How to Marry an Alien (9 page)

"Well, I think we ought to get going. Ace
should take me back to my dorm before it gets too late. I have
early classes tomorrow." Ace and I headed for the door with dad
following close behind.

"Okay, Alex, if you are sure. Call me if you
need anything." He opened the door, and I stepped out into the
hallway, taking Ace's hand while we made our way back the way we
came, with nothing still answered.

"Do you want me to see if I can get a Circe
vehicle to take you back to the dorms?" Ace asked once we left the
officer's quarters.

I let out a long breath. "Not really."

I didn't want to have to go back to my room.
It had been a long day and since nothing had been solved with
Riley, I didn't want to have to walk back in there, alone, to stare
at the girl that pointed a gun to my head.

"Does this mean you want to stay here?" He
arched a brow, looking down at me.

"Only if you want me too…" I looked down and
back up at him, blinking slowly while letting out a hint of a
smile.

"Princess, the joys of having you in the same
bed as me are comparable only to a Caltian sunrise," Ace said,
squeezing my hand.

I laughed. "I have no idea what you just
said."

Ace steered me down a hallway. The
temperature dropped another few degrees. Caltian quarters. "It
means that I would love to have you spend the night."

As much as I wanted him earlier that day,
with visions of Riley and guns running through my head, the last
thing on my mind was getting busy. But I'd take any chance I had
not to go back to my dorm room.

Ace was able to get a Circe Jeep early that
morning to drive me back to my dorm. I got a better feeling of the
term 'walk of shame' when I walked in the lobby with my bed head
and clothes from the night before. I was greeted by the same
pink-haired girl at the counter and a crowd of eager band kids
gathered near the elevator.

Ugh. I stepped in behind a guy with a giant
tuba wrapped around him, looking up at the floor numbers. At that
rate, I wouldn't even have time for a shower before classes—way to
make an impression on the professors.

Once I got to my room door, I thought about
knocking and hoped that Lucy and Riley weren't doing the thing that
Ace and I definitely weren't doing. But I didn't hear anything, so
slowly I unlocked the door and opened it as quietly as I could.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Lucy
curled up in bed, alone, only snuggling with her comforter. I went
to my dresser, quickly wrapping my hair into a bun and tossing my
books into my messenger back before darted out the door and to my
classes.

I practically ran to the communications
building with just enough time to spare to grab a bag of chips for
breakfast from the vending machine. I followed another
sleepy-looking kid in the classroom where Professor Johnson smiled
at me all-too-brightly. Ugh, I did not want to be the teacher's
pet.

I found the same spot I had sat in the last
two days and plopped down, putting the chip bag up to my mouth and
scarfing the remaining chips in the bag. I didn't have to appear to
be a lady in front of the class. Not like I cared what they thought
of me. I was still in the clothes they saw me in yesterday, so they
either thought I was just unclean or knew I probably didn't go home
the night before. I didn't have time to change and it was too dang
hot to throw on a hoodie over what I was wearing.

"Alright, class." Professor Johnson clapped
her hands together. She was in prime form with her swingy
boho-style dress and red hair pulled into a tight braid. She
actually looked like a college professor instead of someone from
another planet.

"Since some of you will be doing your first
speeches on Friday, I thought today we could work on your speech
outlines. I would like you all to get into groups of three and give
input on each other's work. Afterward you will all have some time
to work on your own assignments.

Crap
. I reached into my messenger bag,
pulling out my communication folder. The day before, Professor
Johnson gave us a fill-in-the-blank outline that we were supposed
to work off to prepare for our first speech. Not only was mine
still blank, but I was also one of the students who got the brunt
of having Friday as my speech day.

Double crap
.

Slowly, I picked my bag up and walked to the
last group of two students who pushed their desk into a small
triangle. Since there were only twelve of us it wasn't that hard to
remember who was who.

"Hey, guys."

