Caribou Lake
An- my romance muse rose up and captured my mind temporarily. This is pure fluff. Sweeter than cotton candy, but guaranteed not to rot your teeth… It was written while I was in a romantic play, and I was playing a really sappy character, so this is not really my fault.
Llew- But still you post it?
Hey, every one needs a little sugar now and then! And the lake is a description of my cottage, basically. This story will keep coming as quickly as I can mold my short stories to fit into the shabby semblance of a plot that I'm trying to keep.
"Woah, Abe, don't worry about the second cup guy. He has NOTHING on this."
"Glad to hear it."
She gets out of the car slowly. I'm struck by the way the pine trees around us bring out the green in her skin, which I had thought previously to be a pure blue. She takes a step off the edge of the road, and steps around the sign that prohibits motor boats and keeps my secret so pristine.
The lake is a perfect mirror, with almost no wind to disturb the surface, the pine trees on the surrounding mountains reflect, giving the impression that I'm Alice, ready to step down and emerge in a mirrored world.
"Through the looking glass"
Marina's voice doesn't shatter the beautiful silence around us, but rolls gently though it.
"I thought so, yes"
She daintily kicks off the loafer she was wearing, and hovers her foot over the surface, as though reluctant to break it.
Unable to resist, I stoop, pick up a pebble off the side of the road, and toss it in right in front of her before her foot touches the water.
"Merde!"
She spins and glares at me.
"Jerky fish"
"Juvenile amphibian"
"Dyed bog monster"
"Extra terrestrial"
Marina opens her mouth, and then closes it, trying to come up with something. I smirk.
"I win"
She sticks out her tongue, which is surprisingly pink.
I look at her, and put my hands on my hips.
"Was that an invitation?"
She blushes an even deeper green, but a grin slowly erupts on her face.
"But you have to catch me first!"
With that she runs into the water and dips beneath the surface, trailing a stream of bubbles.
Marina always swears in different languages. She says it's because she spends too much time around Liz's daughter to have to focus on guarding her tongue. So far, I've heard French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and what I think may be Esperanto.
I don't swear. Much. Well, not in front of people who really care.
But Marina is somewhere in the lake. I step into the water and send out a tentative telepathic pulse.
Why you little cheater! Telepathy, hmph!
Yes, well… it worked.
Obviously.
Kissing someone when you're underwater is very different from kissing someone on land. I wouldn't want to try beneath the surface without gills, but on the whole I like it much better. Marina and I spent the rest of the day at the bottom of the lake. I gave her the grand tour, and showed her every aspect I had discovered over the years here;
A capsized rowboat. A pair of glasses. Another kiss interrupted our search. A beaver lodge and a dam.
What does a fish say when it hits a brick wall?
Come on Marina, you've asked me that joke how many times now?
DAM! Hah!
Right.
It always was her favorite joke.
We played with the small fish that stayed at the very bottom, and Marina was chased by a pike that thought she was getting too close to a nest she hadn't noticed. After swimming off at a break neck pace, she finally slowed and spun, glaring at me.
I was laughing very surreptitiously, if I do say so myself.
She, apparently didn't think so.
Next time you have a demon attack you, I am sooo sitting and watching.
Marina, it couldn't have bitten off your toe! It's mouth was tiny. What was it possibly going to do to you?
That's it! I'm watching your death with POPCORN!
We explored the series of streams that fed into the lake.
I got the rest of the picnic out of the car, and we sat on the bank, on the other side, where no traffic could see us. We watched a deer stop to drink at the edge of the lake at twilight. We kissed some more, and watched the sun set.
When the sun was high in the sky I pulled Marina's blue pendant out of the basket and attached it around her neck. She stared at it, for a few moments, the hugged me. We leaned back her head on my shoulder, and watched the sun finish setting. She never said thank you, but her fingers never once left the stone, toying with it subconsciously, and when we joined minds, I felt her gratitude. It was more meaningful than words ever could be, and I wondered again how humans could possibly ever find love without communication.
Then we got back in the car, blasted the heat, and ate the remaining chocolate, eggs, and liquorices before I started the car to take us back to the Bureau.
We didn't say anything on the drive back, but we didn't need to.