Tropical Convergence (10 page)

Dar removed her regulator and stuck her tongue out, then pulled it hastily back in as the cold water surprised her with its sting. She put her regulator back into her mouth and bit down on the mouthpiece, sucking in a breath of cool, dry, rubber-scented air. Gathering the remaining shreds of her dignity, she rolled over in the water, looking around as the guide motioned them on.

Ahead of them were more floor-to-ceiling plate glass windows, with people behind them. Dar edged closer, realizing she was seeing the interior of the restaurant where they would be eating dinner.

As she floated down past the first window, her eyes focused on the people beyond it and felt a shock going up and down her spine as she recognized the faces. She half turned to find Kerry, only to have warm fingers clamp down on her wrist as Kerry eased in next to her.

Inside the glass, outlined in the eerie aqua shadows from the water, were Shari and Michelle. Seated in one of the best viewing tables, neither was paying attention to the sights. Instead, they were talking animatedly over full plates of dinner, as Michelle pointed her fork at Shari to make a point.

Shari put her glass down and shook a finger playfully at her, and they both laughed.

Dar made a hand sign. Kerry nodded. They both turned and swam a little ways off, floating in mid tank as they watched the rest of the group wander past the main windows. After a moment, Kerry pointed to the tank floor, and then lifted her hands suddenly, pushing them upwards in a rush.

Behind the mask, her partner's blue eyes twinkled mischievously. Dar glanced around. She and Kerry swam slowly down to the bottom of the tank, drifting inches off the ground as they made their way to the wall. At the base of the wall they paused, neither breathing. Dar held up one finger, then two, then three.

At the third, they both shot up past the window, exhaling a huge exhaust of bubbles that sounded like thunder around them.

Dar heard, even through the window, the clattering sound of dishes being dropped. She angled up and over with Kerry next to her like a limpet, diving down to another part of the exhibit and exchanging friendly waves with two small boys in identical Mickey Mouse ears.

After a few moments, Dar peeked over her shoulder, watching as two waiters hastily tried to clean up the two tumbled plates of food, while Shari tried frantically to wipe the red wine off her jacket. A snicker escaped her, causing a cloud of bubbles to emerge from her regulator, and she shifted her jaw, biting down on the rubber as she tried to control her laughter.

It was childish, she acknowledged to herself, as she saw Michelle throw her soiled napkin down in disgust.

But it was fun. Dar resolutely turned her head toward her waiting audience, and proceeded to make a face at them, blowing bubbles as they pressed their faces against the glass.

Kerry rolled onto her back and rested her hands on her belly, twiddling her thumbs as she grinned. Then she hastily rolled back over and paid attention to the little boys, as the two women suddenly turned and looked out the viewing port, pointing and yammering at the harried looking waiter.

Dar drifted down to her knees in the shell bottom holding out her hands and playing pat a cake with the smaller of the two boys. He was squealing in delight, his eyes sparkling with excitement as he slapped the Plexiglas from his side, his mother looking on with a smile.

Kerry peeked past Dar's shoulder, hoping her features were obscured enough by her gear as she spotted the figures in the window peering at them. For a moment, she thought her eyes met Michelle's and she was busted, but after a split second the figures looked elsewhere, finally pointing toward two of the male divers who were chasing each other in and out of the coral.

Aww. Kerry felt a sense of guilty enjoyment. She turned her back on the window and fastened her eyes on her partner instead, who was now swimming slowly away from the restaurant panes, coming alongside one of the small gray sharks.

Kerry followed her, falling into her usual position at Dar's shoulder as they came alongside the next big coral formation, settling slowly to the bottom on their knees as an entire school of brightly colored fish swirled around them.

She tipped her head back and spread her arms, feeling the fins brush her fingertips. Ahead of them, most of the group was clustered near the clear Plexiglas tube, amusing a host of guests snapping photos. Kerry decided it was their turn to be on stage, and she stayed where she was, playing with a curious, small angelfish nibbling at the side of her mask.

Her heart was still beating rapidly from their prank. She wondered if Dar's was, noticing her partner was merely drifting around the rock formation, turning slowly along her length as she took in the inside of the tank. Casually, she reached up and closed her hand around Dar's bare ankle, feeling the steady flutter of her pulse beneath her fingertips.

