It’s been a while they were walking on the beach that night. They have been friends forever and every year they would go to that same place, to rest and forget about everything else.

Their names were Alan and Peter, and they were talking about girls:

- I don’t know how you can do that, really. – said Alan. – I can’t stand being with someone for more than a day, how can you think about getting married?
- What’s the difference, anyway? - Answered Peter - I’ve been dating Michelle for five years now, and we’ve been living together for the last two. We’re basically married, we do everything married couples do, and we want to have our first child in the next year.
- A child? Are you sure? – Alan asked with surprise in his voice. - What if things don’t work out the way you want? Don’t you think it’s better to wait a few more years? I mean, you are not that older than me, and I can’t possibly imagine myself having a son in three or four years.
- That’s because you’ve never been in love.
- I don’t think I’ll ever be.

And then, out of nowhere, they heard a voice:

- Hey!! You!! What are you doing out there?? Come over here!
- Where’s this voice coming from? - Asked Alan.
- I don’t know, but I think it’s from the sea. – Said Peter.
- Hellooo, over here! – Said again that same screaming voice – We’re in the sea! Come and join us!
- All right! Let’s go there, Pete!
- Oh, I don’t know. We don’t even know who they are, Al…

But Alan was already taking his clothes off and getting into the sea, and Peter saw himself obligated to follow him.

- What are you doing?? – shouted Peter, running to catch Alan before he was too far.

They were starting to hear more voices as they were approaching a small group of people that were in the sea, but still, they couldn’t see a thing in the dark night. The sky was clear, and there were all sorts of stars to see, but there was no moon that night.

- Look at the sea! – said a different voice. – Look how it shines in the dark! Isn’t that wonderful? Have you ever seen anything like that?
- No! – Answered Alan. He was now passing his fingers through the flat water and realized it was really shining, like if there were little diamonds everywhere. He shook his foot in the sand and still he could see the little diamonds down there. – This is amazing!! What is this? - He asked.

Peter was amazed by those things too, although he didn’t say a word about it. Alan was very near to the group, but he never got to them. Before he could reach them, the second voice’s owner approached him first and said:

- These shiny little things are actually planktons. They shine in the dark when they’re bothered, I guess. – It was a girl’s voice, now it was close enough to hear it properly.
- I’ve heard of them, but I didn’t know they could do that – He said. - What are you all doing here?
- The same thing you are, what are you doing here? – she asked
- Well, you called us… What if we were murderers?
- I wouldn’t mind dyeing tonight. I would be glad to die beneath all those stars and drown into the perfect sea, what a wonderful way to go!
- Right… - Alan said, thinking about what kind of brain disorder she could have developed, or what kind of drugs she could’ve taken - What’s your name, anyway?
- Oh, it doesn’t matter, it’s not important. Don’t tell me yours; I don’t want to know your name either. From now on you will be “the stranger”.

She dived, leaving Alan alone with his thoughts. “What an awkward girl” - he thought. He didn’t think he had ever met someone like that. So spontaneous!

Before he could gather more thoughts, she appeared. Now she was a lot closer than before.

- Can you see me at all? – She asked.
- No, not really, it’s too dark. Can you see me?
- Well, I don’t. I assume you are not tall, because you are on your feet and I guess I’m taller than you. Your hair is not short, not long, but I can’t figure out what color it is, neither your eyes. – She took his hand on hers – But you’ve got a very soft skin, and you smell like nothing I’ve ever smelled. It’s the nicest smell someone could ever have. – She took a deep breath and continued - How do you think I look like?
- You’re taller than me, as you said. You’ve got long hair, but I can’t see the color. I bet you look like those tough girls, who seem to fear nothing. And I’m pretty sure you’re not from here. Am I right?
- Where do you think I’m from? – She asked, laughing.
- No idea – He said - Maybe not from this world.
- Maybe.

