Chapter Two: Unanswered Questions
"First things first," Will says, perched upon the end of the two-person couch with Bella at his side. "Why did the water tentacle attack Bella?"
"And Cleo," Lewis puts in quickly. "Besides, the full moon isn't for a few weeks and there aren't any comets coming..."
"That's my fault," I say quietly.
Cleo looks shocked. "Your fault?"
"Now, hold on," Bella says. "Maybe there's a good explanation..."
I sigh, shaking my head. "I sort of manipulated the water into attack mode in case trespassers came invading the property, so to speak," I reply. "I was going out there tonight to get rid of the enchantment so that it wouldn't apply to you."
Cleo immediately turns to Bella. "You told her?"
"No!" Bella cries out. "I swear!"
"She didn't have to," I say quickly, feeling as if I was on trial when Cleo turned back to look at me. "I suspected it."
"Were we really that obvious?" Bella asks.
I shrug. "Mermaid thing," I say, shaking my head.
"But, the water..." Cleo says.
"Right," I say. "That. You both got there first and my gut-reaction was jumping in to stop the tentacle from hurting you guys."
"You can do that?" Will asks.
I nod. "Yeah," I reply. Turning, I walk into the kitchen and make my way towards one of the sinks on the island, and the rest of them move to follow me. Reaching out, I turn on the water and try to use my powers to manipulate it but, of course, it does nothing. "See? I can only manipulate enchanted water. We have our own private, freshwater spring nearby, that's not connected to the salt water. So, as you can see, my power is pretty unique." I turn off the faucet before turning back to them, hoping that my interrogation is over.
"Just one thing," Lewis says. "What happened to the tentacle after you dove in to stop it?"
"She stopped it," Cleo assures him.
"Quickly, too," Bella puts in.
"The water tentacles here react to my comfort level," I reply. "I've gotten them to trust me over time. When the water felt Cleo and Bella in it without me there, the water felt threatened because it had no way of knowing that I was okay with it. So, when I arrived and stopped it, it was able to see that we were on the same team and, in so doing, they're now safe to swim here."
"I've never heard of anything like that," Will breathed.
"You probably stumbled on a moon pool that was owned by the former residents of your father's house. Who was it?" Lewis asks.
"My great aunt and uncle raised their daughters here," I reply. "They all married high society husbands with their own estates, so they had no use for the house. It was when my great uncle, Frederick's, younger brother Andrew got married and had my father that they thought it was an opportune time to make up their will accordingly. So, that's how my father got the house..."
"Your father is Andrew's son?" Lewis asks.
"First and only," I reply. "He has two younger sisters—Felicity and Victoria—but Aunt Felicity lives in Florida for her painting job and Victoria lives in Sacramento working with their wildlife."
"Your family must be really traditional if they keep the estate in the male line, then," Cleo says.
I nod. "Extremely—from the moment James was born, Dad wrote in that James and his wife and kids would inherit the house upon his and Mom's deaths, or if they ever wanted to move into assisted living," I reply.
"What about if the son doesn't want the house?" Bella asks.
"Hopefully they have a son who does," I reply. "If James doesn't want the house, then it goes to Edmund."
"But where is Edmund supposed to go?" Will asks.
I laugh. "We have a smaller property on one of the San Juan Islands," I reply. "The second son always inherits that."
"But what do the daughters inherit?" Lewis asks, and then he turns and looks at the sink, which I am still standing beside. "Wait... What if the boys inherit the assets and money..."
"...and the girls inherit the ability to be mermaids?" Cleo asks, turning to Bella with an awestruck look on her face.
I immediately shake my head. "No, I don't think..."
"But, if it was, where would the information be?" Lewis asks.
I shrug. "I assume we have the lineage files somewhere..."
"Where do you keep your files?" Bella asks. "Like, of old deeds or maybe something having to do with your family?"
"Dad used to keep all of them in his study, before he became so preoccupied with the school," I reply. "But we now keep them..." I feel my jaw drop open. "We keep them in the pool house!" I reply, and dash out the main door and down the stairs and outside.
I make my way around the guest house—Cleo, Bella, Lewis, and Will at my heels—and make my way around the pool carefully. I'd always been a notorious klutz, and one false move could send me flying with a big splash, and potentially letting Cleo and Bella's secret out as well. I ran the rest of the way to the pool house and throw the door open, walking through the luxury, Better Homes and Gardens approved living room before making my way down the first hallway, which led past the first bathroom and into the alternative office space our property boasted. I immediately went to one of the file cabinets and threw open the top drawer, and proceeded to dig through the files, while Cleo, Bella, Lewis, and Will dug through the files of the other cabinets.
