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You squeal as you fall off your board into the water, having been distracted by a massive shadow blocking the sun. As you surface you wipe the water out your eyes, searching the sky for the source. You smile seeing it’s just the local dragon out for his morning flight. Despite it being a daily occurrence, you don’t think you’ll ever get used to that sight.
You'd moved to West Oaks just over a year ago and had quickly fallen in love with the town. You loved your job, your little pink house which faced the harbour, all the shops and the people. What you loved most however was the beach and the water. You could spend hours on the beach, occasionally reading, more often people watching, counting the number of different creatures you could see that particular day and sometimes just watching the seals, trying to see if you could tell the difference between a seal and a Selkie.
You also loved the water and had tried a variety of activities, snorkeling, bodyboarding and water skiing were amongst your favourites. For the past week, you had been giving surfing a go, it didn’t matter to you that you always fell off, you still had fun. Nearing time to stop for the day, you decide to catch one last wave before you have to go to work.
Paddling into position, you get ready for the oncoming wave, as it comes in you stand and ride that wave, trying to keep your balance. It’s going well you think, until suddenly you slam into something in the water. Shrieking, you fall into the water, panicking slightly you twist and turn in the water trying to get your bearings. Managing to breach to the surface, you cough and splutter, looking around for your board.
What in the hell was that, you think, locating your board. You really hope it wasn’t one of the Mer-folks that live here, on the other hand, the alternative could be worse. Clutching onto your board, your startled when a seal surfaces just a couple of metres from you and starts snarling and barking at you until suddenly it disappears under water again. Shit! That seal definitely gave you a telling off, meaning it had to have been a Selkie.
Making your way back to the beach, you strip out of your wetsuit and gather up your things to leave. Hearing a shout from behind you, you spin around to see a girl jogging towards you with a frown on her face. Seeing that she’s carrying a seal skin under her arm, you curse under your breath. Assuming her to be the Selkie you crashed into, you steel yourself for another bollocking.
She’s cute too, you think as she reaches you, with pale skin, dark eyes, a cute button nose, long dark hair and a lean figure, she’s just your type. In different circumstances you’d probably give her your number.
‘‘I am so sorry about that. My brother can be such a dick at times,’’ she says, still frowning.
‘‘Oh… Um, it’s fine,’’ you start, before she interrupts you.
‘‘No it’s not, he shouldn’t have gone off on you like that.’’
‘‘Well I did crash into him, and besides I didn’t actually understand what he was saying anyway…’’ you say, awkwardly chuckling.
‘‘Right.’’ she says, blinking at you. ‘‘Still it was an accident and he was just as much to blame.’’
‘‘It was an accident. I’m just happy no one got hurt,’’ you smile. ‘‘He is okay, isn’t he?’’
‘‘Oh he’s fine, he’s got a hard head,’’ she snorts.
You laugh. ‘‘Alright then… I need to get going, I’ve got to get to work,’’ you say, disappointed you can’t stay and chat with her.
‘‘Maybe I’ll see you around,’’ she says smiling, before turning and jogging off with a wave.
You sigh watching her, before shaking your head and making your way home cursing yourself for not getting her name. Though the chances of seeing her again are slim, you can’t help but hope.
A couple of days later and you're at the market, you’re there to get your weekly fresh fruit and vegetables, however you can’t stop yourself from browsing all the stalls. Stopping at a jewellery stall, you're just admiring a pretty necklace, with one large pearl pendant hanging from a silver chain, when you feel someone come stand right beside you and poke you on your arm. Startled you turn and are surprised to see the Selkie girl from the beach, with a large smile on her face.
‘‘Hi again,’’ she giggles. ‘‘Fancy seeing you here.’’
‘‘Hi…’’ You smile, taking her in. Today she’s wearing a pretty yellow sundress that really accentuates her figure. Introducing yourself, you hold out your hand for hers to shake.
‘‘I’m Maura,’’ she says, shaking your hand. Her hand feels really soft and you feel your stomach flutter as her hand clasps your own. ‘‘So, do you like the necklace?’’
‘‘Oh…Yes,’’ you say, looking back down at the necklace, having completely forgotten what you’d just been looking at. ‘‘It’s so pretty.’’
‘‘I’m glad you think so. My grandmother made it, I found the pearl though,’’ she grins, walking round to the other side of the stall.
‘‘Really? Wow. Well your grandmother does excellent work,’’ you say, admiring the necklace again. You wish you had the money to buy it but you wouldn’t be paid for days and you were running low.
‘‘I know, but I’ll tell her you said so,’’ she says laughing. ‘‘Normally she would be here selling her jewellery herself but she couldn’t make it today, so I’m filling in for her.’’
‘‘I didn’t think I’d ever seen you here before.’’
You stay and chat to Maura for awhile, mainly about the jewellery and where she finds the pearls, only pausing briefly for her to serve other customers. When a large group approaches, you tell her you have to finish getting the rest of your shopping but it was nice seeing her again.
‘‘Listen, I’ve really enjoyed talking to you,’’ she starts, only to stop taking a deep breath. ‘‘Some friends of mine are having a party on the beach tonight, down by the cove, would you... like to meet me there?’’
