Dating an Alien Pop Star

by Kendra L. Saunders

  After slipping out of the venue and Griffin signing things for the fans gathered there, we pile into our car and head back to the hotel, Kammie with us. Griffin’s flying high on adrenaline from the show and his excitement about the Origin Collective, his hands moving nervously as he shifts around again and again in his seat.

  “It’s a good thing we bought tuxedos,” Griffin says as we approach the hotel, prodding Dev. “Did you get the plane tickets for tomorrow morning? Dev?”

  “The hotel staff should be able to help us with all that,” Devon says, his head leaned over his phone-like device. He clicks away at it without looking up. “We’ll have to get everything packed up fast. And I’ll need to find our passports.”

  “You have passports?” I ask. “How did you get those?”

  Dev shrugs. “We made them before we arrived. Better to blend in.”

  “You do realize you could have used that for getting your drink the other night at the bar?”

  “Could I? Well, damn.” Dev smiles, rather wistfully. “Next time, yeah?”

  Kammie glances across the car at Griffin and me. “Daisy, do you have your passport with you?”

  “It’s… no. I don’t have it with me.” I let out a nervous chuckle. “It’s at the apartment, in a box under my bed. You know, back with the roommates and all of that. My other life.”

  Griffin and Dev exchange meaningful looks.

  “You two go on,” Griffin says. “Make the arrangements for our tickets and pack up. We’ll go get Daisy’s passport and meet you back in a while.”

  Dev puts down his device. “Are you sure, Griff?”

  “Of course! It’s fine. Come on; don’t be daft, Dev. D’ya reckon Daisy’s roommates are going to try to kill me?”

  I laugh, but Dev’s face remains serious. “You’ll need to take the guards with you.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever.”

  “And be careful.”

  “It’s alright! I’m just gonna pop in and see what Daisy’s place looks like before we have to go, you know?” Griffin says, and then all of us fall silent as the car pulls to a stop in front of the hotel. Griffin stammers a little, looking at Dev, but shooting glances in my direction. “I mean, we’re not leaving right now. You know. I just mean… I just meant it might be nice to… well, since we’re not staying forever…”

  With a shake of my head, I wave to Dev. “We’ll be fine,” I say. “I’ll keep a close eye on him, I promise.” The idea of a little time alone with him isn’t so awful, anyway, considering that he’s right. They won’t be here forever.

  Besides, I need a chance to ask him about my idea.

  Dev and Kammie exit the vehicle together, but Dev turns back to look at Griff. “If you feel at all unsafe…”

  At first, I think Griffin might just wave his friend off, but he says, “I promise I’ll be careful,” and leans out of the car long enough to hug Dev.

  Before I know it, we’re pulling away from the hotel again and I’ve given the driver my address, leaving our friends to prepare for the upcoming trip. I haven’t thought a lot yet about Griffin seeing my apartment, but the trip over allows me just enough time to sufficiently start to freak out.

  “Okay, so my apartment…” I say, meeting Griffin’s gaze. It’s hard to concentrate on anything when he looks at me that way, so I force myself to look away. “My apartment isn’t just mine. I share it with a couple of other girls. You have to understand that a bunch of girls in their late twenties, living in the city… well…”

  “What?”

  I suddenly realize that this potential meeting-the-roommates thing is a two-way street. What are they going to think when I show up with Griffin Valentino? “And they might ask you a lot of questions. I don’t really bring guys over. Ever.”

  Griffin considers this, shadows moving over his face as we drive along in the dark. Before we left the venue, he’d taken a quick shower, but some of the glitter had stuck to his hair, and I can see it shining like tiny stars when the passing lights catch it just so. “Well, then, I suppose they can all gape like fish when you walk in with me on your arm.”

  “They’re probably going to be surprised that you’re there with me.”

  “Why? Why would they be surprised? Would you prefer me to sex it up a bit before we go in?”

  “While that sounds extremely inviting, I’m not sure—” Before I can finish speaking, Griffin moves closer, coaxing me over until I’m sitting in his lap. “You know, we really don’t have to sex it up.” After a kiss, I whisper, “Unless you want to.”

  I can feel that he wants to, loud and clear, but we’re close enough to my neighborhood by this point that I don’t want to get him started just to shut him right down again.

  “Griffin,” I whisper, my lips brushing his cheekbone. “I want to talk to you about something.”

  “Would you rather me wait in the car? Because I will, if that would make you feel more comfortable.”