"Here!" Bella cries after a moment, digging through what must have been the sixth filing cabinet, and comes out with what appears to be a coffee-stained file folder, with a sticker-tag reading PARKER FAMILY RECORDS 1900-2000. "Wow, your family really does go far back," she says.
"There's one here from the 1600's," Cleo says, peering into the way back of the file cabinet.
"Yeah, we were passengers on the Mayflower," I reply, watching as Will, Lewis, and Cleo grab the rest of the folders. I quickly make sure that everything is put back to where it once was, which is when I see it, buried in the back of the cabinet I'd chosen. "Hold on," I say, staring at the bottom of the file cabinet.
"What is it?" Lewis asks, stepping forward.
I jiggle the file cabinet, and the bottom rattles severely. "It's a fake bottom," I say and immediately move the file folders from the drawer of the thing, and pull up the plank of wood that had been there. Setting that aside, I find other files that someone wanted to keep hidden for generations to come. Opening some of the folders, I see our Parker family genealogy traced back to when we were Anglo-Saxon knights in England, and then there is something that takes my breath away completely. "Oh, my god," I say quietly.
"What?" Cleo asks.
I raise my eyes to theirs, and shake my head. "I couldn't explain it before, but now I think I can..."
"What?" Will asks.
"Bella, remember how standoffish Cleo was when you first got here—no offense, Cleo," I say quickly.
"None taken," Cleo replies. "I was."
"Yeah, I remember," Bella replies.
"Well, you were really nice to me," I say.
Bella blinks. "Yeah, I guess I was... But what does that have to do with anything? I thought I always was nice..."
"She is," Will puts in, and Cleo, Lewis, and I all roll our eyes.
I shake my head. "I couldn't explain it, Bella, but did you feel something... I don't know, underlying, when we were singing?"
"Not a siren song, right?" Lewis asks.
"Lewis, you heard the song!" Cleo says impatiently.
"Right," Lewis says, taking the file folder from me and looking it over.
"This might explain a few things," I say, and hand over the paperwork. "I know it's a common surname, but..."
"Hartley," Bella whispers, looking over the documents. "Descended from Anglo-Saxon knights... My family moved to New Zealand in the 1950's before my dad was born. Then we moved to Ireland before his job, and that where I changed when I found those sea caves..."
"There's portraits, too," I reply, handing them over. "And a few old photographs dating from the 1800's or so..." Bella takes one from me and gasps, her eyes pouring over every detail of the exceptionally old photograph. "That's my Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather, John Hartley... But who is he standing with?" Bella asks, shaking her head. "I don't know them..."
I bend down to read the back of the photograph. "That's... Richard Parker, his half-brother," I reply, returning to my usual position. "Oh, my god... That means that Bella and I are..."
"Related!" Bella breathes. "So... We're cousins of some sort..."
"I don't have any cousins," I reply. "My mother was an only child, and my father's sisters never had children."
"We don't see my family much," Bella replies, "so even if I did have cousins, I don't know them."
"Look at this," Lewis says then, and we turn to see him staring into the file folder he'd taken from me and regarding some old photographs. "Olga, Anne, and Rose Parker—three sisters, dated 1840," he says, showing us all the photograph. "I assume they're related to you somehow, Nöelle," he says.
"Rose, the youngest, was my father's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother," I reply. "Olga and Anne only had daughters, so the estates were passed onto my father's line."
"Looks like Rose had a few kids, too," Will says, looking over a family tree from the file folder. "So, while Rose's family moved over here eventually, Bella's family broke off from all this and went to New Zealand..."
"This is too crazy," I say shaking my head.
"Hey, all in the family," Bella replies.
The next few weeks before school were taken up with Cleo, Bella, and I getting used to one another in our mermaid forms. It was a bit uncomfortable for me to transform in front of Lewis and Will at first, but soon we were all close friends and it didn't matter to me much. Lewis and Will were very patient with me, especially after Bella and Cleo gave them the short version about what had happened between me and John, and they were careful not to make disheartening comments about any of it. The time was also taken up with Lewis testing my powers, as well as Bella, Cleo, and I combining our powers for defense purposes.
