MADE

Ring Toss

            The stare Elijah had directed my way wasn't a friendly one. It was something more, something I had seen on his face before.

Droplets of water on his bare skin made it look as if crystals were embedded in it as the sun hit his tanned skin. And those jeans... so low on his jagged hips. I swallowed down my other thoughts.

I felt rather than saw him wink behind his sunglasses as he flashed me a grin.

"Elijah," Rose beamed diving back under the water and circling closer to the bank. "Did you see Mari's belly flop!" she asked with a screech when she reappeared back from under the surface.

I frowned at the back of her head, and she must have felt it because she tossed me a wink over her shoulder.

"Yes," Elijah said with that stupid grin still on his face. The back of my head began to tingle with a familiar sensation.

It was cute.

I scowled at him anyway.

"Are you ready?" Amara asked me.

"For what?" I snapped about done with these surprises.

"A race," Rose said simply.

"A race where?"

"Down the canal silly," Rose said shrugging it off as if it were the most natural thing to do.

I opened my mouth to protest. There was no way I was going back down that bloody-

"Down the stream, over the hill and threw the ring at the end. The last one there makes supper," Rose smirked knowing exactly where my thoughts had gone. "No spinning vortex necessary."

I grinned. "Fine, but when I win, I get to pick what you losers make for supper." I moved up to where Amara was already waiting.

Rose scoffed, "As if!"

"Elijah, would you count us in please?" Amara asked not even bothering to look at him.

Elijah grinned, his answer evident on his face.

My neck rolled to the side, an invisible finger running up my throat. I could feel his eyes on my skin.

"Ready," Elijah said, a small laugh filling his voice.

A shiver lanced my skin.

"Set."

I looked over at him, green eyes glowing at me from behind his sunglasses.

"Go."

Mari, he whispered in my head, all traces of sexual tension gone from in his voice. And then I noticed Amara and Rose already speeding away from me.

I swore and flipped him the finger as I dove after them.

The current was thankful flowing in the direction I needed, but far ahead of me I could still see a red and green streak in the water. My tail flipped up sand as I pushed after them.

Faster and faster I went, now entirely under the water. That was until the current began to push back on me. I surfaced to see what Rose had meant by a hill. It wasn't a fucking hill.

Amara and Rose were already trying to swim up the current rushing down the side of the mountain. I swore again but pushed after them, shooting through the water.

I couldn't tell how fast I was going with the water rushing in the wrong direction all around me, but through the water pounding my face, I could see Amara and Rose were closer than before. My tail started to ache.

The current down the other side was much better, and I could tell Amara and Rose were taking this time to rest their muscles. I could see Amara just ahead of Rose, and it looked like Rose had no desire to catch up.

I wouldn't be resting.

I pushed my tail, feeling the little joints burn with fatigue. The water muffled their voices but I could hear them talking and laughing with each other. They were so distracted by one another that they didn't notice me slipping by right underneath of them.

Until Rose dropped her head in a fit of laughter and she saw me grinning up at her. Her eyes end wide, and I push harder, slipping by them with ease.

Ahead I could see the ring Rose had referred to earlier. It was a bend in the trees, forming a perfect circle. It was just big enough to slip through, but the height at which it was above the water made my rational side weary. I would have to push myself a good twenty feet out of the air.

I ducked my head, swimming deeper in the water so I could get enough power on the exit to make it. And then I angled myself up and swam as hard as I could for the surface.

I broke the top, souring for the ring, my blue scales casting prisms of light all around.

My fingers latched on to either side of the ring and pushed myself through the middle. I pinched my fins together so they wouldn't snag, but I wasn't quick enough.

A branch snagged my fin, stopping me mid-air and slamming my body against the trunk of a tree. The branch snapped, and I tumbled down and down splashing into the water with pain searing my ripped fin.

I swore in the water, pulling the fin to my body while I grit my teeth. The bleeding was already beginning to slow.

Red zoomed over my head, landing in the water gracefully and a green one shortly after.

I scowled at them, my butt firmly planted in the sand at the bottom of the canal.

Rose was laughing hysterically above the water when I finally emerged. "You're fast alright," she squawked, barely managing to get the words out.

Amara was swimming over to me, "Marielle are you alright?"

I scowled. "I'm fine," I spat back at her.

I scanned the bank for a place to climb out. Elijah was waiting for me, a robe in hand. "You watch all of that?" I asked as I swam over to him.

He nodded, the faint smile revealing his amusement. "I don't suppose I could make it better by telling you about Rose's first-time through the ring?"

Rose immediately stopped laughing. "Don't you dare," she cursed after him all humor off her face.

I grinned at him.

"Well," Elijah began but before he could get any further a wave of water shot out of the pool and doused Elijah from head to tow. He gasped and scowled at her. "Are you trying to drown me?"

"Don't you dare," she said again lowering her hands.

He flashed her a wicked grin that I did not want to be on the receiving end of.

She didn't get high enough and face planted into the tree below, Elijah's voice tingled in my skull. She broke her nose.

I burst into a fit of laughter, and Rose screeched like a maniac. She was next to me in an instant, pushing me under the water.

He was right; I did feel better.

When I surfaced, Elijah tossed me the robe.