The front door opened, and then closed, and then there was silence. Melissa sighed, turning the knob to stop the flow of water. It mostly covered her tail by now, and it felt good, but she didn’t want it to be too high. For the moment, at least, she was content.
When all of this was over with, and she was back to normal…she was going to dig out her fake ID and head straight to the bar. Getting extraordinarily drunk sure sounded nice. The sooner she could put all of this behind her, the better.
What a day.
It wasn’t so bad, she supposed. She didn’t want to be this way forever, but now that Emily had calmed down some, and now that she was in the water, things felt alright. Emily would find Serenity – she was tough, and a scrapper, so she’d be alright – and things would go back to normal.
She settled her head back against the bathroom tile and watched her tail, making her fin flip up and down. She felt like Madison, from Splash, or maybe one of the girls from that Australian mermaid show. Of course, they could all transform back and forth without much effort on their part. Another Hollywood lie. Just not one she’d ever expected to deal with herself.
She glanced down at her chest. Now that she had some time to herself, she could see that they’d indeed grown. It was weird. And kind of nice. Maybe they’d stay that way when she was human again, but if she had to give them up, then so be it.
Ten minutes or so passed, and Melissa didn’t hear much noise in the front room. She began to grow suspicious. It served to highlight once again that she was helpless. She couldn’t very well drag herself down the hall to check on Stefanie. If the girl had decided to use the sink or something else to trigger her transformation, well…there wasn’t much she could do about it. No matter what Emily might have said, she knew that if Stefanie transformed, Emily would probably hold it against her.
She thought about calling out to Stef, but decided against it for the moment.
Melissa held up a hand, looking at the pink nails. Why did it have to be pink? What a stereotypically girl color. But then again…she took a strand of pink hair and held it out. Alright, so the hair looked pretty cool. Maybe she’d dye it when this was over with. Another color though, something cool, like purple or blue…
“You know, I’ve had a crush on you for a long time.”
Melissa glanced up. Stefanie stood in the doorway, towel still wrapped around her body.
“I realized I liked girls in middle school. Maybe younger, I don’t know. It wasn’t something that just happened. It’s the way I am. But I didn’t really think about it until then. Not very many people know about it…only my best friend does, and it makes her uncomfortable. I was kind of lying earlier to Emily…she’d probably react badly to a tail if I had one. But anyway…” Stefanie sighed, crossing her arms. “I’d never tell my parents either. No surprise there, right? And as you learned today, I hadn’t exactly told Emily. I would’ve preferred her finding out in another way, but to be honest, I thought she’d already figured it out.” She shrugged and walked into the bathroom, taking a seat on the counter again, swinging her bare legs. Melissa tried not to stare. She wasn’t attracted to her. Right? “I kissed a boy once and it just felt wrong. I kissed a girl, and that…was nice. But I was afraid of being out. I’ve only dated a few girls, and it was too awkward. Never went anywhere. I come over to Emily’s a lot because it means I can be away from my parents…but there’s also the bonus perk of getting to see you. I like it when you’re here, when we’re all hanging out. You’ve always treated me nice…and well…”
It was a lot to process. Stefanie was often upbeat, cheerful, and a bit snarky. Right now she seemed vulnerable, and she could see how Stefanie really felt – lonely.
It must have been hard to keep something like that a secret. Melissa didn’t envy Stefanie for what that must have been like. And now she could understand why Stefanie had been so eager to kiss her.
“I never knew, Stef,” Melissa said. “I’m sorry. It doesn’t sound easy. But I’m glad Emily knows. And I’m glad I know.”
“No, it’s okay, I know. I just…don’t feel bad about the kiss we had, alright?” She smiled. “That was all me. I’ve wanted to do it for a long time. I guess I just chose a bad moment to do it.”
“No kidding,” Melissa muttered.
They both laughed.
Melissa looked back down at herself. At her tail. At her breasts, covered in scales. She sighed.
“Do…do you really think I look beautiful like this?” she asked, feeling unsure…embarrassed. “I mean…I look…well, I look weird.”
Stefanie slid off the counter and walked over, kneeling down beside the tub. She smiled and looked Melissa in the eye. “You look beautiful,” she insisted. “You looked beautiful before, and you still look beautiful now.”
Melissa blushed. “Stef…I…”
Stefanie leaned forward and kissed her, passionately, a determined look on her face.
Melissa felt butterflies in her stomach, felt a warmth spread across her skin, and a blush appear on her face. For a moment, she forgot herself, and leaned into the kiss, eyes closed. But then she came to her senses…Emily’s face dancing before her eyes.
“Stefanie…I…”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…I know you’re not…”
Melissa held up a hand. “No…I enjoyed it. It’s not that.” Stefanie smiled hesitantly. “But it’s just…with me like this…what if…?”
“What, are you going to pass the curse on twice?” Stefanie challenged.
Melissa considered it...Stefanie wasn’t just any girl. She was Emily’s sister.
Emily’s hot sister.
They were only a few years apart. And the kiss did feel good. Melissa had only had one boyfriend, back in high school. That had been nice. But she’d also had crushes on girls. She’d never acted on any of them. She’d figured it was a phase all girls went through. But maybe it wasn’t. She didn’t think she was gay. Not entirely. But this entire experience was perhaps bringing out another side of her that she’d never known.
“Oh, fuck it,” Melissa breathed.
She lifted an arm and brought Stefanie’s head closer to her own. Kissed her. Stefanie grinned and leaned into the kiss. They both closed their eyes, hands caressing the others hair, making the occasional moaning noise. It felt good. VERY good. For a blissful moment, Stefanie felt completely at peace, able to forget what had happened to her. She’d never quite had a kiss like this before. And judging from Stefanie’s reaction, neither had she.
The drew apart slowly, Melissa’s hand still caressing Stefanie’s neck, fingering her short hair. She felt short of breath.
“Wow,” Stefanie breathed.
“Yeah…wow,” Melissa agreed.
Melissa opened her eyes, wanting to say something more…and then gasped, her eyes widening.
“Oh my God!” she cried.
“What?” Stefanie asked, looking confused.
Melissa gaped. “Y-your hair! And your face! Oh my God, Emily is going to kill me!”
A grin broke out on Stefanie’s face, and the girl quickly stood up to look at herself in the mirror. She let out a gasp of her own when she caught sight of her reflection, though hers was an excited one.
Her hair had started to turn into a light shade of purple, and it was visibly darkening before their eyes. Blue, sparkly makeup, in a style similar to Melissa’s own, had started to spread across Stefanie’s face, and her lips were beginning to turn purple as well. Her brown eyes were slowly lightening into a purple shade as well.
“Oh…wow…this is incredible…” Stefanie said, leaning in close to the mirror with wide eyes, watching as her hair darkened, becoming a deeper shade of purple. It stayed the same length.
“Oh Stef…” Melissa said sadly.
Stefanie just smiled at her. “This is so fucking cool. Look at my hair!” She laughed.
Melissa smiled sadly. “Your sister is going to kill both of us.”
“Melissa, you’ve got to stop taking responsibility for my actions.” Stefanie smiled. Then she looked back at the mirror, and let out a deep sigh.
Then, without warning, Stefanie strode over to the tub and stepped in, a determined look on her face. Shocked, Melissa watched as Stefanie took off her towel, and then leaned down to turn the knob. And then, before Melissa could do anything about it, Stefanie turned on the shower, and cold water began to rain down from above.