These characters are normally vampires and belong to Stephanie Meyer. I'm just borrowing them for a sec.
Shimmering scales appeared on Bella's ankles as soon as her feet touched the water. With every step, more appeared. By the time she was past the rocks and deep enough to swim, her entire leg up to her hip was sparkling.
She gracefully dove into a cresting wave and disappeared into the foam as it crashed. After a tense minute, her head popped up. With a curl of her finger, she beckoned me to join her.
As if that little motion had put me under a trance, I stood immediately. I stripped off my shirt, emptied my pockets, and removed my belt, leaving them all on the log. On my way to the water, I picked up her dress and tossed it back beside my things.
I waded into the water after her. My dive through a rising wave wasn't nearly as graceful as hers, and I had to cough out the saltwater I accidentally swallowed. When I got close enough to her, Bella disappeared beneath the surface. I tilted my head back to take in air, filling my belly first, then my chest, and taking a last hissing sip into my throat. Then, I sank down after her.
When I saw her, I pushed my hands out before me to hover in space, pausing so I could take in the spectacular view of her in her natural form. Her perfect face remained the same, her loose hair flowed around her in the water like a fan. The creamy skin of her stomach shifted into glistening golden scales and continued down where her human legs had fused into a magnificent tail.
She was more beautiful than anything I could have dared to dream.
Stupidly, I released up all of my saved air gasping at the sight of her. I kicked up the surface to take a breath, where she met me.
"Wow," I gasped, unable to come up with anything coherent to describe her. "Wow."
A beautiful blush spread across her cheeks.
Her tail was strong enough to keep her buoyant as she took her hands out of the water to sign, "Can I show you my favorite spot?"
"Yes," I nodded eagerly, "please." I wanted to know everything about this glorious, gorgeous creature.
Beaming, she took one of my hands into both of hers. Unsure of what she wanted from me, I stayed in place and let her take the lead. She squeezed her eyes shut and tucked her chin into her chest. Then, she opened her eyes and jutted her chin towards me to indicate that she wanted me to copy her. I nodded in understanding.
After I took in another full breath, she lowered us under the water. I closed my eyes just as she wanted me to. She wove her arms under my armpits and pulled me towards her by my shoulder blades. Suddenly water rushed all around me. I felt like a rag doll that had been thrown into a washing machine, helplessly dragged through a watery vortex. I instinctively kicked my legs, but they did nothing for us, for Bella's strong tail has us cutting through the current at an insane speed.
When we resurfaced, I gasped for air. I whirled, looking to see where we were, and could only see water stretching endlessly into the horizon. Instinctively searching for something to hold out here in the open sea, I clung to Bella. She wrapped her arms around my torso and let me rest my chin on her head, supporting us both with her strong tail.
We listened to my breath slow and steady in the middle of the ocean. I released my hold on her settled back into the water. Her hands slid around my sides, down my arms, and lingered on my forearms.
Feeling more than a little embarrassed, I met her gaze.
Her little smile said, "Oops."
My laugh came out more like a pathetic wheeze. "It's good," I attempted to reassure her, "I'm good."
Unable to sign with her hands holding my arms she nodded her head back towards the open ocean, presumably towards LA, and then pointed with her chin to a spot past my shoulder. I turned to look where she was pointing to and could just make out small, dark bumps on the horizon.
"Let's keep going," I decided. "I came with you to see your world."
She didn't look entirely convinced. I made a show of sucking in my next breath and sunk into the ocean. It only took a second before her arms were around me again and we were swimming.
Our ultimate destination turned out to be a sheer cliff. On either side, a collection of rocky islands rose out of the water, too small and steep to be worth inhabiting. Rocks speckled across the sea, creating a maze that would be difficult for even a small boat to safely navigate through. Doing most of the work herself, Bella led us to the side of the smallest island, decorated with white coral. Bella released her hold on me and dropped below the surface. I quickly sunk down after her.
The ash-white coral above the water was only the corpse of what lay below, where the steep walls of the vibrant reef filled with life. Bubble coral, shiny sponges, and urchins covered every inch beneath schools of colorful fish, and I watched the airy climb of an octopus scale the shoal as I sank down.
The surface stopped tugging at me once I'd dropped deep enough, and I let myself drop with my arms out around me, falling between beams of sunlight casting through the water.
Swarms of bright fish twisted around me and scattered in every direction. I swam into a cloud of butterflyfish and the sunlight caught their iridescent scales, twinkling like stars at twilight. I stopped, reaching out to touch them with my fingertips as they skittered past.
