Chapter 5


    Hunter


    The entire ride back to my apartment was silent. Blue continued to look out of the window. Even though


    she’d stopped crying, her expressions were a dead giveaway that something was wrong. She’d slipped


    on my t-shirt from before, her hands joined in herp. When we came back to my apartment, Blue


    settled down on my bed and continued to stare into space. Leslie was rolling on the floor with joy,


    unable to contain his happiness on the return of his new best friend.


    My eyes flicked to the t-shirt she was wearing. The neckline was so big on her that it slipped down from


    the right shoulder showing off a creamyplexion. With her beautiful naturally dried aqua hair, she


    looked effortlessly pretty. She was so perfect that I wanted her to keep that t-shirt on forever.


    That reminded me, if she were to stay here even temporarily, I ought to get her some real women’s


    garments and that meant I was going to be low on cash once again. I could coax Hannah, my half-


    sister to help out with the dilemma.


    Blue and Hannah seemed like they were pretty much simr sizes. The only differences I could see


    between Hannah and Blue were, Hannah was as ugly as a fucking duck, no matter how much Fred


    lusted over her, I didn’t see that idiot being anything attractive to any guy. When I looked at Hannah all I


    could see was her snotty nose and her being in diapers and me having to change it multiple times


    during the time I used to babysit her while our parents attended parties and when the nanny got sick all


    of a sudden. (You know, sick after sucking face with our house butler)


    Blue was shorter, cuter and gorgeous. When I looked closely, I could see why I’d thought she was


    different since the day I found her. She seemed like she’d walked right out of a Mythological book.I


    didn’t ask her what happened or why she had returned, it seemed to me like she needed some alone


    time to think and I owed her that privacy.


    A few minutes passed in silence and then she whispered. “The gates were closed.”


    “What gates?”


    “The gates to the underworld. Those were open before I left that ce but now the gates are closed. I


    can’t open them and the guards didn’t let me in. It seems the Gods don’t want me toe back.” Her


    body shook.


    I opened my messy wardrobe and pulled out a clean nket and ced it over her shoulders. “Why


    won’t they let you?”


    “Coming into the human world is forbidden. It’s one of the greatest sins. When I swam away from the


    engagement party, I didn’t realize where I was going until it was toote and the fishermen took me.”


    She exined. “I wasn’t supposed toe into your world, Hunter, and now that I’m here, I don’t know


    how to go back.”


    Her nose had gotten drippy and I realized she would turn my bed into boogerville so I brought a tissue


    box and ced a tissue on her nose. “Blow.” I instructed.


    And she blew into the tissue in a very unattractive fashion. Any other girl would have been shy at the


    prospect of even considering to blow their nose in a tissue under my supervision because most girls I


    knew acted like they had clean noses since birth and never burped or farted their entire life.


    “I don’t know what to do.” She cried and wiped at her tears with the heels of her palm. “These tears,


    they just won’t stop. I was not such a emotional person before. What is happening to me?!” She asked


    frustrated.


    The reality was still feeling like a dream.


    She was a mermaid.


    There was a freakin Mermaid on my bed.


    Blue stared at me, agitation on her features. “Why are you looking at me like that?”


    “Nothing.” I said. “It’s just hard for me toprehend the fact that I’m having a conversation with a


    beautiful mermaid, a real one.”


    Her cheeks turned crimson. “Well, I couldn’t believe until yesterday that I was living with a handsome


    boy either.”


    “Oh, so you think I’m handsome, huh?”


    She rolled her eyes. “As if you didn’t know that. Are you betrothed to someone?”


    I stared at her incredulously, “beth...what?”


    Blue sighed, as if I was stupid and didn’t understand anything. “I was betrothed to Adrian, who I was


    supposed to marry. Were you also betrothed to someone?” She repeated.


    Betrothed! How old fashion. Who said that word anymore but Blue wasn’t even from here. Maybe they


    were still old fashion down below. Maybe the mermaids still wore Hoop skirts and the boys wore dress


    shirts open from the front.


