Sea Dragon Apocalypse

2 || the Chrysalis

"I've been practicing." Sam stood on the dock soaked and wearing the zebra sharkskin wetsuit Blayde had printed the week past. He hadn't heard her coming. Sporting a contagious grin, she pulled off her gloves and held them against her helmet. "I put in over thirty hours diving in the past three days," she added with a coy grin that begged for a compliment. She tussled her hair absent mindedly, offering it more volume.

"Impressive," Blayde beamed. At his age, he estimated that thirty hours practice plus a coy grin and an unannounced appearance equated to some serious mutual chemistry. He couldn't have been more pleased.

Before he could say anything further, Sam proceeded with her well rehearsed thoughts. "Any chance you're tracking down that CGI sea dragon today?"

"I perceive you've been watching the news."

"It's not a habit," she confessed, "but the whole town is buzzing over this."

"Did you tell anyone you saw it too?"

Sam paused long enough for Blayde to notice she was choosing her words carefully. "I mentioned it to a couple of friends but they didn't exactly believe me. I'm somewhat notorious for being a tease," she added. "I'd love to bring home a selfie with the dragon in the background."

Blayde lowered his head and gave Sam a sideways glance to see if she was serious. "You know that would be extremely dangerous right? The thing swims at nearly 35 miles per hour and munches on great whites."

"I read your full interview. You think it doesn't like bright lights because it's a deep sea dweller. Using ... what did you call it? ... underwater night vision optics and better long range cameras, we could approach it without disturbing it ... providing we find it when it is neither hungry nor eating."

"Precisely, but ..."

"Besides," Sam interrupted, "I've been practicing - and not just exploring. I've spent most of my time tricking out," she boasted with her infectious smile. "Did you know that attracts dolphins when you're further out?"

"Yeah."

"Duh. Of course you'd know that," she sputtered, rolling her eyes with a tinge of embarrassment. She thrust her feelings aside. This was too big of an opportunity to let her natural shyness interfere. "Well, it's still pretty cool," she confessed, dropping her eyes to the water and biting her lip while trying to suppress a smile.

"You're awesome," Blayde answered with unmasked sincerity. "I'd be happy to dive with you any time but I wouldn't want to be responsible for putting you in danger like that. I get paid to take risks like that, you know?"

Sam pursed her lips in frustration. She needed to think fast and she was already feeling intimidated about asking Blayde to take her diving again.

"Do you like your job?"

"I love my job," he answered, unsure why it mattered.

"You'd probably be doing this even if you weren't getting paid for it then?"

Now Blayde saw where she was going. "Yeah. ... Yes, I would." He let loose a knowing grin.

"I like it too," she answered. "I don't need to get paid to have fun."

Blayde wasn't one to miss opportunities. "So, what if I made millions off of this and you just got a sidebar in a couple small time articles?" he teased.

"Then, I suppose you'd owe me dinner in a five star restaurant and a few more dives." She barely smiled. She didn't need to. With odds like that, Blayde couldn't refuse. He bested her in a brief competition of who could smile the biggest. "Alright then. But let's make a deal: if things start looking bad for whatever reason, you jet to safety when I ask. Agreed?"