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Cleo has always had a bit of a soft spot for romance movies. She’s a hopeless romantic at heart, she can’t help it. Rikki and Emma are the cynical, logical ones, and while Lewis is a romantic when it comes to her, even he only watches romances with her reluctantly.
But it’s Cleo’s turn to pick a movie for movie night, and if she has to sit through horrors and thrillers and action movies on their nights, they can bloody well sit through one romance movie occasionally.
Tonight, it’s The Notebook. It’s up to her favourite part, where the truth about the three hundred and sixty-five letters Noah wrote to Allie comes out. Cleo is holding her breath, then mouthing the lines as the characters say them. She’s only vaguely aware of Rikki and Emma rolling their eyes and pretending to vomit. At least Lewis has the decency to keep a straight face.
And then Noah and Allie are kissing, rain soaking them, and Cleo sighs wistfully.
“Do you want to be alone with the movie, Cleo?” Rikki jokes.
“How can you not think this is romantic?” Cleo huffs.
“It’s cliché,” Rikki says. “Not to mention pathetic.”
“And they’re all wet, it can’t be comfortable,” Emma adds.
“The rain kiss is a classic,” Cleo pouts. “Not that I’ll ever get one,” she mutters. Turning into a mermaid at the slightest hint of moisture kind of ruins any ideas of an impromptu rain kiss. If she were to get caught in the rain with Lewis it would be awkward and stressful, with her flip-flopping around in the puddles and him trying to make sure no one saw her. Far from romantic.
“Yeah, but do the girls in the movies ever get an underwater kiss?” Lewis says, jostling her thigh with his.
Cleo sighs. “I guess not.”
She’s gotten better about not resenting her mermaid powers, but sometimes the little things get her. Sure, an underwater kiss is kinda cool. Except that Lewis can’t breathe underwater for as long as she can, or go as deep as she can, and honestly, the couple of underwater kisses they’ve shared haven’t been that romantic. More uncomfortable than anything.
And besides, she’s been dreaming of a rain kiss since she was seven.
“Cheer up, Cleo,” Emma says. “At least you have a boyfriend.”
Lewis gives her thigh a comforting squeeze, and she smiles at him. Yeah, okay, she is pretty lucky.
-
It’s raining. Which means Cleo is stuck inside until it stops, and the forecast says it’s going to rain all weekend. It’s fine, she has heaps of homework and studying to do anyway. She’s got her books spread out over her bed, and Lewis is sitting at her desk, working on his own homework.
Cleo watches as rain batters the window, the downpour getting heavier. She knows she only wants to go out and play around in it because she can’t. Even reminding herself of that doesn’t kill the urge. She gives a deep sigh.
“Still thinking about that rain kiss?” Lewis asks her.
Cleo bites her lip. She hadn’t been thinking about that specifically, but it does contribute to her longing. “I guess so,” Cleo says. “You probably think it’s dumb, right?”
“No, I get it,” he promises. He rises from her desk chair and comes to sit beside her on her bed, covering her hand with his.
“Being a mermaid sucks sometimes.” She never says that in front of Rikki or Emma anymore—they just get annoyed at her. But she can say it to Lewis, even if he thinks her being a mermaid is the coolest thing ever.
They both turn to the window again, watching the rain. All of a sudden, Lewis pats Cleo’s hand and springs from the bed. “I should get going,” he says. “I’ve got—a lot of things to do.”
“Okay,” Cleo says, frowning. He hadn’t mentioned that earlier, and he’s only been here half an hour.
“Just remembered,” he adds, interpreting her frown correctly. “I’ll see you later, okay?” He darts in to give her a peck on the lips, and then he’s scurrying out of the room, leaving his school books there and everything.
She loves him, she really does. But sometimes her boyfriend seems like the weirdest person on the planet. And this is coming from a girl that turns into a mermaid.
-
It’s three hours later when there’s finally a break in the rain. Cleo takes the opportunity to go outside and stretch her legs, get some fresh air. She doesn’t know when she’ll have another chance.