‘‘Yeah, I’d love too,’’ you say smiling, feeling your stomach flutter again, this definitely sounds like a date you think happily.
‘‘Great,’’ she says grinning. ‘‘I’ll see you there then, at about eight?’’
‘‘I’ll be there. Eight o’clock. See you later,’’ you wave, nodding and walking backwards. Bumping into someone you quickly apologise before heading off to get your shopping. Now you’ll need to figure out what to wear, shower and take off your flaking nail varnish and… shaking your head you tell yourself to calm down. You’ll be there and she’ll be there and hopefully you’ll have a good time without making a fool of yourself.
You set off a little early, taking your time walking down the beach to settle your nerves. When you reach the cove, you see that the little cove is already packed with people. When Maura said some friends you weren’t sure what to expect but it wasn’t this you think looking around. There’s people everywhere, on the sand, sitting on the rocky ridge and in the water. There’s all sorts of Mer-folk, as well as other non-humans, and you see what might be some humans here but you can’t tell for sure.
You finally spot Maura sitting on one of the logs that have been placed around a fire pit at the far edge of the cove. Making your way over to her, you wave when she looks around in your direction. You watch as a wide smile crosses her face and she stands and hugs you when you reach her.
‘‘I am so glad you could make it,’’ she says as she steps back a little.
‘‘Me too,’’ you say, taking her in. She’s changed out the dress she was wearing earlier and is now wearing a little lace dress. ‘‘You look nice,’’ you say, trying not to stare.
‘‘Thank you. You look really pretty too,’’ she smiles, looking at your outfit briefly before looking back to your face. ‘‘Come sit, I came with marshmallows so we could toast them…’’
‘‘Thanks. That sounds great.’’
Sitting beside her, you watch while she pulls out a couple of bags of marshmallows and a bunch of skewers from a backpack sitting at her feet. Before she zips the bag back up, you spot a glimpse of what looks like her pelt and wonder if she always keeps it on her. As she tosses one of the bags of marshmallows to a girl sitting on another log, she turns to you and explains that she’s one of her brothers girlfriend.
‘‘One of? How many brothers do you have,’’ you ask curiously as she hands you a skewer.
‘‘Just two, Murron and Ronan. Ronans the oldest and Murron's my twin,’’ she says, skewering a marshmallow on the end of your skewer before skewering one on her own.
‘‘Which one did I collide with?’’ You ask, as you start toasting one of your marshmallows over the fire.
‘‘That would be my twin, he’s not here tonight though. Ronan is somewhere around here,’’ she says glancing around. ‘‘Honestly I’m surprised he’s not with Molly, he tends to stick to her like glue,’’ she laughs, nodding towards the girl she gave the marshmallows too. ‘‘Oh careful, you’re burning it,’’ she says, pulling your hand with the skewer away from the fire.
‘‘Oh crap,’’ you say, blowing on your marshmallow. You were so distracted listening to her, to pay attention to the food. ‘‘I think it’s okay.’’
‘‘Good,’’ she replies, before starting to eat her own. ‘‘Mmm... these are so good,’’ she moans around a mouthful of marshmallow. You nod absently but honestly wouldn’t know, your too busy watching her work her mouth around the mallow. As her tongue comes out to lick her lips, you wonder what she’d taste like.
Meeting your eyes, she giggles and plucks the mallow of the end of your skewer and raises it to your mouth. Eating it out of her hand, you hear her breath catch, as your lips brush her fingers. Her full lips part in a gasp as you lick a piece of mallow of her fingers and her cheeks turn bright pink. Chuckling slightly, you grab more marshmallows to skewer.
You spend all evening talking her, telling her about your job and your love of the water. She tells you what she enjoys about being a Selkie, and her favourite things to do. You briefly meet her brother but he doesn’t stay to chat, pulling up his girlfriend to dance with him instead. Maura pulls you up to dance at one point and as people start to leave, asks you if you want to take a walk along the beach.
You walk down the beach hand in hand in a peaceful silence. It’s one of those silences that isn’t awkward, just calm and reflective. As your approaching the harbour, you point out to her that you live in the little pink house and ask if she wants to come in. She’s frowns for a moment clearly thinking.
‘‘I… I don’t think I’m ready for that yet,’’ she says looking down shyly.
‘‘That’s okay… We don’t have to rush anything,’’ you say, raising your hand to her face and tilting her chin up to look at you. ‘‘I’m not going anywhere,’’ you smile.
‘‘You don’t mind?’’ she asks quietly.
‘‘Of course not,’’ you say, shaking your head. ‘I would like to see you again and we can take this as slow as you need.’’
‘‘I’ve never dated a human before,’’ she chuckles. ‘But, I really you.’’
‘‘I really like you too, and I’ve never dated a Selkie before, but I can’t imagine it’s much different from dating anyone else.’’
‘‘Maybe not,’’ she says, tucking her hair behind her ear. ‘‘I would quite like to kiss you though…’’
‘‘I wouldn’t object,’’ you giggle. Taking a light hold of her hips, you brush your lips across hers, letting her set the pace. The kiss is short and sweet but it still causes your stomach to flutter. You end up exchanging phone numbers and she promises to call you soon, with that you say goodnight and finish your walk home smiling happily and hoping you hear from her soon.