Beyond the Sea (15 page)

“I can tell you want to go in,” he said, looking at the ocean. “I can’t stay out myself.”

“Um, yea,” Melia mumbled, not liking the energy this guy gave off. He was shirtless and tan and his gray and black swim trunks were perfectly dry. This guy had not been in the water.

“You should jump in,” he said with a chuckle.

Involuntarily, Melia imagined herself doing just that. She could dive in and swim away, leaving this guy scratching his head, wondering where she had gone-and if she had really been there. She smiled, remembering the few times Lana pulled that trick. But the smile was misinterpreted, and the man moved even closer.

“I’m Paul,” he said, extending his hand. Not wanting to be rude, Melia shook it. “You here by yourself?”

“No,” Melia replied, her eyes flicking to where Peter stood. “My boyfriend is over there.”

“Sure, that’s what they all say,” he tried to joke. “What’s your name?”

“Melia,” she said without thinking and internally winced.

“Well, Melia, it is certainly nice to meet you.” He cleared his throat. “My buddies and I are having a little get together tonight a little further down along the shore. You should come.”

“Sorry, I have plans with my boyfriend.” She pointed to Peter, who had his back turned.

“Oh, I knew it. You’re far too pretty to be single.”

Melia took a step into deeper water. “Uh, thanks.”

“Melia, that’s not the real reason I came over to talk to you. Wanna know the real reason?”

Not at all,
she thought. Diving underwater seemed like a very good idea right about now.

“I’m a photographer. I’m always on the lookout for models and you caught my eye. How ‘bout you give me your number and I call you so we can set up a photo shoot?” It really wasn’t a question. Paul fully expected Melia to hand him over a number.

Melia smiled coyly. “Of course,” she said, remember earlier this year when Jill had gotten into some trouble by giving her number to a ‘photographer’ she met at the mall. The guy turned out to be forty year old creep that had been arrested for dealing—twice. He obsessively called Jill until Mrs. Forester found out and got a restraining order put on the creep. Melia ran a hand through her hair. “I’ve always wanted to be a model.”

“You would be a great one!” Paul already had his phone in hand, eagerly punching in the number Melia gave him. He looked over Melia’s shoulder. Something flashed across his face—fear maybe? “I’ll call you!” he said before taking off.

“Who was that?” Peter asked, taken aback from what he had just seen. Melia laughed.

“A photographer. He asked for my number so I can model for him.”

“Melia, you do know he’s not a real photographer. He’s just some ass—”

Melia put her hand on Peter’s arm. “I didn’t give him my number.” She gently took the chocolate ice cream cone out of Peter’s hand.

“But I-I saw you,” he quietly admitted, feeling almost hurt.

“Peter, I gave him the number to the San Morado police department.”

“Really? Nice.” Peter put his arm around Melia, impressed with her quick thinking.

“Did that make you jealous?”

“Maybe,” Peter said, not able to keep the smile off his face.

“No one’s ever been jealous of me before!”

“Now
that
I don’t believe!” Peter joked. He took her hand and led her to a large rock where they sat.

“You know the only bad thing about ice cream?” Melia spoke after she finished hers. “You can’t eat it underwater.”

Peter laughed. “I never thought about it before. I guess you’re right.”

-Chapter 6-

“What about this one?” Melia held up a pale blue dress with pink flowers embroidered along the hem.

“Do you want to look like Alice in Wonderland?” Jill scoffed, poking her head out of Melia’s walk in closet.

“I like it,” Melia said quietly, holding the dress up to herself and looking in the mirror. “I think it’s pretty.”

“Oh it is,” Jill agreed, mesmerized by Melia’s shoe collection. “But you don’t want to look ‘pretty’ when you go to parties. You need to look hot, and, for you, that isn’t hard.”

Jamie rolled her eyes and carefully flipped the brittle and yellowed page in a tattered old book. It had belonged to a naiad, Melia had told her, who was her friend and had given her the book since she knew of Melia’s fascination with things that fly, though this book was not about birds, but about griffins, dragons and harpies. Not that Jamie was easily shocked by learning of the existence of magical creatures, since, after all, her best friend was a merrow, but it amazed her that there was so much she didn’t know about. She shuddered at a picture of a ferocious looking creature, called a Raiju, and closed the book.

 
“Jamie,” Jill called, in a tone that signaled it wasn’t the first time she had said her sister’s name. Jamie snapped out of her reverie.

“Yea?”

“You don’t have to take me home.
 
I think I should go to the party with Melia.”

“Um, not a chance in hell,” Jamie said and jumped off the bed.

“And why not?” Jill said, one hand on her hip, the other clutching a pair of jeweled, black satin Manolos.

“Because, you’re just not. First of all, you weren’t invited, and second, I’ll tell mom.”

“You are so lame!”

“No, I just know the real reason you want to go!”

“Yea, I like parties.”

Jamie shook her head and waved her hand at the closed bathroom door. “You are trying to mooch off of her.”

“No I’m not!”

While Jamie and Jill argued, Melia pulled her clothes off. She slowly put on the matching black lace bra and thong Jill insisted she wear under the dress, for Peter’s benefit, of course. She carefully unrolled the curlers from her hair and inspected the makeup Jill had done for her. It was more than Melia was used to wearing, but she liked the overall look of her smoky eyes.

