Date under a Full Moon

Mia stared at the full moon. She could feel its light touching her skin as she tried to remain in control of her powers. She had been a mermaid for less than a year, so she wasn’t quite good at that yet. Especially on a full moon night.

“Are you sure you don’t want any help?” She asked, walking back into the kitchen. Clara, her girlfriend who didn’t know about the supernatural part of her life, was baking a chocolate cake. Mia’s mom had gone on a business trip for the weekend, so they took the chance to spend those two days together with the house all to themselves.

“I already told you I got it,” Clara rolled her dark brown eyes as she talked, with a slight grin on her lips. It was not the first or second time Mia had made that question within a span of ten minutes. “You’re a great cook, but with baking you’re not much help. I don’t know how you manage that, honestly.”

Mia laughed, “Can’t say that’s a lie.”

She watched her girlfriend put the cake mixture inside the oven and then turn to her. “You could give me a hand now,” Clara said pointing at the messy island counter in front of her.

“Sure,” Mia walked toward the small pantry next to the fridge and grabbed her cleaning rubber gloves. “Actually, you don’t need to help, I’ll do it alone.”

“As you wish,” she said, leaving a peck on her cheek. Mia smiled. She hadn’t gotten use to that, being someone’s girlfriend. Her social anxiety made it hard for her to make friends or meet new people, but Clara was an amazingly determined person.

As Mia did the dishes, she got distracted observing Clara reading some young adult queer fantasy book, sitting on the couch with her knees close to her chest. She was smiling and her eyes were tearing up which meant she was probably reading a cute romantic scene. Clara was very expressive while she read or watched something, and Mia thought that was extremely adorable.

She was abruptly pulled out of her trance when she felt a drop of water fall on her forearm, just above the glove.

“Shit!” She howled and froze for a split second, her heart racing in her chest. Mia always stayed home with her best friend — who was also part of the supernatural world — during full moon nights, so she never had to do much effort to conceal her powers at those times.

“What happened?” Clara asked, with a concerned tone in her voice. Mia looked at her somewhat worried somewhat confused expression and, luckily, her brain started functioning properly. She grabbed a clean dish towel from the drawer and quickly dried her forearm before she started losing control of her powers in front of her girlfriend. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Mia said, even though she could still feel the crippling anxiety wanting to take over her. Clara could never know her secret, Mia didn’t know what she’d do if she lost her. “It was just a little water. I was distracted, so…” she let out a nervous laugh, trying to get herself back together.

“Okay…” Clara murmured, her eyebrows arched in confusion as she went back to reading. Mia sighed in relief, her heart beating at a normal rate again.

After cleaning the kitchen and this time being extremely careful with the water, Mia threw herself onto the couch, her face buried on the black and white striped pillow. For some reason, Clara was now sitting on the floor; her legs crossed and her back against the couch while holding the book in front of her face.

“Why are you on the floor?” Mia asked, turning to face her girlfriend’s long braided brown hair.

“I just felt like it,” she shrugged. Suddenly, she closed her book and got up, leaving the book on the coffee table. “Hey, let’s go in the pool.”

“What? Now?” Mia asked. She tried to think of something that could get her out of it. It was one thing to control her shifting with a single drop of water, but to be immersed in a freaking pool was another.

“Yeah, now! Come on, you live in the middle of nowhere, we got a lot of privacy.”

“But I’m so comfortable in here…” Mia grumbled. “And I’m sleepy, let me sleep,” she closed her eyes like she was about to take a nap.

“No,” Clara grabbed Mia’s right hand and tried pulling her from the couch, but she was stronger. “Sometimes I forget how you’re much stronger than you look.”

Mia opened her eyes and stared at Clara with false outrage. “Are you saying I’m short?”

“Yes,” in that moment of Mia’s distraction, Clara was finally able to pull her from the couch. However, since she was using her whole strength to do that, Clara lost balance and fell on her back, with Mia on top of her. They stared at one another for a second and burst out laughing.

Mia rested her head on Clara’s neck, both still giggling. They stayed like that for a while, eyes closed, just appreciating each other’s company. Mia could feel Clara’s light breathing against her head as she played with her short blonde hair.

