She'd came to mark the days of joy by how bright it always seemed, how humid the air was that she breathed in, and catching stolen glimpses of the beach and seeing people crowd its shores. Those were the days that he'd come by, a notebook in hand that was usually discarded though was their secret notebook, and he'd talk to her.
It had started with a series of questions, ones that were fairly easy to answer most of the time, but had quickly devolved over the years into a mixture of things. Sometimes he'd bring something for her to try, or she'd pull him into a water game. This had happened often enough that Max had started wearing swim trunks and a shirt that he didn't mind getting completely drenched.
Rose loved a good game, but she was starting to think that she loved Max a bit more. Max, who had never been much of a swimmer, Max, who only was around during a short span of less than three months a year, and a boy as human as his glasses were fascinating.
They didn't have glasses under the sea, but then again, they'd never needed them. If your vision ever went bad, you learned to notice the little things in other ways, learned to truly see around you with sounds or by touch. Eyesight could be lost and yet not lose too much in the long run.
Rose loved that about the sea, but then again, she loved Max's glasses, trying them on, wondering why they made everything so blurry or messed up, wondering how he saw out of them. She'd laugh, but she was always careful to not splash his glasses when he played water games with her. She didn't want to leave his glasses make it hard for him to see.
Living with a tail didn't have to be so hard, but some days, she really wanted to go to the places that Max could go to, see the world around where he normally lived, and she wanted more than the occasional, curious kiss that made her wonder sometimes if she really should just ask for more.
Rose loved what she did have though, even if it wasn't much more than a summer love, even if there was only so much that they could do about it. One day, Max will grow up, and may be then she'd have a chance to see him more often, because being teenagers would fade, and may be he'd move closeby. She hoped so.
For now, Rose would try to enjoy every single, stolen moment of theirs and every bit of Summer love as she looked at the world around her, always waiting for the days when Max would be near, waiting for the days where it didn't matter that she was a mermaid or that he was a human. It would be okay, and they could have hope for more than just a summer romance one day.