Moving painstakingly slow so she wouldn’t mess up her hair, Melia pulled her selected dress over her head. It was midnight blue and skin tight. The neckline was a very low ‘V’, and Melia was pretty sure most people would wear something under it.

Modesty was nothing to merrows, and Melia smiled at her reflection, happy with the way her figure filled out the dress. She had wanted to wear her shell necklace, but Jill said it didn’t match. Instead she put on a strand of black pearls with matching earrings. She flipped her head upside down and shook out the curls, before spraying them with hair spray. When she emerged from the bathroom, Jill gasped.

“You look amazing!” she held her hand to her heart as if one of the Seven Wonders had sprung to life and walked out of Melia’s huge bathroom.

“Thanks,” Melia said, unable to help the smile. She hoped Peter would find her looking amazing too.

“You do look good, as always,” Jamie stated, sighing as she eyed the mess Jill had carelessly made in Melia’s closet. Before she could yell at Jill to clean it up, the doorbell rang.

“Wow,” Peter said when he took in the sight of Melia.

“Hi Peter,” Melia said excitedly, automatically opening her arms for a hug. “I’m almost ready. I just have to let Wolfy in.”

“Alright,” he replied and watched her quickly walk away.

Jamie and Jill picked their way downstairs, bickering.

“Hello, Peter,” Jill said coyly and Jamie elbowed her in the ribs.

“Uh, hi, uh Jamie and Jamie’s friend.”

Jamie stifled a laugh. “Hey Peter. This is my sister, Jill.”

“Oh, right. Hi.”
“Don’t worry, we were just leaving,” Jamie said, considering the puzzled look on Peter’s face. He was so easy to read.

“Ok, see ya later,” he said with a slight wave.

They walked past him out the front door. The house was silent. There was a light on upstairs, and the porch lights spilled in through the large windows on the doors, illuminating the foyer. But that was it. Peter looked through the hall for signs of Melia and saw none.

He didn’t know where the light switches were and didn’t want to bump into anything. Using his cell phone as a light, he walked to the back of the house. It was dark out by now. How could Melia see?

Before the oddity of his thought could register, Melia opened the door and Wolfy raced inside, his paws scraping the hardwood floor in his manic attempt to greet Peter.

“Sorry!” she yelled from the back veranda. “His paws are all sandy. Someone decided to have a run along the shore.”

“Can’t say I blame him,” Peter panted, the weight of Wolfy on his chest overbearing. “It’s nice tonight.”

Melia crossed the hall and opened a bag of dog treats. Wolfy leapt off of Peter and sat in front of his owner, eagerly waiting for a strip of dried chicken.

Peter opened the door for Melia as she got in the car and as she got out. Connor’s was already full when they arrived, an hour and a half fashionably late. Melia held Peter’s hand tightly, both excited and nervous for tonight.

She followed him with a smile as he made his social rounds, introducing her to his friends from other schools. Everyone was incredibly interested in Melia. If her on-display chest didn’t draw them in, her exotic aura did the trick. Melia found comfort in the fact that Connor lived near the ocean. She could hear the waves crashing on the shore, though she doubted any humans could from this distance.

Connor, who was on his fourth beer, handed Melia a red plastic cup. “It’s my specialty,” he told her, winking at Peter.

Melia took a sip and made a face. Peter laughed. “It tastes funny,” she said.

“That’s because there is a shit ton of alcohol in it.”

“Oh.”

“You’ve never drank before?”

Melia shook her head. “Not anything like this.”

Peter put his arm around her. “Just drink it slowly then.”

They continued moving around the house, talking to people. Melia sipped her drink. It started to taste better. In the course of an hour her cup was empty, and when Peter left her on the back porch to get her a refill, Amanda the cheerleader found her way to Melia’s side.

“I just love that dress,” she said, though her voice lacked enthusiasm. “I don’t have the boobs to fill it out though.” She stared obviously at Melia’s chest. “What cup size are you?”

“Uh,” Melia began. Even she knew that was an odd—if not rude—question to ask. Luckily Amanda sat down next to her. Well, plopped down was more like it. Melia had seen enough TV to know this girl was drunk.

“You know, some people think you got a boob job. I mean, no one as skinny as you can have boobs that big.”

“Oh.” Melia wanted to text Jamie. She didn’t know what to make of Amanda’s comments. But she had left her purse in Peter’s car.

“I bet Peter likes them,” she went on. “We almost hooked up once, me and Peter. He’s hot. You’re lucky. You’re hot too.” She leaned closer to Melia. “But we didn’t. He’s not like that, ya know. I heard a lot from Janet about him. He was too good for her but don’t tell her I said that. Peter’s a good guy.”

“He is,” Melia said honestly. “I like him a lot.”

“Aww! You do? That is so, so sweet. I mean, so
sweet
!” She laughed. “You two look good together. You are the cutest couple ever. Ever!”

“Thanks.”

“Are you sure—?” Amanda stopped abruptly and put her hand over her mouth. Melia thought she might puke. After she recovered Amanda continued. “You can trust me, ok?”

“Of course,” Melia said with a practiced smile.
Humans,
she mentally scoffed.

“Just tell me one thing.” She moved closer, her blood shot eyes staring into Melia’s. “Your boobs. Are they real?”

“Yes,” Melia told her. “Want to feel?” When she first learned about plastic surgery, Melia was horrified. Why would any human put themselves through that—just for looks!? And, from what she heard, implants didn’t feel real, which was something human men liked.