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Lilo could feel them.
The eyes burning into the back of her head as her and Stitch perched on her sister’s surfboard, laughing and feeling the sun warm their backs. She wasn’t sure who it was, and she tried her best to ignore them, but they were burning a hold through her shoulders. As soon as the three of them flopped off the board and into the water in laughter, she glanced around for the culprit.
Just a little deeper in the water swam a woman with bright red hair and lavender seashells resting on her chest, and the moment Lilo caught her eyes, the woman turned and flipped into the water, revealing a teal tail that glittered in the sun.
A mermaid was watching her? How cool! Without another thought, she swam over to where she saw the woman and searched for any remainder of her. “Where’d you go? I just wanna get to know you! Maybe we can be friends!”
Every second that went by without a reply left a stinging feeling in her chest. Desperately she wanted to see the colorful woman again, hoping for another friend. Still, all she had was Stitch. Slowly, she turned and grabbed ahold of Stitch, holding him to her tightly as she prepared to swim closer to shore and her sister, who stood on the sand calling for her now. Right before the first kick she felt a soft hand on her back and turned around swiftly, coming face to face with the merwoman.
“You want to be my friend?”
Blinking away the shock, Lilo leaped forward and shook the mermaid’s slender hand happily. “Of course! I could always use more friends. And don’t tell my sister, but I think she could, too. Can you come closer to the shore so she can see you?”
“Oh, I’d love to, but…” She looked to the red crab on her shoulder, whose little pinchers were crossed, as if in agitation. “I don’t think I can right now. I need to get home soon, but… maybe I’ll see you again soon, when you’re flying on the water again!”
“I don’t fly on the water, silly! Humans surf on the water. It’s really fun. Alien dogs like it, too!” She held Stitch up and presented him to the mermaid, who curiously reached forward and shook his hand.
“Alien dogs…? I’ve never heard either of those things…”
Lilo nodded, deep in thought for a moment. “I guess you wouldn’t have. I guess mermaids don’t have aliens or dogs. Well, most dogs come from earth. They’re fuzzy and soft, or most of them are. They can’t talk, but mine can, because he came from outer space!” She pointed to the sky, leaving Stitch to paddle circles around them. “That’s all the way up there!”
Intrigued, the mermaid kept her eyes wide as she absorbed all the information like a sponge. Her mind filled with questions to fill, when Nani’s voice carried over to them.
“Lilo! If you want to go and grab pizza tonight, hurry up! Pizza Planet is closing soon!”
The moment Lilo heard the word ‘pizza’, her face lit up like a firework, and she turned to her friend. “Well, I gotta go. But I’ll come back soon, and we can talk again, okay? And, oh yeah,” she held her hand out again, “my name’s Lilo! My alien dog is named Stitch. What’s your name?”
“It’s Ariel.” The woman responded, looking past the little girl and to the woman standing on the shore, “Is that your sister…? She’s the one who controlled that board on the water… is she married…?”
Laughing, the little girl shook her head. “No, silly. Now, I gotta go! I’m hungry for pizza!” With that, she grabbed ahold of Stitch and swam to the shore. When she stood beside her sister and looked back to wave to the mermaid, she was already gone, and Lilo sported a pout.
“Who were you talking to all the way out there?”
Her smile returning, Lilo gazed up at her sister. “A mermaid!”
Rolling her eyes and smiling, Nani started to walk to their little car, where Pleakley and Jumba waited, both eager to get to the pizza joint. “I’m sure you did. Was she nice?”
“She was! I think she wants to meet you soon, too. She asked if you’re married! Isn’t that weird?”
Laughing, Nani agreed, but stored the image of a mermaid falling for her and proposing to her in the back of her mind.
As the next few days passed, Lilo spent her time running down to the beach after school every evening, waiting for her ocean friend to return, but it seemed like she never would. She started to make up stories in her head, about what could have happened; there were a lot of scary things in the sea, like krakens and sharks. Maybe one of them got ahold of her? Or maybe Gantu found a way to capture her and sell her to an aquarium, where she couldn’t talk loud enough for Lilo to hear her behind the glass.
Or maybe she just had better friends under the sea. Maybe she had a perfect little happy family and didn’t need friends like Lilo did.
That idea was the one that scared Lilo the most, so as she sat on the beach and sculpted a castle, she hid it beneath the sand.
