I'm a Mermaid, Not a Merman

19

"You do have your phone right?" Mom asked as Cindy walked out the front door.

"Oops."

"I knew you would," Mom shook her head with a smile, "what would you do if I didn't remind you about everything?"

Cindy laughed. "I'd forget about everything," she said matter-of-factly.

Mom hugged her. "Good luck Cindy."

She hugged Mom back, and tried her best to not feel uncomfortable that mom knew. It was getting harder now around dad and Jason. For two weeks now, she'd been thinking of herself as Cindy, a girl, and Mom and Sammy had interacted with her accordingly.

"Bye Mom," she waved as she went out the door.

She walked down the front walk to see Matt in his pickup parked at the curb. She waved to him as she tried to distract herself from her twisted feelings.

She focused on her skirt. Unlike the denim skirt she'd worn on their last date, this one was a much more soft fabric. It was a creamy blue. Even though so much about her had changed since she realized she was a girl, things like her favorite color had remained the same.

Matt got out to open the door for her, and he helped her in.

"Sorry that we have to take my rusty pickup," Matt said once he climbed back in. "All our other cars were tied up."

"It's all good," Cindy said, "I wouldn't call it rusty, so much as rustic."

Matt laughed as they started down the road. "I'm also sorry that I had to cancel last week. I completely forgot that it was the 4th. We could've gone out then if you wanted to though."

"Don't worry about it," Cindy said. "I don't want to take you away from a family gathering. Did you have fun?"

"Yeah," Matt said. "One of my uncles is trying to kickstart the tradition of a Fourth of July Piñata."

Cindy burst out laughing. "What? Did he like, fill it with firecrackers?"

Matt laughed. "Close. He filled it with things like pop rocks, weird, Mexican spicy candy... I don't know. It was fun though."

They pulled up to a stoplight, and Matt turned on the radio to some soft rock. Cindy observed Matt for a moment. He seemed a lot more comfortable this time. Cindy felt more comfortable too. She was glad that they had done a double date first to get to know each other a bit.

They didn't have any real substantial conversation as they drove. They asked each other things about their families, or interests. It was nice to get to know Matt better, but what Cindy spent a lot of the drive thinking about was her feelings for Matt.

She'd tentatively decided she was okay with liking guys; now she was trying to decide what about Matt she found attractive. He had darker hair than Liam did. And he had green eyes. Something that she noticed she liked was just... just kind of the way that he moved, how he carried himself. She couldn't really put the idea into words in her mind.

What she was sure of though, is that she thought Matt was handsome. When they got to the movie theater, Matt once more opened the door for her as she got out.

Once he'd locked the truck and they started walking, Cindy tried to take some of Sammy's advice. She casually brushed her hand against his as they walked through the parking lot. He didn't get the message.

They arrived in the theater and joined a line of people to get their tickets. They'd decided to see [RARE FOURTH WALL BREAK INSERT RECENT FILM HERE].

Although they wouldn't be getting to know each other as much with less conversation going on, Cindy felt that she could relax knowing that neither of them would have to worry about holding conversation. She was also happy seeing that Matt was buying them popcorn and drinks. She jokingly told herself that the best thing about being a girl was having a guy pay for you.