Chapter 2

 

 

 

My heels clicked on the marble floor as I crossed the lobby headed towards the door. As usual there stood Josh, a tall imposing man, almost a permanent fixture at the door of the Parker Towne House where I have my studio apartment. As I approached he opened the door for me . “Good Morning Miss Wynn, how are you today?”

I smiled up at him, “I couldn’t be better, I’m off to practice, then catch up with an old friend from back home.”

He flashed me a knowing smile, “Shall I hail you a cab?”

“I’d be flattered.” I answered. And before I knew it there was a checkered cab, Josh opened the door for me and off I went .

A gruff looking man behind the steering wheel asked “Where too Ma’am?”

“Coles Sports Center, please.” I answered.

It was about a three minute drive from my apartment to the sports center, I was close to everything here in the Village. I liked my life here, it was full of things to do, I had my classes, my practices, and my own apartment. I was far away from the family and the family politics, it was my first chance to figure out who I was.

The cab pulled up in front of the sports center, I reached into my gym bag and pulled out the fare handing it to the driver, turning to open the door and get out of the car. I slipped my sunglasses down over my eyes, I looked up at the imposing building in front of me. Seems I spent most of my time in this building, even more so than I spent in my apartment lately. I was in the process of getting ready for a large swim meet, against some of our biggest rivals, I had to be in top form, which is why Keith, my coach was so adamant about my getting in practice time.

I headed towards the big double doors, walking slowly and just thinking. Besides my daily practices with the team, Keith also had me practicing three times a week at the Olympic Training Center, he seemed to think I had a real shot at the next Summer Olympics, I wasn’t so sure about that, not so much that I didn’t think I could do it. I wasn’t sure I wanted that much personal exposure to the world. Could I be center stage for the whole world to see and still hold my personal illusions so that I could pass as a normal human?

I reached for the door handle, swung it open, stepping inside out of the morning sun, pulling my sunglasses up on to my head so that I my eyes could more easily adjust. The young lady behind the reception desk looked all of about eighteen, she asked for my student identification card, I pulled it out of the side pocket of my gym bag, flashed it at her, and then headed to the elevators, the locker room and pools were on the ground floor, and I wasn’t about to take the stairs in heels.

I knew I was over-dressed for the gym, but I wasn’t going to go home after practice, I was going to meet Thomas at Washington Square Park, then we were going for lunch some where. I didn’t realize how over-dressed I actually was until I heard the cat calls and whistles of the guys standing around the pool in nothing but their Speedos trying to look all macho and sexy for me. I smiled slightly to myself, blushing a little and headed into the women’s locker room to change.

I had a regular locker assigned to me since I was a member of the swim team, headed straight to my locker, and started to change out of my street clothes and into my swim gear, this included removing all my jewelry, except for the tiny sliver chain that hung around my neck, with a small pink shell attached to it. I could never take that off, not and survive for long on land, most people don’t even notice we wear them, we keep them tucked very neatly away, the chain is very fine, and shell is very small, but it is our tie between the water and that land that allows us to move freely between the two. I stroked it fondly, and remember when my grandfather gave it to me, when I came of age.

For us, when you’re born, you are born in the water, your mother then takes you to land to raise you until a certain age, teaching you to swim and how to survive in the water, once you’ve been taught this, then you are given your shell, you are able to travel freely between the water the land without the fear of getting trapped in either place. When you’re a small child you must always be around the water. When you become twelve then you are given your shell, as a rite of passage. Let me assure you, it makes having friends a bit of a chore, unfortunately, it also means most of us get home schooled until we hit Junior High School, because most humans don’t know how badly we need to be around and in water. It’s just the way of the Mer, that’s what we are officially known as, most people call us Mermaids, but the guys they get a bit touchy about being called maids, besides the picture that comes to mind for most humans when they think of Mermaids are half naked women, with fish tails and fins, sitting in shallow pools of water brushing out their long exquisite hair. This is simply not the way we are, well not most of us anyway.

I finished getting into my swim gear, cap, goggles and all, though I didn’t need the goggles really, the Mer have an extra eyelid, that is clear that closes over their eyes when they are under water, but for the sake of show I wore the goggles anyway. I didn’t want to leave anything to chance. The swim cap covered the small point to my ears, yes, we’ve got pointy ears much like those of the fabled elves. We’ve actually been called Water Elves by some. We have many different names through out the world. The pointed ears, and jewel tone eyes as well as the very colorful hair are all very much the trademarks of the Mer, though we all have personal illusion to tone down our outward appearances. We don’t want to do any harm to the humans, or have any misguided enchantments fall upon them unexpectedly. We just want to live our lives in peace, enjoying everything that the world has to offer us, just as it has to offer you.

