After a quick stop to the service station to get some petrol for Ben's car and some ice creams that they ate in the car, Lily and Ben were soon back at Bellagio Lodge after the wonderful day they had out in the town.
Ben parked his car in the garage which was large enough to house eight cars, although there were only three that were his Lexus, Phil's silver Audi and Melinda's small Fiat which looked very simple and modest compared to the flashy cars parked next to it and grabbed the shopping bags from the back seat, while Lily scooped up Senna and put her back in her pocket.
She then followed Ben inside the house and through the foyer, which was now becoming very familiar to her as was the kitchen and sitting area where they entered to find Melinda cooking dinner while listening to the radio, that had a dreary voice droning on about God only knows what and Ruby sleeping on her bed.
However, seeing her owner and her friend come back home as Ben put the bags near the table and flopped down on one of the couches with Lily sitting down next to him, Ruby immediately ran towards them, panting and wagging her tail happily.
Ben laughed and patted her, as he knew that she was not only eager to greet him, she also wanted to go for her afternoon walk after being cooped up in the house all day. She then saw Lily and jumped on her lap.
'Ruby, get off her lap,' Ben said as Ruby had a rather annoying habit of jumping onto people's laps but Lily didn't mind as she patted the dog and gently scratched behind her ears, which made Ruby wag her tail even more.
'Ruby, do you want to go walkies? Do you, girl? Do you?' Ben then said, patting and ruffling Ruby's fur as she sat on Lily's lap, enjoying the attention she was receiving, having been on her own all day.
'And Lily can come with us! Do you want Lily to come walkies with you?' he said.
Ruby panted happily and nuzzled up against Lily, which was her way of saying 'Yes, I want her to come, since she didn't this morning!'
'Do you want to come with me while I take Ruby for her walk?' Ben asked Lily, 'I usually take her on two walks a day on the beach when it's not too crowded. She would love it and you can walk her if you like. I know that Ruby certainly will!'
Lily nodded and Ruby licked her repeatedly, excited that her friend that she loved so much would be taking her for a walk, and then jumped off her lap, running towards the front door
'Whoa, wait Ruby, don't be bolting out the door just yet. We'll go in a minute, just give us some time to catch our breath, girl.' Ben said and Ruby walked disappointedly back to her bed.
'How was your tour today?' Melinda then said from the kitchen, 'did you have a good time around town?'
'We sure did, Melinda,' said Ben, grinning like a Cheshire cat, ' and it was good to drive and walk around town which was what we did since the beaches were too busy today, had Maccas for lunch and did some shopping in Pacific Fair.'
'I see that you bought a few things for Lily, I assume, since I know that you don't shop at Sportsgirl, Ally, Factorie or Supre,' Melinda said, spotting the bags and Ben grinned sheepishly at her, 'I'd love to see the nice clothes that she got and I'm glad that you had fun today.
You certainly needed some and Lily seems to have enjoyed herself as well.' Melinda said, as Lily smiled and nodded, thinking about the wonderful day she had and had been better than she had dreamed it would be as she flopped happily on the couch.
'Yeah, it was good to get out and about and some people who saw us in town and the shop assistant at Sportsgirl thought that we were a couple and that we looked so adorable together! And they were so intrigued by Lily's fascination of the little things we take for granted.' Ben said.
'Well, it's hardly surprising, considering that they were seeing the new friend of the local heartthrob who is the son of Steely,' Melinda said, chuckling. She had never called Phil by his nickname, only referring to him as 'Mr Steele', so it was quite unusual for her.
'Speaking of which, your father rang not too long ago to say that he arrived in Auckland safely and he, Des and the team had finished their afternoon training session and were going out for dinner in town.'
'I know, he texted me during the day,' said Ben, 'and it's safe to say that he made it to the airport on time, despite being so antsy about missing his flight, but that's Dad for you, he was worried about nothing and was just impatient.'