I plopped my messenger bag down next to me
and took my seat. An Indian boy with thick glasses and a bowl cut
named Aapt sat to my left. On the other side was a girl with glossy
black hair, cut short and spiky. I believed her name was Skye or
something ethereal like that.

They both nodded in my direction. I looked
down at their desks. They had their speech titles written down and
their outlines completely filled out. There dates also weren't
until the following week.

Triple crap
. They had more time than
me to prepare and they already had everything finished.

"So, what are you guys doing for your
informative speech?" I asked.

Five to seven minutes to educate the class on
a topic, and then you were critiqued by someone else in the class.
Then, in turn, that person had to speak for another two minutes
about their evaluation of you. Ugh, maybe if my roommate hadn't
brought her girlfriend home or I wasn't so worried about trying to
get in Ace's pants I could have actually done my homework.

Aapt cleared his throat. "I plan on
explaining how nuclear power works and how it has evolved since
Hiroshima and Nagasaki."

Awesome. Not only did he have a good topic,
but he actually seemed to know what he was talking about. He even
went as far as to spend his night in the library, looking through
articles and finding interviews with people in different nuclear
sectors.

Skye had a voice that always sounded superior
to everyone else's, but surprisingly she was still really nice. Her
voice was just snotty. Her speech topic was even better than
Aapt's: about the canon in high school literature and how it has
defined what we read and how it is used today in pop culture. Why
didn't I think of something cool like that? Oh yeah, because I was
busy worrying about my roommate's girlfriend's former psychotic
tendencies.

"What about yours, Alex?" Aapt asked.

"Uh…" I looked down at my blank sheet of
paper. "I kind of don't have one yet."

"Oh," Aapt and Skye said, practically in
unison.

"When is your speech?" Skye peered over at my
paper.

"Friday," I mumbled.

"You should probably think of something
quickly and start writing then," Skye remarked.

"Yeah, of course, I can totally get this out.
I didn't just accidently get into this honors program or anything."
I let out a nervous laugh, scrambling through my bag for a
mechanical pencil.

Aapt and Skye read through their outlines,
giving each other tips on how to expand their topics while I could
barely think of anything to say. Not only did I have to come up
with a topic, write an outline, and prepare a speech, but I still
had all the Riley stuff to think about. How the heck was I supposed
to have an assignment that was twenty-five percent of my grade done
in two days?

After biology, I forced myself to sit in the
library and use one of its computers to follow the live chat for my
online class. Maybe that would give me some inspiration for my
speech. No such luck. Instead I headed back to my dorm, starving,
and eager to just take a shower instead of working on any sort of
homework.

"And she's back!" Lucy sat on her bed in the
lotus position and held her arms in the air while I walked into the
bedroom.

"Yeah, sorry, I ended up staying at Ace's
last night." I shrugged my bag off on my desk chair and kicked my
flip-flops off near my bed.

"No need to report to me. I figured that was
what happened after me and Riley interrupted you all," Lucy
replied.

I grabbed my robe and shower basket from the
closet, tossing them on the bed. "Just letting you know."

"Sorry about bringing Riley over. I didn't
know I'd be a boom-boom blocker."

I choked on my own spit, trying to container
my laughter. "Did you just say boom-boom blocker?"

Lucy's smile spread across her face. "Yeah,
you know, stopping you and Ace from doing the boom-boom? Maybe we
should have some sort of code like putting a sock on the door, so
the other one doesn't walk in and boom-boom block."

"Uh, yeah, sure that will work." Did she
think Ace and I would be having a lot of sex? Or maybe that was
what she and Riley did.

"But anyway." Lucy stepped off the bed,
grabbing her knit purse from the floor. "I need to get to class. I
may go over to Riley's or we may come here afterward. Put a sock on
the door if you don't want me to come in."

"Alright," I said, waving to her before she
stepped out the door. I knew full well that I wouldn't be making
use of the sock that night, especially when I really needed a
shower and a speech topic.

