Lyla smoothed her hands down her dress and took a relaxing breath before she entered the Ocean Café and took her usual seat at the very front of the stage, so she could see Serena perform with David. Serena smiled down at her friend and waved as she took her seat beside her boyfriend on the stage.
Lyla smiled back and then Cam joined her. "Hey Ly, long time no see. Question, is Nixie upset?" He asked anxiously.
Rolling her eyes, the blonde made a show of sighing an exasperated breath before turning to face the boy sitting beside her. "What did you do this time?" she asked.
"I did nothing, I swear!" he assured wide-eyed.
The blonde could only give him a look in response, one that said she didn't believe him.
Nixie arrived only a few minutes later, and though she didn't look too happy, she didn't look angry, only… faintly upset. To anyone who didn't know the girl, they would think that was her day-to-day expression, and they wouldn't be wrong. Generally speaking, it was hard to tell what Nixie was thinking and feeling, though there were subtle tells the brunette mermaid had that could only be seen by those who truly knew her.
"Hello Lyla,…. Cam," She greeted, her tone falling flat over the land boy's name.
"I see someone argued," Lyla teased. "Do I get to know what about?" Nixie shook her head. "Not here, not ever," She said shortly.
They remained in awkward silence for a few minutes till Serena began to sing. Lyla then noticed that there was a very important –to her at least- member of their group missing.
"Hey, has anyone seen Zac?" she asked.
Cam turned to look at her. "Oh, um, I think he said something about taking a swim around Mako," he said, looking down at his watch. "That was at dawn though, he should be back by now,," He frowned. "Why, do you think something may have happened to him?" he asked worriedly.
"Why is it that out of the five of us, Zac and Lyla are the ones that are always getting themselves into trouble nowadays?" Nixie asked accusingly, causing the blonde in question to blush and look away, feeling properly chastised.
"You're one to talk, weren't you the one who upset the mother Whale a few days ago?" she returned jokingly.
Nixie rolled her eyes. "You know if you wanted to make me feel guilty, you could have at least turned around and -"
"We should go looking for him," Cam hurriedly suggested.
Lyla agreed, casting Nixie a weary sideways glance. "Someone should stay to tell Serena where we're at and to keep track of time. If we're not back by sundown, then they should go look for whoever went out and looked for him," She told Cam, pointedly not looking at the other mermaid.
"You're right, come on Cam, let's go," the brunette said, rising from her seat. "Make sure not to worry Selena unnecessarily, we all know you have a bad habit of doing so," with that final remark, she turned around and left.
Cam offered Lyla an apologetic look before tailing behind her, leaving a dumbfounded Lyla alone and wondering what had she done to warrant such animosity.
Back in Gold Coast, Zac had just finished up his meal and was currently busy staring into space as he thought of getting back home. To him, the easiest way back was to make his way towards Mako again, find the right entrance to the moon pool, and tail it back to Sun Coast.
The problem with this was that the sun was starting to set, and he had left home before dawn, meaning the Fish Posey was probably already out looking for him.
It was while he was looking out into space, gaze unfocused that he caught the attention of his waitresses.
"Emma, I think that guy over there is staring at you," Cleo asked as she took a seat beside her friend at the booth they usually rested after their shifts ended, Rikki lay sprawled across the cushion taking up one side of the circular booth.
"What guy?" Emma replied as she slid a smoothie her way before looking around the place, spotting a very serious-looking Zac. "He looks more stuck in his head than anything Cleo, Don't think much of it," she assured her friend.
"Em-ma," whined the brunette. "I'm serious."
Sighing, the blonde decided to humor her worry-wort friend. "Why are you worried Cleo?" because honestly, there was always the possibility her friend was just projecting her anxieties onto this to not focus on what was really wrong.
"Because he was here when Bella came in, and he hasn't left the place since then, and it's closing time," she whisper-shouted, having misinterpreted Emma's question.
"That and well, he hasn't stopped looking over at you," Bella added, taking her seat next to Emma in the booth.
"Who's been looking at whom?" Ash asked as he walked into the café, along with Lewis, Will, and Zane. Immediately the girl's looks seemed to brighten. "Oh, just some guy who can't keep his eyes off Emma," Rikki said offhandedly with a smirk as she sat up to make way for the boys to slip in.
Emma blushed a deep shade of pink, completely embarrassed in front of her boyfriend. "Rikki," She admonished.
Ash laughed and looped his arm across the blonde's shoulders. "Honestly can't even blame the guy, you're gorgeous babe," he said, placing a kiss on the crown of Emma's head. "So who's your admirer?" he asked looking around the place.
"That guy over there," Bella said with a gesture of her head towards Zac before turning to greet her boyfriend, Will, with a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Well as long as he isn't checking out Rikki, he can stay in the café as long as he wishes," Zane said as he wrapped an arm around Rikki, who swatted his arm away.
"No you don't," she pointed out. "Besides, he hasn't paid his bill, and he's had a lot of fish," Before Rikki was able to finish her statement, Zane was already attempting to slide out of the booth.
Lewis, who was thankfully the only one of the boys who relied on brains rather than brawns, rose from his seat. "I'll go talk to him," He offered and made his way towards the boy.
"Should one of us stop him from making a fool of himself," Ash asked, and everyone turned their eyes towards Cleo, who sighed and hung her head. "Fine," She agreed and rose after him and headed his way.
Meanwhile, Zac was making his way back down to earth just as a very nervous Lewis was approaching his table. He felt as if he should feel scared, if not at least a little bit intimidated. But the blonde male approaching him did not scream danger at him, if anything he just screamed Nerd.
"Um, excuse me, Name's Lewis, and well I wanted to ask you if you could please refrain from staring at my friend, Emma," He said professionally as he swayed on his feet, his fingers tapping a rapid rhythm on his smoothie cup.
"Yeah, no worries man, I wasn't doing so on purpose, I just got … well, I spaced, and it was just a coincidence that it happened to be in her direction," He promised with a smile scratching the back of his head awkwardly.
"Oh but that's the thing, we don't think it was an –" Having gestured with his hand, he spilled all of his drink on Cleo who had walked up behind him.
"Lewis!" she cried, a panicked look on her face. Quickly she made her way to the Manager's office where she promptly shut the door before an overly loud thump was heard.