A few days had passed already, and Lilo figured that her friend forgot that she said they would meet again as she dragged her boogie board to the little waves, but just as she looked up, a woman ran in front of her and fell. One look told her that it was her mermaid friend from before, but her teal tail was replaced with two wobbly, human legs.
“Ariel!” Lilo yelled out, leaning over and trying to help the ex-mermaid sit up. “You’re,” she motioned to where her tail used to, “you’re human!” She thought about all the experiments her uncle Jumba had made—maybe he helped?
Nodding excitedly, the mermaid’s face suddenly fell. She tapped at her throat, and Lilo frowned. “What’s wrong? Is your throat hurting?”
It took a few minutes of vague gestures until Lilo guessed what she was trying to say.
“You can’t talk, huh? That could be a problem…Well, do you know what sign language is? Maybe we can use that!”
Nearly leaping to her feet and falling again, the redhead nodded, signing the little girl’s name to prove herself.
“Perfect! My sister knows a little too, so I can take you to meet her when she gets off work!”
Unable to help herself, Ariel fell over in excitement, and her little friend laughed until she fell over, too. The two humans and the curious alien dog trotted across the beach until they reached where snow cones were being sold, and together they sat down, with Lilo holding two and Ariel holding her own curiously. Without hesitation, Ariel bit hard into the ice, her face flushing in discomfort, leaving her friend in stitches once again.
“Don’t bite it, just suck all of the flavor out! Like a vampire, or a politician!”
After Lilo explained what both a vampire and a politician was to her new friend, the two sat and ate their snow cones contently. When it finally came time for Lilo to go and meet up with her sister, she dragged her friend along, who would have run, too, if she wasn’t still getting used to her new legs.
When they finally arrived, David already had an arm around the tired Nani, who greeted Ariel with a short smile and handshake before starting to walk home. Lilo insisted that her friend come and stay the night, but Nani said it was a school night, and the mermaid slumped away and stayed in a hotel that night with the little bit of money Lilo had given her.
How could she have been so blind? Of course, someone who could surf as well as Nani and still look so inviting and beautiful would already have a man wanting to marry her. Ariel considered her options that night as she sat and sulked in her bed, with Sebastian being unusually quiet for a crab who seemingly loved to scold her. She thought about Nani’s little smile she gave her and thought that maybe she should just go jump in the ocean and try to convince her father that she didn’t mean to run off, that somehow this was all a mistake.
Slowly, she signed out the words, ‘You were right,’ to Sebastian, before hanging her head in shame and feeling tears welling up in her eyes. It was true she had only been watching the surfer for a few weeks now, but her heart belonged outside of the sea, and now she didn’t know where to put it. Where do broken trinkets go, anyways? Are they what she found at the bottom of the ocean, after they sunk to the bottom, hoping to be alone? Maybe she should just do that. Go home broken and sink.
Unable to hold back her tears, Ariel hid her face in her pillow in warm shame as Sebastian crawled up to the girl’s face and placed a comforting claw on her cheek. “It’s not your fault, Ariel. Things like this happen.”
‘I should just go home,’ Ariel signed, and Sebastian thought of how that meant the little 19 year old’s soul would be promised to the sea witch, and even if she escaped the fate of a soul sitting in peril for eternity, her hand would be promised to that merman prince who King Triton said she would grow to like over time. But Sebastian knew she never would. Never would the mermaid love the sea the way her sisters did.
“You can’t go home now,” Sebastian said, brushing a strand of hair out of the redhead’s puffy face, “What about that little girl – Lilo? She’s your friend, and I think you need one away from home. If nothing else, stay for her. Plus, you have 3 months, yes? Who knows what can happen in that amount of time. Maybe you’ll even find your true love in someone else.”
Ariel stared down at her little friend, smiling widely and kissing his cheek. After signing ‘Thank you,’ she leaned into her pillow and swiftly fell asleep. If nothing else, she had a friend. She repeated the thought until the waves tucked her in for the night.
The next day, she asked Lilo for more of the magical money, but when she found that it in fact did not grow on the tall palm trees, the little girl helped her apply for many jobs throughout town until a little booth that sold ice cream on the beach accepted her. Every day, Lilo came to see her, and began to bring her little sandwiches she made at home and cool little trinkets that she found buried in her aunt and uncle’s drawers. One day, she announced Nani was going to come and pick her up that evening, and Ariel felt her stomach twist up in unease.
She considered explaining that she had a crush on her friend’s sister, but her hands couldn’t find the language they needed and by the time she found the words, Nani was standing in front of the booth.