Smiling, I turned back to Bella. She was a drifting, golden form before the infinite blue, watching me before she reached out and did the same. They whirled around her like little sterling flames before they jutted beyond, leaving us.
Bella's gaze met mine, and I blinked slowly, completely entranced by her. She swam towards me, and her dark hair swirled around her in the green light. All else was forgotten as we stared at one another in the complete quiet of the sea.
Then she was coming closer. The air burned hot in my chest as her hands lifted and touched my face. Her eyes never left mine and every speck of gold in the warm brown glimmered. Her fingertips slid into my hair as she pulled me toward her and before I could even think about what she was doing, her lips touched mine.
Bubbles ran up between us as I opened my mouth to taste the warmth of hers, and the whole sea fell silent. It swelled. I wrapped my arms around her to pull her closer. Trying to feel her in the cold water.
Suddenly, we shot back up past the schools and corals. We resurfaced and I gulped the air, not realizing my lungs were burning. I was so enchanted by everything Bella, I forgot I needed to breathe. Her sweet kiss had lit a fire in me, and suddenly I couldn't have enough of her. Without taking the time to properly catch my breath, I pulled her back to me and crushed my lips to hers.
oOo
On a smooth, flat rock against a sheer cliff of the island, I lay beside Bella. Nestled into the crook of my arm, she had her eyes closed and her arms wrapped around my waist. My legs dangled off the side of the rock and into the water beside her golden tail.
While we were making out in the water, Bella and I slowly made our way to the flattest solid surface we could find among the rocks and coral. She had decided that I needed to save some strength for the swim back to her beach; I decided that I needed a stable surface to effectively kiss the five freckles on her ear I had been dreaming about for months now.
When she first climbed up on the rock beside me, I practically devoured her. Able to use my hands since I no longer had to swim, I placed them on either side of her face and secured it to mine. She immediately opened her mouth to mine, as hungry for me as I was for her.
The intensity died down, as our kisses grew slower and softer. I lowered her down onto the rock on her back and moved my lips from hers over to the perfect little spot beneath her ear. After I kissed freckle number five, I relaxed beside her. She shifted so her body was molded against mine, and I slid my arm under her head. Content to just be beside one another, our eyes closed. Occasionally, I would turn my face to hers and place a light kiss on a new spot.
In the absolute peace and serenity of the open ocean, the sound of my stomach growling was deafening.
Her eyes flew open, and she glanced down towards my stomach with a furrowed brow.
"Ugh," I kissed her temple, "I didn't eat this morning."
She slid off the rock with a small splash.
"No," I whined. I flopped over so I was laying on the rock on my side, my face in front of hers bobbing in the water. I rested my head on my bicep. "We can stay."
She frowned and patted my stomach.
"It'll be okay."
She shook her head.
I sighed, "I'm not ready to leave your world quite yet."
Her fingers reached out of the water and ran through my hair. I let my eyes close again, content with starving if that meant more time with Bella. The peace only lasted a few seconds before I felt Bella coax my eyelid open with her pinky.
Her pretty face was alight with an idea.
"Yes?"
"Something else I want to show you," she signed.
"And there would be food there?"
She nodded emphatically.
I hadn't really asked questions so far, and everything turned out wonderfully, so I decided to just roll with it. I jumped into the water next to her and let her wrap herself around me. We were back to our first secret beach in a matter of minutes. The trip back to solid land was far less stressful than the trip towards the infinite depths of the Pacific. When we were close enough to the shore where I could stand, I lifted Bella from the water and cradled her in my arms. She was heavier than I expected with the tail; I would have to get Emmett to up my weights to make carrying her easier. Unable to resist her for long, I trailed a few kisses down her cheek as I walked up the beach and towards the truck.
By the time I had her seated on the tailgate, her tail had already separated into legs, still sparkling with scales. As I watched her pull her wet hair back into a long ponytail, it suddenly dawned on me that she was about to be naked right in front of me. I supposed she had been naked the entire time we were in the water together, but my focus had been on her tail or her lips. Out of the water, in a very stereotypical mermaid fashion, her long hair and covered most of her torso.
Feeling my ears get hot, I immediately looked away, "Hey, um, Bella? Do you have a towel or something back here you would like me to get for you?"
