Salty Skin ☾cake au

3

Calum, as always, was excited to go to his little spot on the beach today but now it was for a different reason; he was excited to see Luke again. He was basically taking a shot in the dark by going back to the pool and expecting to see his little oceanic friend but he didn't care. Luke said he would be there if Calum went back and he believed him.

Calum hurriedly sped to his spot under the sloping cliff and sat at the edge of the pool. He didn't now what to really do from there so he waited for a few minutes until he began getting impatient. "Luke." Calum said and still no sign of the creature with the glowing eyes so Calum called his name again. "Luke?"

After a few seconds of nothing, Calum was beginning to think everything that happened the day before was one big daydream or something until he felt a gentle hand on his ankle. Looking up at him was Luke, his features bright and inviting as they always seemed to be. "Are you sad again, Calum?"

"Not exactly. I just wanted to see you."

Luke smiled widely at that as his eyes briefly turned a pretty pink color.

"I brought you something," Calum suddenly remembered, "have you ever eaten chocolate?" Calum pulled a Twix bar out of his pocket. Luke shook his head but curiously looked over the small object, eager to know what it is that his land friend brought him.

Calum unwrapped the candy and broke off a piece and was about to give it to Luke and then thought of something, "wait," the tanner boy said "maybe this isn't a good idea. I don't know what you can and can't eat and I don't want anything to happen to you. I've had like eight goldfish before and they all died the day after I got them-"

"It's fine, Calum," Luke giggled and it reached his eyes as they lit up with admiration, "I can eat whatever you can eat."

Calum handed him a small piece of the candy bar and Luke placed it on his tongue. He bit into it and his tastebuds jumped for joy at the taste so much that he nearly became light headed and closed his eyes. Calum laughed at Luke's reaction to the treat, "good?"

"It's delicious," Luke said with a full mouth, making Calum laugh once again. Luke swallowed the rest of the piece of candy, "I can't believe you have stuff like this where you live. I would love to have access to this whenever I want."

"I wish you could walk and live up here with me. We could play video games and I could have someone to talk to for once," Calum drew random shapes in a small patch of damp sand.

"You can still talk to me whenever you need to."

"No, I mean all the time," Calum scooted to sit closer to Luke who was propped on his elbows over the edge of the pool, "It's not like I can just call you on the phone whenever I feel lonely and I can't come to the beach any time of the day."

Luke looked down sadly as he played with his fingers, "I'm sorry, Calum."

"Don't be. You can't help it."

"Well..." Luke trailed off.

"Well... what, Luke?"

"I technically can help it. I can have legs if I want them I just... don't. So, I'm sorry."

Calum couldn't help but be disappointed that Luke didn't want to be with him all the time. No one wanted to be with him, so he should have expected that much. "It's okay. I wouldn't force you to have legs if you don't want them," Calum stood and dusted himself off. He tried to hide the obvious frown that was itching to creep on his face and held back tears threatening to spill. "I have to get back home. I'll see you later."

"No, no, Calum! It's not that I don't want to be with you all the time! That's not it at all, I'm just scared of being a land person, that's all, I promise," Luke tried to explain.

Calum's eyebrows furrowed. How does he always know what I'm thinking? The tanner boy smiled shyly and waved to Luke before leaving to go home.

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i stg if this chapter gets deleted like my other book, i'm gonna scream