“Hmm.” I cross my arms and eye him. “Did your overlord contact you?”
“Yes.”
“About the device?”
“Yes.”
“And that’s the main reason why you’re here?” I cross my arms. “Isn’t it?”
“No.”
“No? Not at all?”
“No.”
“Really? How damn gullible do you think I am? If you were really embarrassed and frustrated with yourself, you wouldn’t have waited until your overlord gave you an excuse to come over here. No, you would’ve come before now, or are you a coward? Is that it? Or maybe you decided to take your cock and shove it into other girls, but they all bored you because they're all basically carbon copies of one another, just women who fawn over aliens and who probably love to suck alien cock. I'm not any of that—"
“And that’s why I’m here, with you, and not with any of them. No, I haven’t fucked any female here on Earth. I haven’t slept with any, and I sure as ovian haven’t made love to any of them,” he says calmly.
“Oh, dear. You must be really getting a workout with your hand then.”
He narrows his eyes, and his nostrils flare. “I swear I’m not here about the device. Should I have come before now? Yes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I… I was ashamed. I didn’t know what to say, and clearly, I still don’t because I’m making a terrible blunder of all of this. You have every right to be flabbergasted by me.”
I blink a few times. Hearing him say blunder and flabbergasted is hilarious, but I’m too furious with him to have to worry about smiling.
“It’s been ten, eleven days, something like that,” I say with a wave of my hand. “What have you been doing all of this time?”
“I’ve made a few friends.”
“With benefits?”
“Well, you had a benefit from one of my friends,” he says.
I gape at him. Clearly, our wires are a bit crossed.
“The centuricar you drove on our date?” he reminds me.
“Oh.”
“You look confused. Oh, Ovian. You meant… No. No, no, no. Nope. Not friends with benefits. Ah, no.”
I just shake my head, not amused by his antics.
“I swear it’s not about the device, Ava. That doesn’t matter to me. It should, and my overlord will literally have my head if I don’t deliver, but the device doesn’t matter to me. You do.”
“I do? Really? You don’t even know who I am. You don’t know anything about me.”
"Yes, that's true," he admits, but there's a fire in his eyes as he stands up. "Not for lack of trying. You've asked me questions, and I answered all of them, but you haven't answered any of mine."
“I haven’t asked you questions.”
“Not many, no, but you can go ahead and start over.”
I can’t tell if he’s serious or not. My chin lifts as I appraise him. The date really had gone well. Maybe I can ask him a few questions, see if he’s honest. Give him a second chance.
That’s not something I normally do—give people a second chance. Hardly anyone has ever given me a second chance, and it’s not that I begrudge people that. It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, and that’s just the way it’s always going to be.
“Fine. Why did you come here?”
“To drop off devices owed to your government.”
“You handed off to the military, though.”
“Yes. The government and the military are one and the same, aren’t they?”
“Basically,” I mumble. “You aren’t a virgin, are you?”
He laughs, the kind someone does when they’re shocked. “Yes. Err, no. I am not a virgin.”
“Who did you sleep with?”
“A Kurian.”
“Did you love her?”
“No. We were friends. It was… interesting, but there wasn’t no spark. It felt good, but it didn’t feel right. Does that make sense?”
I shrug. I wouldn’t know because I am a virgin, a detail he doesn’t need to know.
“What’s your job on Kuria?” I ask.
“I’m a pilot.”
“You’ve piloted to Earth before?”
“This is my first time.”
“And you thought you could find a woman here, didn’t you? You came here wanting to find females to screw.”
“Did the thought cross my mind that I might find love here? Maybe. I wanted to explore, to see the world.”
“An alien explorer. Want to explore an Earthling’s body, that about right?”
He just shakes my head. “You ask some pointed and personal questions, you know that, don’t you?”
I say nothing.
“You want to know about my sex life more than anything else.” He shakes his head again. “I’m starting to think you’re the one with sex on the brain, not me. You can ask me anything at all, and this is your line of questioning? You don’t want to get to know me. This is just to embarrass and humiliate me, to get back at me for what I did. Ava, I’m sorry. I’ll answer all of the questions even if that’s why you’re asking them, but I really do want to get to know you. The real you. And I want you to get to know me, the real me.”
“And you weren’t your real you on the date?”
“I was.”
“Including when you tried to get me into your bed?”
He hesitates. “Is it wrong for a man to want to have sex with a beautiful, intelligent woman that they’re attracted to?”
“Maybe. Maybe not, but on the first date… I’m not that kind of girl.”
“I realize that now, and I’m sorry.”
I point to the carcass, not even sure what it was. “The food’s burning.”