  “No, no, it’s not that.” How do I tell him that I’d like him to take me back to his planet on his… spaceship? Pod? Laser beam…?

  “You should never let anyone make you feel like less than exactly what you are, Waandaa. You’re magnificent, and you smell wonderful. And you’re quite clever with wardrobe choices, even if a bit too safe at times.”

  I’ve never had a guy say he loves me. Well, except Creepy Jerry, but that doesn’t count. However, it seems worth the wait right now, just to hear someone call me his beloved in an alien language.

  “Griffin…”

  The car stops, and a quick glance out the window tells me we’ve reached my apartment.

  “Alright, look,” I say, scrambling off his lap. “I’ve only lived here for three weeks, so these girls aren’t terrible people or anything. They just assume by now that I’m either a closet lesbian or a hopeless case.”

  Griffin laughs. “Are you asking me not to do anything dodgy to them?”

  “Yeah, kinda.”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t. Not unless you ask me to.”

  We, meaning Griffin, five bodyguards, and me, head up to my apartment together. Unlocking the door with a pounding, painful sense of nerves, I imagine a wide variety of increasingly awkward outcomes to this situation, but it turns out that only one of the roommates, Nina, is home. She springs up from our small red couch once she sees all the bodyguards. “W-what’s this? Who…? Wait, are you Griffin Valentino?” she demands, seemingly all in one breath.

  Griffin stands up a bit straighter. “I am.”

  “Your song…”

  “It’s wonderful, yes.”

  “It’s my ringtone!”

  Griffin glances at me, and I cover his confusion by loudly announcing, “I need to get something from my room!”

  Nina stands rooted to the spot, staring at Griffin with wide eyes. Given her pajama pants and sleeveless shirt, she must be sick or in the middle of a breakup. The latter is very possible, considering she’s had at least ten male visitors since I moved in. She’s easily the nicest of my roommates, but even she’s been suspicious of my relative inability to join in on the apartment-wide conversations about relationships and boys.

  “How do you know Daisy?” she asks, probably calculating her chances at throwing him down on the couch and becoming a professional Valentino groupie.

  “She’s been my friend since I arrived, actually, and my lover, more recently,” Griffin says, folding his hands behind his back and smirking. “I’m lucky to have found her.”

  Nina glances over at me, surprise evident in her expression, but then she finally offers me a slow nod and gives me a thumbs-up.

  I’m not sure if I should be embarrassed or proud, so I duck into my room and search for my passport instead. After tearing through the box I’d thought the passport was in, I move to my small dresser, and barely hear Griffin step into my room.

  “So this is your personal space?”

  I stop everything to take a good look around and try to imagine what he s
ees. A teddy bear. A framed autograph from one of my favorite musicians. A pile of clean clothes that haven’t been folded or put away. A box of pads. Oh God, how embarrassing. Two boxes of cheese snack crackers.

  Oh, and a stack of magazines that range from music magazines to the kinds that say things like Ten Best Secrets for a Mind-Blowing Night. Griffin immediately picks up one of the latter and leafs through it.

  I return to my search and finally locate the passport, just as Griffin pauses on one page and frowns a bit. “Hmmm, your publications have the strangest advice…”

  “Let’s go,” I say, taking the magazine away from him and pushing him out of my room. With one last glance back at my teddy bear, CDs, and that small photo of my parents and me that my mom had insisted I bring to NYC, I’m ready to go.

  Actually, on second thought… I run back into the room and grab the picture of my parents.

  If I’m going to another planet, I should bring that along.

  “Goodbye, Jagger,” I whisper to the teddy bear, and then hurry out of the room, nearly colliding with Griffin in the hallway.

  “You got everything?”

  I nod and lead him back to the front door. “Bye, Nina.”

  “How long will you be gone…?” she asks, stationed by the television once again. “We all wondered where you were.”

  “Could be a bit, but I’ll let you know,” I say, hesitating. “We’re going to England.”

  “England? Wowie, that’s amazing! Wait until the girls hear; they’ll be so jealous, too. Well, have fun, alright? And be safe. And send me a message immediately if you meet Prince Harry.”

  I can’t help laughing, especially when Nina goes so far as to spring over and give me a hug.

  As we leave, Griffin looks at me and asks, “Think she knows David Bowie?” and I just laugh even harder, because the day has been strange, wonderful, and exhausting, and I have no idea what’s even happening in my life.