Finally, on the last Monday in September, Bella, Cleo, Lewis, Will, and I were all due to start school. Lewis left before seven to get to the lab straightaway, while the rest of us didn't have class until ten. By the time we all got out of bed and dressed, it was after eight and we were ready for breakfast. I noticed that Edmund's girlfriend, Nathalie, was over that morning to carpool, yet I was pleased when my mother announced that I was to take Cleo, Bella, and Will to school with me, and she would handle Edmund and Nathalie.
After a quick breakfast of smoothies, scrambled eggs, sausage, and hash browns, we all of us immediately brushed our teeth again, while Cleo, Bella and I fixed our hair before heading out. We walked up to the garage where I pressed my own personal remote for it, unveiling my silver 2010 convertible BMW 3. Will looked appreciative of my car, while Bella and Cleo gave me plenty of compliments on it as we all piled in. Bella and Will climbed into the back, holding hands, while Cleo got into the passenger seat next to me. I pulled out of the garage, closed it behind us, and made my way down the drive and out onto the side road which led us to the main road; we only lived about ten minutes away from campus.
Once we arrived and I put my parking permit in place, we got out of the car and headed to the front office, where we would be presented with our schedules. I'd done a hybrid program while in high school, so I'd knocked the first two years of college off my education plan already; while I was starting college officially that day, I was considered a junior. As we walked into the office, I showed where Cleo, Bella, and Will could get their new student I.D.'s taken care of, as they would need them to get their schedules. I waited for the pictures to be snapped, the mandatory ten dollars to be exchanged, and for their now-officialness to the school.
I walked up to the desk first to show them how to properly get the paperwork for incoming students. "Nöelle Parker," I say, handing over my I.D.
"Hello again, Miss Parker," says Julie Daniels, the secretary as she sifts through her paperwork. "Good to see you again—I hope you had a good summer."
I smile at her. "Thank you, Mrs. Daniels—I did, thank you. I hope you and Mr. Daniels and your kids had a good time."
"Thank you, dear," Mrs. Daniels says before finding my schedule and handing it over. "Enjoy. See you soon," she says before peering around me as I step back. "I can take the next person now."
Cleo steps up next. "Cleo Sertori," she says.
Once they've all gotten their paperwork, we look through the folders to check out everything the welcome wagon gives us. There was, of course, our schedule; a map of the school; a packet about upcoming welcome mixers and other student events —some of which would be hosted on campus and some others which would be hosted at my house—information if you wanted to pledge a fraternity or a sorority, and information about activities the school offered. Once we'd finished reading all the literature they'd given us, it was time to announce what our classes were going to be.
"Organic chemistry, biochemistry, marine biology, statistics, psychology, genetics, social sciences, and French," Cleo says. "I'm taking the first four for half the year, and the second half after what you call mid-winter break."
Bella goes next. "Poetry, jazz club, choir, creative writing, calculus, French, and marine biology," she tells us.
"Swimming and diving, college preparatory writing, speech writing, marine biology, world history, and French," Will says.
"Poetry, jazz club, choir, creative writing, statistics, French, and marine biology," I say, relieved. "Looks like we'll be seeing a lot of each other."
"Do all American guys look like that?" Cleo asks, nodding behind me, and Bella peers around me to look.
"Good eye, Cleo—better not let Lewis hear you say that, though," she puts in, and Will rolls his eyes as he turns halfway to see what they're staring at.
"If you're into that sort of thing, maybe he's got something," Will allows.
"What are you all looking at?" I ask, turning, and my jaw drops as I see the person speaking to Mrs. Daniels.
"Thank you, I did have a wonderful summer in Europe," he says.
"What did you do?" Mrs. Daniels asks him.
"Took some courses in Italy, actually," he replies, smiling at her.
"They don't call it a romance country for nothing," Mrs. Daniels tells him. "Did you meet anyone over there?"
He shakes his head. "No. No, I messed up really bad with my ex-girlfriend and I don't know if I'm ever going to get over that."
Turning around, I feel myself hyperventilating at what I'm hearing. I find I am shaking at his declaration, and I feel Bella, Cleo, and Will staring at me in a moment of confusion. "That's John," I whisper.
"John? Okay," Will says, about to hand Bella his paperwork.
"Whoa, whoa!" Bella says.
"What are you thinking?!" Cleo hisses under her breath.
"Nöelle's our friend!" Will hisses back. "And that low-life hurt her, so now I'm going to hurt him!"
"No," I say, reaching out and grabbing Will. "It's fine. Let's just go, okay? I can show you around campus."
