I apologize for the waiting. I just had no inspiration to write and now I'm finally getting it back so I decided to use it and write some more.
Emily P – I'm very thankful for the critique. I'll definitely be more careful. If there are more things you see are wrong, feel free to correct me.
CheddarFetta – thanks. I hope you'll like this chapter.
AlyssaHolloway – yup, they are.
H2O4ever – thanks very much.
H2o25 – thank you. I know what you mean, I'm the same. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.
Chris & Melissa idea is owned by AlyssaHolloway. Hope you enjoy this chapter.
Legs shaved? Check.
Hair combed? Check.
Makeup applied? Check.
Melissa smiled as she watched her reflection in the mirror. Her short white dress went perfectly with her new flat sandals with fake crystal accessories. The dress had no suspenders and it was tight – Melissa's skinny figure stood out beautifully. Her hair was curled up and her eyes seemed big due to mascara. I haven't noticed before that I've got some tan, she said to herself and smiled. Finally it was her body's turn to get some color.
She heard the bell ring and her sister went to answer it. Melissa immediately left the bathroom and went over to the door. There stood Chris dressed in ripped dark blue jeans and a black T-shirt. Smiling, Melissa greeted him and he returned the greeting. Misty immediately left the couple alone – what they were doing, their talks and such, made her want to vomit.
"So are we going?" he asked.
Melissa nodded and then yelled: "Mom! Dad! I'm going!"
"Be home by eleven", her dad yelled back.
"You got it!"
Holding hands, Chris and Melissa left the Tanner residence and slowly walked towards Tropicus. Once there, they took a seat outside and watched as the almost full moon lighted up the see. The waitress – a young red-haired girl – walked up to them and smiled, asking to take their order. Ordering their drinks Melissa glanced up at the sky and giggled. This night is gonna be so beautiful. I'm sure nothing will go wrong. It can't!
H-2-O
Silvana Moretti walked around the lab nervously. Her heels echoed as she waited for her husband's results to be finished. She approached the door and took a look out; the sea sparkling under the moonlight, a bunch of other boats surrounding the boat she herself was in, lots of people – mostly tourists – walking around. And quite frankly it made her sick.
The moonlight is considered to be romantic – Silvana hated it. She preferred the day over night. In her opinion there's nothing more beautiful than the sun's golden light. And all those tourists outside; they were just the people that wouldn't mind their own business and looked around what other people were doing. 'To better understand other cultures' was their excuse for doing so. Silvana thought they were just nosy.
"Is it over yet?" she asked, impatient to get the results and see what in that water those girls have brought made it fly, freeze and steam.
"For the hundredth time: NO!" her husband – a tall, tanned man with an oval shaped face and dark hair – replied. His dark eyes made him seem strange and different; maybe even dangerous. His voice was deep and most people would find it frightening, but not Silvana. She simply rolled her eyes at his statement and cursed under her breath, angry at the man's slowness.
"How hard can it be to get the damned results done?" she yelled and slammed her fist against the wall.
"Tell that to the machine!" Arturo Moretti replied in a higher tone.
"Santa Madre di Gesù! Dio mio!" Silvana grumbled and sighed. "Why did I marry him? He's completely incompetent."
"I heard that!" Arturo snapped.
H-2-O
"So what do you like to do in your free time?"
Enjoying the pleasant night, Melissa and Chris decided that it's about time they get to know each other better. So they agreed that one asks another any question about them and they have to answer it. And they can't lie – at least they are not allowed to.
"I like to write", Melissa replied and smiled. "You?"
"I like to collect things. Rare things. And I like to explore. Adventure's, like, my other name", he said, excited.
This was a good talk, he figured, as this way he might make her tell him something about the weird things that happen lately. He wasn't on this date to have fun, just to get the information he needed out of Melissa. Dates and pretty girls – like Melissa – come later. Business is first.
Still, he couldn't help, but notice how pretty Melissa looked that night. She really put much thought into this date and wanted it to be perfect. Deep inside Chris felt sorry for her – he hated using people like that, but if that meant getting what he wanted then feeling sorry was out of question. It's not that he didn't like Melissa – he did – but she was so much more useful to him as his toy than his girlfriend and he had to put his feelings aside I order to reach his goal.
Melissa giggled the whole time. Honestly she was getting tired of this game. When she agreed to go out with him, she thought they'll do fun things like telling jokes and kissing. But no, her wanted to play this stupid game of getting to know each other. I know enough about him already. I just want him to kiss me. Or I could just…
Without a second thought she pulled him closer and kissed him. As their lips met, for the first time Melissa noticed his lips tasted so sweet. She's never kissed a guy whose lips were that sweet. And the kissing – she had to admit he did the job wonderfully, like a professional.
Well, that went well, she concluded.
Chris smiled at her and nodded in approval. Everything in his head was messed up. His thoughts and feelings changed and shifted in a matter of seconds; for a moment he's happy, then all of a sudden he's sad, angry, cheerful… It reminded him of a battlefield. Great, she's bored? Now what do I do? I have to get it out of her somehow.
"What else do you like to do?" he asked. He couldn't think of anything else to ask and this was his first choice. Of course, he could go straight and ask her about the tail he saw, but what would that do? He'd just scare her away.
Melissa frowned at his question. "Watch TV… I guess…" she spoke. What's going on? What is he getting at? She faked a smile.
"What else?" he asked, this time a mix of bitterness and anger present in his voice. Come on, Melissa!
