Dakota just transferred to a small town in Ireland after finally sprouting gills senior year. Dakota thought they were in the clear but sprouting gills might seal their fate to the ocean wrecking everything they worked for on land. 1/4 Selkie, 1/4 M...
Six missed calls from Emory by Saturday and not a second to call her back. Well... that's a lie. I could have. I just didn't want to talk to anyone, and it would have been rude to call her when I was with Sean or Bay and the time difference made it hard to catch her at the right time.
Flopping back onto my bed I hit call and waited for her zoomed-in eye to appear on the screen but when her face appeared, dark circles color underneath her eye and her waterline was red-rimmed.
"What happened?" I demanded.
She rubbed at her eyes. "Where have you been?" she snapped. "I've been calling, and texting and I even sent you an email because I thought maybe your phone broken or got lost in the ocean."
"I know." guilt ate at my insides. "I'm sorry, every time you called, I was in class or in the water and then when I saw it, it was too late to call you."
"When has it ever been too late to call me?" she rolled her eyes and sat up, the lighting just made her puffy eyes more obvious.
"What happened?" I asked again softer that time.
She sighed. "Just... emotions." she choked on a humorless laugh.
"But why?" I prodded
She shook her head, locks of hair falling out of her top knot bun. "Period problems."
I scrunched my face at her. "Since when? You never have mood swings this bad."
"Well..." she pushed herself off the bed. "You're not here, everything is harder."
A sharp twinge of sorrow stabbed at my chest. "I'm sorry." I didn't know what else to say. "This whole thing sucks."
"You just had to go and sprout your gills now, huh?" she tried to smile through it but it was tight and even if she didn't actually blame me she was just as frustrated as I was.
"I'll just glue them shut real quick and we'll take the first flight home."
"That would be super ideal, actually." She flicked the bathroom light on, and closed the door.
"Right?" my toes tingled, and I sat up, waiting for a tail to form but the tingling faded and the rush of water through the speaker reminded me I was on the phone.
"One sec, Dakota."The screen went black and after a few moments of rummaging, Emory's face and bare shoulder came on the screen as she lay in the bathtub.
"Better?" I asked.
"Between the bath and finally getting to talk to you..." she pursed her lips and looked to the ceiling for a second before her smile returned and her eyes found mine. "Much."
"Good."
Emory chattered about fencing, the tournament she just won. I screamed with her and watched as her eyelids grew heavier and heavier. She turned the screen off to get out of the bath and reappeared in her bed, bundled under the covers.
"Tired?" I asked.
"Not feeling great." she yawned. "Between cramps and just a busy week and dying of loneliness wondering if my best friend was claimed by the ocean."
An awkward silence lingered between us for a second, for me at least because her eyes were drifting shut.
"Sorry," I whispered. Her eyes stayed shut and a soft mumble barely moved her lips. "I'm sorry." I tried again but she didn't move. I propped my phone on my bedside table and watched her sleep until the call ended, her phone probably died.
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