"What are you thinking about?" Nikki asked as she gazed into Amarisa's grey eyes as she brushed the hair away from her lover's face.
"That I'm so pleased that you're here with me, that I could show you one of my favourite childhood places." Amarisa said with a somnolent smile.
"Me too, I love being here, it's so exciting and beautiful here." Nikki said as they cuddled. They stayed that way for a short while until they decided to go back to the lake and meet up Elena and Ahri again. Elena had took one look at them and a knowing look had crossed her eyes, but she had only asked where they had gone.
"Oh around to the other side of the lake, just wandering around." Nikki had said vaguely. She would've told Elena the truth but since Ahri had been there she wasn't sure if that was appropriate. They walked down the mountain and back to Amarisa's house, where Nikki and Elena packed stuff for the beach.
The sun blazed relentlessly in the mid-afternoon, and Nikki could already feel the sweat trickling down her neck. She had her swimsuit on underneath her clothes and she couldn't wait to take them off. She and Elena glanced longingly at the naked Ahri, who was walking ahead of them completely oblivious to the attention she was getting. She was distracted from the sight by Amarisa coming up from behind and putting her hands on her waist, nuzzling her cheek. She grinned and leaned back to kiss her as they walked down a wooden path towards the beach.
"Oh wow." Nikki looked back towards the front and she had to agree that the beach looked amazing. A long stretch of white sandy beach led into the ocean and the waves lapped gently at the shore. There were quite a few mermaids relaxing on the beach and frolicking in the water. They walked along the water to a less busy section of the beach and that was where they settled down. The three of them stripped down to their swimsuits.
"I like this." Amarisa said to Nikki, fingering the string of Nikki's string bikini. "It's very cute." She said as she lay down on the towel that they were sharing.
"Aw, thanks." Nikki said. Amarisa was looking really good in a red bikini top and black board shorts that showed off her tanned long legs. Under the umbrella they were safe from the sun's rays but could still enjoy the view of the beautiful beach. Nikki put on her sunglasses and snuggled up to Amarisa, content on taking a long nap.
Elena watched the two lazy girls impatiently. Sometimes couples could be so boring. "Come on." She said, grabbing Ahri's hand and pulling her to the water. They splashed around in the water, splashing each other.
"Wait, I got something." Elena walked over to the umbrella and pulled out an inflatable football. They tossed the football back and forth in the water. It wasn't a long while before she saw some mermaids swimming up to them. Ahri greeted them and they chattered to her in mermish, looking very interested in the football. Each one of them was distinctly beautiful in their own way, and Elena felt warmth rising within her that had nothing to do with the afternoon's heat.
"You guys wanna play with us?" Elena said, and was responded with several words of agreement. Pretty soon they had a game going, one of the mermaids would toss the ball and the two teams would compete with each other to get to it first.
Of course, there was no beating the mermaids, not in the water anyways, in their element, they were simply too fast, cutting through the water like blades, leaping up into the air with a careless grace that would make any synchronized swimmer jealous.
At the start of the next match, Elena was swimming towards two mermaids that were wrestling with the ball. In a desperate attempt the gold mermaid tossed the ball as far away from the rapidly approaching mermaids as possible in the hope that one of her team would get it, and whether on purpose or by chance, it just happened to land closest to Elena. She grabbed it, but immediately felt strong arms wrap around her waist. She spun around to see a grey mermaid, teeth bared in a playfully competitive way, fighting her for the ball. She held tight onto the football but could now feel scaled hands on top of hers. She was trying to break her grip!
Elena tucked her legs in, putting her feet up on the mermaid's stomach. She didn't push down, not wanting to hurt the mermaid, but this way she had better leverage to tug the ball out of the mermaid's grip. She tossed the ball to the golden mermaid who tossed it back to the ball thrower.
Yay! They had won.
"Good...ah..." The golden mermaid had swam up to them to congratulate Elena, but had forgotten what came after the word 'good'. "Good." She said, patting Elena awkwardly on the shoulder before swimming back to the group.
"I win." Elena said, the elation of actually scoring a point of her team giving her a rush of adrenaline. She stuck her tongue out at the grey mermaid, who looked surprised before grinning. Then the mermaid splashed her.
"Hey!" She protested as the mermaid laughed in her high pitch clicking laugh. She splashed her back but the mermaid had already dived under water. "Well then." Elena said with a huff. She squared her shoulders, put on her swim goggles and followed suit.
It was like another world down here, the sunlight streaked through the water, illuminating the sandy ground where the mermaid was swimming. She swam down, hearing her ears pop as they adjusted to the new pressure. The mermaid saw her and started walking on the ocean floor, waiting for her to catch up. When Elena got close enough, she zipped away. Elena felt very, very slow. She was running out of air so she swam back up to the surface to catch a few breaths. They were still a bit aways from the mermaids who had started another match, and she was wondering where the grey mermaid went when she felt fingers tickling the bottoms of her feet. "AH!" She cried as the mermaid surfaced next to her.
"Oh, you." She said, pushing on the mermaid's shoulder, as she pretended to be annoyed. The mermaid allowed herself to be pushed back before she swam back in close to her.
"Come." She said, grabbing Elena's hand. She waited for her to take a deep breath and then they were underwater again. The mermaid swam up behind her and put her arms around Elena's waist. With her helping Elena could swim a lot faster, and they reached the bottom again. The mermaid pointed to a crab walking along the floor, at the tiny fishes that darted away as they approached. She let go of her and Elena let out some air so that she could take a closer look at the bottom.
Full of energy, the mermaid zigged and zagged in front and behind her, coming up every so often to grab at her feet or bump her. Elena went up for another breath and this time it was her turn. The mermaid was very sneaky, letting her come so painfully close, so that it looked like she was almost going to catch her before zipping away. It was a game, she let Elena get closer and closer but every time swimming away. Finally, Elena managed to touch a wrist and the mermaid let her stay long enough so she could put both her hands on it. Yes!
They decided to go back to the game, she swam along, following the mermaid.
"What's the score?" She asked once she reached Ahri's side. Ahri turned and grinned once she saw her. "Three to one in our favour."
"Nice!"
"I got my eye on you" she warned grey mermaid as she covered her. "Not going to score another-"
WHAM! She had been so focused on talking to the mermaid that she wasn't watching the ball and it smacked her in the back of the head.
"Oh you're going to get it now." She said to the snickering mermaid.
Over the next few games Elena purposely went our of her way to stop the grey mermaid from getting near the ball, even when she wasn't close to it. The mermaid swam farther away, meeping in frustration. Elena chased her to some rocks, where she grabbed her around the waist, holding her tightly.
"Gotcha!" She