"What's going on, Chris?" This time it was Melissa's turn to ask questions. She no longer wore a smile; her face radiated with seriousness and her voice seemed cold. "What do you want?"
Chris gulped. Damn, I'm busted! he thought to himself as he smiled nervously. He wasn't careful enough and now Melissa's suspecting something. He knew there's no getting out of this – now that she suspects, he'll have to do his best to convince her of something else, or at least to somehow change the subject.
"I just want to get to know you better", he lied; his voice shaking nervously. But he should've known better than to try to fool her.
"Liar!" she darted him with a look full of doubt. Many thoughts occurred to her – some of them told her he's just playing her, some that he's just nervous, some a little bit of both. But – she concluded – one this is for sure: he's hiding something and he's doing real bad at it.
"Tell me the truth."
He chuckled, but then his face straightened and his expression turned full serious. "As I said, I want to get to know you better. I want to know more about you. Like, some secrets you're hiding."
"What secrets?"
"You know damn well what secrets. About that tail, about what happened, about just everything that's going on right in front of my nose, but you refuse to tell me what it is. About that little 'project' of yours."
Melissa gulped.
"Yeah, you know, the one for chemistry. But was it really a project or was it something else? Something much, much bigger than we all can imagine. Tell me, Melissa, what is the truth? Just what are you and what is it about you that makes me think you're hiding something?"
"I don't don what you're talking about."
H-2-O
"Here, it's done", spoke Arturo, while handing Silvana the test results on the water.
"Grazie a Dio", Silvana mumbled, irritated at her husband's slow way of doing things. She took the result in her hands and slowly examined it. Frowning, she turned to Arturo and shot him with a look of suspicion. "Have you done everything right?"
"Yeah", he replied.
"Are you sure?"
Arturo rolled his eyes at his wife's constant doubts about his working abilities. "I'm doing these kinds of things every damned day. It's my job, that's what I do."
"But this can't be", Silvana said, more to herself than to him.
"What?" he approached her and took a look with her.
"It says this is… Just normal water." She took a deep breath. "Just normal H2O."
"I guess this didn't turn out the way you expected it to?"
Silvana smacked him in the head. "No, you idiot!" She read the test results all over again. "This is not possible. It cannot be possible. I saw what this water did. It flew, then it turned into ice and then it heated up and steamed."
"Are you sure it wasn't just a magic trick?" Arturo asked, rubbing the spot on his head she had hit him at.
"Yes!" Silvana yelled. "I'm sure. What could've caused a reaction like that?"
"It's nothing I've ever seen", Arturo admitted. His wife glared at him and he covered his head in case she went mad at him again. This caused a small – almost invisible – smile creep out on her lips.
Silvana left the lab and went out onto the deck; the test paper still in her hands. She glared at the moon as thoughts overwhelmed her and filled her with doubt and curiosity. "Just what exactly have those girls gotten themselves into?"
H-2-O
"I think you do know, Melissa", Chris spoke. He muttered something in Japanese to himself, after which he fired a deathly glare at Melissa. "I want to be your friend. Your boyfriend. A person you can trust. That trust has to be mutual. So why don't you trust me?"
"I think I'm starting to get it", Melissa said to herself.
Chris looked up at her.
"You asked me out on a date so you can get the information about the fish out of me."
"It's not like that. I care about you. I really do." He swallowed. "But I' not sure the feeling is mutual. Please, just trust me on this one. Just tell me what you know about me. I won't tell anyone, I swear. It'll be just between the two of us."
"You lying son of a bitch! Why don't you just admit you've been using me?"
"I just want to know what saved me. I need to know."
"You don't need to know anything!" Melissa got up and ran into the direction of her home. " How dare you? You disgust me. Lunatic!"
With his eyes wide open Chris looked after her. "Melissa! Melissa!" he yelled, but to no avail. She left him; insulted him. She didn't even want to hear him out. She was just into protecting whatever information she has on that thing.
At first, Chris was sad that she left. He felt like crying and sincerely he didn't know what kept him from doing so. But then an idea popped into his head. Why hadn't he thought of that before? It would've solved many of his problems. He could still have Melissa and maybe even her secret as well. Smiling he left the money on the table and headed home. His idea would go into realization first thing tomorrow.
H-2-O
Melissa sniffled as she wiped her teary eyes. Her face turned red due to tears falling down her cheeks and she swallowed hard. How could Chris do this to her? He used her, for hell's sakes! He pretended to like her just to get her to tell him about the tail he saw –her tail. He did say he liked her, but she wasn't sure she could trust him. He's a liar, she concluded and gulped. A dirty, fat, disgusting liar! A user, maybe even an abuser!
"I should've listened to the girls", she said to herself. "They were right all along. He couldn't be trustworthy. I can't believe I wanted to find my happiness with him. He ruined me! I want… I want him to die!"
She didn't mean to say the last one, but as rage overwhelmed her, she couldn't control her words and thoughts anymore. She balled her fist and ran towards the first place she could find near the ocean.
"Damn it!" was the last thing she said that night as she jumped into the ocean and united with it.
If only I knew that he had always been a hypocrite. Maybe none of this would've happened.
I don't speak Italian, I used Google translation. The translation is as follows:
Santa Madre di Gesù! Dio mio! – Holy Mother of Jesus! My God!
Grazie a Dio – thank god
If it's wrong, correct me. We're near the end. Please review! Don't flame.