The Professor and the Siren

6. Orlando

Orlando

She said yes. I couldn't believe how well the evening had gone so far. She'd said yes to seeing me again and she'd kissed me twice. I could still feel the heat of her body against mine, the softness of her lips and the springy texture of her hair against the back of my hands.

When I'd transformed back to two feet and climbed into the dingy she'd oohed excitedly when I demonstrated how I could dry myself with a thought. Then I'd caught the pout she'd tried to hide when I'd gotten dressed again. My beautiful Siren desired me, she liked my body. I could work with that.

I sat across from her on the bench now, our knees touching. She'd been firing questions at me one after the other and I while I felt a twinge of guilt at answering them without hesitation, I couldn't regret it. Each time I confirmed or denied a theory of hers, she'd get that shy little smile that drove me wild.

Hadn't I been thinking about how I was losing hope that family was enough to anchor me to shore? Was this Siren the answer? Was she what would tie me to the human world? I had to find out.

"How deep can you dive?" she asked now, her blue eyes sparkling in the meager light from the lantern balanced on the bottom of the boat between us. I shrugged, "Let's say the holy grail of 300 meters isn't an issue for me." (AN:1000ft)

She rolled her eyes as if that answer wasn't satisfying at all. "You mean you've never properly recorded how deep you can go?" Ah she was a scientist of course she wanted precise answers.

Tilting my head I contemplated my deepest dives. There were quite a few because as a salvage worker with my dad and I had done some of the hardest jobs. They paid better and were easier to do for us without needing all the specialized gear, or the decompression times and extra crew needed. We swam down to appraise what we needed to lift to the surface, what was needed to recover. Sometimes we could do the job entirely in by hand.

"I think the deepest salvage dive I've been on was at a depth of 600 or so meters?" (AN: 2000ft) Her eyes went huge and she reached out a hand to pat at my chest and then stroke her fingers across the spot my gills would be at if I were transformed. "Wow..."

Proving this was her purview she said, "Whales can go much deeper, can you?" I had to laugh, because she had caught on that I still hadn't said what my limit was. "I don't know. I haven't tried because it gets pretty dark down below. Probably though."

She started to pull her hand away from my throat then and I hurried to trap it against my skin, "I have a question for you." She smiled that shy smile, eyes on our hands where I kept them pressed against my skin. "Seems fair," she murmured. I was certain she could feel my heart pounding but I wanted her to know how much I responded to her.

"Are you studying current patterns or the phytoplankton in that particular trench?" I asked, curious to see what she was doing out here. Her eyebrows went up and then she laughed, "Of course you're curious." She launched into a detailed explanation that involved both the currents and the plankton, explaining how as a biologist she was trying to pin point chances to the oceans biggest food sources linked to the rising global temperature.

I stared at her with rapt attention, loving how she spoke with not just her mouth but with her one free hand. It moved, waved, danced in the air between us, emphasizing each point she made.

Suddenly she fell quiet though and I raised an eyebrow, "Why'd you stop talking?" She blushed, "I'm sorry, I talk too much and people tend to get that glazed eye look when I talk about my work." Worried I'd looked bored, as I'd been staring at her hand a lot, I said, "Did I look glazy eyed?"

She shrugged but she was clearly self-conscious now. "Listen, phytoplankton might not be my expertise but I get the large lines you talk about and I've used those sensors you mention once or twice myself so..." I shrugged. "I have a marine biology degree too."

Her mouth dropped open and then she started laughing, amused I watched her, finally allowing her to pull her hand free so she could clutch at her middle. When she subsided after a moment she shook her head, "Serves me right for thinking you were just a pretty face and a merman. Here I thought your job was salvage work?"

Ah, she hadn't realized she was talking to a colleague and truthfully I hadn't given her any reason to think otherwise. I raised a shoulder, "You couldn't have known, and I only write papers from time to time. Whenever something catches my interest. I tend to obsess over something until I've got it figured out."

That tended to happen regularly and it was nice to be able to dive whenever and use my deep water recording equipment to catch behaviors from animals at depths normal people could never achieve. It felt good to help explore the ocean, unveil that world a little, it was something I was good at and it didn't require talking to people.

For a while we discussed different things we worked on, finding out the papers we'd read from each other. Finding common ground that way. For the first time in a long time I was talking with someone about the things I loved, my passion, without our fins being the common denominator. Mariana got me, got the ocean, she loved it the same way.

I hated it because I didn't want this night to end, but it was getting late and I promised her I'd get her back in time. I didn't want to make her friends worry. She seemed equally disappointed when I suggested we head back to port but I could tell she was tired too. If I wanted to take her diving tomorrow she needed to be rested enough for the physical exertion of it.

When I started the motor and pointed us back home she came to sit on the bench beside me, naturally tucking herself under my free arm. "I had a great time tonight Orly, are you really going to take me swimming tomorrow?"

"Count on it," I told her, "I'd love nothing better." And then, because she had her face turned up my way, I leaned in and kissed her. Just a soft peck on the lips but it had her smiling and I felt like I owned the world, right then. I didn't think I'd ever get done obsessing over this woman, didn't want to.