How to Date an Alien (9 page)

“But Caltians—” He released his hand from
mine and for the first time slid off his fingerless glove. “—We
usually maintain a cool temperature of forty-five degrees
Fahrenheit, but when we get this excited, this happens."

He put my hand back into his and it was like
the feeling of static electricity running through my body. The heat
was so intense that it sent a wave of warmth from the tip of my
toes to the top of my head and everywhere in between.

“It’s all in our hands.”

His eyes met mine again. I couldn’t tell if
it was the warm feeling running through my body or just how close I
was to Ace, but every part of me wanted him closer, to feel the
cold air from his body. Ace obviously had the same idea as he
leaned in toward me, his breath forming an ice cloud on my
lips.

“So, I guess the change of clothes
worked?”

Ace and I jumped back, releasing our hands.
Jen stood there, staring at us with her hands on her hips.

“Uh, Ace was just telling me," I stammered,
my eyes darting around like my excuse would be somewhere in the
room.

Ace put his glove back on, not even saying a
word. He just grinned from ear to ear.

“Yeah, yeah, from what I saw it didn’t look
like talking." She looked from Ace to me, before looping her arm
through mine.

“So, I guess Alex asked if you and your
friends wanted to stop by the bowling alley near the reservation?"
Jen stared at Ace and he tried everything not to look at us.

“Well, no, I didn’t actually ask him." I
looked at Ace and felt that same electricity running through me
without even touching him. “But if you’re not doing anything, the
interns are going out to the bowling alley. If you have nothing
better to do tonight. Which I’m sure you do.”

“Yeah." Ace sat down in his chair, acting
like he was looking up something on the screen. “I might stop by if
I’m not too busy here. Have fun though.”

His words stung me more than I wanted. I
thought I saw something in his eyes that said he wanted to be with
me as much as I had longed to be with him. But as soon as Jen
walked in the room he acted as if nothing happened, as if nothing
that was said between us was real.

Following Jen into the hall, I tried to hide
my longing, but I couldn't stop myself from peeking back through
the closing door. The door was like a metaphor for our
relationship, each of us tried to open it, but every time we got
close, it just closed again. I wished that Jen would have just
waited a few moments before interrupting us, because I wasn't even
sure if I would be able to open Ace's door again.

“Those humans have been here a few weeks and
they get clearance to take out a Jeep, but I’ve been here for
centuries and never once got to take out so much as a riding lawn
mower," a small orange alien with long inky black hair and a face
like a pug whined.

The bored-looking guy sitting behind the desk
in the hangar rolled his eyes. “Snurf, you know why you don’t have
clearance.”

“That was the Middle Ages! And come on, you
know everyone agreed Earth needed some sort of a plague!" It
stomped its pig-like feet.

I leaned over toward Jen and whispered, “did
it really do that?”

Jen shrugged and whispered back, “Wouldn’t
put it past a girl from Venus. They aren’t known for their
class.”

“Alright, Mr. James, it looks like you are
all set. Just make sure to have the vehicle back by midnight." The
desk guy handed a set of keys to Malcolm, ignoring the steam that
was rising from Snurf’s overly teased hair.

Gavin came up behind me and pressed his lips
to my ear. "We'd better go before she explodes."

Obviously Gavin had forgotten, or had chosen
to ignore our interaction only a few nights ago, and was still
trying his hardest to make an impact on me. As we approached the
big green vehicle we heard the clunking of heels behind us. I was
afraid that it was Snurf coming after us, but when I turned around,
I saw she was the least of my worries.

“Hey, sorry, I got sidetracked reading an
article, but I'm here now!" The last person I expected or wanted to
see was coming toward the vehicle. Riley. She climbed in the front
seat like it was some sort of throne and didn't even look at the
rest of us.

“Uh, are there enough seats for all of us?" I
looked up to the small backseat then back down to Gavin, Jen, and
Justin.

“Well, I'm not sitting in the back," Riley
quipped and buckled her seat belt. "And it looks like we are all—"
she stopped to smirk in my direction. "—well, most of us are
twenty-one and should be able to get in without a problem. If
anyone needs to stay back, it should be the underagers."

