Page 14 of Waves
I couldn’t believe he was taking this so well. Ezra helped himself to another bite of his toast, but I didn’t dare to dig the hole deeper with further conversation on the subject. There must be more Ezra wished to say also, but whatever else he might think, he chose not to share with me.
The awkwardness dissipated while Ezra finished his toast, laughing with a hand in front of his mouth. “You look like you’ve never seen anyone eat avocado toast with sriracha before.”
I nervously smiled and shrugged. I couldn’t really say I had. “You eat a lot of things I’ve never seen before.”
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Ezra said with a slight smile.
“Good. I suppose you are making me more cultured.”
Ezra picked up his drink and snorted into his cup before taking a sip. “I doubt that.”
“And yet, I can’t even say what that is you’re drinking. All I know is it looks past the expiry.”
He laughed even harder. “That’s because it’s fermented.”
My ears perked. “Like beer?”
As soon as Ezra noticed my sudden enthusiasm, he set his glass down. “There is a small trace amount of alcohol, yes. Do you want to try some?”
“Sure,” I said with a nod. I could not recall the last time I helped myself to a beachgoer’s unsupervised cooler, but the humans did something right when they created alcohol.
Ezra rose from the table and came back with an empty glass from the cupboard. He poured two fingers from a tall bottle and handed the cup over to me. I took a hearty swig, and he put a hand in front of his mouth to stifle his laughter.
I set my empty glass down with a loud yak and shoved an orange wedge into my mouth to get rid of the putrid taste. The citrus only made it worse. I scarfed an entire piece of grainy toast before looking back at Ezra with scrunched eyes. “Why would you drink that?”
“Oh, come on, it’s not that bad.” Ezra openly chuckled.
I huffed in disagreement and tried to cleanse the lingering foulness on my tongue with two large gulps of water.
“Some people like the vinegary taste of kombucha. Besides, it’s good for your body.”
“So is seawater, but I wouldn’t recommend drinking it,” I grumbled.
Ezra laughed in a way I never witnessed, not his usual subdued chuckle, but a clear and genuine burst of amusement. I couldn’t help but laugh along with him.
By the time we finished eating, I couldn’t have stopped grinning if I tried. Nor could I remember the last time I smiled this much or laughed so frequently. As a solitary creature, I contentedly spent my days with only myself. Yet, even in my other form, I found Ezra fascinating enough to ignore instinct and be near him. Somehow that same curiosity stuck with me even while human. As much as I would love to stay with him like this forever, I couldn’t. I needed to find my coat and return to the only life I knew.
Water had been my earliest memory. Everything before water had been shrouded in darkness, until suddenly I found myself awake, alone, and swimming beneath crashing waves. I could not remember any other existence.
Living as a seal didn’t come with instructions, but I always knew what to do to survive. My body commanded when to hunt or hide, and my mind didn’t argue. Shedding my sealskin happened in a remarkably similar manner. Back in the beginning, I often went from chasing fish to walking ashore, suddenly human and only partially aware of the decision.
Even now, I remained unsure what drove me to land. Neither the seasons, the tide, nor any other variable I figured thus far controlled me; my time spent ashore seemed to be as random as the rhythm of the waves. My only warning would be an insatiable itch beneath the surface of my skin, and I knew that meant I must leave the water right away.
Through the years, I experimented with trying to ignore the need to go ashore. Delaying the inevitable only made the desire intensify to the point of discomfort, so I found it much easier to indulge my sudden urges, then return to business as usual.
In all those times I left the ocean to be human, I never dared to remain ashore for more than two days at a time. I didn’t know what would happen if I stayed. I had never planned on finding out.
A subtle shift occurred once breakfast ended. Kai had been so smiley since the moment I met him. I became concerned when his mood leveled out. His expression wasn’t what I would call morose while handing the dishes to me, but I could tell something weighed on his mind.
I closed the dishwasher and turned to watch Kai returning to the table. He appeared mostly calm, but not enough to convince me this time. His leg impatiently bounced beneath the table, but when he noticed me watching, he stopped. I leaned back against the kitchen counter and crossed my arms while I gathered my courage.
“I think we need to address the elephant in the room,” I quietly began.
“Sure,” Kai said with a quick nod.
I sighed and struggled to look at him, but raised my head before I spoke. “Look, Kai, I think you’re a nice guy. I’d even go so far as to say I’m happy to have you, though I wish it were under different circumstances. I won’t ask you how or why you came to be in this situation, but I can’t have you staying here.”
“That was never my intention.”