Here's the Rikki chapter! Thanks again for reading and favoriting the story! Hope you've enjoyed it!

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Rikki Chadwick fixed her hair with a compact mirror and then ducked behind the stage where the event coordinator was standing. The man immediately nodded to her- she was the internationally famous Rikki Chadwick after all, and then motioned to the stage setup. "What do you think, Miss Chadwick? Is there anything I can do for you?"

Rikki stared at the sky and then frowned. "Well, everything looks lovely except...well, it looks like it might rain. Is an outdoor stage really the wisest?"

The man glanced at his clipboard nervously. "Um, well, it was planned out weeks ago. The fresh air was going to be nice. There's still a chance it won't rain."

"And if it does?" Rikki raised her eyebrows.

"I'm quite sure it won't. At least not much. And a little water won't bother deep-sea divers like yourself, eh? Besides, I'm afraid it's too late to redo the stage design. But you don't need to worry yourself, Miss Chadwick."

"Right." Rikki frowned again, and wandered to the side of the stage to peek around at the spectators. Unfortunately, there was quite a crowd. The town had been advertising the divers' conference for months. Successful free divers from all around the world were in attendance, along with their families, sponsors, admirers, contractors, hopeful treasure hunters...the list ran on. Rikki had been happy to be invited. Will Benjamin had planned to come as well, and Rikki had been looking forward to seeing both him and Bella again, but then they had decided not to risk traveling while Bella was expecting. Rikki was excited for them- like any good friend -but at the same time, she was thoroughly disappointed. It felt like Bella and Will had entered another world and left Rikki behind- just as it had been when Emma and her family had left the Gold Coast, and then again when Cleo and Lewis had gotten married and moved to the opposite side of the world. They had all moved away and grown up. It didn't matter that they were all in their mid-twenties, same as Rikki. Her friends seemed decades older.

And it was lonely. Even though she had seen it coming when Emma gushed about Europe in the text messages she sent and it had been a given that she would go to a university abroad. And when Lewis returned to America after the summer he had came back for their graduation, Rikki knew Cleo would eventually leave too. The two's second goodbye had been even harder than the first, and so when Cleo started working extra shifts and applying for scholarships left and right, Rikki had been the quickest to guess her friend's plan to take her education to California as well. And before they knew it, time passed and Lewis and Cleo were married, suddenly in a different, much more grown-up sphere. Then Bella and Will decided they wanted that level of seriousness, and Rikki wasn't even surprised when they tied the knot a few short years later and began traveling the world. Which left Rikki by herself. Of course, she had her dad- but he had never been the most reliable and Rikki had moved out as soon as she could afford an apartment's rent. And then there was Zane- but with him it was hit and miss; on and then off. They'd gotten back together and then broken up again so many times that it became predictable. Date for four or five months. Fight. Call it off. Wait about three months. Repeat. Right then they were in the middle of the "wait three months" stage. But this time Rikki was determined not to jump back into a relationship the instant Zane started flirting with her again.

Speak of the devil...Rikki noticed Zane Bennett sink into a seat toward the front of the seating area facing the stage. Why was he there? They needed to wait at least another month before they'd be on speaking terms again. Surely he hadn't come to see her?

"Good afternoon everyone!" Mr. Cartwright, the head of the Gold Coast's largest museum, stepped onto the stage with a microphone. He was old and rich and generally bad tempered, but Rikki had always gotten along with him. He had been one of the reasons her career had taken off the way it did.

"I am glad you all could join us today...Excuse me! If you're talking right now, stop. Take a seat. Thank you!" He cleared his throat and glared at the audience and Rikki smiled. "Anyway, I'd like to start by calling some of our local divers on stage first. Australia has many fine and courageous divers and a large quantity of the artifacts that fill our museums come from the findings of the following people..."

Mr. Cartwright began reading from a list of names. As Rikki had been expecting, her name was one of the first to be called.