Apparently, sirens and humans had very different ideas on modesty. That is, sirens had zero sense of modesty at all. Without bothering to cover herself, Bella shamelessly hopped down from her seat and sauntered across the sand. I looked down at my feet as she heaved her naked body up and over the side of the truck. Eyes downcast, I heard various objects rustling as she searched for something under the tarp.
Something soft hit me in the head, and I held out my hands in time to catch the offending object. A towel. I looked up, and Bella was already wrapped up in her own, with a knowing smile spread sweetly across her face.
"Yeah, yeah," I murmured. Embarrassed, I looked around for something to do rather than watch my naked girlfriend dry herself off. It seemed like something that needed to wait until the third date, at least. I spotted our things still on the log where I left them and gratefully walked back down the beach to gather them.
When I returned, the scales on Bella's legs were almost gone. She thanked me for her dress and threw it on over her head. I pulled on my shirt as well and walked around the truck. I wished I could offer to drive, but I didn't know where she was taking me and there was no way for her to give me directions. With a reluctant sigh, I slide into the passenger seat.
Her old truck roared to life, and we were on our way to our next secret mermaid destination. With the windows down, the wind and the sun quickly dried our wet hair. The drive was short down a small, coastal highway, and I only had to bite down a shout twice. Narrowly avoiding a cyclist, Bella pulled her truck up into a lot along the beach and easily parked.
I met Bella at the front of her truck and gestured for her to lead the way. Hand-in-hand, Bella led me down a boardwalk to a small, beach-side market. Wooden stands crammed into the space, selling anything from fruits, to home décor, to jewelry. On a Wednesday afternoon, most people were at work or school, so the place was mostly empty.
I stopped dead in my tracks at a small stand with only a table and a grill, advertising the best breakfast sandwich in town. My stomach rumbled at the sight of an egg sizzling on the grill.
Bella tugged at my hand, wanting us to go forward.
"One second, Bella," I said, eyes locked on a sausage patty.
But Bella had somewhere to be. She pulled on my hand so hard, her flip-flops lost their traction on the boardwalk, and her feet slid forward, causing her to fall back. I caught her with my other arm before she could hit the ground.
"Calm down, you weirdo," I chuckled as I steadied and pulled her back up to standing beside me. "I'm going to get some food here; I'll find you in a bit." I felt her head nod against my shoulder and released her. She continued off further into the market while I got in line.
The woman at the stand boasted about her homemade English muffins and sundried tomato aioli, and even though I had no idea what aioli was, I ordered four sausage, egg, and cheese sandwiches and the biggest water bottle they had.
Satisfied with my purchase, I scanned the area for Bella. When I saw a stand displaying books, I began walking towards it, guessing that Bella would be there. As I got closer, I could see the only employee was gazing lustfully down at something on the ground, and I knew I found her. I walked around the main display table to where he was staring and saw Bella kneeling beside a small bin with a sign that read Take a Book, Leave a Book.
I put my bag of sandwiches down and knelt beside her. "I guess I know where you get your paperbacks from," I grinned, flipping through the pages of the first book I touched. It felt like such a long time since I had watched the beautiful, mysterious girl sitting across the courtyard at lunch read paperback after paperback. Now, she was beside me. Slightly less mysterious, but infinitely more beautiful.
Book in each hand, Bella smiled up at me.
"Are you going to trade for one?" I asked.
She held up the book in her right hand and gave it a few flaps in the air. She opened her bag and dug around. After a moment of searching, her eyes widened in panic.
"Do you not have a book to trade?"
She tucked her bottom lip between her teeth and dumped the contents of her bag onto the floor. There were pens, pencils, keys, a few fishing lures that I wasn't going to ask about, and her notebook, but no book.
"Hey, man," I called to the employee over her head, "Would it be okay if she takes this one and brings two next time?"
"You have to trade in a book to take one," he answered monotonously, suddenly grumpy because the beautiful girl sitting on the floor in his stand was taken.
Bella's shoulders slumped and she placed the book back in the bin.
"Can I buy you one instead?" I offered, already in love with the idea of giving her a gift.
Staring mournfully into the bin, she shook her head.
I stood up anyway, searching the tables for something that might strike her interest.
She grabbed my hand to get my attention, shook her head, and pointed towards the bin.
"It's okay. I would love to buy you a book," I said, picking up one that looked like it could be historical fiction from the cover art.
She took it from my hand and stacked it back neatly on the pile.
"I only want that one," she signed.
"None of these?" I asked, gesturing to the table of books.
