Remember me? (gxg)

Chapter 2

“What about Mark? I talk about him.”

“Mark has had the longest crush on you and you don’t even seem to notice and when boys flirt with you, you don’t seem to care.”

“That’s because it’s not a big deal and boys are gross.” She leaned back on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

“Boys are gross? Do you hear yourself?”

“Yes, and I like Mark too. Just not in the same way he likes me. I don’t know, I guess I’m different.”

“You amaze me, Mackenzie,” Hanna said and went to sit beside her on the bed.

“How so?”

“Like you said, you’re different. I know people don’t understand our friendship. You’re social, you can walk up to anyone and stir up a conversation and I can’t. You can be best friends with a boy and make him see past the fact that you’re a girl and I can’t do that. You have this unwavering confidence that I lack.”

“If it was possible, I’d share it with you,” Holly said playfully.

“It’s weird though,” Hanna said.

“What is?”

“The way boys don’t matter to you when it’s all every girl our age can talk about.”

“Maybe I’m abnormal,” Holly joked but Hanna retained a serious expression.

“No, you’re special.”

Holly smiled. “Your date is going to be here any second. You should finish getting ready.”

*

“How is she doing?” Holly asked Tony later on that day.

“Her vitals are stronger, there’s a bit of improvement,” he said.

“Can I see her?” she asked, recalling the poor, pale and lifeless state Mermaid had been in when she’d found her on the shore.

“Yes, I’ll show you to her room.”

She followed him to Mermaid’s hospital room.

“I’ll leave you alone with her,” Tony said, leaving to go tend to his other patients.

Mermaid’s skin was still pale and if it wasn’t for the machine monitoring her, anyone could have thought she was dead but even in death, she was a stunning sight.

Holly took a seat beside the bed and silently watched her, wondering if she was peaceful and happy in her dreams. Her expression was unreadable and except for the weak movement of her chest, she looked lifeless.

Death could not wear such a beautiful face, Holly thought as she slightly stretched out her hand and touched Mermaid’s.

She really was a beautiful woman. She resembled a princess out of a storybook romance with long untamed golden hair, lovely manicured fingers, dazzling flawless face and perfect full lips.

“What is the color of your eyes, Mermaid?” she asked rhetorically and ventured a wild guess.

They had to be as blue as the sea or as green as the land. No, it had to be blue. It much more suited her. She may have had an unreadable expression but Holly imagined she could shine life into a dying heart with her smile.

Softly laughing at her own silliness, she realized that for once since her return, she’d put all her fears and disturbing thoughts aside.

“I bet there is someone out there looking for you,” she said, carefully reaching for Mermaid’s left hand to find an empty ring finger. “Maybe family.” The absence of a ring didn’t mean she didn’t have someone special in her life.