Will walked Bella up to her front door, her hand delicately entwined in his. They had had a perfect night. Will had clapped and cheered as Bella had sung to the crowd. Afterwards Bella had been able to relax and dance with Will. They'd laughed and talked, having more fun than they'd had in a long time.
"Tonight was really great." Bella said shyly as the couple stepped onto her front stoop.
"Yeah. It was." Will gazed into Bella's blue eyes. All thoughts of Rikki had been absent from his mind ever since he had laid eyes on Bella that night. She looked amazing in her flowing black dress. Will tilted his face towards Bella's, kissing her gently on the lips. He started to kiss her more deeply, but Bella turned her face away. Will looked at Bella curiously. "What is it?"
"...I just think we should take things in steps. Slow steps." Bella took a small step away from Will as she spoke.
"Bella..." Will started, reaching for her hand.
Bella quickly opened her front door and stepped inside. "I'll call you tomorrow." She spoke quickly. "We can go get a juice or something?"
Will nodded, confused. Bella gave him one more smile before she stepped inside the house and shut the door tightly behind her.
Bella let out a long breath as she leaned her back against the cool door. She had wanted so badly to lose herself in a deep kiss with Will. Actually, she had wanted to do a whole lot more with Will. It had taken every ounce of willpower for Bella to push him away. Still, Bella breathed deeply, Will had been deeply in love with Rikki. Bella was willing to give him another chance, but she was guarding her heart carefully. She wasn't going to let herself be taken advantage of.
Still, Bella thought to herself as she wandered her way upstairs to her room. She did have feelings for Will. Strong feelings. She would take her time, see what happened. She really hoped Will could be with her without having feelings for Rikki. Only time would tell.
Zane blinked his eyes sleepily, taking in the familiar bedroom. He rolled to his side, wrapping his arm around the girl he loved so deeply.
"Hey you." Rikki practically whispered.
"You're awake?" Zane was surprised to hear her voice so early in the morning.
"A bit." Rikki murmured as she rolled to face Zane.
Zane's finger delicately traced the outline of Rikki's face. "I love you." He said quietly.
Rikki's face flushed as she smiled. "And I love you."
The pair laid there together in silence for several minutes. They didn't usually act quite so mushy with each other, but today it just felt right.
Eventually Rikki pulled herself from the warm, comfortable bed. She couldn't make herself sleep any longer. She had gently moved Zane's arm from around her waist and had slipped from the room. Zane lay in the bed, still sound asleep.
Rikki tiptoed down the stairs towards the kitchen. She poured herself a cup of juice and settled down into the comfortable couch. She smiled to herself as she waited for Zane to wake.
Zane stumbled down the steps after a short ten minutes had passed. His eyes searched for Rikki as he came down the stairs. The settled on her and immediately relaxed as he walked to stand in front of Rikki.
"I thought you'd left." He said quietly as he curled up with Rikki on the couch.
"Not just yet." Rikki tucked her head into the crook of his neck. "What do you have going on today?"
"I'm helping Dad out today. then headed up to the cafe to balance the books." Zane said unenthusiastically.
"You're helping your Dad again?" Rikki raised up to look at Zane.
"Yeah, he really needs the help." Zane nodded. "Plus, he's still not thrilled about me moving out. Spending some time with him will be a good thing."
"What are you helping him with?" Rikki stroked Zane's arm absently.
"He's investing in some property." Zane said. "I'm going to help him throw a lunch to impress the other investors."
"Be careful." Rikki said seriously. "If you touch water-"
"I know, Rikki." Zane said with a grin. "I'll change. I don't think I'll have a problem staying dry."
"I'm just saying," Rikki sat up, her eyebrows furrowed. "You haven't been a merman very long. It's hard to get used to everything at first. Especially at the cafe, with all of those drinks..."
Zane kissed Rikki on the forehead gently. "I'll be just fine." He said comfortingly. "I can totally handle this."
Cleo woke abruptly that morning as her phone rang next to her ear. She looked around, completely disoriented. She had fallen asleep sitting in her desk chair the night before. She was knee deep in engagement party plans and she was feeling more than a little overwhelmed. She fumbled for her ringing phone and quickly flipped it open.
"Hello?" Cleo said sleepily.
"Cleo!" Sam's voice came excitedly through the phone. "Are you awake?"
"Only just." Cleo rubbed her eyes. "What's up?"