I wanted to see Ace. I could have seen him.
There was no reason he couldn't just beam into my room and hang
out, but I didn't want him to. When I was in high school, he would
sometimes come over at night while I did homework, but that wasn't
fun for either of us. Usually he would sit on my bed while my cat
hissed at him, or just distract me from what I was supposed to be
doing. It was still a wonder to me how I managed to be
valedictorian with a beautiful alien distraction lying on my bed
every night.

"Informational speech topic, I can do this."
I sat at my desk, staring at the blank internet search browser. It
couldn't be that hard to come up with something to inform people
about, and then spew on about it for five to seven minutes.

I typed in 'informational speech topics,'
just to get an idea of something I could write about. Nothing
looked interesting and some of the stuff I had no idea why anyone
would want to write about, like the differences in human and animal
feces. I'd been working for over an hour and I didn't even have a
topic, let alone an outline.

"Maybe a break for dinner will help," I said
to no one in particular. I grabbed my lanyard with my key and
student ID attached and headed to the dining hall. I'd been on
campus less than a week and I knew there were a ton of different
places to eat and even a Starbucks, but I always ended up just
getting the all-you-can eat meals from the dining hall. One could
call it laziness, or I would call it waiting until the perfect
moment to try something at the student union. Yeah, it was probably
laziness, and fear that I would walk across campus and the
restaurant would be closed for the summer. I also worried that I'd
run into yet another alien that would recognize me as the future
princess of Calta.

I took a tray from the entrance and perused
the different options. There was a large salad bar, ice cream
station, pizza, and even a wok. I didn't think the mall back home
even had as many options. I settled for an already made sandwich
and a fountain drink, swiped my card, and looked around for an
empty table. Maybe some people watching would help me think of a
topic for my speech.

"Hey, Alex, over here!"

I didn't know anyone on campus, or so I
thought. I turned to the sound of the voice and saw Riley smiling
in a corner booth and waving her arms back and forth in the air.
Ugh, the last person I wanted to see.

I put on a fake smile and walked over to her
table. "Hey, Riley."

She put her hands down and picked up the fork
next to her half-eaten salad. "Why don't you come join me? There is
no reason to eat alone and Lucy shouldn't get too jealous."

I winced. I just wanted to eat alone and come
up with a topic for my paper. Not sit across from a girl who didn't
remember me, but I sure did remember her. I couldn't forget the way
she treated me, like I was no better than the gum on her shoe, and
was disgusted with me and Ace's relationship.

Part of me wondered if she knew she was a
lesbian at Circe. Maybe that was why she hated other relationships
that were so out of the norm. Maybe she was never accepted. It
still didn't excuse her from pointing a gun to my head. Thank God
Jen was there to save me.

"I guess I can sit here for a little bit. I
was just trying to think of a topic for my speech in com 101 on
Friday." I took the seat across from her, sliding in across the
booth.

"Gosh it's been a long time since I took an
intro to communications course. That was back when I was at Penn
State. I don't know if Lucy told you, but I'm a Nittany Lion," she
said, not even touching her salad, just holding her fork.

I knew she went to Penn State. I also knew
she was a crazy environmental scientist major that complained about
cruelty to animals, but had a leather Coach handbag. Crazy
hipster.

"Really? That's cool." I nodded, trying to
focus on my sandwich instead of Riley's overly cheerful demeanor.
It was too surreal. She was definitely a different Riley without
her memory, but that didn't mean I had to like her.

"Yeah, I was going to go to grad school
there, but for some reason I just had this draw to Northern
Arizona. I don't know what it was." She shrugged and picked up a
piece of lettuce with her fork, holding it in the air. "Call it
fate I guess. Maybe some other higher being knew that I was
supposed to come here and meet Lucy. I'd never dated a girl before
her, but I guess I'm just a sucker for a girl in a good pair of
Birkenstocks."