Once on the beach, Curt and Billie did their best to arm-drag and tail-flop their way down to the water's edge. They continued to play up the "shooting a video for the internet" routine to stave off the suspicions of onlookers, right up until they were close enough to get in the water — at which point, they discovered a flaw in the plan. Their gym-bags weren't waterproof; their phones definitely weren't. If they took their stuff into the ocean with them, that stuff was as good as destroyed; whereas, if they left it on the beach, there was at least a small chance that it wouldn't be stolen. So, with a couple of resigned shrugs, they left their things behind and plunged into the Pacific Ocean.
It was a strange thing. Even on a hot summer's day, there was always that initial shock of cool water the first time you went in. But for Curt and Billie, that didn't happen. The water's temperature felt perfect from the very first instant; the saltwater was like a soothing balm on their tail-scales. As they swam away from the shore and into the shallows away from the beach, where the water was calm and the waves were too high overhead to kick sand up into turbulent clouds, they discovered remarkable things about their merfolk forms. They could see clearly underwater; they could breathe easily (even though they didn't have any outwardly visible gills; it was impossible for them to tell what was going on with their respiration internally); and they could still speak and understand each other well enough, even if everything did sound a bit muffled.
"This is . . . really cool, actually," said Billie. "Being underwater like this. Breathing underwater! I'll bet we can swim super-fast now, too."
"I guess," said Curt. "But whatever. Focus! We need to get back to that shop, find that weird old codger — "
"Hey!" snapped Billie. "Stop. Just — take a breath, okay? Aren't you even a little bit, I don't know, interested in this? Curious about it? Like, we're mermaids now!"
"Mermen," said Curt, petulantly crossing his arms. He and Billie were both floating upright now, facing each other, while their tailfins made lazy drifting motions beneath them to keep them treading water in one spot.
"Okay, merman and mermaid," said Billie. "The point is — "
"The point, Bill, is that none of this is natural!" shouted Curt. "We're not fish, and you're not a girl! You're a guy. You're — "
"A mermaid at the moment," said Billie. "A real, live fairy-tale. And I am a girl, even up here" — she pointed to her head — "at least, ever since the spell or potion or whatever-it-was changed us."
Curt scoffed. "Listen to you. Magic spells? How do you know this wasn't, like, some kind of mad science? Some kind of virus, or, or, mutagen? Hell, for all we know, there could have been something in that goop that chewed up our DNA, spat it out again, and there's nothing human left to go back to! No way to change us back — " Curt was spiraling again.
Billie nodded. "So that's what this is about. You're freaking out, because if it's not magic, we might not be able to break the spell."
"How can it be magic if there's no such thing?" Curt's voice was small, meek, and terrified.
Billie shrugged. "More things in heaven and earth? I don't know. All I know is, we've turned into something incredible, and I at least want to feel what it's like for a little bit. The shop and the old man will be there."
"Maybe," grumbled Curt. "Or maybe we'll get there, and they'll have disappeared mysteriously, because the old man was actually an evil wizard. Like in the movies."
"In which case, he's probably already gone, so there's no rush!" reasoned Billie.
"That makes no sense."
Billie laughed. "Look, it's not far, and I'm not saying we don't start swimming in that direction right away. I just . . . this isn't the sort of thing that happens to everyone every day, right? More of a once-in-a-lifetime adventure type thing, right? So let's just treat it like that!"
"I — I can't," said Curt. "That stuff must have really messed with your head. If we can't fix this — our lives are over!"
"Not over; just different."
"I don't want to be different!" snapped Curt. "And I sure as shit don't want to be a fucking fish."
Billie responded by looking down at her body and then running her hands down the smooth scales on the front of her tail. It felt nice, and there was definitely still an undercurrent of constant arousal somewhere within both of them ever since they'd been transformed. Not that they seemed to have any interesting downstairs anatomy to play with. "Uh, I hate to break it to you, bro, but I don't think we'll be doing any fucking at all as fish."
Curt scowled. "Yeah, thanks for reminding me. I definitely don't want to live the rest of my life as some pathetic, dickless merman; so can we just go, please?"
"What's the matter?" teased Billie. "Getting frustrated? Liking what you see?" She struck a pose, hands on her hips, chest pushed out; that t-shirt she'd been wearing was plastered to her skin now and decidedly see-through, allowing her pert little tits to show through. With her long, dark hair framing her face like a halo, she really did look like an enticing siren, capable of luring sailors to their doom . . .
"What!? No. Uh, you do," stammered Curt. He was, after all, still shirtless — completely naked, in fact, even if the tail made him feel as if his lower half were still covered — and Billie was the one who'd had her mind altered. "You're my bro. I can't look at you that way!"
Billie swam close to him, rested a gentle hand on his arm, and said in a breathy, seductive voice, "Are you absolutely sure? You don't even want to . . . touch?" She ran her other hand up to her breast and gave it a lewd squeeze.
"Uh — " Curt's brain was broken. Ever since the pool and the initial transformation, he'd been feeling horny. And now he was starting to feel overwhelmed with lust. It took entirely too much effort just to maintain some self-control over this merman body . . .
And then Billie laughed. "Relax, bro! I'm just fucking with you." She rolled her eyes. "The look on your face — "
Curt tried his best to roll it off, even if it wasn't very convincing. "Pfft. Whatever. Let's just go, already!" With that, they started swimming away from the beach, heading north so that the shoreline was to their right. The boardwalk wasn't far away; once they got there, then they'd plan their next move.