"I'm at the cafe." Sam spoke excitedly. "What colors do you want as a theme for your engagement party?"
"You choose." Cleo said as she stretched her arms over her head. "Whatever you pick will be fine."
"Are you sure? Ok. You'll love it!" Sam rattled on for a few more minutes before disconnecting the call.
Cleo laughed as she walked down stairs. She knew perfectly well that this engagement party was for more important to Sam and her father than it was to her and Lewis. Speaking of Lewis...
"I didn't know you were here." Cleo lit up when she saw Lewis sitting at the kitchen table."You should have called me."
"Ah, I didn't want to wake you." Lewis spared time for a quick kiss before turning back to the book in front of him.
"What's that?" Cleo gestured to the book and to the open laptop behind it.
"I'm composing a guidebook. Well, kind of a guidebook." Lewis explained.
"A guidebook?" Cleo pulled up a chair next to him. "For what?"
"Mermaids." Lewis closed the book and looked at Cleo. "I'm putting together a database of every but of mermaid lore I can find. I'm looking through everything. Books, the internet, ancient legends... everything."
"Ok..." Cleo was still a bit confused. "But why?"
Lewis exhaled. "I just think we should take everything a bit more seriously from now on. You know, after what... happened..."
"Ahh." Cleo suddenly understood what had Lewis so distracted. "Lewis, you know what happened out at Mako with you guys wasn't your fault."
"I know that." Lewis nodded. "But things got really messy out there. I mean, Zane Bennett is a merman now. We could have all been stuck that way." Lewis swallowed hard. "I'm not going to let that happen again. We just need to be more prepared." Lewis pushed the book away from him slightly, his face relaxing into a smile. "But you're awake now. I can think on this later."
Cleo nodded, smiling. She hated for Lewis to still be so worried about things. He had been so incredibly stressed during the few days he had spent as a merman, and though he denied it, Cleo knew that Lewis felt that he should have known enough to prevent the magical mistake.
"Sam called asking about color themes for our party." Cleo said lightly as she wrapped her arms around Lewis's neck.
"The colors could be gray and black. I don't care, as long as you're there." Lewis smiled back at her.
Cleo and Lewis spent a few minutes chatting before making plans together for the rest of the day.
"Zane, hurry up with that pitcher." Harrison fussed at his son.
"I'm coming." Zane rolled his eyes. He was being made to play the part of dutiful servant at his father's lunch. He'd been sent all over the place fetching food, plates, and whatever else Harrison decided he needed. Zane reached for the silver pitcher of iced lemonade and walked quickly over to the table.
"Zane, kindly pour a glass for Mrs. Gillies." Harrison said with a large smile.
Zane sighed before turned to pour a tall glass for the brunette lady seated at the table.
Mrs. Gillies didn't bother to look up at Zane as he finished pouring and walked to sit opposite her at the table. She stopped talking just long enough to take a long swig of her drink.
"Agghgh!" She sputtered as she spit the lemonade quickly out of her mouth. The spray splashed all over Zane. "It's scalding hot!" She reached for a glass of ice water and began chugging it down.
"Hot?" Harrison picked up the pitcher himself and almost dropped it. "It's practically boiling. Zane, what did you do to it?"
Realization hit Zane like a truck. He must have headed the pitcher inadvertently as he carried it. All of a sudden, Zane realized that he was sitting at a table with his Dad's friends, covered in lemonade.
Zane's chair fell over as he leaped to his feet. His Dad called to him, but Zane didn't hesitate as he made a mad dash into the house.
"Zane, get back here right now!" Harrison marched towards the house after him.
Zane made it through the front door and into the downstairs bathroom before the magic took him over. Zane fell to the cool tile floor, panting as he tried to catch his breath. He managed to reach around and shove the door shut, locking it tightly. He tried to calm down as sweat ran down his forehead. That had been way too close. He couldn't believe how easy it had been to forget what would happen when he came in contact with water.
"Zane!" Harrison pounded on the door, causing it to rattle on it's hinges.
"I'll be out in a minute, Dad." Zane said breathlessly as he held one hand out over his tail, beginning to dry it.
"You'll come out right now." Harrison said firmly. "What did you think you were doing? Why did you serve hot lemonade? And run off? Zane!"
The bathroom door opened, and out stepped a very human, very panting Zane. "I'm... not feeling well." Zane marched past his father and out the back door to the luncheon group, still trying to keep his hands from shaking.