    “I’m not engaged to anyone and neither am I dating. Well, I used to but that’s another story.”


    Blue stared at me in surprise. “What’s dating?”


    “When a man and a woman like each other, they date.”


    “What happens when they date?” She asked in her childlike curiosity and it was killing me. No one can


    be so beautiful and be this innocent.


    Although the questions were a bit annoying, I didn’t mind answering them as long as the girl wasn’t


    looking sad any longer. It seemed like the “Dating” conversation was working and she wasn’t having


    dark thoughts.


    “When a girl and a guy date, they go out and have fun. Dinner, movies...” sex... she didn’t need to know


    that so I avoided that word. “You know stuff like that.”


    Her eyes were sparkling with curiosity. “And then they get married right?”


    “No, Blue. Dating doesn’t necessarily mean that it ends in marriage. Most rtionships don’t work.


    People who marry are in love. Dating is something to just get to know someone.”


    She nodded like she understood what that meant. “So after they get married, they kiss and have a


    human baby, right?”


    I almost burst outughing. If only babies were born through kissing, I’d probably be fathering over a


    hundred.


    “Why are youughing?” She asked me, irritated.


    “There’s a lot more than just kissing that gets a woman pregnant, alright? But it’s best I’ll tell you that


    some other time.”


    “Why can’t you tell me now?” She insisted like a four year old asking her mom if babies were given by


    fairies.


    “Because it’s fuckingplicated, okay?” I said almost irritated.


    “Are you mad at me?” She asked.


    I signed. I realized I must practice more control over my anger issues. I couldn’t be violent around this


    girl. She was sweet, and trying to learn about humans and there was nothing wrong she was doing if


    she was just a wee bit curious.


    “I’m not mad at you, Blue. I just don’t think it’s an appropriate subject to discuss at the moment. I


    promise you I’ll exin everything soon.” I assured her with a smile. “For now, go to bed. Tomorrow


    morning, we can go shopping.”


    “Shopping?” She beamed “For human clothes? Can I get a nice dress?”


    I nodded. “Anything you want.”


    With that I knew I’d pulled her out of her bad mood momentarily. We had to figure out how she would


    go home but that thought could rest for the moment. She was here for as long as it took for the


    underworld mermaidnd gates to open or whatever shit she’d said so that meant she was going to


    stick around for a while. And while Blue was here, the least I could do was show her a good time. I


    went to sleep on that thought.


    I couldn’t skip college today not when I’d already been cklisted a few times for being a ‘no show’ a


    dozen times. If I wanted to pass the semester, I needed to attended sses just for the heck of it. I


    decided to take the afternoon sses, that way I had time with Blue.


    I prepared breakfast, scrambled eggs this time and Blue gobbled it down like she’d escaped a deserted


    Ind. It was amusing to watch her struggle with a fork and a knife. She couldn’t even hold it properly,


    she was like a three year old hell-bent on poking the food. I chuckled softly, not wanting her to feel bad


    about meughing at her.


    I taught her how to hold it by wrapping my fingers around hers and helping her cut the food with a knife


    and fork. It was like teaching table manners to a child. Blue was clearly exhausted so I let her eat with


    her hands the way she fancied; sucking her fingers and licking her palms.


    I couldn’t help as I burst outughing. She stopped licking midway and pouted. “What’s so funny?”


    Blue


    I’d caught Hunter staring at me more than once and I wondered if it was because there was something


    wrong with my face or the shock of seeing a fishtail had scarred him for life.


    I couldn’t shake this feeling of nervousness inside me. I’d always wanted a human friend and this was


    my chance but I knew showing my tail to him had blown it.


    I was lying down on the bed, leading through a magazine when Hunter walked out of the steaming


    bathroom, a towel wrapped tightly around his trim waist. His golden-brown hair was wet. His chest was


    bare, water droplets grazing it and I couldn’t help but notice the light brown hair on his abdomen. The


    designs on his arms looked nice. I mentally reminded myself to ask him about thoseter. I licked my


    lips and there was a strange sensation between my thighs. I mmed them shut tightly. The human


    body was strange, and I was still learning.