Dar looked over at her, and waggled her flipper, giving Kerry a thumbs up and a wink clearly visible even behind her mask.

Heh. Kerry released her and undulated her body, diving down toward the bottom of the tank to have an up close and personal introduction to another big turtle plodding along.

This was fun. She touched the turtle's shell, drifting back a little as it stopped its methodical chewing of algae and peered at her with its fathomless black eyes. Had the turtle seen their joke?

Did he think it was funny, too? Kerry scratched him on the side of his neck, charmed by the creature's gentle regard.

Then the turtle winked at her, and swam on, searching for new patches of algae to consume. Kerry leaned on her elbow, and then turned her head as something nudged her. Expecting to see Dar, she saw a shark instead.

But since it was a Disney shark, the animal, rather than eating her, merely bumped her with its nose and slid past her, letting her trail her fingers over its sandpaper skin.

Incredible. Kerry grinned. Simply an incredible day.

"THAT WAS AMAZING." Kerry wiped her face with a towel, wishing for a glass of anything to clean the taste of rubber out of her mouth. "Dar, can you believe we got afrrff." Suddenly the taste of rubber was made irrelevant as Dar swung the door shut on their changing cubicle and kissed her, effectively cutting off what she intended on saying. "Mm."

"Shh," Dar whispered into her ear, jerking her head toward the next cubicles where the two other women on the dive were getting out of their gear. "Yeah, I can't believe we got so close to those fish either," she added, in a louder tone. "Incredible."

Kerry made a twirling motion with her fingers, unzipping Dar's wetsuit and peeling the neoprene off to reveal Dar's tanned shoulders. "Did you see that shark?"

"Mmhm." Dar stripped off the suit and stepped out of it, hanging it over the wall of the cubby and leaning in to start the shower running. "We've seen most of those things before, but never in one place, and never so damn clearly."

"Yup." Kerry peeled out of her own suit and added it to Dar's, then removed her swimsuit and hung it up as well. She stepped into the shower as Dar got naked and joined her, and bowing to the close confines of the small space, she made the most of it by putting her arms around Dar and hugging her.

Dar pressed the button on the shampoo dispenser, and used a handful to lather Kerry's hair for her. She scrubbed the thick, pale strands as Kerry simply stood quietly, her fingertips running up and down Dar's back in a lazy rhythm.

The water pounded down on them, warming them after the long immersion in the cold tank, and the chilly walk down from the diver's lock. Dar rinsed the soap out of Kerry's hair, and knelt, resting her chin against Kerry's thigh as Kerry returned the favor.

Her skin felt a little tender, and the long day's exertions had started to spread a slight ache through her body. She was looking forward to a nice dinner with Kerry, and then sliding under the covers with her back in their comfortable room. Then a thought occurred. "Oh, crap."

"Something wrong?" Kerry leaned toward her. "Did I hit the sunburn on your neck?"

Dar sighed. "No. I just remembered I promised Eleanor I'd stop by the convention center tonight and make sure everything's all right for the opening of the show tomorrow."

"Oh." Kerry ran her fingers through Dar's hair, removing the soap from it as her partner tipped her head back and looked up at her. "Well, that won't take long. We can...oh, crap."

"Mmhm. We have to go back and get the car," Dar said. "We took the bus and monorail." She sighed again. "Oh well. We'll just have to go do it." With that, she rested her hand on Kerry's tensed thigh and stood, reaching for the shower controls to turn them off. "After dinner."

"Absolutely. I'm hungry enough to have started chewing on those turtles down there and that would have been a shame because they were adorable," Kerry agreed, as she followed Dar out of the shower and handed her partner one of the two large towels they'd left waiting.

The other two women had already finished dressing, and they heard the door close as they dried off. "Not real friendly, huh?" Kerry peered in the direction of the exit.

Dar lifted herself up on her tiptoes and peered over the partition, making sure they were alone in the room. "No." She nipped Kerry's ear playfully. "Did you see the crosses? They're from a Kansas seminary."

