Marrying Atlantis

Chapter 4

I looked around the large cluttered room, defiantly a man’s pad. It smelt of beer and whatever else that disgusting stench was. The room was cluttered with stacks of old magazines and newspapers, none of which I recognised. There was a wall covered in layers of photos, and little personal notes. There was a couch and a TV with what looked like an Xbox. How it worked underwater was beyond me. There were empty bottles piled all around. I clung to Sebastian as I accidently knocked over a few.

“How’s things in Atlantis?” Earl begun clearing some space for us to sit ignoring the racket I had made.

“Yeah its good, nothing really new,” Sebastian said crashing on the couch anyway despite the mess.

“With the exception of you two,” Earl replied indicating at me. “Any gossip yet?” he continued. Sebastian shook his head.

“Suspicion, but it’s still too early for any of them to say. Provided the seven keep their digression.”

“And what is the likeliness of that,” Earl chuckled. “So what you after?” he asked. I was getting bored and Earl had given up cleaning the place. I drifted over to the wall of photos and glanced at all the pictures of the Mers. Some elegant others…not so much.

“Hey Halfling, come here so I can take your picture,” Earl said digging out a professional camera with a six inch lens on it.

“I don’t like photos,” I replied but was ignored. Earl had already taken off out the hatch and Sebastian came over.

“Don’t worry he’ll make sure it’ll look good,” not giving me time to object he pulled me up and helped me out of the maze of coral to where Earl was waiting. Setting up a tripod and some lights and refining the scene.

“Go get Anton,” he said to a strange little fish who took off in a random direction. Earl turned back to me. “Tell me about yourself, Aubrey,” he said getting out a notebook ready to get down my words.

I remained hidden behind Sebastian and I glanced at him wondering if I should answer. A minute ticked by and I remained silent. “Honestly it’s not a hard question,” Earl seemed annoyed not enjoying the interview, even more than me.

“Umm, sorry. There’s nothing really special about me, I’m just an average sixteen year old… at least I was three days ago,” I smiled softly. “I’m now a Halfling. Don’t you think that’s a silly term? Like a mer is half fish and half human but I’m half human and half mermaid, meaning I’m really one third fish and two thirds human,” I instantly stopped myself, probably sounding stupid.

“Interesting idea and what do you think of Sebastian?” he asked getting straight to the nitty gritty. Sebastian looked down at me awaiting my answer. Well this was awkward.

“Umm, he’s nice, really sweet. A bit bossy at times, but very kind,” I began.

“When was I bossy?” Sebastian objected a little surprised.

“Whenever you’re trying to teach me to swim properly,” I retorted.

“That’s only because you weren’t doing it right. And I’ve only taught once or twice.” He said twilling around me making me dizzy.

“You can’t even wake up on time. Twice I have had to kick you out. You are like impossible to wake up in the morning.” I added pointing at him.

“Why do you have to wake up so early? And there is no need to push me off the bed, you could just leave me and make your own breakfast, since you are so good at cooking,” he countered throwing his arms up in the air…ah water, dramatically. I stopped and smiled. It was kind of funny seeing him get flustered over such trivial things. I watched his face as he realised I wasn’t going to disagree with him on that final point, and began smiling too. We suddenly burst into laughter, when something caught my eye. I instantly ducked back behind Sebastian realizing Earl and some other guy were watching us intently.