“What the actual fuck, Ross?” I yell, and I honestly don’t think I’ve ever yelled at somebody out of anger before in my life. But this betrayal, just weeks after Dominic’s, hurts too bad. “Are you kidding me?”

“This isn’t what it looks like,” Ross insists.

“Oh, so you weren’t getting ready to scale in there?”

“Well, yes, that is what we were going to do, but I didn’t like it.”

That one sentence, that small handful of words, is a whole whip-your-head-around, blood-flying-out-of-your-mouth slap to the face. Everything comes into focus. I’ve constantly lived for the validation of other people: for Miguel’s friendship, for Dominic’s love, for Ross to have feelings too. I become attached, and then get dropped when it’s most convenient for them. And I’ve let them. I let them do it every time. A lifetime’s worth of putting others first, and this is where it gets me. I’ve had enough.

This is the moment where I snap.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” I scream. “You come up here to have the authentic on-land experience, use me for dates, for kisses, for sex, and the whole time you’re hooking up with whoever you want whenever you want? Were they here the whole time? Was this whole thing a lie? That’s not how people act, Ross. Not decent people, at least, but if your goal was to come up here and find out what it’s like to be an asshole, you’ve completely succeeded. Journey accomplished!”

Ross drags themself a few feet across the floor, then grabs a blanket from the couch to frantically dry their fin. The fabric catches and pulls on their scales, Ross wincing in pain with each snag. “Sean, just let me explain.” The change kicks in, and Ross’s legs reappear. Wrapped in the blanket, they rush to close the distance between us. I literally growl when they step closer, stopping them in their tracks. They totter back and forth, like they’re desperate to get closer to me but know I won’t allow it.

“That’s Drop,” Ross says, perfectly mimicking the sound of a drop falling into water. “I mean Bob. They just got here. Today. They finished their Journey and figured they could wait it out here until we go back together.”

I should have known this was coming. I knew upfront that Ross was going to go back and choose their merlife over one on land. But the confirmation that they’re really going home reminds me that, once again, I wasn’t enough.

And it pisses me off.

“You know what, Ross? I’ll make this easy for both of us. You don’t have to explain a thing. You were going back all along, right? Continue to be selfish, just like every last mer out there.”