She’s standing on the front lawn, in gumboots and a raincoat, just in case, when Emma and Rikki show up.
“What are you guys doing here?” Cleo asks. With the weather like it is, it’s dangerous for them to be so far from their own homes. What if it had started raining again on their way here? Sure, Rikki might take the risk, but Emma’s usually smarter than that.
“There you are!” Emma says, scolding.
“I’ve been here all day, where else would I be?” Cleo asks, totally confused now.
“Lewis has been looking for you,” Rikki says. “He said he couldn’t find you.”
“I haven’t moved from where he left me three hours ago,” Cleo says, exasperated. “Come on, let’s go inside before it starts raining again.”
“He said he was going to check Mako Island,” Emma interjects.
If Cleo were a different person, maybe she’d be suspicious. She doesn’t like to think of herself as gullible, but she’s trusting, and she can’t imagine why Emma and Rikki would have ulterior motives. But she is incredibly confused, not only by the two of them, but by what they’re saying about Lewis.
“Why would he do that?” Cleo groans. “He knows I can’t go out in the rain, and it’s only just stopped.”
Rikki and Emma look at each other. “Probably wasn’t thinking straight,” Rikki shrugs. The three of them swing their heads as lightning flashes on the horizon. A low rumble of thunder follows moments later. The sky is so dark it almost feels like night time, not mid-afternoon.
“The storm’s getting worse,” Emma notes.
“Lewis, why are you so stupid?” Cleo mutters. Anxiety whirls in her belly. “What if he gets caught out in it? I have to go and get him.”
“You don’t need us for that, right?” Rikki asks, but it’s not really a question. “We’ll wait inside for you.”
Cleo barely hears her. She’s already taking off towards the beach, praying she can make it there before it starts raining again. She feels the first drops as her boots hit the sand, and then she’s diving into the shallows just as it starts pouring again.
Transformation complete, she swims as fast as she can towards Mako Island, heart hammering. He’ll be fine, she tells herself. And then, but what if he’s not?
She surfaces near the shore, rain pelting down on her, but his boat is nowhere to be seen on the beach. Panicked, she turns her attention back out to sea.
She spots his little dingy, floating about fifty metres out. And he’s just sitting there, in the rain, not coming towards Mako, and not returning home. Does he have a death wish? She dives back under the choppy waves and swims out to him.
She breaks the surface, and he’s looking down at her, smiling, despite the wrathful ocean beneath him, and the unforgiving skies above. His blonde hair is dark and plastered to his face, his shirt moulded to his body, completely soaked through.
“Are you insane?” Cleo gasps. “What are you doing out here?”
“Waiting for you,” he says. They have to raise their voices over the wind and waves.
“Why?”
“You wanted that rain kiss, didn’t you?”
“And this was your solution?” She’s beginning to realise this was all a plot, set up by him, along with Emma and Rikki. Still, it seems reckless and unnecessary.
“Are you going to let me kiss you, or what?” Lewis asks. He’s grinning down at her, leaning over the side of the boat. And now that her panic has receded, Cleo is beginning to realise the storm isn’t that bad. And if the boat tips over, she’ll be right here to save him.
Butterflies swarm in her stomach as Lewis leans down further, and then Cleo surges up, cupping his face in her hands as she kisses him, her eyes fluttering shut. The rain cascades over them, and Cleo loses herself in the kiss, in the utter romance of it.
Their mouths move against each other, until Cleo's head is spinning, and she can feels tingles right down to her fins. It's wet, and messy, but it's everything she dreamed.
When she breaks away, she’s grinning shyly, sinking back down into the water so Lewis can only see the top half of her face. He has a dazed smile on his face, looking down at her with awe.
“A classic,” he agrees, and Cleo throws her head back to laugh. She got her rain kiss after all, and it was everything she imagined and more.
Whatever challenges being a mermaid may bring, she knows Lewis is always going to be there to help her find a way to face it.