Dedicated to lemon_fanta007 because she left such a nice and honest message and I adore her for that. Thank you.
Chapter Seven: Coming After Me
When I arrive back home I contemplate the fact that this summer will possibly be the worst ever. There is no doubt about it. I open the door to the house hastily before someone sees me without any pants on. One of the not so fun perks about being a mermaid, during the transformation you lose all your clothes and when you change back to having a pair of legs, you're stark naked. Bella and I have learned what to expect and now we have extra clothing on the beach in case anything goes wrong - like the situation I just had. In this case, I was definitely not prepared. I grit my teeth together the second Liam pops into my mind. He's back. I still can't decide whether or not this is a very good thing or a very, very bad thing. I walk to my room and slip on my turquoise pajama shorts and black tank top and make my way back to the kitchen where I pour myself a glass of water. I stare outside the glass door that faces the ocean and I watch as the sun sets on the horizon. Pacing back and forth across the kitchen and living room, I think about the pros and cons of Liam's return. A pro, can be the possibility of us rekindling our friendship. A small smile appears on my face and I hop on my feet at the idea of our friendship working out again. But, what if Liam doesn't want to rekindle our friendship because he's too stubborn about forgetting our past mistakes - my mistakes? The cons can be the possibility of him trying to have revenge on me for my past mistakes. He did act a little hostile today at the party, but he hid it very well from the others...maybe he is after me. I stop in my place and think this through. Liam, the nicest - well, who was the nicest guy a few years back - coming back to Maui to get back at me for hurting him? Holy. Shit. It makes perfect sense. He's coming after me. I need a bath. Sighing, I grab a jar of nutella and a spoon from one of the cabinets and make my way to the bathroom. I stop abruptly when I sense something missing. I turn to my right and walk over to the end of the room where a small mahogany table sits. On top of the mahogany table we keep a few candles with photo frames of family, and ourselves and a fish tank that I keep. I peek over the tank that is kept empty from water and see that Phillip, my turtle, has no food in his bowl. My frustration hits the roof. I told Bella to get him lettuce before I came.
"UGH!" I groan and stomp back over to the bathroom. I slam the jar of nutella down on the ground as I turn on the water. I plug the cork into the drain and sit on the toilet seat as I wait for the tub to fill up. This will be the worst summer ever.
There's a door slam that causes me to stir awake. I'm still in the tub filled with water, minus the bubbles, revealing every inch of my tail. As I look up to the sky window, I see it's a bright and blue morning. Bella can't possibly be back home? At this hour? I watch through the open bathroom door, waiting for Bella to pass by. I hear the keys being placed on the counter and I prepare myself for the conversation we're about to have. It's quiet, and I wonder if she passed out on the couch. Then I hear footsteps tip toeing across the hard wood floor. She's coming. I fold my arms across my chest and glance at my tail and when I turn my head, I see Bella entering the bathroom, but she doesn't notice me.
"Bella." I say sharply. She jumps back screaming and flips the light on. Even though she looks like a mess, she's still a walking goddess. Her makeup is smudged around the corners of her eyes but they're stilling shining bright. She puts a hand to her chest as she calms her breathing. I roll my eyes and I push myself to sit up straighter.
"Gaby! What are you doing?" she exclaims as she looks at my appearance. "Did you sleep in here?"
"Not important." I snap, "Did you just get home? I was waiting all night." She opens her mouth to reply but I stop her, "I'm having a mid-life crisis and you were out partying!" she rolls her eyes and turns off the light while walking out of the bathroom. "Bella!" I yell and try to get out of the tub when I realize I don't have legs. "Don't walk away from me!" I pull the plug to the tub and reach for my towel and start drying my hair as the water goes down the drain. "Bella!" I shriek as I start patting my tail dry. In a blink of an eye, my legs are back and I hurdle over the tub. I wrap the towel tightly around my body and storm out of the bathroom and to Bella's room, she is lying on her full size bed. Her room is not so different from mine, besides the ribbons, medals, and trophies she won from surfing for everyone to see.
"Gaby, I have a horrible hangover. We can talk about this later." Bella groans throwing a pillow over her head.
"I have a serious problem -"
"I understand, now go out and get us some food." I purse my lips into a tight line. Fine. I turn on my heels and walk to my room, the plain and simplest of rooms. The walls of my room is a very soft blue, my bed comforter is white with dark blue spots and the only things I have are a few photo frames here and there of my friends and family and a collection of seashells that are all placed nicely on my drawer. I pull out my lavender bandeau swim top and slip on a pair of light washed jean shorts with a white V-neck.
"Bella! I'm leaving!" I call out loudly enough to annoy her. She groans out loud and I smirk as I grab my brown leather purse.
Looking around for the ripest bananas, I scratch the side of my stomach. Deciding that the first ones were perfect I place them on the cart. I push the cart, and start picking out green and red apples. I pick up a red apple and smell it when my eyes suddenly lock onto Liam. His back is to me, but I can recognize his back well enough to know it's him. Shit! I check the cart and see this is enough to satisfy Jay and Bella. I toss a few apples in a bag and toss them into the cart. I place my hands on the handle of the cart and glance once more at Liam, who is by the cereal aisle. I push forward when I run into Rita. I jump into the air and Rita starts cackling up a storm.