"Nöelle?" John says, catching my voice and coming up to me. "Wow, it's been a while! How are you?"
I shake my head, forcing a smile. "Fine," I say, trying my best not to speak through my teeth. "How are you, John?"
"I've been better," he replies. "Listen, I'm not happy with how things went down, Nöelle, really. If we could get together and talk..."
"No," I say quickly. "We don't need to talk."
John looks hurt, and takes ahold of my arm. "Come on, Nöelle, please. I did a lot of thinking while I was in Europe and I'd like to sort things out."
"If by 'sort things out' you mean 'work things out' then I'm not interested," I say to him, ripping my arm away from him. I walk out the main double doors then and into the sunshine, trying to get away from him.
"Nöelle, please!" John says, desperation at the back of his voice.
I turn to him then; I fully intended to let him have it, although I'd forgotten about my ex-boyfriends' nervous habit. When we were together, he always, always had to have a water bottle on hand, but we were able to make it work without him ever getting it on me. However, this time, I wasn't as careful and, as I turned, the cap came off the water completely, and the water spilled down my front.
"Oh, god, sorry!" John says quickly. "Let me go get some towels..."
I shake my head, pushing past him immediately. "Don't worry about it," I say to him, running as fast as I could.
Thankfully, the university hugged the coastline—the very same coastline that my family's home did—and I was able to look around and make sure nobody was looking. I dashed down the back staircase, and along the path, before dashing on the grass. I threw my stuff down like there was no tomorrow and jumped head-first into the water, growing my tail upon contact. I instantly sank to the bottom of the water, lying upon its bottom and screaming beneath the surface, the bubbles which escaped my mouth full of my sorrows.
I felt something near me then, and, opening my eyes, I saw John, who had dived into the water after me. My eyes popped, and my first move was to swim away from him as quickly as possible, but I found I was frozen in place. I didn't know where my tears ended and the water began, but all I did know was that my secret was out and, if I wasn't careful, I'd get a one-way ticket to a circus. I watched as John pointed to the surface—while breathing underwater wasn't an issue for me, it wasn't for him; no matter what John had done, I didn't want him dead.
I go up to the surface with him, and thankfully, he paddles over to some rocks to sit, allowing himself to dry off on one while I come up beside him. Looking towards shore, the only people around are Cleo, Bella, Will, and now Lewis, who comes running from the science department. I stretch half my body onto the rock, allowing my tail to slap the surface of the water, driving the point home to John that it was connected to me.
"I would say I'm sorry for not telling you, but that wouldn't be true," I say.
John hesitates, mulling over my statement, all the while catching glances at my tail, just beneath the surface of the water. "Just tell me why you didn't tell me," he says quietly. "We were together almost four years..."
"Probably because I never trusted you completely," I reply.
John fixes me with a look. "Explain, please," he says.
"Well, after three and a half years, the first opportunity you get to make out with Lucinda, you did!" I say, narrowing my eyes at him. "You know how much she wanted you, John! Why didn't you admit to it?"
"I admitted that I knew she was interested in me—you know that," John said. "I know you remember our conversations about it. I also think you remember how I always told you how she wasn't my type!"
I shake my head. "Lucinda? Come on! She was thin and blonde and gorgeous! And then there's me..."
"What's wrong with the way you look?" John demands.
I look away. "You know the answer to that," I reply, hauling myself out of the water and next to him, crossing my fingers that the breeze will dry me and that I won't be seen.
John shakes his head. "So you're curvy and have brown hair," he replies, reaching out and tilting my chin up. "You're as beautiful as you were the day I met you! I was in love with you!"
I pull away from him. "You said 'was', so clearly you don't have any romantic inclinations for me anymore," I say. The wind kicks up, and my scales begin to dry completely; hopefully, I'll be able to scale the rocks and get on land without getting wet again.
"And why does it sound like you want me to?" John asks.
I run my hands through my hair, still wet from jumping head-first into the water. "I just don't appreciate how you let me down," I reply. "I worked so hard rehearsing with the band, and I wrote a song about us," I say to him, and inwardly curse myself for my shaking voice. "And then I hear you're not even there to listen to it, and, instead, you went into one of the back hallways to make out with Lucinda, who you know hated me..."
John pounds his fist into the rock in frustration. "Dammit—who told you that?" he asks, clearly hurt.
I gasp at his hand. "You're bleeding!" I cry out.
He shakes his head. "Doesn't matter," he replies, looking at me full in the face and trying not to wince from the gash. "Who told you that I went into one of the back hallways to make out with Lucinda?"
