People often wondered about the nieces of Principal Santos, though nobody wondered more than the boy who knew their secret and betrayed them. He often saw them together walking along the sandy shores, always careful never to get too close to the waves that so nearly brushed against their bare feet. Cam enjoyed watching them from afar, though he was disappointed that they never chose to be at the beach that they knew he was lifeguarding. The job was no longer enjoyable now that Zac was no longer his partner in crime.

Cam sat alone at the Ocean Café, his eyes constantly watching the waves almost as if he thought he was going to catch a glimpse of her tail as she dove into the cold water. He frequented the café knowing that Sirena did gigs there with David, though all three mermaids tended to avoid him, along with Evie and Zac.

"Can I get you anything today, Cam?" said a soft, feminine voice belonging to Carly, the waitress and basically the only person that still sometimes talked to him. Her brows were arched in curiosity – she often wondered why he came to the Ocean Café by himself and why he was no longer friends with the others – patiently waiting for him to order.

"Yeah, can I just have an order of prawns, Carly?" Cam replied, glancing away from the ocean for the first time that night.

"Sure thing, Cam," Carly replied, not looking back at him as she scribbled down his order in her little notebook and walked away. Had Cam turned his attention back to the ocean, he would have missed seeing Sirena brushing past his table and into the café just after David. Their show was going to be starting soon, he knew, but he didn't dare go inside. That would mean that he would have to be in the same room as Zac, and he had done enough of that at school because they had most of their classes together. Cam wasn't exactly ready to apologize yet, though he had come to terms with the fact that what he had done was wrong.

The soft tunes from David's guitar and Sirena's soft singing could be heard coming through the doors of the café, but Cam paid them little mind. His body froze, though it was by no magical reason. Lyla and Nixie just walked into the café and blatantly ignored him, but that was only to be expected.

"Here are you, Cam," Carly said suddenly. He hadn't even noticed that she had returned and placed the food before him on the table. "Enjoy."

Cam barely noticed her absence, however, because there was a strange feeling of emptiness in his chest whenever he saw Nixie around. She had a rather pretty face.

"Did you see Cam sitting out there by himself?" Lyla asked Nixie curiously, glancing back through the closed glass door of the Ocean Café as if she thought he was up to something, though she had perfectly good reason not to trust him anymore.

"No, I didn't even notice him," Nixie lied, following Lyla's gaze through the glass door. "Serves him right though, to be sitting out there by himself like that."

Lyla seemed to have believed Nixie's lie and turned her attention to Sirena's performance, just after allowing Carly to take their order of a couple of smoothies. Truth be told, Nixie had indeed noticed Cam sitting at a table on the deck outside. She saw him before she even saw the tables, the café, or even the ocean behind him. Cam was just the kind of person that stood out against everything else. At least, that's how it was for her. It might have seemed crazy, but for a split moment in her life, she thought that she actually meant something to Cam. Nixie thought that she was just a little more than just his partner in taking out Zac, though it seemed like she had never really mattered in his life; she felt like she was just a pawn in the game that he was playing, and she didn't like that at all.

"Here are your smoothies," Carly said as she placed the drinks on the table between Nixie and Lyla before leaving to take care of other tables. Carly didn't stay around to chat with them. She never really did.

"Thanks," Nixie said to her retreating back. She threw another glace out the window to the lonely boy sitting at a table with far too much food for one person. Had he meant to take it back to his family? Or was he expecting someone else to come and join him? Not that Nixie really cared, actually. Nixie was hurt by his betrayal, but it was a sad sight to see him out on the deck alone. His gray eyes flickered towards where she was sitting and captured hers, but Cam didn't give her that easy going smile he often threw on. There was something different about the way he looked, but Nixie couldn't quite put her finger on it. Nixie couldn't help but continue to look into his eyes – she was often told that eyes were the gateway to one's soul – and wonder why they seemed to be so different from what they used to be.

"Nixie," she heard Lyla calling.

Nixie practically had to tear her eyes away.

Cam had been on the outside looking in once before when his best friend turned into a mermaid and the other three girls discovered his secret, but this was something else entirely. For one, he was literally on the outside of the Ocean Café and looking through the glass doors. But for another thing, he wasn't used to feeling so alienated. Cam was used to being the life of the party.

He knew that he had hurt Nixie with his betrayal and expected to be ignored for the rest of his natural life, but part of him couldn't help but hope that she wouldn't hate him forever. Cam was looking everywhere but through the glass door that separated them, but he couldn't help but look when he felt like someone else was staring at him through those doors, and he was right to do so because she was staring right at him with those big, blue eyes of hers. The half-smile that he often left on his face faded quickly, though he hoped that she wouldn't notice that. Cam felt surprised, but it wasn't a bad thing. Perhaps he was feeling a little bit hopeful, but he couldn't get ahead of himself. He maintained eye contact with her.