Then, there was silence. Alan didn’t know if she stopped talking because she had no words left, or because she wanted to see what he was going to say next. Anyway, he already wanted to ask something:

- Am I your favorite stranger?
- Of course you are, silly. Who else would it be?
- I don’t know. Do you usually do that?
- What? - She asked.
- Meet strangers out of nowhere at night, in the middle of the sea, and try to guess how they look like.
- No, you’re actually my first stranger.
- So how can I be your favorite if I’m your first? – Alan said, with a bit of disappointment in his voice.
- I’ve got this feeling – she said - that I could meet a thousand strangers and you’d still be my favorite one.
- How do you know that? – he asked
- I’ve already told you, you smell too good.
- What’s with the smell, anyway? – He asked, now laughing.
- You see, I like people by the way they smell. There was this one time that I started to like this guy that smelled like burning wood. I really like the smell of burning wood. But one day he threw up on my shoe, you see, we were at kindergarten and he had eaten too much at the morning snack… After that, I couldn’t speak to him again. Well, that’s just nonsense. Am I bothering you?
- Not at all, I like the way you talk. – He said, now bursting into laughter. – You’re my favorite stranger too, and you’ll always be.
- Of course I am, there’s no need to say that. You know, smells are often very similar to tastes.
- Yeah, I know.
- I bet you taste as good as you smell. – she said, lowering her voice.

She was already close, but she got closer than before. Alan could feel her breath in his face, but it passed right away. She was next to his ear and he could almost hear her heart beating. With a slightly snap, she opened her mouth and said: “Kiss me”.

At first, he didn’t have a reaction. He stood still a long time (or it seemed to be a long time) before he could realized what she said. She was waiting and he didn’t want to keep her waiting, so he gently took her face on his hands and gave her the sweetest kiss she’d ever tasted, and that was also the sweetest kiss he had ever tasted as well. They both slowly opened their mouths and touched their tongues, and started to kiss, keeping up with the swinging of the waves.

Suddenly, she slide near to his ear again and whispered: “Goodbye”.

She dived into the water again and Alan was pretty sure this was a joke, she would show up any moment, but she didn’t. He started to look for her everywhere, but there was no sign of her. And he started to shout:

- Too soon!! You left too soon!! Where are you??
- Alan, where are you? I’ve been looking for you everywhere – said Peter’s voice. – Who’s left too soon? What happened??
- The girl! The plankton girl, have you seen her?
- No man, I haven’t talked to her all night. What’s her name? Have you met Brian and Jordanna over there? They’re very nice!
- Did they told you their names? – Alan asked.
- Of course Al, why wouldn’t they?
- Where are they?
- Oh I’m afraid they’ve just left. - Answered Peter – A very nice couple, if I might say. But tell me what happened to you?
- I guess I’ve finally fallen I love. Come on; let’s go back, I’ll tell you all about it on the way to the house.

**

Summer had just begun, bur for Alan it was already the best summer of all times. Although he was miserable with the fact that he still hasn’t found the girl he now called “The Mermaid”, he was thriving with excitement.

He had never felt that way, or anything like it. He didn’t care that he was suffering. He was, for the first time, feeling something. It didn’t matter if it was a good feeling or a bad one; his heart was beating in a way he could never imagine it would beat; his hands would shake every time he looked at the sea.

The following week was very disappointing. Every night he would go to that same spot where he’d met her, but he couldn’t find her. That night, his 9th night searching for the mermaid, there was going to be a party at the beach at the governor’s mansion, and everyone in the town would be there. “That’s it. She’s got to be here.” he thought.

It was almost sunset time; Alan and Peter were walking on the beach, towards the party:

- Do you think she’ll be there? – Asked Alan.
- I told you a hundred times Al, I don’t know. – Said an impatient Peter, who was being tormented about that sea story for almost ten days now. – You’re going to have to ask the whole party if it’s her anyway, as you don’t know how she looks like.
- I’ll do that if I can. – Alan said, harshly.

When they got to the party, Alan saw that there were thousands of girls there, and they all looked the same to him. He started to wonder around and talk to people, see if anyone knew a girl that liked to swim at night, but nobody could tell him anything useful.

