The Sea Taketh (Alex Singer) (23 page)

             
“We come and go as we need.”

             
“But your home is in the ocean, isn’t it?”

             
“I have lived many places,” he answers vaguely.

             
“Christian, where do you spend most of your time?” I ask pointblank.

             
“In the water.” He stares out the windshield.

             
“This is exactly my point, I live on land, and you live in water.”

             
“Humans and merfolk have been known to marry. It’s not unheard of. Humans have chosen to live in our underwater cities, and merfolk have moved to land.”

             
“Will you permanently move to land?”

             
He clenches his jaw. “No, I can’t leave my family.”

             
“And I can’t leave Gramps,” I say softly.

             
“We aren’t in a hurry.” Christian smiles a faux smile. The smile does not reach his eyes. “You’re only seventeen.”

             
“This is an impossible relationship, and we can’t pretend otherwise,” I say, holding my hands to keep them from trembling. “It’s best if we stop before we both get hurt.”

             
“Alexandra, quit running away from me,” he whispers so silently that I can barely hear him. 

             
I start to cry, in spite of myself. “My heart can’t take loosing you! I have to stop this before I’m in too deep.”

             
“We’ll work out the details – together. All this can be figured out if you will just choose to stop running.”

             
I’m silent for several moments, watching the snow melt on the windshield and the wipers pushing it away. In life there are no fairytales.

“I want to go home,” I eventually say, wiping tears off my face.

He nods and starts the engine.

The ride home is painfully quiet.

Christian parks outside my house.

“Alexandra, please…” he pleads. His blue eyes penetrate into mine.

I avert my gaze.

“I can’t.” I get out of the car and run to the house.

              Wheels squeal behind me and the convertible races down the street. Henrik and Sven dash out of the house. They start yelling in Danish when they see tears on my face and tire tracks in the snow. They sprint down the street after Christian.

             
“What happened?” Gramps asks from the doorway.

             
“I don’t want to talk about it!” I run to my room.

*     *     *

I’m late as I dash into the Rec. Center. After missing so much school over the past month, I was spending some much needed quiet time in the library writing a report.  I’m not thrilled about watching Jen’s brothers play an indoor soccer game because I know the Pedersens will be there, so I procrastinated until I could procrastinate no longer. It’s been five days since I returned, and I’ve been successful in avoiding the mermen. I’m pretty sure Jen insisted that I come support her brothers as a way to get me and Christian together in the same room.

             
When I walk into the Rec. Center arena, I have to fight back a fit of laughter. The Pedersens have painted their faces orange, and they’re wearing bright orange wigs on their heads which matches their equally bright orange clothing. They are standing on the top bleacher, chanting some strange Danish cheer. They wouldn’t be out of place at all at a professional sporting event, but the only people there to watch the middle school soccer game are the parents of the players. More than one soccer mom shoots them a dirty look.

             
“I’m so glad you came.” Jen greets me at the door. “I’ll be nice to sit next to someone normal for a change.”

             
“Do they always …?” I point at the Pedersens.

             
“Actually, this is a good day. I made them tone it down after my parents got complaints from some of the other parents. You should have seen them when they showed up with the bucket of fish that they would chuck at the other team.” She shakes her head. “Mermen take their sports very seriously.”

             
“Don’t they embarrass your brothers?” I asked quizzically, looking at their bright display.

             
“Are you kidding me? James and Austin adore the Pedersens. They’re like the team’s unofficial mascots. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that they shell out for pizza after every game.”

             
“Yeah, that sounds like them.” I fail at fighting back a smile. The Pedersens have contagious enthusiasm.

             
“You know, Christian’s been miserable without you,” she says, looking at the Pedersens.

             
“And I don’t believe in fairytales,” I reply before taking in a sad breath of air.

             
“Except mermen do exist,” Jen counters as she leads the way across the arena.

             
“Yes, but I’m a human. I live on land, not in water.”Although it seems useless, I try to reason with her.

             
“Sven told me that their cities are built in air bubbles on the ocean floor and the only time merfolk are really underwater is when they travel,” Jen says quietly as we pass a group of waving middle school students.

             
“We can’t breathe underwater, and we have lives here on land. I know they’re handsome and extremely nice, but are you willing to give up everything to follow Sven into the ocean?”

             
Jen stops and turns to me, “Alex, honestly if Sven asked me to go with him, I would. I don’t want to live my life wondering ‘what if?’  How do I know that I’ll ever find someone as good? I have a guy that makes me happy, and I’m not willing to let him go just because he lives in water. I mean, I’d rather live in water than most human cities. Can you even imagine how awesome visiting one of their cities would be?”

             
“Jen, come on. We’re talking about
living
in water.”

             
“We practically live in water as it is.”

             
“You can’t breathe in water.”

             
“Sven also told me there’re ways around that, so there’s no physical reason I can’t live with merfolk…” Jen stops talking as her brother runs to us.

             
“Alex, would you sign a few autographs after the game?” Austin asks.

             
“Alex doesn’t want to sign magazines for a bunch of pre-pubescent boys.” Jen tries to shoo him away.

             
“Please, Alex?” Austin begs.