I was about to turn around and head back to
my room when I felt Gavin’s hand on my shoulder. “It’s fine. We can
squeeze in.” He looked down at me, smiling. “The girls can sit on
our laps if they need to."

Gavin’s arms slipped around me as Malcolm
started up the Jeep and headed out of the hangar. I wished that it
had been Ace’s arms around me instead, and I couldn’t help let my
mind wander back to our second almost-kiss in the security office.
I really hoped that he would be waiting for me at our
destination.

The bowling alley was about thirty miles from
the base in some small town with a population of 200 and one stop
sign. Each house looked more worn down than the next and in the
middle of town sat the bowling alley. It looked more like someone
had thrown up a rickety shack in the middle of a few houses. The
only light came from some candy-colored signs in the windows. I
tried to ignore the moldy smell in the air as we walked past the
mixture of locals in cowboy hats leaning against the wood-paneled
bar or teetering on snakeskin-upholstered stools.

“Alright, I need a drink." Riley sauntered
over to the bartender, an overweight redhead who was missing so
many teeth I wondered how she was able to talk.

“So, do you want to bowl?" Gavin looked over
at me.

“Of course she wants to bowl." Jen nudged me.
“She needs some good ol’ human activities.”

Gavin forced a smile, gritting through his
teeth like he was struggling to speak. “Great, I’ll go get us some
shoes if you girls go pick out a lane.” He didn't even paying
attention to Jen, just stared at me. “What size are you?”

“Seven,” I blurted, staring down at the
sticky floor.

“Same,” Jen said before Gavin turned toward
the shag carpet-lined shoe counter.

“I thought you had obnoxiously large feet,”
Jen whispered. We walked over to the six lane bowling area,
complete with seventies Coca-Cola ads and orange carpet that felt
like sandpaper.

“I do, but I didn’t want him to know that," I
whispered back, not looking at Jen as I searched the lanes, hoping
to see Ace or at least someone else from Circe, but there wasn’t
anyone I recognized except for the people I rode in with.

“What are you looking for, brown eyes?"
Justin asked as he and Malcolm approached, handing Jen a drink.

“I think she’s hoping to see someone of a
different race here, and I’m not talking about Malcolm." Jen winked
before taking a sip of her drink.

“You’re not talking about that alien you work
with, are you?" Malcolm raised an eyebrow.

“Hey, what’s up? You all aren’t talking about
me, are you?" Gavin asked as he and Riley walked down to the
bowling area.

“I guess only if you’re tall, dark, and not
from this planet." Justin laughed, slamming the rest of his
drink.

Riley rolled her eyes. “Can we just spend one
night not talking about those things? It’s bad enough we have to
spend all day working with them. I thought by taking this
internship I would get some great research for my thesis on Mars'
plant life, but having to work alongside those
bugs
has made
me really wish I had just taken an internship back in Philly.” She
shivered, shaking her head as she knocked around a few ice cubes in
her drink with a tiny red straw.

Then she looked directly at me, a smug smile
crossing her face. “But I don’t think Alex minds working with the
bugs. Do you, Alex?”

I could feel the heat of everyone’s eyes on
me. I tried to focus on the wood-paneled walls and ignoring
them.

“Oh, come on, guys. We aren’t here to talk
about work. Let’s bowl." Jen nudged me before heading toward the
rusted metal ball rack.

Everyone else followed, but Gavin slinked in
next to me. “Were you really looking around for one of those
aliens?" he whispered.

I tried to ignore the pointedness of the
question and knew the answer that he wanted wasn't the one that he
was going to get.

“Well, I kind of invited Ace.”

Gavin’s eyes widen as his hands closed into a
tight fist around his plastic cup.

“But it was just to be nice,” I blurted,
trying to cover my tracks. “He was asking me why I was all dressed
up, so I told him that we were going out and he could come if he
wanted.”

Gavin shook his head, crushing the glass in
his white-knuckled fist with a loud pop. “I can’t believe you have
to work with that thing all day. You shouldn’t have even brought it
up to him. I don’t think he even has clearance to leave base,” he
spat.

