Okay, asking someone if they were outright gay probably wasn't the smartest idea in the world. So I immediately feel like crap when Fish eyes me like I'm speaking gibberish through my ears.

Maybe he wasn't into guys after all. Maybe he was just super nice.

I probably should have stopped hoping that we would get an influx of gays moving into town, one of which would take a sudden interest in me. 

"I'm sorry!" I blurt out, and I stare down at the pineapple that he had drawn on my hand. "That was super rude. Just pretend I never said that. God, I'm such a dumbfuck sometimes, I shouldn't have assumed that you were gay just by you drawing a fruit on my hand..."

I trail off when Fish begins to laugh, but it's not mean or condescending or anything. It wasn't even that loud, bubbling up from within him before he covers his mouth to stop himself from laughing.

"Stop!" I shout at him, but then I'm laughing too. "Oh my God! I just assumed pineapples meant that you were into guys. You know? " I take a quick glance around to make sure no one is looking at us as we stand there laughing like idiots.

Fish only laughs harder, so I shove him a little, then he shoves me back and throws the rest of his sandwich at my shoulder, but he's smiling the whole time.

Of course, I knew there was a chance that he had no idea what I was saying and was just nodding along, but it couldn't be.

Fish was smarter than that.

"Can you two idiots move out of the way?" A voice questions as Fish and I are messing around. 

We break apart in an instant, and I turn to face Anderson Crick, the weirdest kid in school, who had a weird obsession with mermaids, and had spent countless show and tells in first grade trying to convince everyone that they were real. Not only that, but he dressed strangely, and he smelled faintly like mothballs.

Not that I was judging him or anything.

Crick and I didn't really talk, especially after I had tried talking to him in school, only to be met with a glare and a wall of silence. 

"Crick! Buddy! " I greet him anyway, "What's going on, man?" 

Crick glares at me, his eyes narrowing a little. "I'm here to see the newest edition to the deep sea tank," he says, "So if you and your little boyfriend can move out of my way, that would be amazing."

Fish glances at me and then back at Crick, looking mildly uncomfortable now. 

"He's not my boyfriend," I reply easily, and then I put a hand on the wall next to Anderson's big head. "I'm giving him the tour of the town."

"Really?" Crick raises a dark eyebrow in question. "Because I could have sworn it looked like you two were on a date." 

"We're not--" I start to say, and then I turn back to Fish, who was staring into the tank again as if we hadn't just shared a moment. Well, shit. Now how was I going to convince him to go back to school with me? 

"He's probably looking at the gravenche," Anderson explains, even if no one asked him. "It's an extinct fish that shouldn't even be near our waters, and yet they found it swimming around like nothing. Weirdly enough, it showed up at the same time as he did. "

"Huh," I murmur, and watch Fish press one hand to the glass when something swims by. "It's probably just a coincidence. We've had really bad storms lately."

"You're really dense, you know that?" Anderson replies, and then he sighs. "It's obvious that he's ocean-born."

"What?" I reply, and then I turn back to Anderson and stare at him.

"He's a mermaid, Carter," Anderson responds, as if accusing someone of being a giant fish is a common occurrence. "I mean, I guess he's a merboy? Well, anyway! It's rumored that they like the waters here. It must be something about the rocks that they like. "

"Fish!" I call to him, "Come on, man! We need to get back to school! " 

And I needed to get away from Crick before he started rambling about Big Foot and aliens. 

"There's a test you can perform!" Crick calls to me when I grab Fish and haul him out of the alcove, towards the nearest exit. "All you have to do is get him to sing, Carter!"

Like hell I would.