Rose wondered if it was really a lost cause to sit here by the dock, feet dripping into the water, and waiting for a glimpse of the man that she saw two months ago and now almost three months ago. He hadn't came back since then, but she'd been drawn in by his green eyes, by his voice that he spoke so softly to her with, and by the fact that he'd willingly saved her, more than she'd been drawn in by his dark, eel like tail.
She played with the string of her dress that was supposed to be tied back behind her, but that she'd forgotten about again and wasn't bothering to really tie right now anyway. She was humming an old melody that she'd picked up from the radio some time ago, and that she was only half positive was a love song; it could have been about anything now, but she thinks of it as a love song.
Finally, she grows restless like she grows bored, and she stands up only to see a flash of green, and she debates jumping in on a whim, even though she can't swim and that it why she had to be saved last time. She'd fallen in from her dock, while resting her feet, and thankfully he'd been there to save her. Rose could sort of pretend that she'd be able to crawl herself back up on to land, but she didn't know if the waves were as vicious as they sometimes looked.
"What are you starting to sing?" She'd began to pace by the shore, and though her humming had just broken off, the question was innocent enough.
"A song that I heard a while ago, but I don't remember what it was." She walked back towards the water, to sit down, and meet the surprised green eyes there as if he hadn't expected to be acknowledged. "Do you sing?"
"Sometimes." He sighed, "Is it peaceful here?" And, somehow she hears longing in his voice.
"It's too quiet most of the time." Rose sighs, "Is it peaceful there?"
"No, we have to be a different way." He moved, "We aren't peaceful to others, and I find myself doing more than I'd like to."
Rose sighed, shaking her head, "Thank you for saving me a couple months back." She wonders if there's something interesting to be found under the sea that she can't seem to find here. She just wants an adventure nowadays, a chance to fall in love, and be happy like Juleka's been lately or happy like Luka is. It's odd to think that somehow she'd gotten left out in a way that she never could have guessed or seen coming.
She thinks he's a merman when she pauses to think about it, but she doesn't know what that means as she slowly walks down to the dock to dip her feet in and wait. There has to be adventure somewhere and maybe a chance at just enjoying talking to someone or the gentle passage of seasons when spent with someone else. She knows that lonely people don't make for a healthy relationship, but she doesn't consider this dating either way, not yet, not right now.
"What's your name?" She asks maybe the third time that they meet up, and she realizes that maybe it should have came sooner, much sooner, but she doesn't consider why that is, when she just wants to know what to call him beyond her green eyed friend. All of her other friends have names that she knows, just not the potential merman.
"I'm Adrien." He smiled, and she wonders if he'd be a model if he didn't live in the sea. It was the sort of smile that she could picture framed up on a wall as people admire the easy and beautiful way that some people can smile. "What's yours?"
"I'm Rose." She smiled as she idly ran a finger across the water. "Are you a merman?" She can't help but ask, though Rose immediately regrets the words that left her lips.
Adrien smiles at her, and she's relieved that he doesn't look offended. Sometimes it's easy to speak without thinking the words through, and sometimes it's easier to offer kindness than to just stay quiet, though this doesn't feel quite the same as offering kindness. "I am."
Rose smiles, "I'm human." And she almost giggles at the look he gives her, and she realizes belatedly that he might have known that all along, sort of like how she guessed that he was a merman, but might have known that all along too.
"What songs do you sing?" Rose asks, wondering if he likes love songs or rock music or something else altogether. Her favorite songs are rock songs, but she sometimes finds herself humming to a random pop song or two.
"The songs of my people." And, she knows that that's the end of anything else she could hear about that. Rose knows better than to ask him to sing one.
"So Adrien, how do you show someone you love them? Like a mergirl that you're dating or something?" Rose stammers, when she considers how many people she loves, and how it is much different than falling in love and yet similar in its own respects. She loves her friends, but can't imagine dating them and she loves her family.
"We do what you do, for the most part. We can kiss...?" It sounds almost like an offer, so Rose leans over and kisses his cheek.
Adrien turns red for a moment, and she thinks that maybe there is a chance that something will bloom from this, even though she still can't swim. The waterlilies on her dock a few days later only confirm that happy, bubbly feeling in her chest.