Kerry stood quite still, enjoying the tingles brought on by Dar's teeth. "And?" She patted her partner's body dry with her towel, removing impudent droplets from between her breasts. "Did they guess we're gay or something? What clued them?"

"Beats me." Dar watched Kerry lean closer and kiss a few more droplets away. "Maybe it's our haircuts."

Kerry looked up at her, one eyebrow arching sharply.

"More likely it's the way we look at each other." Dar grinned. "Or the fact that we spend more time dressing and undressing each other than all the rest of them combined." She ruffled Kerry's wet hair. "C'mon. Let's get our T-shirts and our certificates, and go eat."

Kerry toweled her head vigorously, and reached for her clothing, dismissing their unfriendly neighbors with a shrug. Not everyone, she reminded herself, accepted their lifestyle as easily as their friends or Dar's parents.

In fact, she mused, as she pulled on her shorts and fastened them, most people who were not gay really didn't seem to be comfortable with the idea, at least at first. What she'd discovered, however, was that after a while, even the most wary generally got used to it, and then they forgot about it.

That was pretty much what happened with her and Dar at work. In the beginning, there had been many people who had avoided her like the plague unless they had to come to her for something.

Now, however, she very seldom got what she referred to as the 'ew--gay cooties!' response. People generally treated her like anyone else, and that really was all she ever could have asked for.

With a satisfied sigh, she shouldered her small bag and followed Dar out of the changing room, setting down both of their wetsuits in the marked hamper. She ran her fingers through her hair to put it in some kind of order, and rubbed a little remaining water from her eyes as Dar opened the door into the hallway and they joined the rest of the group.

"Okay." The guide reappeared, with two of his buddies carrying a clipboard and a pile of bags. "I've got your shirts and your guaranteed frameable certificates here...anyone interested in getting the video? We've got it inside, and it's just twenty bucks. The money goes toward the marine sciences institute here, so we can keep doing these kinds of services."

"We'll take one," Kerry spoke up ahead of the others, who agreed and nodded.

"Great." The man smiled at her. "Hey listen, did any of you see anything weird happen in the tank? Like around the windows to the restaurant?"

Kerry felt Dar inhale, and she instinctively took a step closer to her, caught flatfooted by this new danger of revelation. Had any of the others seen them? And if they had, would they tell? She let her eyes slowly drift around the group, and then fastened them back on the guide.

Everyone had a puzzled look. Even Dar had manufactured a nice one, cocking her dark head to one side and lowering her eyebrows.

"Okay, well, I didn't see anything either, but somebody inside the restaurant swears they had someone scare the poo out of a couple of people at one of the window tables, so...I had to ask. Probably was a fish." The guide dismissed the entire affair, and went about passing out their goodie bags.

"Whew," Kerry muttered under her breath.

"Mm." Dar returned the guide's smile and took her booty. "Thanks...that was great."

"Hey, thanks yourself! You were great," the guide responded. "You were a real trooper with the kids. They loved ya! Got any yourself?"

"Just a dog," Dar responded. "Glad I was a hit."

Kerry took her bag. "It was really fantastic," she complimented the guide. "I had a great time."

"You're a good diver," the man responded. "You've got great buoyancy control. You dive a lot huh?"

"I do, yes," Kerry agreed. "Mostly in the Caribbean and South Atlantic." She smiled at him. "This was really cool."

"Thanks! Tell all your friends." The man smiled back, and moved on. "Your tapes'll be out in a minute, and after that, my buddy John here will take you back out to the lobby. Hope you all had a great time!"

"Yes!" the group responded in a chorus.

Dar rested her forearm on Kerry's shoulder, and they both relaxed as the guide left and the rest of the group milled around waiting for their videos. "This was nice," she remarked. "Totally Disneyfied, but nice."

"Uh huh," Kerry agreed. "And at least they don't pipe "It's a Small World" at you through underwater speakers." She guided Dar toward the doors, where a new staffer had appeared with a stack of plastic videotape cases. "C'mon, let's go."

Dar took the tape from the woman and they escaped into the Living Seas, blending into the sparse crowd and heading for the exit. As they passed through the doors, Shari and Michelle entered from the other direction, pausing to look around intently before moving on.