Amongst The Water-Fresh Waters

Chapter 15: Goodbye. Hello! Part 2

First Uploaded: March 2014 Dates updated: January or February 2018; October 31 2019; Jan.20, 2020 10PM)

AFTER KEVIN, KYLIE, AND NICHOLAS TAKE JACOB AND DARLA TO THE AIRPORT: Kylie and Nicholas go to the Crab Shack pool during the night after the close it to see if all the rumors are true. Lately, the past few weeks, there have been talk about mermaids. Kylie wasn't surprised at first because the city is notorious for the Mermaid Myth. Especially Moanie Island. But Kylie and Nicholas were surprised when they heard a few locales say something about the mermaids that used to be in the Crab Shack pool. One day Nick and Kylie were at the Crab Shack and they overheard the conversation. Nick went to get more food, while Kylie continued to listen on the conversation. She heard them talk about one time when the couple went on a late night swim in the pool, they saw it glow around a certain time and heard weird sounds. Before they got it they got in the water, the couple swore they saw a tail, so they left the pool. And the next day they came back for a swim during the day, the pool was closed. Kylie learned that the pool closed because late at night, someone almost drowned. And they claimed they saw a mermaid. The person ended up getting admitted into a Sanitarium and the Crab Shack pool has been closed since. Kylie and Nick arrive to the Crab Shack with life jackets and some bats to defend themselves if something tries to attack them. Nicks stomach does flips as they get closer to the pool. Nick holds his hand out to stop Kylie. "Wait sis. I hear someone. I think they are in the pool." Kylie looks up at the pools entrance. She walks closer. "I hear someone in the water too." Kylie says. Making sure her voice is low. Kylie walks closer. "Sis stop. What if you get wet. What if the person hurts us?" He tells her. Kylie looks back at her brother. "I'm sure everything is fine. I have a feeling everything is fine." Kylie walks closer. Nick looks around. Chills run up his back. He follows his sister to the pool. He'd rather follow his sister than stay in the dark where he feels more uneasy. Kylie and Nick walk up to the person who's in the in ground pool. They both look at the person underwater in shock. The person comes up from the water to face them. His eyes widen. Kylie looks at him. "What in sane hill?" Kylie exclaims. Nick stands there staring at his best friend. He found a best friend and thought they were close, but apparently not close enough to tell him this. Kylie looks at the teenage boy. "Nice tail Brian." Kylie smirks at him satisfied by the look on his face. Brian looks at them both. He looks around frantically. "No one else came with you did they? You came alone?" He asks concerned. Kylie nods. Nick looks at Brian. "No. Jakobe, Kaylee, Finn, and a few kids from school are behind us." Nick says. Brians face turns white. "NO! Tell them they can't come in here! Tell them the pool has a snake or something in it!" Brian says worried. Kylie shoves her brother and shakes her head. Nick laughs. "No. I'm joking. We came alone. We heard rumors about, well mermaids and we had to see if it was real. This town likes the myth." Kylie's face slightly turns white with worry. She was worried her brother was going to say the wrong thing. But she should know better. Nick is young, but is wise beyond his years. Kylie trusts him with her secret. And now she may be able to tell someone else. Someone who has the same secret as her. Brian laughs. "There hardly myths. I mean you can't think this is a costume?" He asks them. Kylie shake shakes her head. "No." Nicholas looks at his sister. "Umm. I'm not too sure it's real." Nick says trying to cover for his sister. Brian, Kylie and Nick all turn toward the Crab Shack hearing a lot of noise. "What's that? Isn't the Crab Shack closed at 9pm." Kylie asks curiously. Brian looks at the building of people waiting outside. "Oh no. I forgot it's 80's dance night tonight. It's a whole thing. They hire a DJ. A band for an hour, and even decorate and have karaoke." Nick looks over to the crowd of people. "Sounds interesting." Brian looks over. "Yeah. So that means we should go. People will migrate over hear and I can't be seen like this." Kylie and Nick nod. "So how can you leave so quickly? Doesn't it take you forever to dry off?" Brian shakes his head. "No. I have a way to dry off." Kylie nods. "What you wipe yourself down with 20 towels and every set of clothes you own?" Kylie laughs awkwardly. Nick looks at her worried. "Sis?" He whisper to her. Brian looks at her, finding her question and reaction odd. "No. I have a way you won't believe." Kylie smirks. "You don't know what I'd believe." Brian squints curiously. Nick looks over to people coming toward the pool. "Ummm. People are coming." Brian looks toward the approaching people just as a baseball flies over and lands right in front of Brian and splashes Kylie. Brian's face whitens as Kylie's does too. Nick looks at Kylie. He nods toward the pool. "You have no other choice sis. You have to. I'll make something up." Brian looks at them both. "What are you talking about?" He asks. Before Kylie grows a tail, she jumps into the pool. Brian looks at Kylie. "What the?!" Nick shrugs. "I'm saving you both." As he catches the baseball Brian throws at him. Nick walks toward the approaching people. Brian looks next to him to see Kylie's beautiful Aquamarine tail. "Wow!" "So you are like me too!?" He exclaims excited. Kylie shrugs. "Yup." Brian winks at her. "So I guess that means we are meant to be