Chapter 3: Boredom Strikes Again

All rights go to the creators of H2O: Just Add Water. I own nothing.

Emma was poking at the food that laid before her. The man sitting across from her had been talking for a number of minutes, and she must have zoned out in the first minute or so. The two of them were seated outside at a two-person table. It was a cozy little place that opened up on the Gold Coast around two years ago.

This said person, that had lost Emma's attention, was named Evan. The pair had met in university, but only briefly. Emma majored in education, and Evan majored in architecture, so they didn't see one another around too much. You see, though, Emma's parents had recently befriended a new couple, whose son happened to be Evan. Neil and Lisa insisted that the two officially meet and spend some time together.

Evan was like Emma in many ways. He was competitive, stubborn, and a definite rule-follower. He was interested in learning things, just as Emma was, and he preferred to stay in the company of intellectual thinkers. He was, simply put, the male version of Emma; well, minus the tail.

On this particular afternoon, Evan had asked Emma to meet her at this little restaurant called "Paradise Dining". Things like this had happened on multiple occasions, as they'd met a few months ago. Emma would be lying if she said that he'd bored her a tiny bit, but Emma remained polite, and did her best to be interested.

At the moment, however, she couldn't force herself to seem interested despite her best attempts. So, there Emma was, playing with her food, dying to be somewhere else, when Evan interrupted her thoughts.

"Emma? You alright there?" he questioned, obvious concern in his voice.

"Wha-oh yeah, I'm fine," she stated, recovering quickly. Then, in an effort to carry on conversation to avoid an awkward silence, she continued, "Sorry, what were we talking about again?"

"Oh, just the job market these days," Evan answered, trying to hide his slight annoyance at Emma's not paying attention.

"Right," Emma forced a smile and a small laugh. She'd felt so out of place in this conversation, and had no interest in making small talk at the moment.

When Evan was soon about to start a new conversation topic, Emma quickly cut in.

"Hey, I'm not feeling that great. How about a raincheck?" She asked, desperate to leave the conversation.

"Oh… Uh, yeah, I suppose so," Evan replied, disappointment threaded in his voice. This, no doubt, left Emma with a bit of guilt in the back of her head.

"Alright. Maybe next week, then?" Emma suggested, knowing she was setting herself up for the same boredom she was enduring now.

"Yeah, sounds great," Evan nodded and smiled, as if he was already planning it already.

"Thanks for being so understanding," Emma gave a small smile, and waved him goodbye before heading straight to the less deserted part of the beach.

As she left the small table, relief fled over Emma. She didn't know what it was about Evan, but he always made her feel so restless - like she had to get away. He was truly a nice guy, but obviously he'd been more committed to the friendship than Emma was.

When Emma reached the water, a smile grew on her face, as she allowed the water to wash up to her toes. She then ran straight into the water, right before she changed form into a mermaid. The feeling was freeing, when she was in the water. Emma sped her way to the moonpool, feeling the water running through her hair, already feeling refreshed.

Emma was happy to be away. After her time spent travelling, she'd come to appreciate peace and silence even more so. It was a life changing experience, really, travelling throughout the world. She'd learned so much on not just an education level, but on a spiritual one. She became closer with her family as they soaked in the culture of their surroundings.

Not all of the results of her trip were as excellent, though. This brings us to Ash, the person who pulled at her heart strings without effort. Before Emma had left on her trip, her relationship with Ash was at an all time high. They'd fallen for each other - and hard. Had they been given enough time, love could've been in the air.

But; that's not how it turned out. Life was no fairytale, and Emma learned that. Her family's trip was announced suddenly - part of Neil and Lisa's mid-life crisis. Ash got little explanation beforehand, and Emma barely got the chance to say goodbye. In the short time they had together, they decided that they would break up; long-distance relationships never seemed to last.

They promised to stay in contact with each other, but soon enough, a text a day turned into a text a week, then a text a month, and...you know where this is going. The two lost contact, and Emma's heart was broken. Ash was a constant in her life, and now that he was gone, she didn't know what to do. So, in Emma's best attempt to stop the pain, she presumed to turn off her feelings - at least the feelings for Ash.

