Under the Sea *Book One* Water Trilogy

~Nineteen~

I lay in my bed with Finn beside me. I was still hard time believing he was actually there. He was still shirtless and my heart was still thudding. This was the second time I had gotten him secretly into my room and I was beginning to think it wouldn't be the last.

"Finn?"

He made a nose into my hair. I tried to position myself to face him but his arms held me to his chest.

"Are you awake?"

"No."

I laughed. "Shush."

"Fine."

"What?" I squealed as he pushed me onto my back and lay on top of me.

"But only if your shush with me," he said while raising his eyebrows playfully, he then kissed me. My whole body threatened to give up on life in that moment.

I squealed out an okay but instead of kissing me he just collapsed on me.

"Finn-"

"Shush."

I rolled my eyes. "I need to talk to you."

"About what?" He mumbled into my neck. I had butterflies like crazy. I stopped to think. I wanted to bring up my idea on how he could avoid becoming king if he didn't want to, but I didn't want to ruin the moment. I also didn't want to get Meri in trouble for telling me about his status he had been working so hard to hide from me. I tried to pick a different topic.

"Finn?"

"Audrey?"

"What made you show yourself to me?" He paused to think about it.

"I- I had seen you from far away for nearly a week. Sometimes you were drawing, sometimes you were tanning, and one time you were crying." I remembered the one time I had been crying out there on the dock. I had almost forgotten about it. "And, I don't know why, but I felt like we were similar. You seemed lost in your world of people, that first week, and I was lost in my world under the water."

He shifted and then laced his fingers into mine as we lay side by side.

"And the night I saved you in the water I decided that I would meet you." He laughed. "I had wanted to change to a human so that you had no idea what I was. But then I realized that I didn't have clothes or a place to stay."

"Well I'm glad you decided to show yourself," I said. "Because you were right about me being lost in my world of people."

"Audrey, I-" he took in a deep breath. "I love you."

I didn't even hesitate. "I love you, too."

A smile of relief spread a crossed his face. It was nearly a month that we knew each other. In my mind that didn't seem nearly enough to time to say those three powerful words but the heart was telling me it was right. My hand reached up and pressed against his cheek. I was glad that I hadn't mentioned what Meri had told me.

"Now take me swimming." I grabbed his hand and pulled him into my closet before I shut the door. "Stay in there while I change into my swim suit."

"Are you serious?" Finn's voice was muffled by the door. "It's dark in here."

I ignored him while I slipped on my top and bottoms. I started to walk over to the closet when I heard something crash inside. Throwing open the door I found a startled Finn laying on his back and covered in clothes and a few cases of make-up that had fallen off the top shelf.

"What in the world are you doing?"

He looked around him and put his hands up as if to say "oops'. "Searching for a light?"

Rolling my eyes, I helped him up and brushed him off of some sparkly body powder that had managed to cover him.

"Stupid sparkles," he muttered as I pulled him out of my room and shut off the light.

"You look like a fairy," I laughed as he gave me a quizzical look. Of course he didn't know what a fairy was.

At the dock I let him get in and change. I refused to get in if he was human and swimming. We weren't as skilled of swimmers as merpeople were and I wanted someone who could easily help me if I started to drown. The thought of drowning would have made me laugh several months before if you had told me about my newly developed fear. Who ever heard of a swimmer drowning because they suddenly couldn't swim?

The sun was nearly set and the sky was streaked with purple and pink. I could see Finn looking up at me as he waited for me to attempt to get in the water as I sat down on the dock. I could also see him examining me in my bikini; I didn't bother to say anything about it but I did blush. Reaching up his hand he helped me get in, all the way this time, and I clung to him. First my feet sunk beneath the water and then suddenly it was up to my hips.

The water was on the cool side and goose bumps formed on my skin.

"Feeling okay?" he asked as he pushed a little farther from the dock. I nodded my head yes.

Finn floated on his back and I rested halfway on his stomach. He seemed so at ease in the water as he back stroked farther out. For the first time in a long time, I felt safe, not just in the water but in general.

"I love you." I said it to him one more time. Loving the way the words rolled of my tongue and the way it sounded. If the feeling I was having wasn't love then I didn't know what love was.

"I love you too." he whispered. "More than I can tell you."

We swam till the moon was full in the sky and the waves bobbed us up and down. I could see my porch light on the shore in the distance. It was chilly on the surface of the water and I couldn't help when the shivers that had been occasionally happening turned into a constant shake.

"What's it like where you live?" I asked through the small chatter in my teeth. I could never see his even though he could see mine. I would have to be a mermaid to be able to and I was already failing.

"It's bright. Fish swim with us," he paused to think about it. "It's beyond anything I could ever explain. The city is on the sea floor. Some of us make our homes in under water caverns, some out of the coral reefs, and some of us build in the city and use resources around us."

"Wow."

"And on Sunday they have trading day."

"Trading day?"

"Where merpeople from in and outside the city come to trade different things that they made or food they are selling."

"That sounds beautiful." I tried to picture it in detail. The way he described it reminded me of the olden days back when people actually did that kind of trading on land instead of buying it in a super market.

"Yeah, but I would rather be here." I smiled at the thought. I would tell him about my plan then, just not right then.

"I would rather you be here too," I kissed him softly, then deeper until our bodies molded together. Water flowed between us and I tried to steal the heat that was radiating off of Finn.

"We should probably get you back inside before you get sick," he said, interrupting the sweet moment. He was right. If I stayed out any long I was going to get hypothermia.

"Only if you promise to stay."

"I promise."