"Oh, Gaby, you should've seen your face!" she cries out holding her stomach. I peek over to see Liam still by the cereal aisle, too far to see me, but close enough to hear Rita's obnoxious laughter. I start chuckling along with her taking quick glances to see if Liam has noticed yet.
"Hey Rita..." I breathe out and scratch the back of my leg. "What a surprise." She slowly starts to recover from her fit of laughter and she wipes her finger under her brown eyes. Rita is local, and I have known her for forever.
"Oh honey, you are too great." She waves her hand out like it's no a big deal, "Where'd you go last night? We missed you."
"Oh, you know...I forgot to feed Philip." She raises one eyebrow like Liam did last night and I huff as I scratch the back of my neck. "My pet turtle." her red colored lips form a big 'O' and I nod my head.
"Well, there was this really sexy looking guy and he would have been perfect for you."
"Damn." I muster out, not feeling the whole hookup thing right now.
"Don't worry! Next, next friday night," she looks around and waves me to come closer. Scratching the side of my right leg, I lean in closer. "Sydney is going to have the party of the year. Her parents are going to be out of town so she gets her parents mansion for the entire weekend, and everyone is going to be there. So then you and Ricky can have your thing." She winks at me and I puff my cheeks with air, making me look like a chipmunk. "Oh no...I know that face, you have to come."
I glance at Liam and a smirk slowly forms on my lips, he's in the dairy section getting closer to me. I turn back to Rita who has hopeful eyes.
"Of course I'll be there. It's summer after all." She squeals and I wince. "Well I have to go. See you next, next Friday." I wink at her and she claps her hands together and I smile as I push the cart. I can do this. Maybe this summer won't be as bad as I thought. It's not like Liam would be there anyways, he hates over the top parties. What was I thinking last night? This summer is going to be great, it's not like Liam and I are going to be together each hour of the day. I smile to myself, until Liam steps from out of the corner and I come to a halt. My smile disappears and Liam reaches down to the ground picking up the box of cereal he had in his hands. "Sorry." I wince at how quiet my voice is.
"Hey, Gaby." Liam stands back up and smiles slightly. I try my best to smile, but once again it's too forced.
"Hey..." I squeak and curse under my breath as I look all over the place to avoid Liam's eyes. Then my eyes land on his cereal box and it's too late to stop myself. "You know frosted flakes is a really sugary and sweet cereal. I suggest you either get cheerios, or raisin bran - but then again, raisin bran contains fiber, and well fiber causes a lot of time in the toilet -" I bite my lip when I see Liam looking at me carefully, but I see the corner of his lips rising up slowly. He chuckles and looks down at the tiled floor and then back at me. Shit. I scratch harshly at my arm and then neck.
"I guess you're right, I mean you are the health expert." He chuckles and I chuckle along softly as I stare at him, trying to read him again. His eyes stop on mine and I see him squirm under my intense stare, "Well, I better change my cereal." He passes by me and I turn around and wave at him awkwardly.
"Bye." I breathe out and he smiles at me forcefully and walks back into the cereal aisle. I curse under my breath and slap my hand onto my forehead. "Shit."
"Oh yeah, Gaby," He exclaims coming back around and I place my hands behind me and raise my eyebrows expectantly. "You should really put something on for the poison oak, it's looking pretty bad." His eyes are all over me that now I squirm and when I look at my arm I see some spots, puffy and red. I gasp at how awful it looks and turn back to Liam who has a small smirk on his face.
Play it cool. Play it cool. "I- I- I know. Bella is preparing me something back home. Everything is all good." He nods and then disappears back into the aisle. "Shit!" I breathe out in a panic. I push the cart to the nearest cashier, "Aloha," I smile and dial Bella's number. There's no answer so I leave a quick voicemail while the cashier bags the food. "Listen Bella, I have done a lot of things for you. And I don't ask for much, but I'm running on a very thin line. Liam is back and I think I'm going to die this summer. So, the least you can do is get off your prissy ass and make something that helps relieve poison oak." I look up to see the cashier, a local, probably mid-thirties, giving me a strange look. I raise my eyebrows expectantly and he carries on with bagging my things. "By the way, we have a lot to talk about along the lines of when were you going to tell me that you were still BFF's with that son of -" I notice the cashier giving me a scared look, I sigh and hang up my phone, "How much?"
"Twenty." My heart stops when I recognize the voice and as unlucky as I am, when I look to my left I see Liam standing there with his arms crossed causing his arms to look muscular than before. His jaw is set and I guess he heard everything I had just said. "Exact."
"Wow. Thank you, Liam." I force out with a little bit of sarcasm flowing out. He gives me a tight smile and I nod my head as I take a twenty and hand it to the cashier. "Just so you know, I was talking about Kai. You know how annoying he can be. Remember in high school?"
"I remember a lot of things in high school." It's the way he says and how he says it, it's full of hurt and anger. Whatever look I had before disappears and I stare at him. He still remembers and he is not going to let me forget.
"Right..." I drag and take the bags from the cashier, "Mahalo." I try to smile, but fail and without another look towards Liam I quickly make my way out of the super market. Once I'm out, I break into a run with the bags in my hand. Everything is now starting to itch and it's so hard to resist the urge to scratch. It's official, he's after me.