I'm able to walk by now, and the sand starts to get very hot. With that, I realized...

How am I going to survive? I'll need some food and water. And shoes.

Luckily, I found some sand dollars on the beach. The cashier at the store will except them, won't they? Of course. Why not?

     I make my way to the row of shops and step into the first one I see. I'm the only shopper there. It's very...fancy.  The walls are a dark pink and a crystal chandelier hangs in the center of the ceiling. Hanging from the walls are row after row of fancy jewelry. I see clothes, too. On the lower shelves lining the room, I see a bunch of rectangular boxes, and I grab one of them right away.

     I open the first box I see and find a pair of what I guess were shoes because they looked like they would fit on my feet. They are boots with distressed seams, and they are the color of acid-washed jeans. The laces and soles are black. They look like they've been worn a number of times.

They're perfect! My first pair of human shoes!

     I hear the bells hanging on the door ring. In walks a girl about my age, and...

Oh.

My.

Starfish.

     She has silky dark brown hair the reaches her shoulders. She is wearing very little makeup and has skin the color of caramel. She is wearing a navy blue shirt and a light brown leather jacket over it. Her jeans don't have holes in them, like all the ones in this store, and she has ankle boots with fur edges. She is smiling with perfect white teeth.

She's a human.

And she's beautiful.

     I order all those thoughts to go away. I mean, I've only ever seen mermen and mermaids be attracted to one another, why would...

    A nasal voice sounds from the other end of the room. "So, are you going to check out or..."

   I shake the stars out of my eyes and turn away. "Oh! Yes," I say, heading to the counter.

  She scans the stripy thingy on the side of the box with an evil red laser beam that could probably shoot your eye out. She places the evil laser beam that could probably shoot your eye out in its holster and glares at me expectantly. After a while..."Are you gonna pay?" she snaps.

     "Yes! Yes, I will. I have, uhh..." I dig into my pocket and find two sand dollars that I'd found. She glares at them as I lay them on the counter. "Uh, you can't pay with those."

"But they're money!"

"Uh, no, they're not. I'm going to have to ask you to-"

"Relax. I got it." A voice says next to me. The girl from before is there, digging into a folded-up leather pouch.

She's right next to me, I mean. Is nobody going to react to this?

     I all of a sudden feel like a bajillion butterflyfish are swimming around in my stomach. My cheeks get really hot and I run my fingers through my hair.

The girl takes a bunch of green paper out of her wallet and hands it to the cashier, who glares at the paper, the girl and I before snatching it out of her hand. 

"Thanks," I say, looking at the human up close for the first time.

"No problem," she says with a chuckle, smiling that adorable smile.

"I'm Alexis. You can call me Lexi if you want." She holds out her hand.

I awkwardly shake it, trying not to look entranced in her kind hazel eyes.

"I'm Oceana."

Her eyebrows rise. "Oceana? That's such a cool name!"

I chuckle, blushing again. "Thanks. Your name's cool, too."

She giggles. "Thank you."