This was supposed to be a drabble but it looks like it’s going to be a full chaptered story. Oops.
This was supposed to be a little drabble but it got away from me. It’s dedicated to my friend and co-conspirator, ew-han, by whom I run all my ideas, and who made this story possible when I failed to mention that the Portuguese Man-of-War is an animal, not a type of military personnel, and she imagined angry Portuguese army guys storming around on New Jersey beaches. I did her one better. I made a ridiculous Little Mermaid story.
She couldn’t believe her luck. It had been a year since she’d been able to get down to the Jersey Shore and of flipping course there was some crazy beach scare going on. What even was a Portuguese Man-of-War anyway? Sounded kinda threatening. Maybe there were a bunch of Portuguese military officers on leave and they decided to spend it in New Jersey?
Jayce leaned over the side of her bed and dragged her laptop toward her. Might as well figure out what these weird things ar- oh. Oh hell no. Just. No. What even was that thing?! Gross. And…venomous? Oh great. They had a bunch of thirty foot long tentacles. That was horrifying! How was she supposed to go surfing now?
Well, there had only been about half a dozen sightings so far now, and experts did say they’d be gone before long. Maybe she wouldn’t have any trouble. Yeah, she’d be fine.
∞
He couldn’t believe his luck. His first solo mission and he’d led his battalion completely off course. And now they were washing up on beaches like nobody’s business. The humans were probably panicking! Or maybe – maybe they thought his troops were just interesting. The way they found horseshoe crabs interesting. They certainly crowded around his troops a lot, clicking those weird flashing boxes at them when they should be giving his friends the respect fallen warriors deserved.
Rai ducked beneath the waves again, seething. And also a little afraid. What would his father do to him if he knew Rai had failed such a simple mission? Not only failed but actually gotten troops under his command killed! How was he supposed to go back now?!
A splash sounded not too far away from him. To his right, he thought, and closer to shore. He whipped his head around to see – a girl? A very, very pretty girl, with hair much darker than his own pulled up away from her face in a long tail at the back of her head. He glanced down, thinking he’d never been happier that this northern water was so murky. He didn’t really want to know how she would react if she could see his tail and its tentacles. As long as she couldn’t see his bottom half, he had nothing to worry about from her seeing him.
But what was she doing? Paddling some long board thing? The water wasn’t exactly calm here – the board wouldn’t stay upright for long and she might fall! She turned around to face the shore and – he ducked under the waves, hoping she hadn’t seen him. But for a split second – he was sure he’d made eye contact. He’d already messed up so badly. He couldn’t let himself be seen by a human. Even one as pretty and crazy as she was!
Of course, that didn’t mean he couldn’t keep an eye on her. Make sure none of his troops got tangled up with her. Yeah. Of course. That would be the proper thing for a leader to do. It wasn’t at all because she was pretty!
He’d still like to know what she was doing though. It had been long enough. Rai peeked over the water line, only to see the girl standing up on her board, catching a cresting wave and…gliding toward shore on it! How did she do that? It was incredible! One of the coolest things he’d ever seen! Did humans do this often, he wondered? He watched her glide to a stop and slide back into a sitting position on the board, grinning at the water around her. Why did his heart stutter in his chest when he saw her smiling and pushing loose hair out of her face?
Without even thinking about it he started swimming over to her.
“Hey!” He called. “What are you doing?” Stupid, he thought! What am I doing is the real question! At least he hadn’t brought his trident along. Now that would have been a dead giveaway!
“What am I doing?” She responded, turning to look down at him. “What do you mean, what am I doing? I’m surfing!”
Why did her laugh seem to shoot straight through him? Why did her smile make him want to smile so wide his cheeks hurt in return? “It’s just. I’m not from around here. I’ve never seen anyone uh, surf, before!” Rai hedged, hoping he sounded convincing.
The girl gave him a curious look. “Oh, ok then. Well I’m surprised you’re out here swimming. Most people seem to be too scared of this whole Portuguese Man-of-War thing going on to get in the water.”
“I’m from Brazil.”
“Huh?”
“Um…nothing. I just. You’re really good at surfing. And my name is Rai. And. Yeah.” Rai flashed a nervous smile.
She smiled, almost knowingly. Rai wondered what exactly she thought she knew, and tried not to her let see him glance down to check that the water was still covering his tail.
“Jayce,” she said.
“Huh?”
“You said your name is Rai, right? Mine’s Jayce. You here long?”
“Um, I’ve been here for a couple of weeks. Might be here for a few more. It’s – it’s my first time away from home.”
“Oh wow, really?” Jayce said. “I wish I was that lucky. I think my parents would actually die if I tried to go on a solo vacation before I turn 18!”
“Yeah? I guess it’s not really a vacation. I’m kind of learning to do what my dad does.”
“What does your – ”
“Jayce!” A voice called across the water. “Jayce, what did we tell you! Get out of the water!”
“Ugh, parents, right? Sorry about that. They don’t want me getting murder killed by a big jellyfish, you know? Maybe I’ll, I don’t know, see you soon? If you stick around, I mean. I’m here till Saturday!” Jayce gave him a little wave.
“Yeah! Yeah, sure. I’ll be around. Sure! See you!” Rai watched her turn her board back toward shore again and start paddling. Well, he was never going to see her again, that was for sure.
If only there was some way he could get onto dry land. But that was stupid. That could never happen.