Clip, clop, clip. Rikki's heels echoed on the stage floor as she made her way to the front to shake Mr. Cartwright's hand and to wave to the audience. She saw Zane watching her closely and sighed. She really could have gone without the whole stage-intro-ordeal. And at the end of the conference, she'd have to go back on stage again. Each diver in attendance would receive an honorary pin and a certificate when the week finished. The conferences about diving finds and rules and opportunities were informative enough that Rikki would have happily skipped the whole publicity deal and certificate, and simply showed up for the meetings. However, that didn't involve the community enough, according to event organizers. And for some divers, the stage presentation was the entire reason they showed up.

"Let's give all these fine people a round of applause," said Mr. Cartwright as Rikki and her fellow Australian divers took quick bows. Rikki noticed that Zane stood up and clapped for her. She fought against rolling her eyes.

Mr. Cartwright turned away from the mike to address Rikki and her diving rivals. "You all get to remain on stage until we honor everyone. It'll be a good photo-op with the whole group." Without waiting to see if anyone had any quarrels with that, he continued on, recognizing the divers from the South Sea Islands.

Rikki glanced around at the crowd and absentmindedly fluffed her hair with a hand. Then she felt a raindrop land on her wrist. Rikki snapped to attention and wiped her hand on the skirt of her silky rose print dress. Mr. Cartwright was going to be mad at her. But she had to get to safety!

"And from the United States, we have Hannah Baylee, Mark Denn..."

Rikki toned out the names as another drop of rain landed in her hair. That was bad. She couldn't exactly wipe her head on her skirt. At least not gracefully. Which meant she had ten seconds... Less than that. It was closer to seven now.

Rikki glanced at the crowd in panic. Zane was already out of his seat, motioning to a makeshift sound booth to the side of the stage.

"Excuse me! I'm having an emergency!" Rikki pushed past the other divers in front of her and sprinted down the steps toward Zane. Mr. Cartwright stopped his name reading. Every eye landed on the escaping Rikki.

"In here," said Zane. He had evidently already cleared the staff members from the sound booth- somehow- and he practically pushed Rikki into the tiny enclosed space before he closed the door on her.

Rikki transformed the instant it shut. Unfortunately, though, it was a sound booth. It had open glass in the top windows and no lock. And the booth was still in view of the entire crowd. Rikki shifted her position so her tail was pressed to the ground. Hopefully if she stayed low, no one would be able to see through the windows. And hopefully Zane would come up with a decent cover story for her.

Outside the cramped closet-like building, she could hear the crowd whispering. Then, his voice muffled by the walls, Zane started explaining Rikki's dash to the sound booth.

"She meant no disrespect, Mr. Cartwright. Rikki is feeling sick. She told me so earlier. She was about to vomit. All over. And she didn't want to ruin your stage."

Rikki pressed her lips together tightly to keep from yelling at Zane. She supposed it wasn't the worst excuse he could have come up with, but it didn't exactly paint a lovely picture either.

"So she's going to throw up all over my sound system instead? Get her to the bathrooms," ordered Mr. Cartwright.

Rikki was drying herself quickly, but she needed a few more moments...Zane, keep stalling! she mentally begged.

Fortunately, he complied. "Oh, I doubt she's actually vomiting, sir. Rikki has high stress sometimes. She probably just needed to put her head between her knees; take some deep breaths. And the sound booth is a better place to do that than the stage. You know, her tight dress and all."

"It's not that tight," hissed Rikki through the door, annoyed.

"Well, fine. Make sure she's not throwing up on everything. Shall we continue?" Mr. Cartwright went back to reading names and Rikki could feel Zane leaning against the sound booth door, blocking anyone from entering. She finished drying herself and straightened up, blushing as she noticed most of the audience still looking curiously toward her through the windows. It had stopped raining- for the moment. She could see that much. She only hoped none of them had been able to see her tail.

"Zane! Let me out," said Rikki when she tried to open the door and found it was still being blocked by her frenemy. "I'm dry!"

"You sure?"

"Hhmm, let me think- of course, dummy!"

"Come on, Rikki, nice words." He opened the door, which Rikki was pushing against, and as an unfortunate result, she tumbled out of the booth, and had to be caught by Zane.

