Last One In

"At last! Two whole weeks without having to deal with Shauna and her new boyfriend!" Claire dropped her bags on the floor and flopped onto one of the twin beds. She peered up at her older sister, narrowing her eyes in a mock-glare. "The only thing that would make it better would be not having to share with an old lady."

Lauren shook her head, setting her bags on the other bed. "I'm only three years older than you, brat! And we haven't hung out in ages, it'll be great sister-time." She looked at the door to the outside, where the sun hung low in the sky. It cast the whole room, as well as the beach outside, in a red-orange glow, and she smiled slightly at the beauty of it. "Besides, Mom and Dad are in the next cabin, it's not like you'd be left alone without me here anyway."

"A girl can dream, though." Claire picked up a pillow from the bed and tossed it at Lauren, who caught it and flipped it back. The pillow took the eighteen-year-old in the chest, and she flopped over dramatically, clutching it to her. "Augh! Killed at the ripe age of eighteen! And by my own flesh and blood!"

Springing into action, Lauren leapt over to the other bed and started to tickle her sister's sides. "That's right! And now you can't escape!" She straddled the younger girl, tickling her mercilessly while Claire writhed and flailed with laughter.

After a few minutes, Lauren smiled at her sister and hopped off. "Okay, goofball. Unpack and let's get changed! I want to hit the beach before dinner with the old folks!"

Fifteen minutes later, both girls walked out onto the small porch of the rental cabin, towels over their shoulders and bikinis on and at the ready. Lauren strode out into the sand, her tan skin ablaze with setting sunlight. Her bikini was white with red polka dots, strings tied around her hips, behind her back, and at the nape of her neck; the sun cast the background into a vivid, glowing orange. The color set off her dark hair almost better than the white did, and her gray eyes gleamed with the reflected light as well, making her pixyish features look almost otherworldly.

Claire's bikini was more modest: A pair of black boyshorts and a yellow-and-black striped bandeau top, contrasting with her lightly tanned skin nicely. Her hair was a lighter brown, almost dark blonde, and longer. Her eyes were a deep green that the sunlight turned into hazel. Her more petite curves were snugly held by the suit, and her features were more elegant; more almond-shaped eyes, a more defined bone structure.

Lauren stopped a few feet from the water's edge, hands on her hips. "This is beautiful, isn't it? Just look at that sunset." She sighed and stared for a moment, the wind ruffling her shoulder-length dark brown hair. Then she turned snapped her towel out, spreading it out on the sand before smacking her sister's ass. "Last one in's a rotten egg!" she yelled as she ran to the water, kicking up a spray of sand as she went.

Claire sputtered in surprise and indignation before dropping her towel on her sister's and joining her mad dash to the ocean. "Dammit, Lauren, you cheated!" Her pert breasts bounced with the motion, and two men who were walking toward them stopped for a moment to stare at the freshly eighteen-year-old beauty who scrambled into the surf after her older, curvier sister.

As she reached Lauren, Claire splashed water at her. "Cheater!" she accused, giving the other girl a fake pout. Without waiting another moment, she drove into the water, swimming out toward the horizon. "I'll beat you out to the buoy!"

"Not even!" Lauren yelled, swimming after her. They raced out to a buoy, neck and neck. Claire had a head start, but Lauren's reach was longer. They both touched the base of the floating structure at the same time, and straightened up, breathing hard. "Told . . . you!"

Claire splashed at her again, a bigger spray of water this time. "Doesn't change that you cheated!" The splash fight that ensued got them both dripping wet and spluttering. Finally, Lauren jumped, breaching the water and grabbing Claire's shoulders, ducking her under the water. Her legs wrapped around her younger sister's waist to keep her from going too far down.

After a few minutes of splashing, sputtering, and laughing, they both floated on the surface, hands grabbing onto the buoy to keep from floating with the currents. "God, we haven't played like that in years!" Lauren gasped, kicking her legs slowly under the water. "You're a lot harder to out-swim than you were when you were thirteen."

"I hope so!" Claire said, tossing a wet hank of hair out of her face. "Come on, let's head back. I wanna shower before dinner." She pushed herself off of the buoy and started stroking toward the shore.

"Okay." Lauren looked out at the horizon, catching a glimpse of a small figure further out to sea. She blinked, then raised one hand in a wave. She wasn't sure, but she thought the other figure waved back. Finally, she pushed off as well, heading toward the shore with smooth, powerful strokes of her arms and legs.

