A Merman's Tail

Chapter 10

So flash forward to Graduation.  Darcy and I air kissed each other goodbye before she wheeled her case down the corridor.  That girl was my best friend here and my lifeline.  It wasn't Drew's fault we'd drifted apart, he was just going in a different direction than I was.  He was going to be a lawyer and join his father's firm.  No more idyllic vacations for him. 

Darcy had helped me get through one blind date after another.  Don't get me wrong most of the time we had a great laugh after each failure.  I tried, I really did, I kissed some guys and some girls and even Darcy again.  But nothing took, I guess I just had to figure out my heart was already full of someone else.  It made sense when there was no sparks flying with anyone else. 

I'd always been a fan of the Disney movie.  The song comes up and you know immediately from the birds singing, the fireworks popping and the expression on the cute girl's face that was being kissed that this was the one.  The Prince to her Princess.  It was the cut and fade to the credits that kind of had me stumped.  What happened next?  Yeah, I know they lived happily ever after...  But really what happened next?  Marriage, kids, a job, responsibility, living the dream or slowly disappearing into a black hole of debt, worry and boredom?  What did my happily ever after look like?  If life was like a movie, I'd grow a tail and live happily underwater with Mitch.  But that's never going to happen. 

.........

It had been a year since we'd seen each other.  Only once the year before that and now I was at the end of my studies and about to start my first placement with a research facility close to my parent's beach house.  Mom had filled up the fridge and the pantry and had organised her workload around checking in on me once in a while.  I appreciated it, because without options, I fell back into bad dorm habits and just ate junk food and cereal.

The first morning before I was due at the lab, I went surfing.  I sat on my board out in the ocean and felt at home.  It was the first time I'd felt that way for so long.  When the wave came up behind me and I kicked to get up to speed, slid forward and placed my feet, stood and rode the wave in to the shallows everything kicked into gear.  I remembered the reason I chosen my vocation, the salt tang in the air rushing past my face, the feel of the water under me.  I felt so alive out there on the water.  There was nothing like it and I wanted to preserve it for future generations.  I wanted to specialise in bio remedial recovery, basically cleaning up after oil spills and that kind of thing.  Or researching new species.  I hadn't quite made up my mind.  My memories of Mitch kind of had me leaning towards new species, but I loved the ocean and kind of wanted it to be around for Mitch to live in too. 

I had plenty of time to make a decision, but I knew I was definitely in the right place to make the decision.  I heard the sound of a splash behind me and turned to look but saw nothing.  Probably some bird chasing a tasty snack.  I turned up my face to the sun, enjoying the warmth on my skin for a few seconds before I heard another wave approaching.  I turned back to begin paddling and caught a glimpse of a black shadow in the wave.  I paddled furiously and got up on my deck, checking for the flash of a Noah.  When I didn't see anything, I enjoyed the ride and cut it off close to the beach.  I headed in and dried off before packing it in for the morning.  Changing at the rear of the car, I enjoyed the feeling of freedom for a few seconds longer, smiling out over the water.  I nodded to myself, knowing I was totally coming back for dawn patrol.  Doing up the buttons on my shirt and running my fingers through my quiff, I hopped into the car and started it up, grabbing my sunglasses and giving the breaks one last look before backing up and heading to my first day on the job.

As I drove away, a small round shape bobbed up on top of the surface of the water, fingers ran through dark hair and a smile flashed across a face that would have been familiar if Scott had seen it.

'Going off Scotty.' Said Mitch as he kept his eyes on the car as it drove away.  'See you soon.'