'Of course he did, love and if he acts like that at home, I shudder to think what he's like sitting in the coaches' box at Suncorp during a Broncos game!' Melinda said, which made both of them laugh.
'Right, I better take Miss Ruby for her walk before she decides to chew up the couch or make a bolt for it,' Ben said, getting up from the couch and called out to Ruby,
'Ruby, leash,' and the dog, who was getting impatient with Ben's dithering, quickly leapt from her bed and grabbed a pink leash that matched her collar and was hanging from a hook on the wall, low enough for Ruby to reach, put it in her mouth and walked over to Ben and put it in his hand.
'Good girl, Ruby!' Ben said and gave her a treat as he attached the leash to her collar.
It was a trick he had taught her that had taken a year and several dog treats for Ruby to learn it so it would save him the time of getting the leash, although Phil had said that Ben only taught Ruby that because he was too lazy to get it himself.
'Are you coming, Lily?' Ben said and Lily got up from the couch she was sitting on and followed Ben out into the foyer, with Ruby leading the way.
'Dinner will be ready when you get back,' Melinda said, ' and it's butter chicken with rice, your favourite. Do you want beans or broccoli with it?'
'Beans please, Melinda, you know I hate that vile weed!' Ben said, screwing up his face as broccoli had never been his favourite vegetable and often took great lengths to avoid eating it, He would eat almost everything but he had his limits and the vile weed was one of them.
'But Ben, it's good for you and it doesn't taste as bad as it looks,' Melinda said, chuckling as she remembered Ben being fussy at mealtimes when she served him broccoli but he would always eagerly eat her meals she made.
'I know but I still don't like it,' Ben said, pouting, as they left the house and Melinda shook her head and chuckled to herself.
'Beans it is then,' she said.
'Do you want to walk Ruby?' Ben asked Lily as they walked down the steps that led down to the beach with Ruby in front of them, sniffing and looked up at Lily expectantly.
'She really trusts you, so I don't think you'll have any problems. You just need to take it easy and let her know that you're in charge so that she doesn't walk you! It was something I learned the hard way went I first got her,' Ben said, ruffling Ruby's fur with his free hand.
Seeing the dog's eager expression and how much she liked and trusted the former mermaid, Lily nodded as Ben handed her the leash and showed her how to hold it and to use it gently to guide and communicate with Ruby and to keep the dog beside her as she walked.
'Ruby likes walking on the beach, especially at this time and in the morning when there are no people and I can let her off the leash after she's done a fair bit of walking and she likes to run around and paddle in the water. That way, she doesn't feel restricted and I give her a treat as a reward for her exercise and obedience.' Ben said.
'She may be five years old, which is thirty-six in human years but she still acts like a puppy, don't you, girl?' he said, chuckling and the dog barked happily as Lily held the leash close to her and Ruby walked beside her.
It took a couple of tries for Lily to get the hang of it but once she did, she felt proud to be taking charge of an animal that wasn't a fish or dolphin as Ruby happily trotted beside her and Ben put his arm around her waist only to realise what he was doing and quickly pulled away, blushing and trying not to breathe in her ocean scent.
But Lily didn't notice as she kept walking Ruby, letting her sniff the sand and paddle in the shallow water when they walked to the damp sand a few minutes later and Ben took off her leash so she could paddle but stayed close to him and Lily as they stood and looked out into the ocean, feeling the cool waters lap their feet lazily.
Lily smiled as she looked at her ocean home, feeling the familiar water on her feet, having got rid of her irritating shoes and not knowing at this very minute that the entire kingdom was searching for her and that she had caused her mother and sisters to suffer great anguish about her disappearance and it had taken a great toll on her mother physically and mentally.
But she wasn't going to let that spoil her moment with Ben, who was also looking at the ocean as he remembered swimming with his mother and pretending to be a merman, looking for mermaid treasures, having picnics and building sandcastles on the beach and basically having a good time.
'This is nice, isn't it?' he said and Lily nodded in agreement as she watched Ruby digging in the damp sand that was sticking to her fur.
