Get The Girl ✓

18 | mermaids r real

     My voice silences all of them. I slowly peek from my hands and survey my fellow friends. I start from the left, where Trey is in a simple grey shirt with his naturally-styled brown hair. In the middle is Justine, who still looks effortlessly good with the messy bun. And then there's Jude — shirtless.

     Mother of God.

    "I'm wearing boxers," is all he says.

     The boys momentarily forget about their dispute when Trey squints, moving closer to his screen. If I didn't know any better, I would've thought he was staring at my chest. Not that I'm big on that department. "MERMAIDS R REAL?"

     He's quoting what's written on my purple T-shirt. I drop my hands down. "Mer-people exist, okay? Don't fight me on this."

    "But statistics say — "

    "Guys!" Justine blurts out. "You can talk about mer-people when we're in the water park."

     We all stare blankly at her. Trey arches an eyebrow, Jude glares, and I am confused.

     Justine grins. "You heard me. We're going to Aquatica."

***

     Aquatica is one of Orlando's biggest waterparks. It has pretty much everything you'd expect in a water park — white-knuckled slides, big wave pools, and lots of screaming children.

     We start with the wave pools, where everyone is crowding. Trey and Justine are in the deeper parts, near the buckets when it's about to pour down. They're splashing water on each other, grinning and laughing. I don't think they even realise that people are watching them.

     They're two attractive people who are attracted to each other.

     I'm just laying down, my bare legs stretched on the ground. My surf shorts are soaked but my loose top is thankfully still dry (I'm not as confident as Justine yet.) Jude's sitting down too, leaning back with his palms flat on the surface. Right beside me.

     When Justine and Trey pair off, we unconsciously get paired off, too. The heat of his body is so close to me it makes my head feel dizzy. It doesn't help that Jude has a fine build. Six-pack, toned muscles, hard lines around his waist that leads to —

     Oh my God.

    "You done staring?" Jude asks roughly, but his eyes glint with amusement.

     I'm confident enough to hit his shoulder, but it damages my hand more than it damages him. "I wasn't staring."

     He looks at me like I'm an idiot.

     The sound of bells ring, a signal that the giant water bucket is about to fall. Children, parents, teens — all people of age start running to the shallow shore, where Jude and I are lounging around. But I stand up.

    "Where the fuck are you going?"

     I grin down at him over my shoulder. "Going to the depths of the sea."

     I'm like battling against a tidal wave. People pass me by, but I keep walking, my legs slowly being swallowed by the water until I reach an area that's close to the bucket. My loose top is soaked now.

     Only a few people remain. I hear splashing near me — someone's approaching. I'm shocked to see that it's Jude. A smile is slowly lifting on his face.