“I had a feeling you’d be here. I think Lilo’s running out of allowance money with how often she’s getting ice cream, you know.” Nani stared right at Ariel, who could feel the ocean filling her stomach with little soft wave motions.
“She’s given me all of my ice cream for free,” Lilo said matter-of-factly, patting Stitch’s head, “and Stitch’s, too!”
With that, Nani’s expression softened and she gave the other woman a gentle smile, “You didn’t have to do that.”
Shrugging, Ariel bit her lip hard, trying to hide how wide her smile felt. Quickly, she leaned forward and pointed to the flavors on the sign, pulling out a cone and holding it towards the surfer, who rubbed the back of her head.
“It’s alright, I left my wallet at home,” Nani said, lifting Lilo off her comfortable spot ontop of the counter.
But Ariel didn’t give up easy, shaking her head and pointing again at the flavors. “Well, if you’re really sure… can you give me a scoop of strawberry?” Swiftly she scooped two little circles of pink onto the cone, handing it to Nani with a wide smile.
“Thank you so much… Lilo said your name is Ariel, right?” When the redhead nodded, she continued. “So, you’re new in Ka’au, right? Do you want to join us for dinner sometime, so I can repay you?”
Lilo cheered at the idea before Ariel could respond, cheerfully signing the word ‘yes’ over and over again, making the other woman laugh before bidding her goodbye. The moment the duo was out of hearing distance, Sebastian crawled onto the ex-mermaid’s shoulder and laughed.
“Well, that went well. Maybe things will work out with the surfer after all!” Ariel twirled around in her little booth, here eyes closed and her heart fluttering, when she heard a cough.
She turned around and saw little Lilo, looking up at her with a smirk. “Did your little crab just say you might have a chance with my sister? I didn’t know you liked her, Ariel!” She grabbed her backpack from behind the counter where she left it. “I’ll keep that in mind!” And with that, the eight-year-old ran off to join her sister’s side in the distance, and Ariel felt her stomach tighten.
What if Lilo told her, now that she knew…? Nani still had barely been able to spend any time with Ariel, there was no telling how she would react! Ariel looked to Sebastian nervously, but he just pat at her hair. “It’ll be alright. Everything will work out, just be yourself.”
That’s what Ariel kept telling herself, and asked Sebastian to repeat, as she made her way to the Pelekai household three days later. She had grabbed flowers for the surfer, but the rain ruined most of them, so she slid one of the only intact buds into her hair, instead. It was bright gold, and so was the thin sundress and sandals that she wore, her heart pounding as she knocked on the door, hiding Sebastian in the little front pocket of her dress.
When Lilo opened the door, she grinned and started hopping around, bringing her friend into full view of the living room. Ariel glanced around and took in the image of the large greyish purple and pink man, who sat with a funny hat on his head, and the green one beside him, who had a blonde wig topped with a large, pink sunhat and a teal, off-shoulder dress on, with little decorative pink and yellow flowers dotting the outfit.
Right away, Lilo dragged her friend over and introduced them all to each other. While meeting her, the aliens shared a look and nodded before going back to watching the magical box that told a story of one of those dog things, taking all of Ariel’s attention until Nani and the man from before came out of the kitchen and announced that dinner was ready.
Ariel couldn’t hide the look of surprise on her face upon meeting the man, whose name she learned was David, but she tried her best to stay polite and bury her urge to burst into tears. She hoped that he wasn’t that good of a guy. Maybe he would break Nani’s heart, and she could be the one to comfort her. She felt selfish at the thoughts of jealousy and tried her best to ignore them,
Well, everyone seemed nice, at least. Lilo leaned over to Ariel at one point and pointed at her aunt and uncle, “they’re the ones who are aliens, by the way.” The moment they were mentioned, they looked nervously over at the new woman, and Nani glared over at Lilo.
“I’m sorry about her, Ariel. She’s just a little imaginative, that’s all.” Nani said softly, placing a gentle hand on the other girl’s, causing her to tense up and smile widely.
David laughed awkwardly. “She’s always been very creative.”
Rolling her eyes, Lilo glared at her sister. “She already knows, Nani! I told you before that she was a mermaid, so she doesn’t think it’s weird at all.”
Nani tensed up and turned back to her food. “I’m sorry—” she started to say, but Jumba cut her off.
“Used to be mermaid? Explains a lot.”
