Making Waves | lo'ak sully

chapter 15: opening up

Spiraling up around each other with their Ilu, Lo'ak, Ngalu and Neteyam came up to the surface again. 'You are learning how to breathe!' Ngalu told them. They were doing amazing. They were able to hold their breath about three times as long as before. Ngalu was so proud of them. Lo'ak in particular made amazing progress.

'All because of you.' Neteyam made his Ilu swim a little closer to Ngalus.

'Aren't I the best?' She swung her ponytail around with a laugh on her face. She was finally starting to warm up to them.

Neteyam saw and laughed at her, smirking mischievously. He bumped into her Ilu on purpose making her rock to the side a little. She had a shocked look on her face before frowning, narrowing her eyes and smirking as well. 'Oh it is on, Neteyam Sully!' She swam up to him, bumping into him as well. Her Ilu snickering and splashing around.

Lo'ak just swam behind the pair, feeling like a third wheel. He wondered where Tsireya was while looking around. He couldn't see her.

Neteyam splashed water on her, quickly swimming off trying to escape the girl. She raced after him, knowing she'd get him either way.

If they don't stop now I will tie a large rock to my foot and jump into the water, Lo'ak thought.

Ngalu finally got to Neteyam, pulling him off his Ilu. He yelped before he ended up submerged in the water. Ngalu laughed, grabbing her stomach, when she suddenly felt a tug on her ankle. Neteyam pulled her underwater. She chuckled, making air bubbles escape her mouth and float up to the surface of the water. The same thing happened to Neteyam, before he got some water up his nose which made him make a funny face. It made Ngalu laugh even harder than she did before.

Lo'ak sat on his Ilu in silence, waiting for the both of them to finally come up again. It took a while and Lo'ak was getting more annoyed by the second. He couldn't stand watching them have fun anymore, so he swam away. They didn't even notice him leave anyway.

But when Ngalu got back to the surface, the first thing she did was wonder where Lo'ak was. She couldn't see him anywhere anymore. Her ears dropped, feeling guilty of spending so much time with Neteyam while she suggested to help Lo'ak in the first place. She didn't even think about how he would feel about that.

Neteyam noticed, he saw how her mood slightly switched. His smile faded, wondering why she felt so bad. Lo'ak was gone, but why would she care? She doesn't like him anyways and they both know that Lo'ak is one of the best divers in the family, he can save himself.

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Lo'ak's face got stuck on one expression; annoyance. He decided to go back to Payakan, knowing he would make him feel better.

'Payakan!' He yelled out at sea standing on his Ilu for a better view, hoping Payakan could hear him.

Nothing.

He had been spending a lot of time with Payakan recently. He was really starting to become a brother to him. 'Payakan!' He yelled once more. This time, with succes. The huge Tulkun emerged from the water, looking at Lo'ak while he sprayed some water at him. 'Bro, that's disgusting.' Lo'ak laughed. He hopped off his Ilu and jumped on Payakan's fin, taking a seat on it.

'Is there something wrong? You seem troubled.' Payakan asked him. They'd been talking almost every day for a while now, Lo'ak is almost fluent in the Metkayina sign language. He could understand Payakan a lot better now as well. They'd talk about their feelings most of the time, not being able to talk to anyone else about it. Payakan immediately noticed that he felt bad.

Lo'ak sighed. 'Fuck,' He muttered underneath his breath. 'Everything is not going according to plan. I told you that I was trying to distance myself from her, right?' He asked while signing at the Tulkun, making it a bit clearer for him.

Payakan made an agreeing sound, indicating he remembered Lo'ak telling him about it. He also knew who "her" was. Lo'ak didn't like pronouncing her name as it became too real that way and he certainly didn't want that. He was so focused on pushing Ngalu away, not getting involved.

'It's not working. I can't stay away from her.' Lo'ak scratched his forehead, throwing his arm down after and laying down on his back on one of Payakan's fins. 'It makes no sense, I hate her.' He said.

'No you don't.' Payakan said, making Lo'ak raise his upper body while leaning on his elbows to look at him with a raised eyebrow. 'You are practically in love with her, you talk about her all the time and how you cannot stay away.'

'You can shut up now.' Lo'ak said, flopping on his back again. He couldn't be right. He's not in love with Ngalu and he will never be, he'll make sure of that. He sighed again. 'We were doing breathing exercises and she got so close. Too close. She touched me again with her soft hands. She could feel my heartbeat racing. I think the others noticed too, Neteyam shot me a few looks. Everything was going pretty well until Neteyam and her were messing around again. It just drives me crazy, how close they seem and how much time they spend together.'

'You are just jealous, Lo'ak. It is a normal thing.' Payakan assured him.

'Jealous? I'm not jealous! Anything but that. How can I be jealous of someone when I don't even like the person?' He responded.

'I am not saying it is about Ngalu,' But he was thinking it. 'Maybe you are just jealous of Neteyam for finding a mate so soon and you have not.' Payakan tried to explain. Even though he knew he was jealous of Neteyam because he got to spend so much time with Ngalu and Lo'ak hasn't.

Yeah, maybe that was it. 'Yeah, you're right. I probably am. But, I do have a perfectly fine potential mate. She's a lot better than Ngalu and she's really into me.' Lo'ak thought about Tsireya who was probably already looking for him after Ngalu and Neteyam told everyone he left.

Maybe he just needs to spend more time with Tsireya.