"Whitney Meadows," I reply.
"Whitney is Lucinda's best friend," John says, impatient. "Now, be honest with me, Nöelle, whose best interest does Whitney have at heart?"
"What?" I demand.
"Where does Whitney's loyalty lie? With me—the guy her best friend has been mooning over forever—or with her best friend, Lucinda?"
"Obviously, Whitney's loyalty would've been to Lucinda," I reply. "But that doesn't excuse what I walked in on..."
"I don't dispute that," John replies. "But what I do dispute is that you wouldn't let me explain..."
"Of course I wouldn't!" I cry out. "I wouldn't let you explain because you cheated on me!"
"That's not how it happened," John said, wincing again as wind contacted with his bleeding hand. "Yeah, I was drinking—I'd be stupid not to admit that," he says, and shakes his head. "Some of the guys snuck in booze. We were graduating in just a few weeks, and I wanted to one thing reckless, so I thought getting blitzed in the school hallway was a good idea."
I give him a look.
"Well, maybe not," he replies. "Anyhow, Lucinda came back there and saw us drinking and threatened to rat us out."
I roll my eyes. "Jeez, big surprise there..."
"Not really, no. So, I told Lucinda not to, and then some of the guys offered her some beer in exchange for her silence, which she took. So, we're drinking and then she tells me that she's always been into me. I told her I knew but that I was with you and nothing was going to change that. Then, she told me that she told Whitney that she was coming out here, and told Whitney to tell you..."
"Excuse me?" I demand.
"That's what I said," John replied. "So, I told her to stop making a fool of herself and that's when I saw you coming. Lucinda must've thought something was happening because she grabbed me and kissed me. I tried to get away, and when I did, you were just walking away and crying..."
I shake my head, when a final gust of wind comes, and my tail disappears completely and I'm left sitting on the rock, human again. "That is quite a story there, John," I say quietly.
"It's true," he assures me. "Every word."
I lock eyes with him. "That may be so, John, but I don't care. I'm not prepared to forgive you yet," I say, getting to my feet.
John grabs my hand, and I curse myself for shaking at the familiarity of his touch upon my skin. "I just want you to know that I won't say anything."
I nod. "Good. Keep it that way," I reply, walking off.
The highlight of the beginning of any school year for most students was a fall ball or homecoming dance of some kind. However, at my house, I would throw a blow-out Halloween party every year; now that Edmund and Nathalie were in high school, they were invited and permitted to bring a few guests as well. I was just happy that Cleo, Bella, Lewis, and Will had agreed to come and had seemed to show support in my platonic invitation of John.
What I hadn't counted on was Lucinda and Whitney showing up, dressed up as a pair of slutty cats. I did my best to play gracious host, blatantly ignoring the fact that they'd successfully destroyed my relationship. It was great that my father had surprised me with a DJ, whose repertoire mainly consisted of classics from the 1980's. As Hot Blooded by Foreigner pumped in the speakers, my jaw dropped when John showed up, dressed as a prince.
I was peeking out at the party from the top of the stairs, reluctant to come down in my costume. However, I finally forced myself to come down the stairs, my yellow ballgown a dead giveaway as to what I was, however, I'd spiced it up with a mask so as to dissuade people from knowing my identity. I walked down the stairs completely, meeting John as he hesitated in the foyer.
"The party's hopping," I say, hoping he can hear me.
He nods. "Looks that way. Great DJ; was the light show your idea?"
"No," I shake my head. "My dad insisted."
Lucinda spots John through the crowd and immediately steps forward, pulling at his hands. "Come on, John!" she whines. "I got all pretty tonight so that you'd pay attention to me!"
She's honest, I'll give her that, I think to myself. "Go," I say to John. "Go and enjoy the party."
"Nöelle..."
"No." I shake my head. "It's fine. Go on." I watch as Lucinda successfully gets him into the center of the dance floor, and drift off to the side, where Bella is staring up at the stage. "You all right?" I ask her.
She turns to me and smiles. "Oh, yeah."
"Sure?"
She sighs. "Well, my parents have to leave Australia," she replies. "My dad's hotel management job has them moving all over the country, sometimes on short notice, and it's terrible."
"When are they going?" I ask.
"After Christmas," Bella replies. "So, when we all go back there during the holidays, I have to pack up my stuff and give some away."
I sigh. "I'm sorry," I say, sympathizing despite the fact that I'd lived in one house my entire life. "Where do they go?"