She crossed her arms and shook her head.
"Only the one in there?" I challenged, pointing at the bin.
"Only that one," she signed.
"Out of all the books in the world, you are only interested in reading that specific one?" I confirmed.
"Yes," she signed. Her smile was smug, clearly thinking she had just foiled my plans and won the argument.
Without even looking down, I picked a random book off the table and immediately purchased it from the indigent employee. I placed the book into the bin, pulled out the one she wanted, and handed it to her.
"You can borrow it," I smiled.
She wasn't pleased; that much was obvious. But, without any further argument, she plucked the book out of my hands and placed it into her bag. She could thank me later.
We looped back around the market to her truck, where she pulled another old towel out from under the tarp. She led me down another path of the boardwalk that ended closer to the water. On the perimeter of the market, I spotted a small stand of homemade clothing. Close to the water's edge was a rack of sundresses that looked suspiciously similar to Bella's collection.
I lightly elbowed her in the side and nodded to the stand, "I also see where you get all your dresses."
She flushed a deep red. I laughed. I offered to buy her one of those to trade as well, and she dragged me to the opposite side of the beach, far from the clothing stand. When she found a spot in the sand that lived up to whatever standards she had, I took the towel from her hand and unrolled it.
I took my sandwiches out of the bag and placed them in the towel in front of me. From the corner of my eye, I watched Bella's jaw drop. When I turned to look at her, she stared up at me incredulously and held up four fingers.
"What?" I asked innocently. "Two for breakfast, two for lunch."
The judgmental set of her mouth stayed in place as I took my first bite. I was starving; I ate the whole thing in four bites.
"Are you gonna eat anything?" I asked after a long swig of water.
She shook her head.
After a hard swallow, I looked down at the rest of my food; I felt awkward being the only one eating. The gift that she is, Bella alleviated that discomfort immediately by pulling out her new book. She laid down on the towel and held the book up over her face, using it to block the sun from her eyes. As I ate, she read. Unsurprisingly, the two mundane acts somehow felt better with us together. Everything felt better with Bella.
The second I finished eating, she popped back up and inspected the empty wrappers.
"Yupp, I'm done."
More than ready to have my undivided attention back on her, Bella pushed my legs into a straddle and settled herself in between them, her back pressed against my chest. She grabbed her notebook and a pencil and folded up her legs to use as a writing surface. I wrapped one arm around her waist and rested my chin on her shoulder so I could see what she was writing as she wrote it.
Together we looked past the shore onto the infinite horizon of the sea. I sighed longingly, "You have no idea just how many times I had this exact daydream."
Did you eat four sandwiches in these dreams?
I laughed; she was quickly catching on to my sense of humor and I greatly appreciated it. "Yes. Every time. Sometimes five or six."
She kissed my cheek.
"Mmm," I hummed, "And your kisses. Don't get me started on those. I've wanted one of those since the first moment I saw you."
I did, too. She doodled a curly pattern around the words.
My brow furrowed, "What? You were terrified of me for at least a month."
I felt her cheeks warm. You noticed that?
An incredulous bout of laughter burst out of me. "Did I notice that?" I exclaimed, "Isabella Swan, you actively ran away from me on multiple occasions."
I was so sure you never saw... I hope I didn't offend you.
The chuckles dissipated and I shook my head, "Lucky for you, I spent more energy into figuring out how to talk to you and show you I wasn't scary than I did worrying about what scared you."
Sorry about that.
"It's alright. But I am curious," I admitted, "What did I do that frightened you?"
It was nothing that you did, per se. I wasn't sure what to think of you. You were pleasant to look at. Fun to listen to. Even nice to smell. I had never felt hunger for a human before, and the thought that I was beginning to crave one frightened me.
"Wait a second," her hand stopped writing. "You're telling me that you liked me back, but you thought you wanted to eat me?"
I didn't know!
I turned my face to suppress my laughter into her neck. She sighed indignantly and I replaced the laughter with a few apologetic kisses.
I tried to avoid you, so I wouldn't feel this craving for you, but nothing really helped. I wouldn't even need to look at you. Just the feeling of you looking at me was enough to make me ravenous.
I ran my fingers through her ponytail.
I didn't think you ever noticed that I was avoiding you because you were so sweet that day at the pool. When you asked for my name, it pained me that I couldn't say anything back to you. Even worse, I had to show you that I was a freak.