There was an odd feeling in his chest that he simply couldn't describe. The emotion felt fluttering and fleeting and faded only after a couple minutes after she tore her eyes away from him. It was probably the most interaction he had with her since his betrayal on Mako Island. There was another odd sensation that resembled something like loss when he felt her eyes falling off of him. It was strange, to say the least.

Cam began to eat his food in peace thinking about how he would have to bring some home to his folks so that the food wouldn't go to waste. He forgot how big the portions were at the café. He usually used to just give all his extra food to Zac, but that was no longer an option seeing as they were no longer friends.

After eating as much as he possibly could, he decided that he would need to go a grab a box from inside. Cam caught himself hoping that he would see Nixie from much closer, though he pushed that thought out of his mind as soon as it entered. He trudged through the glass door hoping not to cause a scene. He knew that Lyla had been more than just a little bit jumpy when he came anywhere near, but Cam spotted her head of blond hair making its way into the ladies' room just as he passed the threshold of the café. It took everything in him to not look at Nixie, but he managed to make it to the counter and waited for Carly to return so that he could ask for a box to take him his leftovers.

What occurred next happened so quickly Cam would have missed it had he not been trying so hard to ignore Nixie. Cam watched as Carly tripped over another customer's outstretched food and fall to the ground, her tray of drinks being hurled across the room. Had he not known what would have happened next, he would have probably laughed at the whole situation, but he saw the glass of water splashing onto the floor by Nixie's feet, and then another on her table. Panic seized Nixie, that much was obvious.

Cam looked around and saw that Sirena was preoccupied making sure that David hadn't been hurt by a glass that flew right past his head and remembered that Lyla was in the bathroom. Nixie got up quickly but didn't look like she knew where she could run without it being too obvious, and the bathroom was too small and there was sure to be plenty of non-mermaids in there at this time. Nixie looked frozen with fear. Without thinking, Cam rushed over and seized her wrist and dragged her through the door of the café quickly. Nixie obliged without objection.

"Cam! I'm going to –" Nixie started with a shout before he felt her transforming in his grasp. Cam quickly turned and made sure that nobody else was on the deck.

"It's okay, I've got you," Cam stated, catching her before she fell. His gaze lingered on her a moment longer than he intended before her confused look allowed him to catch on to their current situation. "I'll help carry you to the water."

"No!" Nixie shouted in protest. She had never really been one to accept help from others, especially ones that she didn't trust. "I can do it myself. You…you should go back inside."

Cam let out an amused snort as he began dragging her to the edge of the dock. "What are you going to do? Roll yourself over the edge?"

"I very well could!" Nixie replied haughtily, as if that had been her plan all along.

"I just saved you," Cam said to her adamantly, casting her a smile, "I'm not going to leave you."

The two stared at each other for a moment. Nixie knew that he wasn't going to leave her and Cam knew that she was going to be stubborn, but realize that she needed his help.

"Trust me." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop himself. Cam watched as her lips twisted into a disapproving frown and his easy going smile faltered.

"We both know what happened last time," she stated simply. Need there be a further explanation?

Cam sighed heavily, but continued to drag her to the edge of the wooden deck until they reached the metal dock where she could safely get into the water, but her body was facing away from him.

"There." Cam let go of her waist – he had been very aware of the placement of his hands during the whole ordeal – and backed away from her. Much to his surprise, she didn't move other than to allow her tail to dip into the water. His smile returned once more, and so did the hope that he had been trying to suppress in his chest. "You know, you should really stop getting into these messes because you won't always have me around to get you out."

Nixie turned to face him and her eyes narrowed at him. She slipped into the dark, blue water quickly, though Cam could have sworn that he her say, "I didn't need your help" in her stubborn little way. He smiled at her tail as he watched it disappear into the depths. Looking back up at the deck beside the Ocean Café, he saw Sirena and Lyla dashing out and immediately catching his eye. They glared at him angrily as if it were all his fault, but he merely shrugged at them and smiled. They knew where Nixie had gone.

Cam slowly made his way back onto the cement and started heading home. His leftover food was forgotten as he thought about how he saved Nixie for the second time. His chest felt empty again, though he couldn't say why. Just before the ocean disappeared over the horizon, Cam allowed himself one look back, almost as if he hoped to see Nixie waving him off. But that's not what he knew would have happened. It's just…what he hoped would have happened.

So! This is my first crack at this and I do plan on turning this into a multichapter fic! Please leave me feedback on what you think of this so far so I can further expand my story! I absolutely love this pairing and already finished the second set of episodes on Netflix ):

Thanks (: