Love Me by Christmas

by Silvia Rojas

  "Oh god," Melanie said through a shudder, taking another step down the pool stairs. "I can't do that. Then I'll be totally cold."

  "Ah, well, far be it from me to force you into it," River said, starting a backstroke to the left side of the pool. "Take your time, but if you don't get in soon, you'll be all wrinkly for nothing!"

  "Oh no, what a tragedy," Melanie said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She took another step down. "Well, it's kind of more bearable now."

  River had switched to breaststroke and was making his way towards the shallow end. "One more step!" he called out.

  "Okay, fine, I'm going in!" With that, Melanie stepped off the stairs and into the shallow end of the pool. "I'm here, I made it, I didn't die by touching the water."

  "It's water, not lava." River finally settled about a third of the way down the pool's length. "Come to me, Melanie!"

  "All right, all right." Melanie swam to River, much more awkwardly than he swam to her. "Hello, handsome."

  "Hello, beautiful." River took Melanie into his arms and spun her in the water.

  “Your swimsuit is very cute, by the way. I think you could be a little riskier with your choices, though.”

  “Maybe for you, I could do it,” Melanie said. “How skimpy are we talking about?”

  “Not much point in wearing it if you might as well be naked,” River said with a shrug.

  “My thoughts exactly,” Melanie said. “I’ll make sure the essentials are covered.”

  “How does that saying go? ‘Short enough to be interesting, but long enough to cover everything.’ Right?” River drew Melanie a bit closer to him as he spoke.

  “That’s for skirts and writing,” Melanie replied, snuggling against River. “This would be better if we were somewhere warm and less wet.”

  “True. It’s hard to snuggle when you’re wet. But we only just got here, so unless you really want to get out…” River’s expression lit up suddenly. “Oh, I know what I can do. I can show you a stupid dragon trick. Stay right here." River swam away, and Melanie swallowed nervously as he dove under the water. The shadow and shape under the water shifted and grew; she felt herself tense in preparation to flee all over again. The serpentine head rose from the water again, then approached. River lowered his head to Melanie's level and she stared, admiring the mystical creature that was right in front of her.

  Suddenly, a spray of water hit her, somewhere between a misting and a hosing down. Melanie sputtered and yelped as she tried to get her bearings. When the spray dissipated, the dragon was there, looking almost smug. "Don't tell me that came from your nose," Melanie said. River nodded, then made an almost dolphin like squeal. "What?! Ew! River, that water could have had dragon snot in it! You basically just sneezed on me. Gross." The next dragon dolphin squeak sounded a bit put out. "Don't get like that with me, silly. You sneezed on me. Nasty."

  River stuck his dragon tongue out at Melanie, then returned to the deep end and dove underwater. The shadow under the water shifted and shrunk, and a human surfaced instead. "Lighten up," he called to Melanie. "All I did was spray you. No dragon snot involved whatsoever."

  "Are you sure about that?"

  "Absolutely! Dragons do it all the time," River said, swimming closer to Melanie before stopping about halfway to her. "It's, uh, actually a mating dance kind of thing. Or just affectionate."

  "Scales are probably better at absorbing dragon snot than skin is," Melanie quipped. "But, mating dance, huh?"

  "Stop saying dragon snot." River laughed and began swimming towards Melanie again. "And yes, mating dance. But first, I have to catch you."

  "Oh boy," Melanie mumbled. "Catch me if you can!" She took off, swimming as fast as she could, yet somehow, River caught up to her with a remarkable quickness.

  "You forget that I was raised in the water," River said, grabbing Melanie's arm.

  "Geez, you're fast," Melanie said sheepishly. "Do you mean literally raised in the water, or figuratively?"

  "Why not both?" River pulled Melanie in for another hug. "Would you like to frolic some more, or would you like to dry off?"

  "I think I'd like to go back on dry land soon," Melanie said. "Sorry, I'm kind of a landlubber."

  "That's fine. Let's go dry off." River exited the pool with Melanie, then swiftly fetched a towel and draped it around her. "Better?"

  "Sort of. I'd prefer to be totally dry before I claim I'm better."

  "You really are a landlubber," River said, patting Melanie on the back. "It's all right. We aren't all ducks."

  The duo eventually went upstairs to River's living room and relaxed on his couch. Melanie leaned on River, enjoying the warm feeling of his body by hers. "I forgot... I always get sleepy after I swim."

  "Really? That's kind of odd." River put his arm around Melanie, almost cradling her. "It's fine by me if you want to take a nap."

  "Can I take a nap with you?" Melanie asked, her voice going quieter, as though she would fall asleep right then and there.

  "Of course. That emotional moment back there was a bit draining for me, if I may be honest." River adjusted himself so that Melanie could lay on him better, and Melanie shifted her position to match him.

  "I don't blame you," Melanie said. "I was pretty hard on you."

  "And I don't blame you either," River said. "I'd be shocked if I was in your position, too."

  "I'm sleepy," Melanie mumbled. "I'll talk to you more later, okay?"

  "Of course. Rest up, Mel."

  It would be some hours later when Melanie woke up, judging from the sunset coming in through the windows. She could hear River's quiet snoring nearby; she looked up, and sure enough, he was fast asleep. She did not wake him; instead, she snuggled up closer and let herself drift back up. Even if the man next to her was really a dragon, she felt safe by his side. She had no regrets about officially being in a relationship with him and she hoped that the warm, cozy feeling would last forever.

  Chapter 9

  Eventually, Melanie and River parted, and Melanie went home to find some intriguing private messages from two of the other members of the group.

  Erin's message had come in earlier. "Hey Mel. How'd the date go? Got any fun details? Tell me everything, I’m curious, 'cause River has a real mystery man vibe to him and I’d like him to be less of a mystery."

  Melanie's response was simple. "I don't kiss and tell, sorry. But we had nice time together," she typed, adding a smiley face for good measure.

  Erin's response to her message came with a surprising quickness. "That’s all? Wow so tame. Lol, jk, take good care of him, ok?"

  After Erin's usual shenanigans was a message from Marissa. "Hi Melanie. It sounds like you heard the truth about everything, from what River told me. You know I'm the same kind of dragon River is, right? We're both water dragons. What did you think when you saw him as a dragon for the first time?"

  "He told me about everyone, yes," Melanie replied. "Honestly, it scared the crap out of me. I almost drove off and never looked back. But he persuaded me to come back, and after a while, I got used to it. Is it true that spraying someone with water is an affectionate gesture for water dragons?"

  "Very true," Marissa typed back. "If he did that to you, he must really care about you. I mean, sometimes kids do it to each other for fun, but it's kind of different then."

  "I guess there's just some kind of cultural inconsistency here, because I was very worried about being sprayed with dragon snot," Melanie replied.

  "LOL, don't worry, there's no snot involved," Marissa wrote. "Just water."

  A bit later, an e-mail came in from River.

  Hello everyone,

  I'm here to announce another Riverflow Club meeting. This is a special one, different from all the others. Everyone will be receiving special instructions through their private messages in the chat room. Please keep an eye on your chat windows.

  In other news, the meeting will be held at my house. The address
and some directions from popular places are listed below. I hope to see you all there.

  -River

  The mention of a special meeting definitely struck Melanie as curious, especially with the secret messages that were going to be going around. She clicked around to send River a private message. "So, what's with all the secrecy?"

  "You'll see," River replied with a remarkable quickness, as though he had been waiting for the question. "I guess, now that you're here, I should tell you what your instructions are, shouldn't I?"

  "Might as well," Melanie said.

  "You only have one instruction. Bring your pendant with you to the meeting," River wrote. "See you there."

  ***

  Some time passed; in between work and other daily events, Melanie would sign on to the Riverflow Club's chat room and spend the rest of her day with everyone there. Even as she was in the main chat shooting the breeze with everyone else, River would be privately messaging her on the side, probably with something flirty. Sometimes, she would find texts on her phone if River wasn't in the chat room; he had a particular fondness for saying good morning and wishing her sweet dreams. She always thanked him and tried to do the same, though sometimes she dropped the ball (not that he ever reproached her for it).

  Eventually, the day of the meeting came, and Melanie drove to River's house once more. Before she entered, she fished the pendant out of her purse and put it on, taking a moment to marvel at how light it felt despite the size of the stone. She exited the car and knocked on River's door, not receiving a response. Out of curiosity, she tried the doorknob, and was surprised to find that the door was unlocked. Cautiously, she stepped inside. The inside of the house was silent, almost unnervingly. She called out: "Hello?" No response. Shuddering from the eerie silence, she advanced into the house, checking around every corner to see if someone was hiding or waiting for her. No one seemed to be around; she checked the time on her phone, nothing that it would be odd for everyone to be late. She was either part of a prank, or something else was afoot.

  At that point, she remembered something that River had said. Her pendant not only allowed for understanding dragon telepathy, but for accessing areas warded by dragons. Perhaps there was a hidden area that she was missing. Taking another sweep of the house, she held her pendant up to the walls, hoping that was how revealing hidden areas worked. Sure enough, one wall on the left side of the house seemed to ripple slightly when approached. Taking in a breath, she approached the wall and was stunned to watch it fade away and allow her to walk directly through it. The experience left her wondering what other secret rooms River had in his house.

  She didn't have long to wonder about such things, as four other things faded into view. Four very large things. Four dragons.

  The turquoise one in front with the blue-green fins had to be River, she guessed, and she shuddered when his voice in her head confirmed that. "There you are, Melanie. For a moment, we thought you wouldn't show up and we had set up all this for nothing."