I made my way to the pool, to where Keith was standing already looking distraught over the fact I was running late, and showed up looking more like a model than a athlete. “In to the water young lady, I don’t want to see you until you’ve completed your warm up laps” Keith ordered.

No matter how upset Keith was, he always had that father quality about him, like he was just my dad looking out for me wanting me to be the best I could be at what I chose to do. From the small laugh lines around his lips and eyes, to the graying hair at his temples. He was a very handsome man, had I been a few years older this is a man I might have truly considered letting myself fall for, but he was much too old for me, besides, I’m not so sure his wife would have appreciated it. I always kind of thought he felt the same way about me, but he was very much in love with his wife, he would never consider an affair, especially with a student.

I finished my warm up laps pulling up to the side of the pool,

“Good, now work on some sprints. Lets see how you do with them.” He set me back to work.

“Practice those strokes Amy, you need to perfect them.” he barked at me from the side of the pool.

He knew as well as I did I could do this stuff in my sleep almost literally, but I still had to log the practice hours to qualify for the meets, so we humored each other. He’d stood beside the pool talking to other coaches and students while I’d do my thing just swimming back and forth in the pool practicing and perfecting my swim style.

I swam up to the edge of the pool near the start block, and started to pull off my goggles, being careful to make sure my eyes were their more normal brownish. Just as I came out of the water, there stood James, my heart sunk, I so didn’t want this confrontation, I knew there was going to be one. Why couldn’t he understand that Thomas is a friend, a friend from back home, Why couldn’t he understand that Coach has been working me hard getting ready for this meet, and I was just tired last night and wanted to get some sleep because I knew I had a big day today. Besides, yesterday was my day that I had two practices, one at the campus and one at the Olympic Training Center, it really wears me out, even as much as I like to swim the body can only take so much in one day.

He looked down at me bobbing in the water at the edge of the pool, “ You didn’t answer your cell phone this morning, why?”

“I was on my way out the door when it went off, I was trying to catch the elevator, and get to practice on time, since I was already running late.” I said, as I was wiping the water out of my eyes.

“So now with this guy in town, I’m just a friend with benefits, I don’t warrant you picking up your phone and answering me, I was going to give you a ride to practice since I had to be here anyway.”

The arrogance in his voice just cut me into ribbons, I knew he wasn’t being sincere, he was still upset that I didn’t have him over last night. And frankly, I was beginning to wonder if I ever wanted him to come over again. I’d just about had it with his attitude of thinking he owned me, and I was his exclusive little wench, I loved sex as much as the next person, and lots of it, and he was “Oh My Goddess” good but the guilt and head games were about to my breaking point.

Just at that moment Keith walked up, laughing, smiling like some one had just told him a funny story or a good joke, he looked between us.

His face hardened a bit, “Is everything ok Amy?”

“Yes, it’s fine, James and I were just talking, he was about to help me out of the pool so I can go get dried off.”

Keith gave James a knowing smile, and a playful slap on the back.

“Young man, you’ve got a good woman there, don’t hurt her, don’t mistreat her, and she’ll always be true to you.”

I could see the frustration rising in James’ face, as he held out his hand and gently helped me up out of the pool. We slowly walked towards the women’s locker room, so I could hit the showers, and get redressed.

“Amy, this isn’t over. I do want to talk about this once he’s left town.”

“James, once we do our trip down memory lane, I’m sure he’s going to go back to his corn fields and cows, you’ll have me all to yourself again.” I smiled weakly, “ I just miss home sometimes, and he’s a part of it, a part that’s come to me. I need to find out why. That’s all.”

“I understand, I miss my family too sometimes, though I doubt mine was ever as tight as yours seems to have been.”

With that said, I placed a small delicate kiss on his lips, ducking around the corner into the locker room. I made my way to a shower, and let the water just wash over me, for a few moments, then dried off and got redressed and redid my make up.

By the time I’d come out of the locker room, James was standing there fully dressed, in a pair of wind pants, a polo shirt, and sneakers.

“May I at least walk you to the door and give you a ride or get you a cab?”

I wrapped my arm around his waist leaning into him, “I’d love it if you’d walk me to the door, then I’ll grab a cab from there.”

He smiled, putting his arm around my shoulder, as he opened his cell phone and called to have a cab waiting for me when I got upstairs.