“Oh yeah?”
A grin spreads across my face just as the early light of Sunday morning peeks through the trees. This is my chance to show her exactly how much this all means, and I’m not going to mess it up by hiding. Not anymore.
“Give me an hour, and I’ll show you.”
Chapter 17
Marina
When Gil said he had something to set up, I was a little disappointed to be separated so soon. However, after staying up all night trying to summon him with the power of cheese balls, a nap is hard to argue with.
I meet him back at Camp Mangrove, careful to avoid park rangers and tourists in our secret place.
The outdoor mess hall shimmers with candles that glow in the mid-morning light.
Beads and bracelet supplies are set up on a table, among them pearls and shining blue charms. I stare for a moment, picking up a pearl and feeling the familiar weight in my hands.
“Is this from my bracelet?” I ask. “But on my first day here, it—”
“Fell into the water?” Gil smirks, finishing my sentence. “I just happened to be swimming by when you dropped it.”
So those yellow eyes… it really was him.
“It took a while to find the pieces—figured I could make something a little stronger for you this time,” he says, which sounds like an understatement. I bet it took him hours to find everything. I gulp, looking at all the little beads and strings laid out before us.
It’s time he gets a proper friendship bracelet too.
“Do you remember the summer we spent looking for these?” I ask, sliding one of the pearls onto a length of string, along witha collection of pony beads I’ve sorted. It’s a strange thing, sitting across from Gil like this, at one of the old picnic tables.
It’s so real it almost feels wrong.
When so many people tell you you’re lying, it’s easy to start rewriting history. But now? It’s undeniable.
He’s undeniable.
The comfortable silence is paired with something jittery—a crush. My first crush is here, covered in scales, and happens to be staring right back at me.
His gills cut into high cheekbones, and his fins ruffle off his flat ears like lace. His jaw is angular, in stark contrast to his wide-set round eyes that are the precise color of lemons, summer, and sunlight. When I look at him for too long, heat rises to my face. Then, I stare at his hands, and that’s not any better. I’ve always had a thing for hands, and his are hard not to look at.
Get it together, Marina!I scold as his strong veined green fingers nimbly make use of the craft supplies he’s prepared.
He weaves his bracelet with a mix of greens and blues with yellow-tinged pearls throughout. It reminds me of the colors that make up his scale-covered body. I try to mirror it, stringing beads in shades of pink next to each other, but it feels … hollow, like it’s missing something to give it that little bit of magic.
My fringed vest jingles as I move, and—that’s it.
I untie a knot at the edge of the fringe and take off a few beads, adding them onto the bracelet.
His eyes follow my movements, but as he continues to stare, I find his expression more and more unreadable.
“What’s with the funny look?” I ask, crinkling my nose at him.
“Darlin’, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this is in fact my face,”he replies. Though the words are self-deprecating, his drawl is as smooth and charming as ever—as are the small collection of lizards that have hopped up onto the table to keep him company.
“That is not what I meant.” I glare at him from across the picnic table. As it happens, I’m a bigger fan of his face than ever. His frog-like eyes blink at me, one at a time. I can’t help but laugh.
Cute.
He’s so cute.