"Feeling better, Rikki?" He was holding her as if they were dancing and though she didn't mind it, she reminded herself very forcefully that she was done falling for Zane. Even if he had helped her.

"Let me go!" She stormed toward the stage, once again realizing that Mr. Cartwright had stopped talking and everyone was watching her. Even though it wasn't sprinkling as it had been a few minutes earlier, the sky was still dark. Any second the downpour could begin. It would be too risky to head back on stage. She would have to go home- pretend she really was still ill.

"Good evening everyone, I'm leaving. Sorry for the disruption." Rikki waved to Mr. Cartwright, somewhat sheepishly, and made her way behind the stage. To her annoyance, Zane followed.

"Well, aren't you going to thank me?" asked her self-appointed shadow. A typical Zane question, thought Rikki. She didn't even dignify it with a response.

He didn't have time to ask again- Rikki felt a raindrop on her shoulder and she acted on instinct, grabbing Zane's arm and using his sleeve to wipe away the water.

"Rikki!"

She relinquished his arm and searched for cover frantically. They were still behind the stage-which thankfully had a curtained backdrop so they were out of view- but there were very few hiding spots. Except...

Rikki dropped to her knees and rolled under the stage. Her poor dress was going to be ruined...she sighed. The prices she paid for staying human.

"Rikki! Someone's going to see you!" Zane had apparently thought she needed his company, because he had crawled under the stage too.

"How? The front of the stage is covered by that banner. Unless someone's crawling around behind the stage... I'm fine. And you can go. Why are you here anyway?"

The light under the stage was dim, and Rikki wasn't sure whether Zane looked irritated or sad. "To see you, obviously."

"Really? I thought we were supposed to be avoiding each other for a few more weeks." Rikki made sure he didn't miss the sarcasm in her tone.

"Oh come on, Rikki. I've been doing some thinking-"

"That's bad."

"-and this relationship-game we're playing," continued Zane, ignoring Rikki's comment, "just seems...childish."

"Agreed."

"No, childish in the sense that we don't even try anymore. We fight and leave, rather than thinking it over and communicating like...like mature adults who actually care!"

"Zane..." Rikki's voice was patronizing, but she couldn't help it. She was flattened to the ground, cold patches of weeds pressed against her stomach. "This is really not the time. And even if it was...If you were right, who's fault is the lack of communication?" She frowned and shook her head. "I try. Every time. But you don't change, Zane."

"But I want to! Rikki, listen." Zane snake-crawled across the grass so that he was close enough to Rikki to take her hand. "Look around us! Time's passing us up. Emma's engaged, Cleo's been married for years, Bella's expecting, and what are we doing?"

"Hiding under a stage? There's no need to be so philosophical, Zane..."

"Rikki! I'm just saying I've realized I'm being stupid, okay?" He let out a frustrated sigh. "Look, when we tried to go out with other people, to truly leave our relationship in the past, neither of us were happy, right? So we went back to each other because...well, deep-down I think we really care about us."

Rikki didn't want to agree with Zane. Sometimes it was easier to just stay mad. But he was right. In a way. The last few breakups had been expected- and they hadn't truly tried to repair the damage. She didn't think they'd ever really apologized to each other- at least not for years. And maybe that was childish. All couples fought, right? But the difference was that other couples made up afterwards- they fought for the relationship instead of fleeing the bloodshed.

"Maybe, maybe...you have a point, Zane. But are you really saying that you're going to make the effort?"

"Yes, Rikki. I'm going to try. And if you try too, we might...we might have a chance. Maybe. But I want to give it another shot."

"I'll think on it, Zane," said Rikki, even though she already knew her answer. Depsite all her oaths against Zane, she wanted to try again too. And if they broke up- so what? They'd dumped each other before. They really had nothing to lose.

"That's all I'll ask for. Think on it," he smiled and Rikki found herself working very hard to keep a straight face.

Before either of them said anything else, though, Rikki noticed something seemed wrong. It was too quiet. Had Mr. Cartwright finished his introductions?

"Hey!" Zane complained as a light suddenly shined directly in his eyes. Rikki's heart skipped a beat as the flashlight beam then found her. Someone was holding the light, bent over behind the stage.

