Fins (Transformations: Book 2)

8

"You're too nice," Adam decided, "But I guess that's what makes you so interesting."

"You think I'm interesting?"

"I think you're going to wind up getting yourself hurt one of these days because you're being too nice to avoid it. Disasters like that carry a horrific fascination, don't they?"

Eric stared at him for a moment, not sure how to respond. "I'm not as self-sacrificing as you think. I'm just not one to stand by and let other people be hurt if I can help. If you saw a car crash and knew you could save somebody in it, wouldn't you do that?"

"I suppose," Adam relented, "But I wouldn't climb into a burning building, knowing I'm likely to die, to save some old lady who's caught in there. I expect you would, but it's not logical, when you think about it."

"I try not to think about it."

"Fair enough." Adam gave him a smile. "We're getting to serious, though. Let's head back to the lab and see how many grammatical errors the good doctor has made, shall we?"

"Kai wants to meet up," Freya announce during breakfast on Saturday. She held up the bottle she had given Aria to send to him, along with some sort of paper. The paper looked more like burlap and she couldn't even guess how the message had been written. "I found this note last night."

"You went out last night?" Aria asked as she took the note. It just requested that she meet at the usual place that night.

"I sensed something," Freya explained, "It turned out to be this."

"How does that work, exactly? There's no way it would wash up near here by chance. Besides, it should have filled with water, making it unable to float, at all."

"A little nymph magic. I fixed it so the bottle would go to its intended recipient when sent into the ocean and come back to me when sent up to land."

"That's pretty impressive."

Freya smiled. "I am quite impressive."

"And so modest." Aria looked back at the note. "I guess I don't have to wear anything special, since he knows I'm human and there's no point in dressing up, really."

"Just wear what you normally wear," Freya agreed.

"I'll just meet him after work, then," she decided.

"As you wish." Despite her arguments against the relationship, Freya was doing her best to be supportive of Aria, whatever her decision. She knew she couldn't shield the girl from the world, especially when she'd already seen so much of it.

Aria fussed with her hair in the dressing room after their shift ended, but it didn't do much good. The tank water just wasn't flattering.

"He won't care," Freya tried to assure her, "You're beautiful, no matter what your hair looks like. Eric's seen you like this, after all, and you never seemed to mind."

"He's different," Aria stated, then stopped short in the middle of combing. Why was he different? The easy answer was that she never felt the need to impress Eric. He was just an intern with a crush. By the time she'd started dating him, she'd already quit worrying about how he saw her. Kai wasn't the same. She was the land girl with the crush, now. She wanted him to only see her at her best. Was that really okay?

"You alright?" Freya asked when the girl stood frozen in thought for a minute.

"Yeah." Aria braided her wet hair, trying not to care about how it looked as she and Freya headed to the beach to meet Kai.

"I'll be here if you need me," Freya promised as she watched Aria climb down to the secluded beach on her own.

Kai was already there, waiting. He smiled as he saw Aria. "You came. I was worried you might not get my message."