  The big, red one that looked like what one would expect from a dragon had to be Fay, who spoke next, "I wouldn't say that! It's not every day we get to just let it all hang out like this, you know?"

  A smaller, brown dragon with bark-like scales spoke up. There was no doubt that it was Erin. "When you put it like that, it sounds like we're sitting around naked." She paused, then added, "Of course, we kind of are. Dragons don't really wear clothes."

  The other water dragon, Marissa, spoke next. Melanie noticed that she was a deeper blue than River, while her fins were more of a minty green. "Of course you would point that out. Melanie, are you okay with us being dragon naked?"

  The large gold dragon with prominent spines was next to speak, and it was Leo. "We still have our clothes on as humans. We can just shift back if that makes you more comfortable."

  "Um." Melanie felt her heart thumping against her chest; even if she knew that these dragons were friendly, it was still rather intimidating to be around several giant beasts that could eat her or otherwise pulverize her. "I... um, do what makes you comfortable, I'm fine."

  "I just wanted to give you a little taste of how things really are, if that makes sense," River said, approaching Melanie and lowering his head to her level. "It might be a bit like throwing you into the deep end, with four dragons being here, but I thought you should see everyone like this."

  "It's..." Melanie found herself fishing for words. "I understand what you're trying to do, but it is kind of overwhelming."

  "All right then. I never said you had to sit and stare at us while we were like this. We can shift back," River said.

  "I dunno, I'd kind of like to stretch out a bit," Erin grumbled.

  "Can't you just stretch out later, at home?" Fay asked.

  "Maybe."

  "I'm shifting back, at least," River said; his form was enveloped in light and the light shifted and shrunk until he had reverted to his human self. Marissa, Fay, and Leo did the same right after; Erin gave a draconic sigh before shifting at last.

  "That's cooler than any special effects I've ever seen," Melanie said, walking up to embrace River, who held her back tightly. "Can I ask what the setup was all for?"

  "Mostly to show you our dragon forms, and also as a little congratulations party for us," River said. "The others approve of our relationship, to say the least."

  "That's right," Leo said. "I'm happy that he finally found someone."

  "Like I said, I was thinking this would happen from the beginning," Fay said, approaching the couple and patting Melanie's shoulder. "I'm so happy for both of you!"

  "Let's head back into the actual house." River released Melanie and took a few steps towards the fake wall. "I can get the food ready there."

  Everyone followed River back into the house; they went into the kitchen and took various positions around the room while River set out appetizers, mostly cheese and vegetables. "It's not much, but I didn't think I'd have time to cook."

  "That's what ordering pizza's for," Erin said. "Except I don't think dragons can really answer the door."

  "We can order pizza later, can't we?" Marissa asked.

  "Probably not much later," Leo said, looking at his watch. "Who knows how long it'll take to get here?"

  Melanie had an idea, though she was waiting for a good time to deploy it. Still, she tried to set it up anyway. "River, do you have any drinks? Alcohol optional, but other than water."

  Somehow, River caught on to what Melanie was thinking. "I have some orange juice, if that fits the bill. Were you planning on making a toast?"

  "How did you know?" Melanie asked, some surprise in her voice.

  "Just a hunch," River said. "That, and I wanted to make one, too." He opened the fridge, pulled out a carton of orange juice, gathered some cups, and started pouring. "Everyone, take a cup."

  "Don't tell me what to do," Erin said, though she giggled right after. She went with everyone else to take a cup of orange juice.

  Once everyone had a drink, River raised his cup. "I would like to propose a toast. To Melanie and I, and to a future where humans and dragons live in harmony!"

  Various forms of agreement went through the room, and everyone raised their cups in turn. Melanie touched her cup to River's and then took a deep drink. It seemed her mouth went dry somewhere along the line, so the hydration was quite welcome.

  The party went on for a while, with the members bantering at each other and periodically picking on each other (that was mostly Erin's fault). Eventually, everyone drifted out for one reason or another, leaving Melanie and River all alone in the house. River finished cleaning off the table and sighed heavily. "Well, that's that," he said.

  "What do you mean by that?" Melanie asked.

  "Party's over, I suppose," River responded. "Everyone went back home. It's just us now."

  "Is that a bad thing?" Melanie leaned forward in her seat.

  "Not necessarily." River moved to sit in the seat next t
o Melanie. "Unless you want to go home, too?"

  "Well, I can't exactly stay here overnight, can I?" Melanie asked.

  "Who said you couldn't?" River put his arm around Melanie. "I certainly think you can."

  "But I didn't bring any pajamas," Melanie said. "And where would I sleep?"

  "That's fine. I can lend you one of my shirts to sleep in," River said. "And... well, I could let you sleep on the couch, but wouldn't you be more comfortable in my bed?"

  "With you in it?"

  "Yes."

  "Well, if you're willing to let me sleep with you, how can I refuse?"