What Lies Beneath the Water

Talk (26)

*Dahlia's POV*

It felt like Aqua's friend group was merging with mine, and it was nice coming together with a common goal. We all knew that protecting both Aqua and I wouldn't be easy, but each of us agreed to it because it was for a greater good.

And we all went our separate ways after our "meeting." Silas and Tyrus went to Tyrus's room to probably enjoy the mate bond to its fullest extent. Aqua and Kal stayed in Aqua's room probably arguing about the whole you knew that you were engaged to me and didn't tell me thing. That just left Santino and I who were in my room, sitting in opposite corners of the room.

"You could have died today, Dahlia, and you want me to still walk away and not act that I love you!" Santino yelled. I could've died because of the blood bond, but Aqua saved me from wanting death. If I would have been kidnapped, I have no doubts that those shifters would have tortured me a thousand different ways and then had their ways with me. I would have wanted death, and for that I would always be grateful to Aqua.

"Santino, I want more than to just run back into your arms and kiss you. I want to marry you. I want to come to your bed after a long day at court and tell you how much you love me and how good I did. I want you to make love to me as your wife until the next morning, but I can't have any of that until I work on myself. I know that you have asked your mother to marry me more than a thousand times, and she always says no because I am not ready yet."

"But why can't we just be together while you work on yourself?" He asked

"Because I get so used to our pattern of normalcy when I am with you. I've done it before, Santino. Remember the huge fight we had after you kept pushing me to be friends with Aqua? I reminded you of my past and you said to forgive them but then I started crying and you went back on your word. Not even an hour after I cried, we went back to joking and talking about our anniversary." I looked into his eyes and could see it all starting to set in.

He ran his hands through his hair and said, "I understand now why we can't be together for now, but you can't just cut me out of your life like you've been doing. You used to share everything that was going on in your life, as I would do with you. We would joke and laugh and enjoy our free time together. Dahlia, you are the only person that I can completely let loose around and without me talking to you, I've been constantly wound up. You are my stress reliever."

"I actually agree with most of what you said. I have been going about this in the incorrect way and I want my best friend back. So I promise to go back to our normal relationship except for the lovey-

dovey things. And if you are having a particularly bad day, you can take me out to dinner like we used to do back home. Agreed?" I asked, and he nodded his head.

"Dahlia, can I stay here for the night? It's rather late, and I am tired."

"Of course, Tino. Your sleepwear is in the top drawer to your left." He looked confused, so I said, "You gave them to me at the beginning of the school year just in case if you slept over." He nodded his head and pulled out his pajamas.

I walked over to my vanity and pulled out my makeup wipes. I soaked my eyelashes a big before taking them off along with the rest of my makeup. Once my makeup was off, I pulled out my switchblade and pocket watch from my garter before slipping off the garter.

"Thanks for the switch blade. Probably have come out of the battle a lot worse if I didn't have it." I said honestly. I used it to injure almost all of the shifters.

"You carry the blade and pocket watch everywhere you go, don't you?"

"Just as you wear your tie clip every day?" I asked him and slung my garter at him, hitting him straight on his bare chest since he was changing.

He caught it before it fell on the floor, and said, "Ms. Michaelis, I thought you said that you wanted to go back to our normal relationship, except for the lovey-dovey things?" I could tell that he was being facetious because typically men keep their date's garter after the dance is over with, at least in human culture.

I rolled my eyes and went to my drawer to pull out my undergarments and a black sleeping romper with a colored floral pattern that flattered my hair color when I had tried it on earlier. Most importantly, it wasn't over flashy like some of my other sleepwear.

"Hey I'm going to take a shower and wash my hair, don't fuck anything up, okay?" He put his arms in the air as a sign of sign surrender, and I got a good look of him in his sleepwear. It was just a plain dark gray, cotton shirt and a pair of black sweatpants. It was nothing that was overly extravagant, but it was nice seeing him in something other than a suit or tuxedo.

I locked the bathroom doors and started pulling the numerous pins out of my hair and unbraided all of the braids. I then brushed my hair very gently before I turned on the water the heat up a bit as I took off my clothes.

The moment that the water hit my skin, I immediately relaxed in a way that I never had before. I credited it to the blood bond with a mermaid and welcomed the way the water made me feel as I shampooed and conditioned my hair.

When I finished in the shower, I wrapped a towel around my body and went over to the sink to brush my teeth and do my nighttime skin routine. Next, I ran a comb through my hair to get all of the tangles out and put on my undergarments and my romper.

I unlocked Aqua's side of the bathroom before I walked out, and Santino was up reading my dimensional manipulation text book. He had to double take when he saw me and said, "Is that Dahlia Michaelis wearing a color other than black, white, or grey?" I grabbed one of the decorative pillows off of the floor and threw it at him.

"Okay, okay, I give up!" He said, and I walked over to my side of the bed.

He just kept reading from the book until I finally asked, "Do you even understand what the book is talking about?"

"Do you?" He asked and I said no. "Well good because neither do I, but I bet that the magical genius across the hall does."

"I'm still getting used to the whole my roommate isn't a human and I'm blood bonded to her thing. I am not going to ask for advice on my magical homework."

"Fair enough, and I believe that it is time we go to sleep."

I clapped my hands and the light turned off. "Goodnight, Santino."

"Goodnight, Dahlia." He said and a few moments passed before he said, "Oh and Dahlia, you look beautiful." I grabbed my pillow and hit him with it. What was I going to do with him?

*Don't you just love these two! Any idea what their ship name should be? Feel free to comment with your ideas! 

Got a friend that you can just talk to and that understands you better than anyone else ever will?

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