AFTER THE RAIN (Bonus edition)

30. Are you a mermaid?

"FUCK!" Marcus screamed when he saw the time on his phone. "We're late. We're going to be late."

"Huh," Stormy blinked against the bright morning sunshine streaming through the windows, and untangled herself from Marcus. They'd slept intertwined in each other the whole night. It had been the best sleep of her life; but even wrapped in his arms, she'd dreamed about him non-stop.

Stormy stretched luxuriously against the white cotton sheets, sleepily noticing that Marcus had started to speak like Yoda. "Airport... must go.... Plane... so late.... miss flight... Prague!"

"Mmmmm," Stormy mumbled, still not fully awake. Marcus climbed on top of her, grabbed her by the shoulders, and looked her square in the eyes. She blinked up at him and smiled, arching her body under his invitingly.

"Beautiful..." He smiled down at her. "Beautiful, sleepy creature... your sister's wedding? My cousin's wedding? Today!"

"What!" Stormy wrenched herself out from under Marcus and flung herself out of bed, running around in panicked circles. She'd actually forgotten all about the wedding. She hadn't thought about it since arriving in Mombasa, to be perfectly honest. Instead, she'd disappeared into a Marcus world, where only they existed.

"We have to go, now," Marcus said. "The plane takes off in less than an hour. I bet they've even started boarding!"

"Nuts, nuts, nuts," Stormy felt panic grip her. "My clothes are in the other room."

"No time to fetch them, wear what you have here, leave the rest."

"But I'll have nothing to wear when we get there!"

Marcus grabbed her shoulders again and kissed her this time. "Stormy," – kiss – "Just get over it," – kiss – "I'm going to take you clothes shopping," – kiss – "In," – kiss – "Prague."

Before she could protest, he slapped his hand across her mouth, looked her in the eye and said, "Run!"

Marcus took her hand and they sprinted out together. The hotel transfer Marcus had organized the night before to drive them to the airport was ready and waiting, and when they got there, they jumped out and sprinted some more. The airport was busy, teeming with passengers catching flights that had been rescheduled and re-directed and re-everythinged. People were thick on the ground and they maneuvered urgently through the crowds.

But Stormy didn't do exercise, and sprinting was not a good look for her. She felt like she was going to faint from the exertion. "Wait!" she called after Marcus, bent over and gasping for air. "I taste blood!"

Marcus turned and ran back to her. "You and I are going to have to go jogging together sometime," he said, picking her up in his arms as if it was no effort for him at all. "I also think I need to start feeding you more. I better buy a vegan cookbook to fatten you up a bit."

Stormy's stomach was churning with butterflies. Everything he'd said to her today had been so caring and sweet, and he was talking as if they were a real couple with a real future together, six weeks and many more days. Maybe they were a real couple, boyfriend and girlfriend – the thought made her heart beat so fast that it almost shot out of her chest and took off like a plane. Stormy-Rain, official girlfriend of Marcus! She liked the sound of that.

Finally, they skidded up to the boarding gate just as it was about to close, and Marcus set her on her feet again. And that's when Stormy suddenly realized the reality of what they were about to do. Again, her mind had been occupied with other thoughts...