~ ~ ~ ~

The night was quiet, the sound of the ocean lapping softly at the sand and the quiet sounds of seabirds were the only noises breaking the blanket of silence. Claire sat up in bed, tossing the covers back. "Lauren, I can't . . . ." she trailed off, looking at the other -- empty -- bed, and sighed. "Huh. Where did she go?"

She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and tugged down the hem of her tank top to make sure it met the shorts she was wearing. Getting up, Claire walked through the small kitchenette to check the bathroom, but the door was open and the light was off. "Maybe she went outside?" she whispered, tilting her head to one side.

Padding through the cabin in her bare feet, the teenager peered out a window and then opened the door, heading outside onto the small porch. There was no one outside, just a cool mid-August moon shining down overhead. But there was a trail of footprints leading from the steps of the porch off toward the beach, and a half-empty glass of water sitting on the railing.

"Ohhhhh, you are in so much trouble," Claire muttered, heading to the steps. "Sneaking out to meet a boy in the middle of the night, Lauren, mom and dad are gonna flip!" But she had to have evidence. And if it were something else, she'd want to be able to call for help. Nodding once, decisively, she dashed back inside and grabbed her phone from the bedside table. "Camera phone, best thing ever for busting sisters."

The trail wasn't terribly long, and it wasn't very difficult to follow; there were a few times she had to stop and study it, to make sure she wasn't getting turned around in footprints from earlier in the day. But in a remarkably short time, Claire was at the edge of the water, on a secluded part of the beach that had almost sheer cliffs of rock on two sides, and a big boulder that blocked most of the view from the third.

The trail went to the edge of the water and stopped, looking at it foolishly for a moment. "She went swimming. At 3 in the morning? Good lord." Then she looked out at the water, hoping to catch a glimpse of her wayward sibling in the smooth black surface of the Atlantic. And on top of a smooth, flat rock about 30 yards out from the shore, Claire spotted them.

"I knew it! Ha-ha!" she whispered triumphantly, crouching down instinctively to keep from being seen. Not that it mattered, Lauren and the person she was with weren't looking towards the shore, or much of anything at all. Pulling the phone up and opening the camera, Claire chortled to herself. Her parents always told her how she should be more like Lauren, modest and scholarly and . . . better, whatever. But she had never, NEVER, snuck out to meet a boy.

Zooming in carefully, to make sure there was no way her sister's face would be mistaken, she blinked. That . . . wasn't a boy. Or a male at all. That was a girl, a totally pretty, delicately featured, blonde girl. Whose tongue was, apparently, halfway down Lauren's throat. "Whoa. My sister's a lesbian? That explains all the flannel, I guess."

The two on the rock parted, and the other woman ran a hand through Lauren's hair. She said something, and they both laughed. Then she shifted, and Claire almost dropped her phone. There in the moonlight was the unmistakable shimmer of scales. "What . . . the fuck."

Claire shifted her stance, one hand braced against the large boulder as she watched, certain that she couldn't be seeing what she thought she was. As she watched with wide-eyes, her Lauren moved to straddle the other woman, her legs on either side of her slender hips.

Before Lauren leaned down to kiss her, the woman raised her moonlight-pale arms and tugged Lauren's bathing suit top off, exposing her generous breasts to the night air, and began to fondle them gently. The dark-haired woman licked her lips and leaned in for another kiss, her breasts pressing against the prone woman's firmly. And Claire's suspicions were confirmed, as a thick, scaly tail flipped up behind the two of them, shimmering in the moonlight.

Claire gasped loudly, stumbling backwards. Lauren's head came up, and her girlfriend looked up towards the shore as well. "Sorry!" Claire called lamely. "Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt, and didn't see anything! I'm just going to . . . go back now."

She started to push herself to her feet, but Lauren said something to the woman and dove off the rock. She made the shore in little time, and caught Claire before she'd gotten too far back down the beach. "Claire, wait!" Lauren grabbed her arm and turned her around. "Let me explain."

"Okay, I don't want you to explain! I don't want to know what you're doing, and I didn't see anything and I'm going to back to bed to forget what I didn't see, okay?" Claire pulled her arm back. "I won't tell mom and dad anything, and . . . I mean, how the hell did you meet a mermaid?"

Lauren sighed, and Claire forced herself to look at her sister's face instead of her still-exposed breasts. "Look, her name is Alana, and I met her years ago. Come on, listen, don't freak out, okay?" She leaned back a little, ran a hand through her wet hair. "Remember that summer I was thirteen and you were ten, and you got that cold? So mom kept sending me outside to play, so she could take care of you without me being in the way? I met her then."

