Part Of His World {MJ}

11

Day Two~

Jewel's POV:

When I finally calmed down, Michael took me to his favorite human place.

He stopped the car in another parking lot.

This place was all too familiar. I heard the familiar sound of waves crashing, and the smell of sea salt.

As we walked, I felt the sand under my feet.

We walked further into the beach. It felt nice to be there. It was home.

A home I would never see again.

"Why is the beach your favorite?" I asked.

He breathed deeply through his nose, smelling the harsh aroma of the ocean. "It's peaceful here. I love being in and around the water." He said. "There's a lot we don't know about the ocean, so people are easily scared by it. In a way, I relate to the ocean."

"You think people are scared of you?" I asked.

He laughed. "No, I mean people don't know much about me" He said.

"I think I know a lot about you." I said.

He scoffed. "Believe me, you have no idea." He said. "We've only just met, but it won't be long until you do."

"Oh. I said. "Well, do you have any assumptions about the ocean?"

He shrugged. "A few. I don't talk, or think about them much."

"What are they?"

"Well," He started. "I think there's a lot of things we have yet to discover."

"What kind of things do you think there are?"

He stared out into the ocean as he thought about my question. "Possibly a sunken city. I'd like to think there's some kind of ancient underwater city like the one I saw in a movie before. I think that'd be cool."

"With mermaids?" I asked.

He scrunched his nose. "Mermaids are a little out there. They sound like cool creatures, but I think the chances of their existence are really low."

I frowned. "Oh, I see."

"Do you think they're real?" He asked.

I panicked. "Uhm... not-not really." I said.

If denying who I once was would turn me into what I wanted to be, then so be it.

We made eye contact for a moment. Did he know I was lying?

His eyes broke away from mine and landed on the jewel around my neck.

"That's a nice necklace." He said, changing the subject. He held the sparkly jewel in his hand. "It was all you had on when I found you."

He turned it in his hand, letting the sun reflect off of it from many different angles.

"It's all I have left." I said.

"Where did you get it from?" He asked, still admiring the jewel.

"I found it. I don't remember where." I lied.

He looked up at me. "It looks beautiful on you." He said with a smile.

My cheeks reddened. "Thank you."

He looked back down at the necklace. This time, confusion spread across his face.

"Am I crazy, or did the number on the necklace change?" He asked.

"What?" I said, trying to play it off.

"I could've sworn the number was thirty yesterday." He said.

I slowly shook my head. "Nope... it's always been twenty-nine." I said.

He remained utterly confused. "I guess I am crazy then." He said. "Does it have any meaning?"

I searched my head for a quick and easy lie. "My birthday is on the twenty-ninth."

He raised a brow. "The twenty-ninth of what?"

I didn't know a lot of the human months on the calendar. I tried to remember the name of one of them. An image of a sunken human calendar that I had in my trove came to me.

"July." I said.

"That's in two days. Today's the twenty-seventh."

"Right." I said, faking as if I already knew.

"Your birthday is a month away from mine. Mine is on August twenty-ninth."

"We're twenty-nine twins." I said.

He smiled at that and then proceeded to laugh for a while. I loved his laugh. It made me laugh too, so we both ended up laughing together.

"I guess we are." He said once he finally calmed down. "I'll make sure your birthday is as good as I can make it."

"You don't have to, it's fine-"

"No, I want to do it for you. I never really got to celebrate my own, or others people's birthday until I got older. I enjoy seeing other people enjoy their birthdays."

Michael had a heart of gold. I loved his kindness and sincerity. He was willing to take the weird, passed out on the beach naked girl into his home, teach me all about his world without pointing out how strange I was, and on top of that, he was going to celebrate my birthday with me.

The only thing is that he wouldn't know July twenty-ninth wasn't actually my birthday.

It was the seventh day in the month of Neptune on the pacific calendar. I wasn't too sure what day that would be on the twelve month human calendar.

"Well, I appreciate that. I've never celebrated my birthday." I said.

"It's really fun. You get a nice cake with candles. I think you'll love it. You seem to love everything." He said.

I giggled. "Because I do."

"I'll even get you a birthday gift." He said.

"A birthday gift?"

"That should be self explanatory."

"Yeah, it is. I've just never gotten one." I said.

"Well, I'll give you your first one." He said with a wink.

"You're giving my first of a lot of things." I said.

Michael seemed to suppress a laugh. Was it because of what I said?

"What?" I asked.

He shook his head, letting his smile come
through just a little. "You wouldn't get it." He said.

I gave him a small smile. "I understand that I don't understand a lot of things."

He wrapped his arm around me. "Yeah, you're a little different then most people, but there's not problem with that."

I looked up at him. "So you like me?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I like you."

I smiled. "I like you too."

But did he love me?