'I was just thinking about all the times Mum and I spent on the beach. One of our favourite things was to pretend to be a mermaid and merman like in the movie The Thirteenth Year, which is one of my favourites, when we went swimming and also look for mermaid treasures in the rock pools.
There were rumours that there were merpeople that came there at night, playing music and watching the sunset and some people had claimed to see a glimpse of them but they always stayed hidden but many didn't believe them and said that mermaids didn't exist.' Ben explained.
Lily listened to him eagerly, hanging on his every word as she remembered the wonderful times she and her family and the merfolk spent at the rock pools.
'But between you and me, I believe that they exist and Mum always said to me that one day I'll see a mermaid and that she would bring me good luck and happiness, only that hasn't happened yet,' Ben said.
Ruby rolled her eyes at her owner and grumbled 'You have found her; she's standing right in front of you! It's her, the one who saved your life, you dropkick!'
Ben chuckled, having not noticed his dog's reaction and then said, as Lily looked at him with her beautiful sapphire blue eyes sparkling, eagerly listening to his handsome voice with its enchanting Aussie accent.
'Of course Dad found that ridiculous and that mermaids only existed in fairy tales and Disney movies and he still thinks that today and Des even believes in mermaids, which may sound pretty silly for a grown man who was part of a legendary partnership with Dad when they played for the Broncos and the assistant coach but I still hold on to that belief, as it keeps Mum's memory alive and reminds me that and the girl that I love is waiting for me somewhere.' Ben said.
'And Cody considers himself a mermaid expert and he loves all the Disney mermaid movies, especially The Little Mermaid and The Thirteenth Year, since he shares the same name as the main character and looks like him as well. He's an expert on mermaids, yet didn't know who Ariel was!' Ben said, laughing and Lily smiled.
'And she's his favourite! And he also didn't even know who Hans Christian Anderson was but knew of Madison, Merliah and the Mako mermaids! What a dropkick!' Ben said.
'But that is how we became friends when we were in kindergarten and he came up to me when he saw my drawing of Mum as a mermaid and said that he liked my drawing and that he liked mermaids too.
He said some of the lines from The Little Mermaid and sang 'Part of Your World,' totally off-key which made our class laugh at him but made me smile since it was the time that Mum was ill and I really needed some cheering up and that was the start of our friendship.
Adam and Matt became my friends in Year 2 and Adam, being the footy nut he is, was excited that I was the son of his favourite Broncos player, which is Dad of course, as you may have heard at the barbecue and I had thought that he only wanted to be friends with me because of it and I was wary of the fact since everyone knew who I was and about my parents, that they were only being nice to me because of my wealth and my parents' status.
But Adam insisted that it was genuine, as did Matt, for they and Cody as well, liked me for who I was and not for my wealth or my dad and we've been a tight threesome throughout primary and high school.
As for Mia, Grace and Anna, they went to St. Hilda's, an all-girls' school not too far from Southport School for Boys, which was where me and the guys went and we met them when Adam was dating Grace at the time and she wanted to join our group as did Mia but Anna didn't want to since she didn't like the idea of hanging out with boys but she relented due to Grace's insistence.
How she became friends with Mia and Grace, I don't know and I wonder why we tolerate her as she is nothing more than a snobby, snooty rich girl who thinks she's better than everyone else and looks down on anyone that is inferior to her which is just about everyone!' Ben said, laughing and Lily frowned when she heard Anna being mentioned.
While she liked Ben's friends, especially Mia, who had been so kind to her and was now one of her favourite humans next to Ben and Melinda, she disliked Anna and as far as she could tell, Ben didn't really care for her either, judging from the frown on his face.
'Yes, I can tell you don't like her either and I don't blame you considering that she was faking being friendly to you, not even bothering to talk to you and just being plain rude to you, not to mention saying mean things behind your back and looking down at you and I'm sorry that you had to experience that,' Ben said.
