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There she is.
David grinned as he saw Gwen on her boat, heading straight for him. He looked himself over, wanting to look his best. He red and green fishtail was bright and glossy, and he nodded to himself as he brushed his hair back and out of his face.
He quickly swam (there was no point in fixing his hair whatsoever) over to the boat and exclaimed, "Good Morning Gwen!"
The woman let out a scream as she fell over on the boat, making it rock a little. "Jesus Christ! David! I've told you not to do that!"
David laughed. "Sorry, Gwen."
Gwen sighed as she got up and brushed herself off. "Yeah, yeah." She looked over at the Merman. "Mind helping me over to the rocks?"
David nodded and slowly began to guide the boat over to the rocks. He watched as she lassoed the rope onto one of the smaller rocks and carefully brought out a plank. With a loud 'thunk', the wood hit the rock.
Gwen carefully brought herself onto the plank, and walked herself over to the rocks. "So," she said as she sat down. "What have you been doing down there? Has anything changed since I saw you last week?"
David placed his arms on the rocks. "Same old, same old. Still taking care of young merpeople."
Gwen nodded. "That Max kid still being a nuisance?"
David looked to the side, "You could say that."
"David! You need to teach him who's boss! Assert dominance!" exclaimed Gwen as she punched a fist into the air. "Bite him or something. That's how a kid in my village asserts dominance."
David chuckled. "Why do I feel like the two of them would get along?"
"Remind me to never let them meet."
"Deal."
The two laughed. "So," started David. "How have you been?"
Gwen shrugged. "I've been doing alright. Parents have been pestering me to find a boyfriend though, which is pretty annoying." Gwen put her hands on her hips. "'You need to find yourself a nice man!' 'Everybody else your age is dating somebody! Why not you?' Like OK! I get it! Jeeze!" she exclaimed as she waved her hands in the air.
David frowned. "That must suck."
"Yeah. It really does..." She looked over at him. "What about you? Have you found anybody?"
David's face flushed. "Oh! Uh... There's this one girl I like..."
Gwen beamed, but there was something else in her eyes. Was that hope? "David that's wonderful!"
"But, it definitely wouldn't work."
Gwen frowned. "Why wouldn't it work?"
"It's... Complicated."
Gwen nodded, obviously picking up on the fact that David didn't want to talk about it. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "I entered a writing contest recently!" She was obviously trying to steer the conversation away from the previous topic.
"That's amazing! What's the story about?" he asked.
Excitement crossed Gwen's face. "Well, it all starts with this vampire..." David smiled as he placed his head onto his arms and listened to every word that left Gwen's mouth. He absolutely loved when she got so excited about something. She would sometimes move her hands to emphasize certain points and her eyes would sparkle. Sure some of her stories were quiet... Erotic, but he enjoyed listening her talk about her interests.
He also just enjoyed talking to her in general.
"...and that's about it! Oh god! David I'm so nervous!" she exclaimed.
David smiled. "Don't be. You're ideas are really good."
Gwen blushed. "Well, ideas won't be enough! I also need the skill!"
"Well I'm sure you will exceed in that too." David pursed his lips.
"How would you know? You've never read anything I've written," she said.
"Well, maybe you should read some things to me next time you visit," he suggested with a smile.
Gwen's face softened. "Yeah. Maybe I should."
They stayed in comfortable silence for a moment before and idea popped into David's head. "I just remembered! I finally learned that spell to make it so that the sea level won't crush you!"
Gwen's eyes widened as she gasped. "No f-"
"Gwen..."
"-reaking way!"
"Just a fair warning that I won't be able to speak to you. English can't exactly be spoken underwater." Gwen gave him a nod.
David swam away from the rock as he watched Gwen stand up. She nodded before jumping into the ocean, David soon following her.
He smiled at Gwen before he blew an air bubble big enough to fit around her head. She let out a breath of air once it fit around her head. David began murmuring some words to himself and gave a small smile as he heard Gwen gasp at the sight of her own body glowing. "I never thought I'd ever be able to do this." David laughed as he lead her down towards the small merpeople village he lived in.
"Woah..." Gwen looked around the village in awe, completely missing the weird looks people were giving the two. "This is absolutely amazing."
"Is that the human David's been seeing?"
"He really had the guts to bring her here?"
"Wow, he must really like her."
That last comment made him glad that Gwen couldn't understand their language.
David narrowed his eyes as he heard two fairly familiar voices come from behind.
"C'mon, Neil!"
"Max! Wait up!"
Gwen seemed to notice the two children and asked. "Do you know those two? Do they go to your daycare thing?" David nodded.
The two seemed to have noticed them because Max let out a loud curse. "You really brought her here?"
David put his hands on his hips. "Now, Max. Don't be rude."
"I thought you were joking!" he exclaimed as he swam over to them. "What do you see in her anyways?" He circled the human, glaring at her the whole time. "She doesn't look interesting at all!"
"Max!"
The boy in question rolled his eyes. "She can't understand us, David! Unless..." He rushed up to David. "Did you teach her our language? You mother-"
"What? No!" he exclaimed.
Max glared at him for a minute before swimming past him. "C'mon, Neil. Nikki's going to die of boredom if we keep her waiting."
"Was that Max?" asked Gwen as she watched the two swim away. "Crap, wait. Did he say Nikki's name?"
David laughed at her comment and nodded.
"Damn. Looks like we broke our deal."
David mockingly put his face in his hands before motioning for her to follow him.
—
"This is better than I could ever have imagined," whispered David as they swam through the small coral reef located by David's house.
"Is that where you work?" she asked as she pointed over at what seemed to be a small playground. David simply nodded. "It's beautiful." David gave Gwen a soft smile.
"Yeah. It is. But not as beautiful as-"
"Wait, what are you saying. I can't understand you."
David flushed and rubbed his arm.
He felt mild disappointment rise up in him as he watched Gwen glow once. Spells wearing off. He thought to himself before motioning for her to follow him.
"Time to go already?" She asked. David merely nodded.
Once they had reached the surface, the bubble around Gwen popped and she let in some air. "That was so much fun!" She exclaimed. "We should do it again sometime!"
"Yeah. We should."
"So, What was it that you said down in the coral?" she asked as she got onto the rock and sat on it.
"Oh! Uh... I just agreed with you," he said, face hot.
Gwen nodded and looked down at herself. "How am I supposed to explain this to my parents? 'Hey mom and dad! I decided to swim with my casual clothes on today! I hope you don't mind.'"
David chuckled. "Yeah. They're going to think it's pretty weird."
"I better get going," she said. "Might catch a cold with these wet clothes. I enjoyed this little date thing we had going on."
David sputtered. "What?"
Gwen giggled as she kneeled down. "I'm kidding. Don't get all hot and bothered like that."
He blushed as he rested his arms on the rock. "I wasn't..." He sighed.
"But seriously. This was fun."
David was quiet for a minute, before asking, "What if next time it was a date."
Gwen seemed shocked, before smiling. "Then it looks like I won’t have to worry about my parents pestering me every day to get a boyfriend."