“Why wouldn't he have permission?”

Everyone went silent and I heard a low growl
escape Gavin's lips. He leaned in closer. “You really don’t know
the kind of guy you’re working with? What that bug has done?”

“Come on, Gavin. Let’s just have some fun.
Let's not talk about aliens tonight." Justin swooped in at Gavin's
side and put his hand on his shoulder, but Gavin flicked it away. A
bead of sweat formed on his forehead as he wiped back his
bangs.

“No, if she wants to know, I'll tell her. We
don't want her to have another incident like with the Cephlapod."
Gavin leaned in even closer. His breath smelled just as sour as the
words that were coming out of his mouth.

“That little alien friend of yours isn’t as
innocent as he makes himself out to be. Trying to act like he's
your guardian when really there should be someone guarding you from
him. He’s classified as dangerous and potentially hazardous to
humans and other aliens." Gavin’s eyes narrowed.

“That can’t be true." I crossed my arms
firmly over my chest. “Why would my dad let me work with him if he
was dangerous? Why wasn't I told about this before?”

“They kind of had to let the two of you work
together after he killed that Cephalopod who attacked you. Plus, he
threatened to take down a whole unit if they didn’t let the two of
you work together,” Riley chimed in from behind Gavin. "We only
just found out about it ourselves."

I shook my head, turning my back to everyone
and looked down at the ball rack. “No, you’re wrong. He was trained
in the Air Force; that’s why he’s considered dangerous and
potentially hazardous."

Riley pushed her way past Gavin and I looked
up at her. "It's funny how soon you forget that an alien attacked
you on your first day here and yet you still feel like you need to
protect them."

Gavin nodded in Riley's direction and threw
his cup in a nearby trashcan. He mumbled something under his breath
as he made his way back to the bar. Justin fell in line beside him
and whispered something, trying not to look my way.

Riley flipped a stray strand of hair behind
her ear, glancing back at the other interns who were pretending not
to listen. She locked her eyes back on me and leaned in to whisper,
"Look, I didn't realize what I was getting into either when I
applied for this internship. But I know one thing is for sure, if
you don't stay away from that Ace guy as much as you can, it could
end really badly."

"That doesn't make any sense. Why would a
whole unit bow down to him like that?" I questioned.

She shrugged. "He's either got some sort of
alien mind control or he's just more powerful than either of us
realize."

I shook my head. "Riley why are you telling
me this? You don't even really like me."

She smirked, wrinkling her little nose. "Of
course I like you, Alex. And I don't want anything bad to happen to
you or any of the other interns. After all, you are the girl that
got attacked for giving a thumbs up on the first day. Wouldn't want
something like that to happen again."

"Well, I guess I can understand that."

"Good." Her smirk turned into a weak attempt
at a smile "I'm glad we have an understanding. Now let's bowl."

I followed Riley back toward the rest of the
group, but couldn't help glancing over my shoulder at the door,
still hoping that there was someone else waiting for me. No matter
how he was classified.

The rest of the night went by in a blur.
Gavin wouldn't speak to me, and I would catch him glaring at me
whenever he got the chance. I didn't understand why he seemed to
have so much contempt for aliens, but accepted an internship at an
alien operations center.

Jen kept assuring me that it was nothing and
he was just jealous and a little buzzed, so I should ignore him and
have some fun. But how could I have any fun when I spent the whole
night either worried about what Riley and Gavin were whispering or
constantly looking toward the door to see if Ace would walk through
it?

I tried to ask Malcolm and Justin if what
Riley and Gavin said about Ace was true, but they acted just as
confused as I was. Justin kept throwing around ideas that were
really nothing more than gossip, but I knew that wasn't the answer.
No one knew any more about Ace's classification or why he was so
persistent to have us work together, but once I got back to Circe I
knew exactly where to get my answers.

“We’re going to hang out in the boys' room
for awhile and watch some TV. Do you want to come?" Jen asked as we
slid out of the Jeep. She and Malcolm probably had the least to
drink, but she was still wobbly on her heels. Why a girl as tall as
her felt the need to wear heels to a bowling alley was beyond
me.