Seven - The Mermaid goes Shopping

Hunter

I was in the midst of gobbling down a toast when I saw Blue's towel lying on the chaise. I sighed.

It was her habit of forgetting things and having me to bring it back to her. I contemplated walking into the bathroom while she was having a bath, surely she'd drawn the curtain, right?

I tossed the toast back on the plate, picked up the towel and padded into the bathroom. When I walked inside, I heard her singing. A melodious tune and her voice was sweet, and peaceful to the ears.

I stood there, listening to her hum. "You have a beautiful voice, Blue. I didn't know you could sing."

She stopped singing at once, and I had the feeling like she was going to be shy about it. "Did you like it?" I heard her ask me from behind the curtain.

"Yeah. I did. You should sing more often, mostly outside of the bathroom." I laughed, hanging the towel on the hook.

I heard her giggle. "If you like my singing that much, maybe I'd sing just for you."

The bathroom curtain was a thin fabric, almost see-through. I could see her blue hair and instead of her legs, I saw a tail. My heart started beating. That night when I'd seen her full mermaid form, it had been dark so I couldn't get a clear view.

Now was my chance.

Cautiously, I approached the bathtub, caught one end of the thin material and pushed it aside revealing a very confused Blue. Of course, she didn't scream or try to cover herself like any other normal girl.

She just smiled shyly at me. "What are you doing?" And suddenly the tail plopped beneathh the water into the bubbles.

Blue looked even more gorgeous in water. Her aqua blue hair glowed, her expression was gleeful and carefree. Her skin was flawless without having used any cosmetics in her life. She was just beyond perfect. I could see why they said mermaids were the reason for some ship wrecks and even storms. If this girl asked me to jump off a high building, it would be hard to say no. The next thing, I'd probably be making poetry about her.

Fuck!

I pointed at the end of the tub. "I want to see it."

"See what?" She asked.

"Your fishtail. Show it to me."

Blue shook her head. "You're going to be disgusted again like last time."

I stared at her incredulously and laughed. "You are the most gorgeous woman I have ever met. Nothing about you will ever remotely disgust me. Now, I want to see it."

Hesitantly, she brought the tail up from the bubble-filled water. And for a minute I just froze, wondering if I was still dreaming. What if this was all a figment of my imagination? Maybe Blue was a normal woman, and my mind made her up. I could be schizophrenic imagining things that didn't exist.

But no, this was a reality.

A long fishtail with blue and silver lines on it, scales covering beneath it. I didn't know how long I'd been staring, she said. "Well? What do you think?"

"You are still beautiful, sweetheart, and this is a part of you. I like it." I grinned.

She smiled back, the one that I was so used to getting. "Really?" She looked relieved. "That makes me so happy, Hunter. I thought you didn't like seeing it at all. I mean that other day when we were at the shore and I was going home, you seemed disturbed after seeing it."

I shook my head. "Surprised, that's all." I started walking out of the bathroom. "Breakfast is ready when you are." I winked at her, closed the door behind me.

Blue walked out of the bathroom wearing my t-shirt like a dress which she merely floated in. I passed a pair of shorts towards her that was lying around. curtsy of my sister Hannah, who crashed at my place when she was too drunk to go home.

I brought Blue close to me, she smelled of the strawberry shampoo that I'd bought her. Carefully, I tucked the t-shirt into the shorts and helped Blue blow-dry her hair.

"Would you like me to braid your hair?" I asked.

"Do you know how to? Coral used to do that for me."

"Well, I may not be as good as your mermaid friend, but I used to do it for my sister."

She settled down on the mattress and I began to braid her long hair. In the end, I was glad that she was happy with the results.

Twenty minutes later, I was driving Blue to the mall where I was supposed to meet my sister. It had been a difficult task to keep Leslie from trying to tag along with us. He was under the impression that I was leaving Blue again. Blue explained where we were going and only then did he retire in his little doggie bed.

I parked the car in the parking lot of empty space. Hannah was late as usual. The word "Punctuality" didn't exist in her dictionary, and I was going to be late again for college.

That little shit!

While we waited, I noticed Blue was acting strange. In the few days that I'd known her, I knew she was anxious when she had something on her mind.

I placed my hand over hers. "Are you worried about Hannah?"

She shook her head vigorously.

"Then are you upset that I'm not going with you?"