Claire stared for a moment, then shook her head. "Look, it would be a lot easier to focus if your tits weren't still out."

"What? Oh, god!" Lauren folded her arms over her chest. "Look, whatever. You've seen them before, but . . . like I was saying. We were friends, and then a few years ago . . . well. Come on with me, you can meet her. She's really nice."

"She's a mythical creature who I just saw feeling up my older sister. This is either a dream, or a hallucination, so . . . sure. I'll go and meet her, and leave you two alone." Claire gestured at Lauren to go ahead of her. "And yes, I have seen them before, but they've gotten bigger and bouncier since the last time I was within grabbin' distance."

Looking back over her should, Lauren smirked. "So have yours, little sister. And don't think I didn't see you looking."

They reached the secluded little cove again, and both girls dove into the water, swimming out towards the rock. Before they reached it, the mermaid popped up in front of them. "Hey! Everything okay?" From closer up, Claire could see that she was very lovely, with green eyes that sparkled in the moonlight.

Lauren stopped and smiled. "I think so, yeah. So, um, let's get to the rock and I'll do introductions and all?" Alana nodded and dove under the water again, swimming alongside them the rest of the way to the flat rock.

The sisters hauled themselves out of the water, sitting with their feet hanging over into the water. Alana heaved herself up onto the rock, lounging more than sitting to accommodate her tail. "So. This is your sister, Lauren?"

The topless girl cleared her throat. "Yeah, this is . . . Alana, this is my little sister, Claire. Claire, this is Alana."

They shook hands, and Claire couldn't help notice how warm and firm the mermaid's grip was -- not what she'd expected, even if it was slightly damp. ". . . You don't have gills." Shaking her head, Claire said, "I'm sorry, that was rude. It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too. And I don't have gills -- now." She tossed her blonde hair -- which Claire could tell was tinged lightly with green -- over her shoulders and concentrated. For a moment, a set of gills emerged from her neck, marring the smooth skin with their frills. Then, as quickly as they had come, they went away. "I can sort of make them come and go as I need them. Up here, it's as easy to breathe air as water, so . . . I do." Alana grinned, her teeth shining whitely. "And before you ask, no, I can't do the leg thing."

"Oh." Claire felt her face turning red, mostly because that had been the next thing she had wanted to ask. "So, uh, you and my sister. How . . . I mean, I don't want to know. I should go, I guess, now that I know you aren't some random tramp, or something."

Giving Lauren a small smile, the pretty blonde tilted her head. "We were sort of in the middle of something, but . . . if you wanted to stay and play with us . . . wait." Alana cast a concerned look at the teenager. "You are of age, aren't you? I mean, it's less of a thing for us, but I know your people have serious issues with underage shenanigans."

"I turned eighteen last month. But do you mean . . . mmmf!" Her words were muffled when, to her surprise and Lauren's, Alana wrapped her arms around Claire and kissed her, hard, on the mouth. There was a moment of panic, and then she realized it wasn't an attack, really. And it felt . . . nice. Warm, and soft, and her mouth tasted like salted caramel. Without realizing it, Claire melted a little into the embrace.

Lauren watched for a moment with an amused expression before she raised an eyebrow. "Hey, aren't I the one who's supposed to be getting a hot mermaid lip-lock over here?"

The kiss broke, and Alana looked over at her, a little sheepishly. "Sorry, sweetheart. But your sister is so pretty, and I didn't want her to think I wanted her to leave or anything. Besides," she added, holding one hand out to Lauren and taking one of Claire's with her other hand, "I have a friend who your sister might find interesting."

There was a pause, and Claire said slowly, "Okay. I'm at least willing to meet your friend. Is she . . . I shouldn't assume. Who is it?"

"Her name is Eliza, and she's great! Let me get her!" Alana beamed and leaned over the edge of the rock, plunging her head into the water. The sisters looked at each other, faintly able to hear a strange, haunting sound echoing up from under the water. She popped back up, smiling. "She'll be here in a second! I'm so excited for you to meet her, she's sooo much fun!"

"She isn't a mermaid, is she? I know you've mentioned her before." Lauren leaned back, stretching her arms over her head.

"She's . . . the term people use is cecaelia?" The deep blue tail splashed against the water lightly. "Um . . . like a mermaid, but instead of fish, octopus?"