Pleakley clasped his hands together in excitement. “A mermaid? I’ve only read about those, I thought they weren’t real!”
Groaning, Nani shrugged her shoulders. “And I thought aliens weren’t…”
Ariel took a deep breath and patted Nani on the back, who laughed slightly and thanked her before taking her dishes into the kitchen. David followed her, his own plate in hand, and Ariel felt her heart drop into her stomach again. They seemed so… in tune. There was no way she had a chance.
And yet, when she looked over at Lilo and the aliens in the room, they all grinned widely.
“So, you’re the one that likes little big girl?” Jumba asked, rubbing at his chin thoughtfully, and Pleakley leaned forward, grabbing ahold of Ariel’s hands.
“Oh, this is so sweet! The mermaid and the surfer! It’s a love story meant to last ages!”
When the mermaid signed her worries regarding the man with her, Lilo burst into giggles.
“Trust me, Nani doesn’t like David like that. They’re best friends, sure, and I think he used to like her… but my big sister? She used to find him cute but let’s just say he isn’t her type anymore. I think you have a chance, just follow my lead!”
Before she could ask for any sort of clarification as to what she meant, Nani entered the room again, David following, and gave Lilo a cautious look.
“What’s with that look on your face, Lilo?”
Shrugging the look away, Lilo gave a small smile. “Nothing. Hey, Nani, can we go to beach fair tomorrow? There’s a dog show and I think Stitch wants to enter!”
Nani laughed at the idea. “Can’t you get Jumba and Pleakley to take you? I was looking forward to resting tomorrow.”
Clearing his throat, Jumba looked over to Pleakley, trying to form some sort of excuse. “Cannot. Am busy.”
Raising an eyebrow, before Nani could ask how so, Pleakley interjected.
“Yes! I have a fashion show tomorrow on Plorgonar, and Jumba is coming for moral support. I was going to ask if you wanted to go too, Nani!”
Right away, Nani glanced over to Lilo. “Well, the beach fair it is. Thanks though, Pleakley.” She said with disinterest, and Lilo broke out into a wide grin. “Wait, Ariel, didn’t you say you have the day off tomorrow, too? You can come with us!”
Ariel nodded quickly at the idea, even though that fact that she did in fact have work tomorrow boiled in the back of her mind. If she was spending time with Nani, she could care less, after all.
The next day, the three humans and Stitch strolled down the beach side, looking at all the booths the fair had to offer. As the sun started to set, the adults sat on the beach side and watched Lilo and Stitch splash around in the low tide, when Ariel pouted suddenly.
When Nani asked what was wrong, Ariel signed the word ‘surf’ and stared hopefully at Nani, who laughed. “What? Do you need me to show you how?” Nodding, Ariel grabbed the other’s hand and led her closer to the water, taking a surfboard that had been sitting alone. She stepped onto it carefully and immediately slipped, with Nani catching her and holding her up carefully.
“Sorry, I guess I should have warned you that pretty much no matter who you are, you’ll slip the first time.” Ariel just stared at her lovingly until Nani sheepishly coughed and helped her back onto the surfboard.
Slowly, she helped the ex-mermaid slide into the water on the board, and after a while, she took the lead, letting the redhead hold onto her as they surfed alongside some smaller waves.
As they finally crashed, they realized right away that Lilo was clutching her little knee and wincing.
“Lilo, what happened?”
“It’s… it’s just a scrape, Nani. I’ll be alright, but I don’t think I wanna play anymore.” Stitch cooed at the words and curled up next to his human, trying to comfort her.
“Do you want to go home?”
“No!” Lilo whined, looking over at Ariel. “I’ll be alright, really. I just need to sit.”
Ariel shook her head, leaning over and gently picking up the girl. She shared a look with Nani, who picked up Stitch as she spoke up again. “We’re going home, Lilo. We need to disinfect your scrape so it doesn’t get any worse.”
Little tears glued to Lilo’s eyes as she nodded, letting herself be carried home. The group made it home and plopped Lilo on the couch the moment her knee was disinfected, and now all that was left was to cheer her up.
Nani threw on some Elvis records, but her sister’s pout was unmoving until Ariel started to dance to the best of her ability, which wasn’t much. She twirled around aimlessly, making the girl giggle uncontrollably, and bumped right into Nani.