She turned from the window to look at me. "Hunter, you're not leaving me, are you?"

"What do you mean?"

She dug her fingers into my palm, a worried expression on her face. "You will come back for me, right?"

"Of course, I will, sweetheart," I assured her. "You think that I wouldn't?"

"Because I cause you a lot of trouble." She admitted.

I cupped her face in both of my hands, looking into her soulful blue eyes, I said. "You are not a burden and will never be. Don't you ever think like that, okay?"

Still uncertain, she gave a nod. I was amazed that there was still someone who cared about my thoughts, who wasn't selfish enough to care about me only because I came from a wealthy family.

"Do you remember what I told you this morning?" I asked her.

"If your sister asks me where I came from, I should tell her that I'm from a small country in Europe called Askada. Since Hannah's intelligence is similar to that of a carrot eating rabbit, she won't know where to pin Askada on a world's map. If she asks me about my age, I'm to tell her that I'm twenty years old even though I'm a little over two hundred. If she asks how we met, I should mention that we were online buddies and since I had a huge crush on you, I packed my bags and decided to take a plane to meet you."

Like a parent who was proud of its child for learning everything they taught her, I patted her head. "Very good, Blue. You remember everything. I'm so proud of you. Now, what if she asked you why you need to do shopping?"

"Then I will tell her that when my plane landed, all my baggage was lost."

"Good. And you are my friend, okay? We are just friends, you and I"

"Just Friends," Blue repeated.

I saw a red sports Porsche circling around the parking lot, hunting for a parking space. After a few minutes, she spotted an open space and parked it. Hannah's parking was bad. Her car was literally touching the next car but she didn't care. She climbed out and banged the door shut, taking off her shades in style like she was a lead actress in a Fast & Furious movie.

"My sister's here. Be a good girl, Blue." I kissed the top of her head.

"Can I kiss you too?" She asked me eagerly.

"Sure." I gave her my cheek and she kissed it.

***

Blue 

Hunter's sister Hannah was tall and beautiful. She had really nice hair and her eyes were green and looked like gems. I was worried if she would like me, I wanted Hunter's sister to like me.

A lot.

When I'd asked Hunter if I could kiss him, I'd meant his lips and not his cheeks. Hunter was a dummy, he thought I didn't understand things. I'd watched on television last time in a movie where the boy and girl kissed and I wanted to try that because it looked so nice but I didn't have the courage to ask Hunter.

What if he doesn't like being kissed at all?

A cheek kiss was fine too, as long as I got to do it all the time, besides I liked feeling the little prickly facial hair on my lips every time I kissed his cheeks, and he smelled so nice.

Hunter took me inside a very large building with lots of people. I didn't like to be around many people, it made me nervous and Hunter wasn't even going to be with me.

"Blue, this is my sister Hannah, and Han, this is Blue. She's my friend." Hunter did the introductions.

She looked at me curiously, her eyes moved from the bottom to the top, a smile crossing her lips. "Nice to meet you, Blue. God, can I just tell you how cute you are? Your skin looks so soft. What kind of lotion do you use?"

Out of all the questions, I didn't expect this. Hunter told me if I didn't understand a question, I'll just have to say "I don't know."

"I don't know," I responded and she frowned.

Hunter shrugged. "Can I talk to you for a second, Han?"

He took his sister by the elbow and they stood at a distance and I couldn't hear what they were saying. I folded my arms across my chest and moved from one foot to the other, feeling uncomfortable. I raked my hand through my hair. People were staring.

Was it because of my strange outfit?

A minute later, she was back and Hunter waved me and started walking in the other direction. I stood there looking at him disappear through the magic doors that opened and closed automatically. Human culture was so different and interesting.

I didn't want Hunter to leave.

I felt like I was going to cry again. I wanted to run after him when I felt Hannah place a hand on my shoulders. "Come on, Blue. Let's do some shopping."

I stared at her with a teary-gaze. "Why is everyone staring at me? I want to change out of these clothes."

"Well, I'm your Fairy Godmother for today so rest assured I will give you a great wardrobe. Hunter's jaw is going to fucking drop on the floor in a puddle of his own drool the minute he sees you tonight. You have my word, sweetie." She said.

I stared at her. "But I don't want his jaw to drop. He looks good with a jaw. I don't think I'll like him without teeth."