'But despite Anna and her unpleasant personality, my mates have genuinely been a good bunch of guys and girls and I do like them but to be honest, you are the real best friend that I always wanted. You like me for who I am, not just for my wealth and I just love that we can communicate just by simple hand signals or through your eyes which speak to me even though you can't yourself.
And that you listen to me, never losing interest as I told you my life story today and felt my loss of Mum, just like I did for your dad and I never realised how much we have in common.
I really like you, Lily and although I don't know much about you or where you came from and that I still think about the girl that saved me, which you remind me so much of..'
'She's right there, Ben! Look right in front of you!' Ruby grumbled again,' but Ben took no notice of her, as he said,
'I'm really glad that I found a true, dear and very loyal friend in you and I really enjoyed taking you out into town today.' Ben said and held her hand which made Lily smile and she leaned against him.
Senna, who had gone unnoticed in Lily's pocket, peeked up and seeing her and Ben standing together on the beach, which was obviously their strong point as it was where she dragged him after she rescued him and where he first met her, saw this as another perfect moment for them to kiss.
'Go on, Lily, there's another chance to kiss the boy! Don't let the moment slip past you again! Go on and kiss the boy!' she whispered but it could barely be heard and the moment slipped through Lily's fingers like sand yet again.
'Oh, ruddy heck,' Senna muttered to herself, 'at the rate we're going, it looks like Lily is destined for Sharla's garden with all her foolishness and larking about with that boy instead of kissing him so that she can beat the sea witch at her game.
I didn't come all this way and endure many misfortunes to watch her flounder around like a guppy out of water!'
She then wiggled back in the pocket which went unnoticed by Lily, who hadn't even been aware that the crab had been talking to her as she watched the sun starting to set and Ruby started whimpering as it was now her dinnertime and she was anxious to get home.
'Oh, strewth, is that the time? Melinda will have tea ready by now and she'll be wondering why we haven't come back yet!' Ben said, when he looked at his watch and noticing Ruby walking towards him and whining as he grabbed her leash and attached it back on her collar while putting on his shoes and said to her,
'Alright, girl, we'll go back home and get your dinner,' as he patted her and Ruby wagged her tail while Lily picked up her shoes and shook the sand that had gotten in them when she had been walking and had irritated her.
She was about to put them on when Aurora suddenly bobbed up from the water which surprised Lily as she hadn't seen her best friend since yesterday morning.
'Lily!' Aurora said as the former mermaid waded into the water and knelt down while getting her jeans wet, but she didn't care as the little pink fish jumped into her arms and she hugged her, glad to see her best friend.
Aurora! Lily thought happily, you still came to see me, despite all the danger I put you through!
'I really miss you, Lily,' Aurora said, wistfully, 'and you look so happy being in the human world. Are you having fun with Ben? Have you kissed him yet?'
Lily shook her head no at the last question and Aurora sighed in disappointment for the third time today.
'Aw, gee, I would've thought that you would've by now but I hope that you do it soon,' Aurora said.
'Lily, are you coming?' Ben called out and Lily quickly put on her shoes and mouthed 'I have to go now,' and hugged Aurora before the little fish jumped back into the water and waved at Lily with her fin.
'It was good to see you, Lily,' Aurora said and Lily waved back hurriedly and joined Ben at the top of the steps, who was looking at her quizzically as he had seen her near the water with Aurora, but the little fish had swam below the surface before Ben could get a glance at her.
'Who was that, Lily?' he said, 'a friend of yours?'
Lily just shrugged and grinned as Ben took her hand just as Aurora bobbed back up the surface and watched Lily fade away into the distance as she smiled sadly, missing her friend dearly but wanting her to be happy at the same time.
'You can do it, Lily,' she whispered and swam back down again.
And here's another long-awaited chapter! Sorry it too so long to update but I hope that this makes up for it and I'll try to update this story as quickly as possible and I'm glad that you are enjoying this story so far!
Read and review and let me know who your favourite characters and chapters are!:)