Thirty Nine Minutes (COMPLETE)

Chapter Seven: What I Want

Craig was watching her legs with barely any subtlety. Every swish of the water hardened his expression that much more.

"Do you or anyone here know of anyone like you?" she asked, "with a cetacean lower half?"

He shook his head and shrugged, shaking off that stubborn expression with it and melting into a smirk. "One of a kind, that's me." He proudly thumbed his chest.

"Don't you ever wonder where you came from? Family, brethren?"

"Huh?" He crinkled his nose. "I already told you about my dad, didn't I? He was enough family for me."

"Well, you mentioned him." Helen continued to dangle her legs in the warm water, swirling the water slowly. "Was he like you?"

"Devilishly handsome you mean?" He smirked and winked.

"Very funny. I meant physically."

Craig took a second to flex one of his biceps at her question. "He was a shrimp in comparison to me. Do you think these are from nothing? I'm in the training pool every afternoon. Besides," he added quietly, "I'm nothing like him, I would never abandon anyone." he stopped, showing his hand once again and Craig swallowed.

Helen said nothing, hoping Craig would continue. Only the continued soft splash of her legs and the pump filled the rather echoey room. Craig's fingers were white as they tightened against the shelf Helen sat on. She nodded when he looked up, but the situation quickly turned sour as Craig's face fell into anger. "Why are we even talking about him, anyway? Why do you even need to know?"

"Sorry, Craig. I didn't mean to upset you, I just wanted to talk."

"You mean, like how friends do?" Helen looked at Craig, and his eyes were full, interested. She smiled to hide her shock at his inadvertent admission.
 "If you like. Don't tell anyone though, it's a little unprofessional to have personal relationships outside of therapy."

"Really? So is that your job outside of this place? Talking to people, helping them get over silly little problems like mine?" His tail was swishing a little more vigorously.

"They're not silly little problems, Craig. They're just problems to be solved."

He nodded, gazing off into the middle distance with a pensive look on his face. "It'd be nice to dive beyond two meters."

He didn't see Helen smile, but him acknowledging the barrier to overcome was a great step in progress.

"If I do learn, would that mean I'd have to go into the ocean?"

"I dunno, Craig."

He looked into the water, at the swishing tail beneath him. "I hate this thing." He chuckled quietly as he watched himself move back and forth in the water. His eyes were once again lured back to her dangling legs, silently watching them. "Can I...I mean, would you mind if I. Ugh, this is hard to put into words. I don't want to be weird or anything but I've never touched, you know...I mean other people have touched me but, it's not quite the same, is it? God, I'm going in circles now." His cheeks flushed and his fingers were drumming on the shelf beside her. A finger pointed at her swishing legs, and Helen inferred the rest.

Memories of three years ago flashed across her eyes, to her graduation beach party. Beers, bonfires and bikinis. Helen and her dear friend Grace had gone skinny dipping for a dare in the warm, frothing sea as night had fallen. The last night she had got so drunk the memories had been mostly erased, but she remembered the salt she tasted as Grace had dunked her head, and how tired her legs were the following morning. That night had just been something young people did. People like Craig.