    Hunter chuckled. “Wanna have me for lunch?”


    “What?”


    He was still grinning. “You were drooling just a minute ago and that made me wonder if you were


    lusting over this fabulous body.” He said reaching for a water bottle and taking a drink.


    “Lusting?” I asked curiously. “I don’t know what that is. Although if I should admit, I was curious.”


    “Curious about?”


    “About what’s under that towel of yours.”


    Hunter spat out a spray of water unattractively, set the bottle down and roared withughter.


    “Well..what do you think there is?” He asked, leaning back against the kitchen stool.


    I shook my head. Mer-men just had scales like mine from the waist down and reproductive organs like


    a fish so I had no idea what humans had. I couldn’t even guess if I tried because there weren’t any


    books with pictures to exin that. “My friend Oceana said boys onnd have a penis.”


    “Huh, and what is a penis, do you know?”


    I shook my head. “I was wondering if you can perhaps show me.”


    Hunter covered his face with his hand andughed. I thought I saw his face turn a bright shade of red.


    I filled both my cheeks with air, showing that I was mad and threw a pillow at him. “You’re always


    laughing at me Hunter!”


    He dodged it and stoppedughing, but there was still a trace of it. “I’m sorry, Blue but you’re really


    amusing because you’re blunt. I have never met a funnier girl than you.”


    I pouted. “Why can’t you just show me your male part?”


    Still amused, he padded towards his cupboard and pulled out a t-shirt simr to the one I wore. “I’m


    sorry, sweetheart, but it just doesn’t work that way.”


    “Just show it to me. I won’t touch, I promise.” I assured him.


    He threw the t-shirt over his head,ughing and I watched as the fabric fit him perfectly, tight over his


    broad chest and snuggled to his biceps. “I can’t, Blue.” He then pulled something that was called a


    pants that humans wore until the waist.


    I tilted my head to try and get a peek, just to see if the towel slid down to showcase the mystery but it


    didn’t. The towel slid down but the pants were right in ce. Since his back was faced towards me, I


    couldn’t see a thing.


    I groaned and dug my face in the covers. I watched as he picked up the keys of that car he drove and


    realized he was going somewhere.


    “Are you going somewhere?” I asked.


    “College.” He responded. “You’re going to be alone for a few hours. Do you think you can handle being


    alone?”


    “Why can’t Ie with you?” I asked.


    I knew college meant school for the grown up kids. I would have loved to go to his college and learn


    more human things.


    “You can’t.” He said tly. “But while you’re here you can watch the idiot box.”


    “Idiot box?” I asked.


    He took a ck thing that resembled a rock and switched on a screen on the wall. “The television I


    mean. Watch anything you like. It’s fun.”


    He proceeded to another technology device that he called a ptop” and showed me Youtube where


    there were a bunch of videos and educational stuff. The tab on top of it said “Kids Youtube”


    “If you are bored of cartoons, you can always switch back to the normal channel and watch something


    else. Okay?”


    I nodded. “Thanks Hunter.”


    N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    “There’s a kid who lives downstairs, Keegan. Hees over sometimes to take Leslie to the park.


    Hand over the leash to him.”


    “Okay, Hunter.”


    He then showed me how to lock and open the door. “Will you really be alright?”


    “I will.” I wasn’t a baby but Hunter seemed to be treating me like one. How hard could it be?


    “And then when Ie back home say around five p.m, we can go out for some shopping to get some


    new clothes for you. Sounds fun?”


    I pped my hands excitedly. “Yes!”


    Hunter also gave me another device and said I could make “calls” on it. It was the same as a shell-


    phone back in the Ocean. He asked me to call him if I needed anything.


    “Leslie, be a good boy and take care of Blue, okay?”


    Leslie barked and said “yes”. Jumping excitedly. “Bring me the meat vored sticks Hunt!” He barked


    but of course Hunter couldn’t hear it as he shut the door behind him.


    Leslie quietly walked towards me and sat down in myp.


    He looked at me with sleepy eyes. “Let’s watch a movie.”