then. I mean we both have tails and depend on water to survive." He grabs her hand. She shakes it away. She normally would feel completely repulsed by him staring at her like this in this current state. But having someone to share her secret with that has the same secret, is relieving and nice. But when she notices Brian staring at her chest, she slaps him in the face. He recoils back. "I should not have been staring. Sorry." Brian looks away shyly. Kylie rolls her eyes. She looks at Brian's face and sees his expression change. "Sorry I slapped you. That was rash and rude." Brian looks at Kylie. This time at her face. "Yeah it was a little. But I deserved it. I shouldn't have been staring at..." He pauses. His eyes linger to her chest. He notices Kylie watching him and looks at her face. "I shouldn't have been staring at your chest. It was rude and disrespectful. It's just the first time I've ever seen a mermaid and it was hard to focus when there's not much covering you up." Kylie rolls her eyes. "Typical guys." She swims away from him. And she turns around and faces him. "And the scales do cover up everything, they are just very clingy and should be thicker." Brian shrugs. "Hey. I was apologizing. I've never done that to any girl I flirted with." Brian tells her across the pool. Kylie laughs nervously. "Sorry. I recently just broke up with my boyfriend because he was wanting to do something I wasn't ready for." Brian nods. "Why don't you forgive him? I thought you loved him. Like a lot?" He asks her. Kylie looks over to her brother talking to the people who were trying to make their way to the pool. "It's probably about the 4th or 5th or maybe 6th time he has pressured me and a few times it went way too far. Today I finally had the courage to end things." Brian swims toward her. "Wow. That's awful. I'm sorry. What made you gain the courage?" Brian asks. Kylie takes a deep breath. "I finally realized that I wanted more for myself and he needed to heal on his own." She pauses. "He's an addict and alcoholic. And I tried to be his rock for years and he constantly went back and forth between recovering and going back to the drugs and alcohol." Brian shakes his head. "I'm so sorry Kylie. I didn't realize you had so much bad history with him." She shrugs. "How could you know. We haven't known eachother that long Brian. The only people that know about any of this is my best friend in West Virginia, my parents, his parents, his cousin, my brother sadly, and Finn Chrisholm. And now you. So please don't tell anyone." Brian nods. "I won't tell a soul. You have my Merman word." They both laugh. Brian looks at her curious. "So how does Finn know about something so personal? I understand why you told me. We both share this Merman and Mermaid secret so we are drawn to tell eachother things we'd normally wouldn't tell someone else. But why and how does Finn know?" Kylie sighs. "You know he and I are friends." Brian nods. "Well I tell him a lot. I wouldn't have told him any of that if he didn't save me from Jacob's obsessive addiction with wanting to have sex with me." Kylie blurts out. She clamps her mouth. Brians eyes widen and his face gets red. "I so did not want it to come out like that. I don't know why it did." Kylie says confused. Brian laughs nervously. Brian looks at Kylie. "It happens sometimes when you are knew to the transformation. You blurt things out you'd normally wouldn't say. And hormones and emotions are usually out of control too. Especially if you are around you're own kind." He winks. "Sorry. I'm used to hitting on you and since I first saw you transform, I can't help it. But I honestly didn't want to. It's one of those uncontrollable Merman things." Kylie rolls her eyes. "Great. I have enough to worry about." Brian looks at her sympethetically. "I'm Sorry. I'm here if you ever need to talk or have any questions. I'm not an expert. But I've read a lot and experienced a lot already." He looks at Kylie. "Why are you looking at me like that." Kylie shakes her head. She's never noticed how pretty his hair was. She could run her hands through his lucious hair. "Nothing. I just never noticed your hair is really amazing. What conditioner do you use?" She asks him. Brian smiles. "So I guess I was lying when I thought you didn't see me like that at all since you saw me as a Merman." Kylie looks at him confused. "Huh? NO! I'm not crushing on you. I'm admiring your hair. You should take it as a compliment." She lies to herself. There is no way she's going to let Brian get the satisfaction that for just a short amount of time she actually saw him as someone other than the annoying obnoxious flirt. Brian smirks at her. "Yeah sure. And you and Finn don't' want to jump eachother." Kylie flinches. Brian blinks quickly. "Sorry. I didn't mean that. I wish I could gain control of the words I say when I'm around you. Now that you're a mermaid, it's going to be so much harder." Kylie sighs. "Yeah. Me too. And apparently it is going to be difficult. Oh and you and Nicholas aren't the only ones who know I'm a Mermaid." Kylie pauses. Brian looks at her waiting for her to continue. She looks at him. "Jacob and his cousin knows too. That's one reason why today was terrible. We had a big fight about me being a mermaid." Brian shakes his head. "That's stupid. I'd kill to have a mermaid as a girlfriend." Kylie nods. "I know. But it was too much apparently. Oh and your brother also knows. He didn't seem too surprised. He actually kind of smirked at me. Which now I know why." Kylie says motioning toward Brian. Brian looks at Kylie. "He didn't tell me. I