With a cheesy smile, Ariel offered her hand to the other, who cautiously took it and started to dance along, her own laughter slipping out like a leaky faucet. Suddenly, Ariel tripped on the low trim of her own lime green dress, sending herself and Nani falling over. Still laughing, the two decided that it was time to do something other than waltz around like puppets and plopped a movie into the DVD player. Within twenty minutes of the film, Lilo had fallen fast asleep on her spot on the couch, and Ariel was close to drifting off herself when Nani gently wrapped an arm around her waist.
“Hey, thanks for helping me cheer her up. She can be stubborn sometimes, and she really seems to appreciate you.”
Ariel could feel her heart swell up, and she longed to lean in and kiss the lips that gave her the sweetest smile she had ever seen, but the stirring of Lilo sent her abashedly looking back down at her hands. As the movie drifted on, Ariel stole glances before her tiredness got the best of her, and she leaned her head sloppily onto Nani’s shoulders, falling fast asleep in minutes.
When she woke up the next morning and realized she was late for work, she could only find herself caring a little as she raced to her ice cream stand. As she arrived and saw her boss standing behind her booth, however, she felt her stomach curl inwards.
“You didn’t come in yesterday.” Ariel just nodded slowly. “You didn’t even try to call off fake sick or anything. And on top of that, I found out that you’ve been giving away free ice cream every day? Do you think that’s an acceptable way to act?”
Ariel could only sadly shrug. “I’m letting you go. If you have anything in the booth, you have twenty minutes to gather it.”
Nodding, Ariel grabbed the little bed she had made Sebastian and left the booth, finding a bench and sitting down before crying her eyes out. When Lilo sat beside her hours later, she signed the word ‘fired’ and continued to cry to herself. She felt so embarrassed and lost. What would she do now? It was hard enough to get hired here, who was to say she would get hired anywhere else?
Lilo reached her little hand up and rubbed circles into Ariel’s arm, before brightening up. “Hey, do you wanna come to the Luau with me, Stitch, and Nani later? It could cheer you up.”
Sighing, Ariel nodded.
“And we’ll buy you a big ice cream Sundae! Alright?”
Smiling at that, Ariel signed back, ‘Haven’t had ice cream before’, and right away, Lilo burst into laughter.
“You mean you’ve worked at the ice cream booth this entire time and never tried it yourself?”
Ariel nodded, and Lilo grabbed her arm tighter. “Well, you’ll have to try it now! So, you have to come!”
Maybe it would cheer Ariel up. When Lilo left for the day and Sebastian poked his little head out of her pocket, he agreed right away. It would be good for her.
Throwing on a lavender-colored dress and a Hibiscus flower into her hair, Ariel joined the little family in the evening, and right away, Nani smirked at her. “So, you’ve never had ice cream before? At all?”
Shaking her head, Ariel sat down as they all figured out what to order, other than the obvious Sundae. As the food was brought out, Ariel scarfed down two sides of fries and was instantly ready to try her new frozen treat that glistened under the outdoor lighting. Remembering her last encounter with a frozen desert, she carefully took a spoonful this time and tried it, smiling and nodding to the group to promise that she enjoyed it.
As the night drew to an end, Lilo and Stitch started to wrestle around in their chairs, despite Nani’s protests, and one strong kick from Lilo sent Ariel’s nose and lips into her ice cream. She stared down at the white speck, and as Lilo and Stitch settled down, readying for Nani’s anger at their rough-housing, Nani laughed instead. Ariel smiled right back and started to reach for a napkin when she froze in her spot as Nani wiped the speck off her nose and then leaned in and gently kissed her lips, taking the splotch away.
“It… it worked! I have my voice back!”
Nani blinked in surprise, before Ariel explained how she had made a deal with a sea witch, and if she found her true love within three months and kissed them, she would be given her voice back. After listening to the redhead ramble about her story leading up until the moment, Nani couldn’t help but laugh at herself. Out of all the people in the world, of course the girl with an alien-filled family fell in love with the mermaid. It only made sense.
Once she finished explaining everything and felt satisfied, Ariel leaned in and kissed the surfer again, crying in happiness. Nani helped to dry the ex-mermaid’s loving tears before the group all headed home together. It didn’t take long for Ariel to move in, and not have to worry anymore about marrying someone she didn’t love. While she found out humans usually waited a while to get married, she knew that if it was to her true love, Nani, she would be incredibly happy when it happened; and sure enough, she was.
Growing up, she wasn’t a strong believer in the mermaid fairy tales her father used to show her, but she truly believed she attained what seemed so unreachable before; her own happily ever after.