A Ripple In The Ocean

Chapter 15- Suprise

My feet brushed the floor as I tilted my body upwards. The cool waves brushed up and down my bare skin.
I let out a sigh as I felt the morning sun warm my skin.

"Boo"

I let out a yelp and jumped backwards.

The sound of Ceto's laugh rung out across the island.

I frown at the siren, "What was that for?"

Ceto shrugged off his laugh and leaned his head against his hand, "gotta keep life entertaining when you're an immortal".

I chuckled a little and settled back down into the shallow waves. I smiled at him before running a hand through my short hair.

The siren smiled back, "Hey you kept it" he chirped and pointed to the shell necklace around my neck.

I looked down at it and back at Ceto. "W-why wouldn't it's... it's pretty" I countered before turning away from him to conceal my heated face.

"I didn't think you cared for pretty things" Ceto shrugged and rolled over onto his back with a smug smile.
A small part of me didn't believe he was talking about the necklace but I just led down next to him.

We floated there half in the water half out, staring up at the cloudy sky.

"Did you get what you were looking for?" I ventured.

Ceto sat up and leaned over to grab something, "Yep" he smiled.
I glanced over to the object that he picked up.
In his hands lay a black trident; It's scarred surface didn't seem to reflect the sun's glare at all... the same way his eyes didn't. It had a strange aura surrounding it.

I sit up to look at it better. "What's that?" I blurted out.

Ceto's face lit up with a smile, "it's my trident... well I call it Trishul"

My throat bobbed."Why did the mermaids have it?" I continued without breaking my gaze.

Ceto moved the trident back to his side. "Would you believe me if I said i dropped it?" He asked

"No" I chuckled.

He laughed as well "ok fine... they 'confiscated' it in a way I guess. Since– yeah." A painful sadness flashed across his face.

I tried to distract myself by dusting the sand of my bare chest."Was that after-" I cut myself off.

He let out a long breath "Yeah".

Looking down at his beautiful black scales, I noticed a long scratch and a small shard of glass stuck between a row of scales. "You cut yourself" I frowned.

Ceto glanced down at his tail. "Guess I did"

"You want me to get the glass out?"

~

The siren rolled onto his front and shuffled further up the sand in invitation. He flapped his tail allowing his fins to get comfortable on the land.

I gently climbed on top of his tail. "Ready?" I asked.
He sucked in a breath and nodded.
Cautiously, I ran a finger over the wound allowing him to adjust to the pain before I began pulling out the shard.
The siren hissed.

The shard looked a lot smaller than it was; it was probably the tip of the iceberg.

"Almost there" I lied and gave the glass a sharp tug.

Ceto barked a curse and yanked out of my grasp, sending me onto the sand.
"Ow" he hissed.

I chuckled, "baby" I joked.

He shot me a look, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, it's in a sensitive spot." The sarcasm lingered in his voice.

I laughed and went back to the wound. Dark navy- almost black blood dripped out of the wound and down his scaly side.
Ceto moved his tail before I could touch it. I leaned over to secure his tail but he moved it again. "Hey!" I whined.

He just stuck his tongue out and rolled over onto his back so the cut was on the opposite side to me. His underside was exposed to the sun; the pale grey under scales shimmering in the sunlight. I froze for a moment to look at them. Had he always had those? I shook off the thought.

I pounced on him and pinned him down. "Stop" I laughed.

The siren smiled mischievously, "Nope" he retorted and unhooked my hands from his tail.

I groaned, "Ceto". I grabbed his wrists and held them against the sand so he couldn't intervene again.

He smiled.

I hadn't realised until now that I had pinned him down in the sand and now sat uncomfortably onto of him.

"Yes?" The siren playfully asked.

My words caught in my throat as I fought down the blush that threatened to stain my cheeks.

Ceto noticed though and smirked. In one quick move he rolled over and was now on top of me.

I let out a yelp of surprise; I went to slap a hand over my mouth but I realized my hands were being held down.

Ceto chuckled quietly and leaned closer until I could feel his shallow breaths on my skin.
"Look at that we swapped". I awkwardly smiled and tried to slip out of his grasp.

He let out a hum of satisfaction. "Guess we did". His cool breath caressed my hot cheeks.

I paused my escape attempt as I met his midnight eyes; The dark unending abyss met mine. Until he closed them.
I followed his lead, letting my eyes flutter close. My breath caught as our lips brushed gently against each other.

Ceto pulled back slightly to see my reaction.
I blinked up at him, my heart thumped loudly like a war drum.

Something flashed across his face and he looked away. "I-"

I cut him off swiftly by pulling his chin towards me and pulling him into a deeper kiss.
His lips still tasted of the ocean water but Gods were they soft.

He let out low noise that made my toes curl as he ran a hand through my hair.
I pushed myself up and gently placed a hand on his cheek.

A wave crashed against my legs, sending a cool shiver up my body.

Ceto pulled back his eyes were fixed in mine as he let out out a long breath.
My heart felt like a feral horse stuck in a shipping container. My breathing was everywhere.
So many words bounced around in my head except none of them came out. Part of me wanted a distraction so we never had to talk about this.

Ceto looked back at me with the same awkward expression and rolled off of me.

I guess none really needed to be said.

_________
Note:

Yaassssss!!!
I actually love this chapter so much, my little cinnamon rolls.
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