Claire started, pulling her legs up onto the rock. "An octopus. This is some seriously Little Mermaid shit, you know that?"

Lauren grinned. "Yeah, it kind of is. But no one I've met through Alana has ever been what you'd call a sea witch, so calm your tits, baby sister." Her lips quirked. "Unless you don't want to, of course. Being excited might help."

"Speaking of that!" Alana shifted a bit, getting her tail more firmly on the rock and rested her hands gently on Claire's waist. "You may want to take off what you're wearing. You won't need it, and it'll only get wetter. So." Her fingers gripped the bottom of the tank top and tugged. "Off we go! And I get the first look at those sweet little tits!"

The wet white tank top went over her head easily, and was flipped over one side of the rock they were on. "Oh, dear. Those are almost as wonderful as yours," Alana said, flicking a glance at Lauren. "May I?" she asked, looking back at Claire.

Claire looked between Alana and Lauren, then shrugged. "Sure. I . . . this is enough of a freaky dream already. I might as well enjoy it." She put her shoulders back, pushing her almost-C cups out towards the blonde mermaid. In a second or less, there were two soft, warm hands cupping them, massaging the firm orbs with undisguised delight.

Lauren licked her lips, and crawled over to where they were sitting, wrapping her arms around Alana's waist and leaning in to kiss the slender, pale neck. "So pretty, and watching you touch my sister . . . it feels so dirty," she whispered, nipping Alana's ear gently. Her hands moved to slip underneath the red shells the pretty sea maid was wearing.

It didn't take very long before Lauren had tugged the shells off and exposed the teacup-sized breasts to the sea air. "Mmm, they aren't big, but they are perfect," Lauren breathed, her fingers pinching gently at the shell-colored nipples. "Claire, you should go ahead and touch them. Alana loves having her breasts played with."

As her younger sister's hand moved hesitantly to touch Alana's breasts for the first time, Lauren's hands trailed down the soft, smooth skin to where it joined the rough-smooth scales of the tail. She was still kissing and tasting the salt tang of her skin.

Claire whimpered softly, leaning in to kiss Alana's lips as they groped each other. This was . . . she'd been with boys before, and this was blowing that out of the water. Literally, a small part of her mind thought. But this amazing girl, who couldn't exist, was making her feel like she could fly, just from a few touches and kisses. And watching her sister stroke and touch . . . that shouldn't be as hot as it was.

Just as one of Alana's hands trailed down to her waist, exploring over the waistband of her shorts, a nearby splash broke their focus. "Hey, ladies! Oh, my, I'm interrupting." The red-haired woman bobbing near the surface of the water smirked. "Alana, are you hogging all the sexy land girls again?" she asked teasingly.

"'Liza, I . . . yeah," Alana shivered as Lauren's hands stroked and teased over her tail gently. "Yeah, but I knew you wouldn't mind." She licked her lips and lifted a hand from Claire's chest to gesture. "This is Lauren, the one I told you about?" Lauren lifted one hand in a wave, then went back to nuzzling and petting the mermaid. "And this is Claire, her sister."

Claire turned around to look, raising a hand in a wave. The buxom redhead waved back, licking her lips. "Aren't you all just the prettiest sight. I'm Eliza, and I hope you don't mind that I just sort of cut to the chase." She lifted herself out of the water, exposing generous breasts clad in shells similar to the ones that Alana had been wearing, but pale pink, and a bottom half that looked like a purple-and-blue octopus.

Eliza leaned forward, planting a firm kiss on Claire's lips, two of her tentacles slipping behind her own back to loosen and then remove her shell-bra. Claire could feel two hands touching her breasts, while two more of the long, supple tentacles tugged her body a bit closer to the octopodian woman. This was . . . insane. Everything was happening so fast, and these women couldn't exist! That last bit was what made it okay, she thought fuzzily, as she felt Eliza's tongue slip past her lips. If this was just a fucked up wet dream, it didn't matter how fast things went. Right?

With that thought, her arms wrapped around the other female, stroking her back and waist. She was still hesitant to touch the parts of her that weren't human-like, but this was very nice. Claire's fingers brushed across the undersides of Eliza's perky D-cup breasts, and felt a desire kindle inside of her. She pressed into the kiss more firmly, her hands slipping up to cup the generous orbs. She could feel the surprised moan from the other woman, whose tentacles started to work their way under the waistband of Claire's shorts now that the teenager had welcomed the interaction.