People spoke to me all the time, but when they realized I couldn't say anything back, that was typically the end of it. Most people assumed I was weird. A few said I was stuck-up. The worst people told everyone I was stupid.
I frowned. "I never thought any of those things."
Regardless of what they thought, they stayed away. I thought I was used to it. But even the idea of you thinking I was any of those things was unbearable. And the thought of you staying away was even worse. I struggled to figure out why it mattered. I never cared what other people thought about me. But not only did I care what you thought, but I also wanted your thoughts about me to be nice ones.
"What changed?" I asked, "I was so happy the day you finally approached me. But, if you were so scared and confused…"
I saw you sit alone with that girl. I heard you tell her she was lovely.
"Angela."
I realized why I cared. I wanted you to be alone with me. I wanted your hand on the small of my back while we walked. I wanted you to tell me I was lovely.
"You're lovely," I breathed into her neck.
I wanted you to be mine. I had no idea how I was going to get you. Or how much strangeness you would be willing to put up with before you decided it wasn't worth it.
I frowned at the notion that Bella would ever think that she was unworthy of anything, especially my affection.
But I did figure out the first step would be to stop avoiding you.
I cracked a smile and nodded, "Very intuitive."
I Googled it.
"What did you Google?" I bit my lip to hold back my laughter.
How To Approach a Boy.
I lost it. I felt slightly bad for laughing at the poor, little mermaid who was simply trying to understand human customs, but her shoulders were full-on shaking with laughter as well.
"I Googled 'How to Tell if Someone is a Mermaid'," I admitted, as an attempt to make her feel better about her silly internet search.
She whirled. Her hands were clamped over her mouth as she tried to keep herself from laughing out loud. Her whole body shook. I squeezed her against my chest, trying to stop my ribs from hurting.
"I… used… incognito…mode," I gasped between breaths.
At that point, she actually snorted and that set me off again.
It went on for a while. Our laughs would escalate, reach a painful peak, then start to die down. We'd sigh, thinking we were done, and then one of us would peek at the other from the corner of their eye, and we'd start again.
Once we were finally settled, I took a deep breath. We were talking about something serious, and I got us all wound up and distracted. "So, what did Google tell you?"
She took a deep breath of her own and went back to writing, it said that I needed to strike a conversation with you and gave a few topics. The first note I wrote asked about a book I saw you with several weeks prior.
I grinned. "Casual."
Before I could give you my note, another girl asked you to be hers instead. Still irritated over that fact, she underlined another three times.
I tightened my hold on her for a moment. "Jessica."
I was so sure you were going to say yes. She was so pretty and she was talking about how she could help your friend. But I didn't think I could handle hearing you say yes, so I... She tapped the pencil on the page, unsure of what to say.
"Bella?" I asked, "Did you purposely fall onto the ground that day to get my attention?"
She bit down her lip. It worked.
I laughed.
I knew you would come to help me, and you did. When you said something in sign language, I was sure there was a hope that you could be mine.
"Mmm," I skimmed my nose across her jaw, "I was already yours."
You made it so easy for my next attempt. I had the perfect reason to talk to you, to thank you for helping me that morning. And, well, you know the rest.
I nuzzled my nose into her neck. I did know the rest. And the rest was absolutely perfect.
I was about to press my lips to her neck when my pocket buzzed. I pulled out my phone to see a text from Angela: You coming?
It was regarding our after-school study session at the coffee shop. I thought my absence at lunch and class would have clued her in that I wasn't going to meet her, but apparently not. The text was a grim reminder that my day with Bella would have to end and I would need to face reality again. We were at least an hour from the school, and I would need to be home when I usually would to avoid suspicions.
"I think I need to head back home."
Her expression sank, matching my own.
I wrapped my other arm around her, "I know. I don't want to leave either."
We can come back, she reminded me.
That lifted my spirits immediately. I would have to go back to reality, sure, but Bella would be there with me. School, home, life. They would all be infused with Bella here on out.
We cleaned up after ourselves on the beach and took our time walking back to the truck. I offered to drive us back to the school, now that I could use my phone's navigation system to lead me to a known destination. Thankfully, she agreed and leaned against my side the whole way home.
At the school parking lot, I carefully climbed out of the cab; she slid into the driver's seat behind me. I turned to say my goodbye—but it wasn't goodbye. If I had my way, I would never truly have to say goodbye to her. I held onto the roof of the truck as I leaned in for one more lingering kiss.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Bella."
The words tasted as sweet as her lips.