"Back to Ireland, actually, where it all started," Bella replies. She looks as if she will tell me more, but she goes off to dance with Will.
I watch the party for a while, but find myself with the feeling of the outside looking in, and I wanted to do something about it. Making my way on stage, I asked the DJ if he had a karaoke setting on his system, which he did. I decided to go with the 1980's theme that had been going on. Within a minute, Laura Branigan's Gloria filled the party speakers, and I find myself emulating my performance after her, and I found myself at peace. I hadn't performed in public like this since prom night, and it was wonderful to be behind a microphone again, and I found that I was missing it wholeheartedly.
Once the song had ended, I took off my mask, and I was shocked that some of my guests were shocked that it was me. Wanting to go a bit more obvious with the point I was trying to make, I decided to go big or go home—especially since it seemed like everyone was clamoring for me to do an encore. Shrugging my shoulders, I turned back to the DJ, who was more than willing to help me out. I told him the same of the song, and it was on.
The guitar intro got everyone geared up for the country pop magic that was Taylor Swift, and I counted the beats before singing. I locked eyes with John for the chorus, something that wasn't lost on Lucinda, who looked like I'd interrupted her wedding night or something. Sure, You Belong with Me is an incredible piece of song writing, but it had an underlying meaning behind it, too.
In the weeks since John discovered my secret, he had been attentive to me without smothering me completely. He and I were on speaking terms, and he had even become fast friends with Lewis and Will, especially after I'd told Cleo and Bella that the reason behind our breakup was because of a misunderstanding. John told me that he'd gone to Europe over the summer to do some other course work to qualify as a junior as well, because he wanted to be the same year that I was in school. He said, bottom line, even if we weren't together anymore, that he did want to stay friends with me.
But as the weeks drifted by, and as our weekend study sessions in the guest house grew later and later, longer and longer, I found that I missed John. After I'd verified with his other buddies from high school—Rex Michaelson, Donovan Chesterfield, and Clarence Braddock—that they witnessed the whole thing (as well as the camera footage from that night which had been a few weeks' allowance, but had been worth it) everything checked out. I'd walk John out every night, and it had gotten to the hugging stage, something we were both comfortable with, yet I did find that I wanted more—I wanted him back.
However, as the last chorus drowned out, Lucinda made a grab for John and kissed him, and it was prom night all over again. I found my face contorting in horror, and saw Lewis and Will, as well as Cleo and Bella, looking on in shock. I lost control of the microphone and left the stage, running as fast as I could to the back door, and out into the cool, autumn darkness. Without a reliable light source, it wasn't very easy to find my way through the trees. Only the quarter moon leaking through the trees was what I had to go on, and as I ran, I ignored the tears which blinded my vision, and the fact that I could hear footsteps behind me.
I stopped at the edge of the cliff before taking off down the path and hesitating at the edge of the water, before turning around. I felt the tears on my cheeks as I saw that it was John, and wondered how long I had. "You don't have to explain anything to me," I say. "It's not like we're together..."
"No, we're not," John says, stepping forward and taking my hands, "but that's something that we both want, isn't it?"
I shake my head. "Lucinda won't like it..."
"She's only home for the weekend," John assures me. "She goes back to Arizona State in the morning."
I peek up at him, and bite my lip. "John..."
"Yeah, Nöelle?"
I force myself not to laugh; he always made questions sound like statements, and it was one of the things I missed about him the most. "I... I want you to come swimming with me," I say quietly.
"You'll ruin your dress..."
I reach behind and quickly untie the laces, before taking it up the beach and lying it flat upon the bank. I kick off the slippers next, and see that John is getting out of his costume as well. I await him at the edge of the water, finding his hand in the darkness. "Wait..."
"What?" he asks, not impatiently.
I turn to him then, standing on my toes and kissing him. "I want to say something like, 'After this there's no turning back', but that would be cliché."
John chuckles. "Nothing about this, I assure you, is cliché." He puts his arms around me, and says softly, "I can't tell you how long I've wanted this... You in my arms again..."
I shuffle from foot to foot, managing to avoid the currant so as this moment will last as long as possible. "I want to go to the cave..."
John hesitates. "Are you sure?"
I pull him against me. "Yes," I reply. "I can't lose you again—not again. All I want now is an honest, loving, relationship."
"Which means?" John asks.
"No secrets," I reply.
John pulls me closer, warmth against the coolness of the night. "No secrets," he assures me, and I pull him into the water behind me.