guess he'd figure I'd find out eventually. After a certain amount of time, you will gain tattoos that only other Mer-Folk can see and I can't see anything. So that means you are less than 6 Moons." Kylie looks confused. "Finn also knows about me. And what does 6 Moons mean?" She asks. Brian looks caught off guard. "Finn knows about you and he was alright with it?" Kylie nods. "Yeah. Why?" Brian shakes his head. "I think you should talk to Finn about his family history. And 6 Moons means that you haven't been through 6 Full Moons yet. When you've been through between 4-6 Full Moons, that's when you gain the tattoos of the Moanie Tribe." Kylie blinks. "Moanie tribe? Like Moanie Island?" Brian nods. "Yes. Exactly like that. The old tale about the mermaid Moana and the trickster Maui migrated to Australia and found Moanie Island and named it after their names." Brian sees Nicholas walking back toward them. "I'll tell you more about Moanie and Moana and Maui tomorrow here at noon. We should go before those people decide to come back over here." Kylie nods. "Yeah probably." She looks over to Nick walking to them. "Can you not tell anyone about my feelings for Finn? I'm sure you've noticed and I think everyone else has, but.." Brian looks at Kylie. "But it's obvious to almost everyone you guys have a thing for eachother?" Brian blurts. Kylie blushes. She then nods her head. "Yeah. Apparently. Jacob even noticed it. I don't know how." Brian looks at her. "Maybe from the video of the fake play of you guys kissing. It obvious wasn't pretend. No one wanted to tell you, but Jacob commented on the video on YouTube." Kylie shrieks. "What?! It's on YouTube?" Brian nods. Kylie feels her entire body tighten from embarrassment. "I thought it was just on Facebook. Who put it on YouTube? And what did Jacob comment?" Kylie asks. Brian looks at her concerned. He takes in her terrified face wondering if she can take the truth. "I'm not sure who put it on YouTube." He clears his throat. "And Jacob posted something about you not giving it up for him but you gave it up for some random guy in a bar." Kylie's face reddens. But this time it's rage. Brian recognizes the anger in her eyes. Jakobe had that same look when their parents died and the Lawyer said they couldn't get their trust fund until Jakobe was 18. But Brian was confused when he noticed tears running down Kylie's face. "I'm sorry, I didn't want you to find out when we went back to school in a week. And I'd thought it'd be better if a friend told you." Kylie shakes her head furious, as tears roll down her cheek. Brian looks at her sympathetically. "Nick is coming back. Again. So we should go. Are you okay?" He says looking at Kylie. Kylie is staring into the darkness, feeling every bit of embarrassment she's going to feel when she goes back to school. She can't even imagine the kids calling her a tramp, skank, or any other colorful nicknames they can come up with. Brian looks at her, now her face white and completely crying. "Kylie. No one is going to believe that. They don't know who he is. They know you." Kylie shakes her head. "Not everyone knows me and they don't me enough to believe that it's not true." Kylie says sobbing. Brian Swims closer to Kylie and holds her. Nicholas walks up toward the edge of the pool staring at them confused. His head must be examined because there is no way Kylie would let Brian hug her. He must be seeing things. Nick tilts his head and sees his sister crying. "Sis, are you okay?" He asks concerned. Brian lets go of Kylie and they both look at Nick. Kylie wipes her eyes. "I'm fine. Brian was just being a friend. Believe it or not he's not just an obnoxious flirt. No offense." Kylie says looking at Brian. Brian chuckles. "None taken. I told her about the comment on the video of her and Finn. And she didn't take it well." Nick looks at his sisters heartbroken face. "I'm so sorry sis. I want you to know that I stopped talking to him too. If you aren't with him, then I'm not friends with him anymore either." He tells his sister about his recent news. Jacob has sent Nick several texts since the breakup and even called to talk to Nick when Kylie was at Volleyball practice. Kylie looks at her younger brother. "You don't have to stop being friends with him just because we aren't dating. You guys were close. You can still talk. We all were friends before Jacob and I even started dating anyway. But just do me one favor?" Kylie says. "What's that sis?" Nick asks. "Just don't talk about Jacob if I'm around and if he ever visits you, can you please tell me when and if he's coming so I can make other plans?" Kylie asks her brother. She hates to be so picky and controlling with her brothers friendship with her ex. But she can't bear to think of seeing him anytime soon or hearing about him. Nick nods "Of coarse. Thanks sis. That means a lot. I love you. You are the best big sister ever." He says. Kylie and Nick smile and eachother. Brian smiles too. "I don't want to break up this family bonding moment, but we should get going before someone sees us in our tails Kylie." Kylie nods. "Yeah. We can't be science experiments, now can we." Brian shakes his head. "Absolutely not. But you'd be the prettiest one ever." He winks as they swim toward the ladder. Kylie laughs and rolls her eyes. She has this odd feeling that finding out about Brian's Merman ability will make it be easier for her to ignore his flirting and just laugh at it. He's already making progress by being there for her as a true friend and he only hitted on her a couple of times and he surprisingly apologized for it.