“I love you,” the words just slipped through Mia’s lips without her even thinking about it. She opened her green eyes wide, feeling her heart race in her chest. None of them had pronounced those words before. “I mean, I…”

“I love you too,” Clara had a radiant smile on her lips as she said it. Mia glanced at her and smiled back, feeling a weight lift off her shoulders. She loved that smile.

Their faces were inches away. Mia moved her legs until they were on each side of her girlfriend’s waist and cupped her dimpled cheeks, leaning in closer. She could feel Clara’s hands on her waist and the familiar warmth that spread across her chest every time they kissed. The smell of Clara’s floral perfume was dizzying and always made Mia feel those famous butterflies flying around in her stomach.

When their mouths finally touched, it felt like the first time. It always did. Clara’s lips were soft and warm against Mia’s, and she parted them slightly, allowing Mia to slip in her tongue. They kissed for several minutes, until Clara pulled back.

“I still want to go in the pool,” she said, leaving a quick peck on Mia’s lips.

She groaned, which made Clara laugh. “Ok, but I don’t wanna go in.”

They walked through the sliding glass doors in the kitchen toward the immense garden. Mia sat at the small dining table on the porch while Clara went toward the pool and just jumped head in, fully clothed.

She came back up and looked at Mia. “Are you sure you don’t wanna come in?”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” she said.

“Ok, your loss.”

As Clara floated in the water staring at the stars, Mia went inside again to get the romance book she had just started reading the day before. When she went back outside, Clara was still in the same position.

“Hey, help me out,” Clara said, after countless minutes of silence. Mia looked at her and raised her eyebrows. “Please?”

“Why don’t you use the ladder?”

“’Cause I don’t want to?!”

Mia let out a laugh and got up, placing her book on the table. She extended her right hand and Clara took it, like she was about to take Mia’s help to pull her out of the pool. Instead, Clara pushed her.

In a few seconds, Mia was submerged in water. She panicked, trying to control herself, but the full moon made it particularly hard. She could feel its power preventing her from staying in human form. Mia gave in before her clothes got ripped apart as her body started changing. She took all her clothes off and let her tail replace her legs. In that moment, all she could feel was relief. It had been a couple of weeks since she had last done that.

But when she went back up, Clara was staring at her, eyes wide open in a mix of surprise and confusion. She scanned Mia’s scaly torso and tail, then she looked back at her big sea green eyes.

“Clara, I…” Mia felt her eyes watering, hands shaking underwater. The anxiety swamping her body like it usually happened when she had to do an oral presentation in front of the entire class, or like when someone approached her in the street asking for directions.

But this was different. Worse. There was a very high chance that Clara was about to break up with her and run as far away from her as possible. However, that’s not what happened, at all. Instead, Clara swam closer to Mia, raised her hands from the water and cupped her cheeks.

“Aren’t you scared of me?” Mia murmured, her voice a little shaky.

“No,” she whispered, flashing a reassuring smile. “Mia, of course not. I love you.”

Mia sighed with relief and let her tears fall, feeling her girlfriend’s arms around her. She hugged her back and hid her face against Clara’s neck, eyes closing. They stayed there for a while, until Mia pulled away.

“Why don’t you seem at all shocked about just finding out that supernatural creatures exist?” She asked, whipping her tears with one hand while the other stayed in Clara’s waist.

“’Cause it’s not at all shocking to me…” she smiled, her arms around Mia’s neck. “My parents are part of a group of hunters.”

Mia widened her eyes. “Hunters? Like, people who hunt supernatural beings?”

“Yes, but it’s not what you think. They only go after the ones who commit crimes. Kind of like cops, but, you know… since a regular prison can’t contain them, my parents send them to some underground special prison for the supernatural. Also, this way the supernatural stays a secret.”

Mia had heard of those groups, but they were a minority among the ones who just kill people because of their genetic differences. So she didn’t really trust anyone with her secret unless they were like her. Obviously, Clara was an exception. Mia trusted her, she knew she’d never do anything to hurt her.

“But you’re not a part of it, are you?” she asked, somewhat afraid of the answer.

“No, it’s not really my thing,” Mia sighed in relief. She wasn’t sure how comfortable she’d feel dating a hunter.

Mia leaned in to kiss her girlfriend, but stopped when she smelled something. A burning smell.

“Do you smell that?” she asked. Clara widened her eyes.

“Shit!” she exclaimed. “The cake!”