             
I can’t turn down the boy. “I’ll make you a deal. If you win the game, I’ll sign an autograph for each player.”

             
“Yes!” He raises a celebratory fist as he returns to the bench. He eagerly tells the other boys the news. His team cheers as they wave to me.  I smile and wave back.

             
“Girl, you’re going to distract them.” Jen grabs my arm and pulls me to the bleachers. We take a seat in the front.

             
“Jenifer Marsh, aren’t you going to sit by me?” an orange faced Sven calls loudly from the top bleacher.

             
“Sven Pedersen, you’re so bright, I can’t even look at you!” she yells in return. The soccer moms laugh with her.

             
“Fine, but you’ll regret it when I don’t share my pizza with you!”

             
“You can keep your nasty pizza! Alex and I are going to get regular pepperoni, and it’s us who won’t share!”

             
“Ah, little, Stinging Jellyfish, don’t be like that.” Sven lumbers down the metal bleachers in all his orange glory. The bright orange color seems to emphasize his large stature. He picks up Jen and throws her over his shoulder. “If you’re sitting next to me, you won’t have to look at me.”

             
“You know I hate it when you pick me up!” Jen pounds him on the back as he climbs up the bleachers.

             
“Yes, and I hate it when you’re not with me.” He puts her down next to his spot.

             
“Ah, that’s sweet coming from a giant talking orange.”

             
Sven laughs and passes her a bag of cotton candy.

             
She opens it as she gestures for me to sit next to her.

             
I sigh as I walk slowly up the bleachers. I know Christian is watching, and I avoid looking at him. I take the cotton candy from Jen as I sit down next to her.

             
“What’s the score?” I ask, helping myself to the candy.

             
“They’re tied at zero,” Sven answers.

             
Suddenly, the Pedersens jump to their feet and start doing a crazy cheer in Danish. They wave their arms wildly and stomp their feet

             
“You’ll get used to it.” Jen tells me, picking at the cotton candy. “They have different cheers for all the plays. No one has any idea what they’re saying, but the boys have figured out what they want them to do by memorizing the beats.”

             
I focus my attention back to the game. The teams are doing a very good job at holding each other off. Each team takes their turn at stopping several attempts at the goals.  In the last minute of the game, James kicks the ball down the field. One of his teammates gets the ball and aims for the net. He shoots and scores. They win the game.

The Pedersens go crazy. They dance and scream. Sven jumps a little too high and falls off the back of the bleachers. He lands with a thud but immediately gets up as the soccer team swarms.

              “We get pizza and Alex’s autograph!” Austin yells.

             
“Do you, now?” Christian asks, looking at me.

             
“Yes, we do!” he cheers.

             
The boys scatter. They grab their gym bags and pull out magazines. Austin and James must have planned this from the beginning. The boys surround me, holding out pens and magazines. I spend several minutes signing the magazines, several t-shirts, and even a pair of socks.

             
“Hey, you got your autographs.” Jen breaks up the signing spree. “Let’s go have some pizza.”

             
The boys excitedly recount the game with the Pedersens as we cross the street to
Tony’s
pizzeria. When we step into the building, Sven goes to the counter.

“Kyle, I hope your dad has enough pizzas to feed this bunch of hooligans,” he says.

“James told me there was a game tonight so your usual order’s ready.” Kyle laughs, putting a line of pizza’s on the counter. “The shrimp and anchovy are on the left.”

Henrik pays for pizzas while the boys grab pitchers of soda and claim tables in the front windows. They proudly wave to the occasional passersby.

Jen takes a pepperoni pizza.

“Thanks, Kyle,” she says before turning to Sven. “This is for Alex and me. We’re going to the back table. Have fun organizing the boys.”

Sven laughs. “We just put some soda and a couple pizzas on each table, and they take care of themselves.  We’ll be back in a minute”

We leave the warbling boys behind, and move deeper into the restaurant to an isolated booth. Taking our seats, Jen opens the box and dishes us each a large slice of pizza.

“How’s the homework coming?” she asks.

“I was working on a report for Chemistry today,” I say.

“My dad told me that they’ve already chosen you as valedictorian. Not even Dan and Kyle can keep up with you. You don’t have to work all the time you know. You’ve been gone, like… forever, and I miss you. You can cut back a little and spend more time with me.”

“I’ll try to make it up to you. I’m sorry I haven’t been around much, but being valedict
orian isn’t nearly as important as getting into a good school. I’ve got to sort through the scholarships I’ve been offered.” I change the subject. “Have you decided where you’re going?”

“At the moment I’m planning to swim for University of Maine, but that may change d
epending on Sven.”

“You’re really that serious about him?”

“Alex, it may seem like we’re always joking around, but Sven and I are extremely serious about each other. He may not be as intense as Christian, but he shows his feelings for me in other ways. Austin and James aren’t my only brothers who adore him. The Pedersens haven’t missed any of my brothers’ games, and they’re always paying for pizza or ice cream afterward. Also, Sven has been tutoring me while you’ve been away. My grades have improved considerably. I know the three of them are eye candy, but they’re really smart, too. Even Mom and Dad like Sven.”