above and beyond

Chapter 5

From that point on, days continue much the same as the first one, much to Gloria's frustration. Though she sometimes gets to see him at dinner, Leon is otherwise too busy to spend much time around her, meaning that she is barely able to make progress in winning his heart at all, and it is hard to tell if anything that she does is enough to make him think about her twice once he's gone.

The only bright spot in all of this is that she still gets to go out most days, exploring and having fun with Hop, who is much less busy than his older brother. Though having fun does come with the reminder that, if she messes this up, she will never have fun like this again, it is still great to spend every day enjoying things that were once beyond her wildest dreams.

In that time, she and Hop become very close. She carries her notepad with her at all times, until writing to speak becomes like second nature to her, and their conversations feel natural instead of one sided. There are times when she wishes that she could tell him more, that she could tell him about where she's from, about her family and Nessa, and how she got here in the first place, but she still holds back, while he goes on endlessly about his childhood and his family and anything and everything that he can think about.

He has a lot of stories about Leon, and it is hard to hide just how interested she is in hearing about him. So far, she has not mentioned her interest in the crown prince to anybody either, knowing that there is no easy way to do that. No matter what, she will likely be reminded of his royal status, while she is a nobody who washed up on the beach, and without being able to talk about when she saved his life, it will seem like she has no reason to like him, because she has hardly met him.

Even with that story to add onto things, she knows that she still hardly knows Leon. Back then, she only watched from afar, and the first time that he spoke to her was after she had transformed and washed up. So she feels a little silly about the whole thing, no matter how important it may be to her, and tries to keep it a secret for now. If Leon falls in love with her, then there will be no need to hide it, because she can't possibly look silly for loving the man who loves her in return.

In the meantime, she has to settle for waiting for Hop to bring him up first, glad that the two of them are close enough that most of his stories involve Leon. Hop is great to be around in general, and even when she has begun to worry about her time ticking by without any progress, it becomes hard to stay upset once he is around. His smile is infectious and his energy and enthusiasm easy to get caught up in.

Once he realizes just how many things she has never seen before- or at least doesn't remember, as her story goes- he makes it his personal mission to try and show her something new every day. This is not a difficult task, and each time, he marvels at just how sheltered a life she must have led before. When he starts talking about that, it becomes even more difficult to hide the truth from him, especially when he looks at her with wide and curious eyes, his eyes practically begging her for some sort of story to explain it all.

She spends her first week just getting shown around by Hop, exploring things that had become mundane to him and that are entirely new to her. He claims that everything becomes new and exciting when he experiences someone who has not experienced it before, and that statement, strangely enough, causes her to blush. Hop seems like the sort to find excitement in anything, so she knows that that should not be anything special, but to her, it is.

When she finds herself getting flustered by his smile, she always reminds herself that he resembles Leon, especially in his smile, and his bright eyes as well. It would be hard not to be flustered by someone who looks so much like the man she is head over heels for, especially when she has the added embarrassment of being so surprised by things that should be common knowledge. She never feels stupid, not necessarily, but she does feel silly to get excited over what might be nothing to Hop, and to other humans.

But soon enough, her first week on land is beginning to come to a close, and Hop is still astounded by how clueless she is, and she is still no closer to getting Leon to really notice her. Gloria has begun to worry, and perhaps that worry is what makes her do what she does. Perhaps she feels like she needs an ally in this, or perhaps she just feels like she can trust Hop after all the fun they have had, and needs to talk about this to somebody.

Whatever the case, she makes the decision to tell him the truth about her, everything that she can. As far as she knows, the spell will not be affected by her telling someone who is not Leon, and she chooses to believe that Hop will keep her secret, as long as she makes him promise to. She does not want to be alone in this anymore, and she does not want to lie to him every time she is forced to use amnesia as an excuse for not understanding something.

Her opportunity comes one day when they visit the ocean. Hop had put this off all week, afraid that being near the ocean might upset her or drag up unpleasant memories, but today they decide to go, with Hop wondering if this might drag up a lot of memories, perhaps enough to understand where she came from. Today, she is going to tell him that it is where she came from.

"Do you believe in mermaids?" he asks her out of nowhere, as they walk along the beach. It is the perfect introduction, she thinks. Almost too perfect, but then he says, "I'm not sure. Lee keeps talking about being saved by one, but it seems a little out there to me. Still, it would be interesting, wouldn't it?"

I believe in mermaids , she writes, and Hop nods, not judging her in the least for it.

"Well, I suppose the ocean is pretty big. I doubt we know everything that's out there so it might be possible. It must be nice to be able to swim as far out or as deep as you want to."

Gloria takes a nervous breath before she writes, It is.

"Huh?"

But being up here is nicer.

"Gloria, are you teasing me?" he asks with a grin. "You've got quite a playful sense of humor, I'll give you that. Do you think you always have?"

He looks at her, expecting an answer. Well, this is it. Time to tell him everything. Pen in shaky hand, she presses it to the paper, trying to think of how best to explain it.