounding the pool. Like that it was almost like sitting on the couch with your legs curled up beside you and despite the much thicker and longer tail I was flexible enough to be comfortable that way.

"So..." Matt murmured, while sliding his eyes over my face, focusing on my ears and then the sides of my neck before sliding lower to take in my bikini clad chest. Defensively I raised my free arm to cover myself and struggled to fight the heat rising in my cheeks. "Yeah sooooo...." I drawled to cover my unease. "This pool turned me into a mermaid. Did it change you too?"

He didn't immediately answer, instead he took a moment to slide the strap with the harpoon over his shoulder and place it on the rock beside him. The canvas bag followed after and he started opening that one up, showing me that it was completely waterproof. He pulled out two Tupperware boxes and raised an eyebrow at me in question, "You hungry? I packed lunch for us."

"You packed lunch for the both of us? How did you know I was going to be here... like this?" I gestured at my tail. My heart in the meantime thudded wildly, feeling flattered that he'd thought of something like that and intimidated at the same time.

He grinned, "A hunch, Dev's been keeping an eye on you and mentioned how you've been avoiding water." He handed me one of the two boxes and a set of actual (look at him, being fancy!) cutlery, inside the boxes was a pasta salad with seafood, a sliced mango and two tuna sandwiches. It was a huge lunch but my empty stomach told me I could probably eat all of it no problem. "Swimming burns a lot of energy," he nodded knowingly as if he'd understood just fine the direction of my thoughts.

While I dug in he did the same and it was silent the next few minutes. Then when I was nibbling on the last bits of mango he turned his body toward me and cocked his head. "So... Do you like it?" I didn't immediately get what he was talking about, did he mean the lunch? Or was he talking about whether I liked being a mermaid, of swimming like this.

"The tail, I imagine it takes some getting used to..." he expanded and when I nodded he cocked his head to the side clearly inviting me to say more. I shrugged casually but still caught him dipping his eyes down to my chest with the movement. Fighting another awkward blush I said, "It's amazing if a little scary. Do I have to worry about sharks? I petted one right before I ran into you but it was smaller than me..."

That was obviously my biggest worry, I didn't really think any other creatures would bother me, most seemed interested and nice even. But seeing Matt with that knife and the harpoon gun... Did that mean it was dangerous to swim without? My eyes must have given me away, since they'd darted to said weapon. He reached a big, webbed hand out to curve around the weapon looking amused.

"No sharks shouldn't bother you if you appear confident enough. Though it would in your case be safer not to swim out into the deeper trenches until you've gotten a bit more experienced. The harpoon is because I planned to catch some fish on my way home." I still felt a little nervous, he wasn't just carrying a harpoon, he was carrying a knife too. Though maybe that was just a practical thing.