After a few hours, he gave up grinding people and decided to look for Peter, who ran away as soon as Alan started to ask people questions. He found him ten minutes later, talking to the Governor’s son and some other girl:

- Hey there, Pete. – he said
- Hi Al, how’s your search?
- Not good, really. I kind of gave up searching.
- What are you searching for? – Said James, the Governor’s son, a guy with blond hair and an athletic type.
- His mermaid – Peter said, laughing.
- What Mermaid? – asked the girl standing next to James.
- It’s a girl that Alan kissed the other night at the beach. As it was too dark, he couldn’t see how she looked like, and she didn’t want to tell him her name, now he’s been looking for her. Pretty awkward, right? – responded Peter.
- Oh God, I think that’s pretty exciting! – Said the girl – You shouldn’t give up. Are you in love with her, boy?
- Jesus, Lizzie, don’t be such a meddler, you don’t even know him. – interrupted James.
- No, that’s ok. – said Alan. – My name is Alan, not boy, and I surely am in love with her. I don’t know what to do anymore.
- Well, so we should do something about it, right? – Said the girl Alan now knew was called Lizzie – Come with me!
- Where to? – Alan asked.
- Over there! – And she pointed at the stage where the DJ was.
- No freaking way I’m going up there.
- You don’t have to, silly. We’re just going to talk to the DJ.
- You know, that’s funny. – Alan said.
- What’s funny? – Lizzie asked.
- The girl I’m looking for also called me a “silly”, nobody had called me that before.
- That only shows you really are a silly boy. Come on, let’s go! – She said, pulling him at the stage’s direction.

They went to talk to the DJ, and the DJ made an announcement on the microphone about Alan’s story, but no one showed up at the stage to meet him. They waited for almost an hour and then he realized Lizzie probably didn’t want to wait forever, so he decided to go back.

When they got to the spot they were before, Peter and James weren’t there anymore. Alan wanted to go home, but he couldn’t leave the girl alone, especially after she tried to help him, so they went looking for the other boys. The place was crowded, the night had fallen and they couldn’t see much.

- Do you want to seat by the pool? – asked Lizzie. – We’ll have more chances to get to see them there than walking around.
- Ok, let’s try that – Alan said, beginning to regret that decision, wishing he could be alone for the rest of the night.

After struggling with several people, they finally got to the pool and sat with their feet in the water. It was very embarrassing to be there with a girl he didn’t know, and he had a feeling she was thinking about the same thing.

- Are you sad? – She asked.
- Can’t say that I’m not. I really thought she’d be here tonight. I mean, what if she was, and she simply didn’t want to show up? I bet she is here right now, maybe she saw me at the stage, maybe she’s looking at me right now and she’s having a good laugh with her friends.
- Come on, you don’t know that. Maybe she’s not here. And if she is, she might not have heard, or maybe she was afraid, I don’t know. You say you don’t know how she looks like, what if she’s frighteningly ugly?
- I wouldn’t mind! – Said an angry Alan. – I’d want to see her even if she was an ogre.
- All right, all right, no need to get mad! I was just trying to make you feel better, I’m sorry.
- Why are you trying to make me feel better, anyway? – He asked. - You don’t even know me.
- You clearly don’t know me! I’d do that for any good cause, it’s not like you’re special or anything, I just liked your story, that’s all.
- There you are girlfriend! – interrupted a very drunk James, just when Alan was about to reply. – I’ve been looking for you! You haven’t cheated on me, have you?
- Can you please stop calling me girlfriend? That’s just disgusting.
- Wait, aren’t you his girlfriend?? – asked Peter. – He kept telling the whole party you were.
- Oh yeah, he does that when he drinks, but everybody knows I’m not. – She said. – I’ve never even kissed him.
- Why not? – Asked Alan – He’s the Governor’s son, no girl in this room would turn him down. They’d all kill to fill your shoes.
- Well, the can have my shoes and everything else, thank you. I’m not interested.
- Of course she’s not, she’s a frigid one, this girl – said James. – She hasn’t been with anyone for more than a year now, that’s just nonsense.
- That’s a choice, not nonsense. And I’m NOT frigid, what part of “I don’t love you” you don’t understand?
- So you just hook up with guys you love? – Asked Al. – That’s odd.
- Mostly, yes. It’s not odd; it’s how it’s supposed to be. Maybe not, but that’s what makes things exciting, isn’t it?
- It’s pretty exciting to be with no one for such a long time, it’s a dream come true, really – said James.
- Better than being with you, I bet.

And with that, Lizzie left, leaving the boys alone.

The rest of the night was all right; they drank, talked and had fun. Alan and Peter were introduced to James’s friends and they danced all night before Alan could realize he was feeling better, much better.

By the time they went to bed, the sun was already high and Alan fell asleep before he could notice.

**

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 29.01.2010

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