Hannah roared with laughter, the same way Hunter always did when I said something. "Hunter did warn me you were hilarious. Anyway, I really like you."

Hannah took me to a number of little places with lots of clothes hanging. They were called "shops" Hunter told me I could pick anything I liked and then Hannah would pay with money. It wasn't like back in the underwater world where we had different currency, mostly coins. Mermaid money. Hunter said they earned money on land through jobs.

We came to one shop and I picked a t-shirt that had a Mermaid on it. It was a Mermaid with red hair. I liked it and Hannah agreed to buy it. She gave me a pair of jeans that were torn on the knees. I told her that it was torn, but Hannah said that was fashion. I trusted Hannah. I got a new pair of shoes she called sneakers. Hannah said I looked cute. Even the nice shop lady agreed so we bought it.

After browsing at a number of different shops, we were carrying a number of paper bags with all my purchases. Two dresses which I liked, a number of t-shirts, denim and three pair of shoes. Hannah said that was enough for today.

Suddenly my stomach growled and she took me to a nice eating area where Hannah bought me the food that I wanted. Burgers.

She brought the burger to her mouth before asking me, "So where are you from, Blue?"

What had Hunter told me again? Oh yes, I remembered.

"Hunter told me that I'm from a small country in Europe called Askada. Since Hannah's intelligence is similar to that of a carrot eating rabbit, she won't know where to pin Askada on a world's map."

There. I said it. Just like Hunter told me, but somehow Hannah didn't seem happy to hear it.

The patty slid from between the bread and hit the tray. "Did he just call me dumb?" She asked.

I shook my head. "Just a carrot eating rabbit." I corrected her. If Hunter called her dumb, I hadn't heard him. "I like rabbits. I saw one on Animal Planet."

"I'll kill him." She was furious.

"No! Please, don't kill Hunter. I really like him."

"Well, I scored more in Geography than him for sure. I know there's no country on this planet called Askada." She threw her hands up in the air. "He's crazy if he thinks I'm so stupid."

I nodded not knowing what else to say.

"Anyway, forget my brother. Your hair looks naturally blue and so glossy. How do you maintain it?" She asked me, assessing my hair.

"Just let it grow," I answered.

"What shampoo?" She inquired.

"I don't know?"

"Conditioner?"

"I don't know."

I took the bread off the burger and ate it first, then I ate the last bread and the veggies between them. I saved the patty for the end. Hannah continued to stare at me with interest.

Between chewing, I said. "But I really like your hair. It looks like honey that Hunter pours on my pancakes. I like honey."

Hannah laughed. "Thanks. You're one of the sweetest girls out of all the other girls that Hunter's introduced me, you know."

"Other girls?"

Who were the other girls? I didn't like other girls.

"Mmmm-hmm. Other girls, he dated in the past who were total bitches like the guy's got a really bad taste in women. Not that he'd constitute as a good guy either."

"Where are the other girls now?" I was curious.

"I don't know. Probably dating others by now."

"Hunter is mine. I don't want other girls to take him."

Hannah giggled. "Do you want to know some seducing techniques?"

"What's seducing?"

"You know, to get Hunter in your bed?"

I was confused. "Well, I don't think that's a problem. I'm always in his bed. Every night."

Hannah spurted the coke that she was drinking and started coughing loudly. Some person from the next table began thumping on her back. She kept repeating "I'm okay" to them.

She cleared her throat and in a soft voice, she asked. "So you and Hunter like..." she made a circle with her thumb and index finger and kept moving the other index finger in and out of the circle. "You know what I mean."

"No. I don't."

"Are you having sex?"

"I don't know."

"Girllll..." Hannah groaned. "Where do you come from?"

I'd have to say it again. "Well, Hunter says..."

She raised her hand to stop me. "No! I know what you are going to repeat. And I don't want to hear any more about what Hunter says!" She rubbed her temples. "Sweetie, I think you need a "Birds and a Bees" talk."

"I know about Birds. I saw it on Hunter's laptop. My favorite is a parrot and a flamingo." I said proudly. At least there was something I knew.

It looked like Hannah was trying to stifle her laughter. "It's okay, you can laugh," I said.

She then burst out laughing, and then she said. "I know we don't know each other much, but I love you, Blue. If my brother gives you too much trouble, you can always call me."

"Does that make us friends?"

"Of course," She said.

I was happy. I'd made another friend today.