Chapter 2: Maintain the lie
Rikki got out of the water, dried herself and walked to her house.
It didn't took her much to pack her stuff, and in an hour or something, her luggage was ready. She sighed and looked around. She was going to miss her room, her home, everything.
She went to the backyard and with a cup of lemonade in her hand, she just stood there and stared at the sea.
She remembered all the great times she had with Cleo, Emma and Bella, how she liked to annoy Lewis and Zane, and cherished Will like a big brother. Then she smiled. She loved all of them so much. Even Zane. Even after what he did she couldn't hate him. Maybe she wasn't in love with him anymore, but she still cared a lot for him even only as a friend.
She was about to come inside when she felt dizziness, she barely could stand on her feet, so she sat on the nearest chair. "What's happening to me?", she asked herself, but after a few seconds the dizziness disappeared and after a few more seconds she had completely forgotten about it.
She looked at her watch, it was time to go back to the girls. She said "Bye" to her dad, ran to the ocean and disappeared into the water. When she arrived at the moon pool, the girls were still not there, so she got out and dried herself.
She started walking around remembering how she became a mermaid with her best friends. It was the most amazing adventure in her whole life. Then she remembered when she first met Bella, then Will and a little smile of happiness appeared on her face. So many happy memories.
Her phone suddenly phone rang. She took it out of her pocket and looked on the screen. There was a picture of a blonde man, standing on the edge of the moon pool, ready to jump in. She picked up with smile.
"Hi, Will, what's up?"
"Rikki, would you come over to my place? I need to talk to you." He said in a serious tone.
"Ok, I'll be there in a few minuites." She said and hung up.
She jumped in the water and headed straight over to his place. When she reached there and came in, she saw Will staring out of the window. He looked at her and gave her a little smile.
"Come, sit here." He gently took her arm and walked her to the sofa.
He took a deep breath and looked straight in her blue eyes. Now or never.
"Rikki, I've been wanting to tell you this before, but I just…couldn't. But now you're leaving and I can't let you go before I tell you this." He was still holding her hand in his own.
"Tell me what?" She asked full with suspiciousness.
Something serious was going on and she could sense that.
"I…I love you." He said and just looked at her observing her reaction.
He thought she would pull her hand away from his, but she didn't. She just sat there speechless watching him in the eyes.
"Please, say something." He said.
"I-" She didn't know what to say. "How-how did this happen? I mean-you were crazy about Bella-"
"No, that was a lie. I was crazy and am crazy about you, not her. But I couldn't hurt her by telling her the truth, could I? I mean, I thought it was the right thing to do." He held her hand tighter to give her comfort.
She just couldn't believe what she was hearing. Even worse, she realized she also felt something about him. Something strong. But she knew that was wrong. She couldn't hurt her best friend and betray her like this.
"Look, Will, I-I appreciate that you told me the truth, but we can't do that to Bella. You can't do that to her."
"We?" He repeated. "Does this mean that you-"
"I don't know." She said. "But we'll have to maintain the lie. We'll carry on with our lives. It'll not be very hard to do that. I mean I'm going to England, and maybe this will help you forget me." She said and tried to pull her hand, but he didn't let go.
"I could never forget you. I'll always love you." He said and he realized that he wanted to do something.
He wanted to do it now, because he just couldn't wait anymore. He leaned towards her and his lips touched hers, but she pulled away immediately running off the sofa.
"Please don't." She said, her voice shaking.
He walked over to her but she opened the door, ran off to the water and quickly disappeared in it.
Will came back inside thinking about what had happened. He felt so relieved that he finally told her the truth about his feelings. Even more so, he felt happy that she almost admitted she had feelings for him too.
She had asked him to maintain the lie and he didn't complain. He'd do everything she'd asked him, everything. Even though he had to continue pretending that he loved Bella, he didn't mind.
Because the girl that owned the key to his heart, knew the truth. That was all he wanted. Now it was all up to her.