Rikki gulped when she saw the figure. It was Mr. Cartwright. She glanced at Zane in panic but he was gaping blankly, still squeezing her hand. Rikki sighed and tried to scoot as far away from Zane as she could. This looks so bad...

"Miss Chadwick! I am extremely disappointed by this...this-" He looked so disgusted he could hardly get the words out. "This incredulously unprofessional behavior!"

"Mr. Cartwright, I can explain-"

"And Mr. Bennett, isn't it? What on earth were you two thinking?! We could hear you whispering from the stage!"

"We just really needed to talk. And it's dry under here," started Rikki.

"It's dry?! You get wet for a living, Miss Chadwick! How am I supposed to suddenly believe you're afraid of a little rain! It only lasted a few minutes anyway. But seriously! If you think I'm going to believe you'd rather crawl under a stage than walk through the rain...You better come up with a better excuse, Miss Chadwick!"

"It was my fault, sir," Zane cut in. "I pulled her under the stage with me, hoping she still felt the same way about me as I did about her."

"Oh, please," scoffed Mr. Cartwright, obviously still upset. "Rikki, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask that you not attend the rest of the conference. Your behavior...it's childish; foolish; unruly. And I don't even want to know what you were doing in the sound booth. Or under here," he gestured to the stage and scowled. Rikki just sighed. She had caused quite a disturbance. Twice. She deserved to be banned.

"Please, Mr. Cartwright! Reconsider! Rikki's an excellent diver; all this is my fault!" Zane crawled out from under the stage to implore Mr. Cartwright.

"I'm sorry. But I will not take back what I said. Unlike some." He frowned at Rikki and started to walk off, but then out of the blue began laughing.

"Oh, this will be a story for years to come, won't it, Rikki! The time I caught you and the Bennett guy under the stage during intros." Mr. Cartwright slapped his thighs in mirth, shook his head and then continued walking back to the other side of the stage. Rikki blinked at Zane to make sure she hadn't imagined the entire scene.

"Um, so is he still upset?" Zane asked.

Rikki shrugged. "Maybe a little. But evidently not enough to think it's a bad story. He's looking forward to embarrassing me with it, which obviously means he still wants me around. I don't really know. He's odd, but I'll patch things up with him. He likes when I bake."

Zane raised his eyebrows, but didn't comment. Instead, he simply offered Rikki a hand to help her up from under the stage. She took it and allowed herself to smile at Zane.

"Thank you. For trying so hard to cover for me. And trying to take the blame."

"But I still got you banned."

Rikki waved a hand dismissively as she finished dusting the grass off her dress. She was surprised to find that she didn't really care about being excluded from the meetings. It was a little disappointing, but she was honestly more thankful she had simply made it out of the ordeal without turning into a mermaid again. And it was a nice bonus that Zane was acting better than his normal self. She supposed it wouldn't last, but she didn't really care at the moment. Zane had his good sides. And maybe his goodness would eventually win out.

"Come on, let's get you out of here before it starts raining again," suggested Zane, taking her hand and power-walking toward the parking lot. Rikki nearly jogged to keep up. Behind them she could hear Mr. Cartwright, talking into his mike, going on about the conferences throughout the week.

"So, um, since you're not going to be sitting in workshops all day tomorrow...How would you like to visit Mako with me?" Zane suddenly asked. "We could take a picnic, go swimming..?"

Rikki grinned at his effort to please her. It actually did sound fun. If all the rest of their friends were having fun and exciting lives, why couldn't Rikki and Zane too? Even if it was temporary, it was something.

They reached the parking lot and hesitated before starting toward their separate cars.

"Well?" prodded Zane.

Rikki started to walk away. "I'll think about it." She peeked back over her shoulder as Zane called,

"Wait! That's a yes, isn't it?"

Rikki winked and climbed into her car, just as the rain began again. She sat and watched it for a long moment: all the individual droplets, racing each other across the windshield.

Sometimes rain was inconvenient and irritating. But other times...Rikki decided it was a beautiful thing.