With Emma's return to the Gold Coast, she found that Ash wasn't there. When she tried to call him, the operator said that his number was no longer in order - meaning that there was no way she could contact him. Emma, incredibly disappointed, buried her feelings for Ash even deeper.

From there, Emma's dating life hadn't been to busy. She'd met some people she liked, but the never quite did it for her, as her heart wasn't in it. Emma stayed focused on her studies, and graduated with honors for a degree in education, which takes us to this day.

Within moments, Emma reached her destination of Mako. As she swam her way into the much visited cave, Emma was surprised to see she wasn't on her own. She saw a familiar orange-ish tail as she made her way up to the surface.

Emma saw that it was her good friend, Rikki Chadwick. The two were brought together when they transformed into mermaids, alongside Cleo. There wasn't a doubt that they consistently clashed in opinions and ideas, but that's how it always had been. They were fire and ice, quite literally. They had their differences, sure, but that didn't prevent the constant love between them.

"Hey," Emma chimed, "didn't expect to see you here." She swam up closer to the convenient ledge they often used to sit on.

Rikki jumped a bit, just realizing that she wasn't alone. "Wh-oh yeah. It was a long night - I was hoping it'd wake me up, but obviously it didn't," Rikki shook her head, referencing to her lack of awareness.

"You've got that right. It's exciting about Cleo and Lewis though, right?" Emma mentioned, smiling again at the couple's recent engagement.

"Yeah, definitely. I swear, this has been coming from the first day he saw her," Rikki laughed slightly, at how much in love they were with each other. "So," Rikki started, beginning a new conversation, "what were you just up to?"

"Oh, nothing really. I was meeting up with Evan, but I wasn't up for that today," Emma shrugged, listing off the only thing she'd had on her plate today, but blew off.

"Emma, that guy likes you," Rikki laughed. All of the girls had known about Evan's constant attempts to bond with Emma, and her constant attempts to get away from him.

"No, no. He just wants to be friends," Emma insisted, putting her head down to hide the slight color rushing to her cheeks. It wasn't that she had romantic feelings for him, or anything - it's how Emma always was. She was quite modest when it came to boys.

"If you say so," Rikki shook her head. For a few moments, the two sat in a comfortable silence - which allowed Rikki time to think - to remind her of what had been weighing her down from the early morning. The thoughts pulled her mind down like rocks tied to her tail. It was all rooted from the strange call she'd received and -

Emma interrupted her thoughts, voicing with concern, "Hey, Rikki, you alright?"

"Yeah, of course," Rikki answered quickly - quickly enough that Emma was sure that something must've been wrong.

Emma stared at Rikki, trying to analyze her thoughts. Rikki had always been a hard girl to understand, and she was good at hiding her inner thoughts, but Emma was also pretty good at breaking through the shell. Emma thought back to the previous night, and she quickly remember the odd phone call that had Rikki a bit off. She knew Rikki didn't want any prying, but some things had to be done. "Rikki, does this have anything to do with that phone call last night?"

Rikki was taken aback. How Emma had managed to pinpoint exactly what was bother Rikki was almost scary. But, Rikki did what she does best, and closed her doors a latch tighter. "Emma, I'm fine, really. I'm not in the mood to talk about any of this," Rikki replied, slight exasperation bleeding through her voice.

"But," Emma immediately started, then stopped herself. She knew when to stop with Rikki, and this was that point. "Okay," Emma voiced. The two girls then sat in silence, listening to the slight movement of the water.

A/N: Another chapter! I hope you enjoyed it! I have to admit, I'd gotten a small case of writer's block during this chapter. I pushed through it though, and I hope it turned out alright. As you can see, the chapter format is focusing on certain people each chapter, so It'll be a loop-type thing. I appreciate all of the reviews, as the truly do help me to write through each chapter. Thanks for reading!