“It’s not.” He’s been turning it some as we talk, and it looks done to me, but he doesn’t remove it yet.
“Do you have any siblings?” I ask after a moment of silence.
Now he starts to withdraw the stick holding the meat from the fire. He begins to use a dagger to cut the meat and lay out the strips on two plates. My plates. I make no mention of him swiping my items. After all, he is cooking me a hot meal.
“I don’t,” he finally says as he hands me a plate. “Do you?”
"No siblings, not that I know of at least." I blow and take a bite. It's delicious. He seared the outside to trap all of the juices inside. I'm still not sure what the animal had been while alive, but it's so delicious I don't care.
“Not that you know of?”
I shake my head. “I don’t even know anything about my parents.”
“But who raised you?” he asks.
I shift uncomfortably. I don’t like the personal nature of his questions, so I turn the question back around on him. “It must have been interesting being raised by a Novan and an Earthling.”
"Yes. There's a time when my parents would butt heads, but they love each other dearly. Every day it seems they're still learning something new pertaining to the other species."
“Like what?”
“Mom likes to sit down and talk things out more than my dad does. Dad is more of a doer. He doesn’t necessarily like to ask for permission first.”
“Just do it and then ask for forgiveness later type deal?” I ask.
“Yes, exactly. That’s how just about all of the Novans are, actually.” He shrugs. “Apparently, there are a lot of differences between Novan females and Earthling females, but I wouldn’t know that personally. It causes my parents some issues, but they work everything out.”
I say nothing, grateful that he seems to have forgotten about my parents for the moment.
“My mom likes to tease my dad and say he has issues.” Rix grins. “The first time she did, my dad got really upset about it. He stormed out of the house. Mom chased after him, and they had to do some talking for once. They then disappeared for a long while. I figure they went to the ship.”
“Why? To leave for a romantic getaway?”
"No. They, ah… They di
dn't want to come back to the house because I was there. I could hear what they were talking about, what they wanted to do to each other… They said things that no eight-year-old should ever have heard."
“Oh!”
“Yes. Well, yeah. They love each other very much. Still do. Still have their hands all over each other.” He shudders.
I can’t help smirking. No one likes to think about their parents having sex, and that includes Kurians.
“Your parents have any issues?”
I scowl.
“Okay. How about you. What made you decide to become an inventor?”
I say nothing.
"Do your friends come to visit you here often, or do you go to them?"
“Who says I have friends?”
“Everyone has friends.”
Silence falls, and he grimaces. He has to realize I don’t want to answer questions like this. He’ll get the hint, right?
“Did someone hurt you? Physically? Is that why you—”
“You know what?” I ask. “Thanks for the food, but I’m done eating, so I think you should go.”
I grab my plate, don’t bother to worry about the other one, and stomp back toward my camp.
I don’t need him or his personal questions.
Pushing him away is the only way I can stay safe.
13
Rix
I screwed up. Of course I did. I was trying to challenge Mom, to do what she does when she wants Dad to stop teasing her so he'll talk about something serious. There are some occasions when Dad just doesn't want to, and Mom will drop it.
But I didn’t. That’s how badly I want to know about Ava, but she just isn’t opening up to me.
And she doesn’t have to.
Quickly, I stand, place the rest of the carcass on the plate on top of the meat I already cut off, rest the plate on a rock, and chase after her.
“I’m sorry, Ava. I didn’t mean to pry. I should’ve stopped asking questions.”
She stops walking, but she doesn’t turn around. As much as I want to touch her shoulder, to ease her to turn around, I don’t dare because I don’t want to set her off.
“You clearly don’t want to talk about your past now, and that’s fine. Maybe we can talk about it later, or maybe never. Whatever you want. We can talk about the future instead. What do you want? Besides to punch me in the mouth.” I grin at the back of her head, feeling like an idiot.
She stiffens, but she doesn’t react otherwise.
"I can tell you what I want. I want to be a pilot, but I also want to stay here on Earth, not on Kuria. I spent a lot of time here as a kid, and it always felt like a second home. Now, though, I think I want it to be my permanent home. It's appealing here. Maybe it's because I do want to explore, but I think I want to explore more than just Kuria and Earth. The stars have always called me. I guess I get that from my dad."
Ava tilts ever so slightly toward me, but she’s not looking directly at me. Her side profile reveals that she’s still furious.
"Ava, I really am sorry. I didn't mean to push you, to pressure you into—"
"That's all guys ever do. They push, and they push, and they push. They take, and they take, and they take." Her scowl is fierce, and her eyes contain no flames at all like they do when she's happy. No, her eyes are ice cold. I almost don't recognize her.
“You don’t have to tell me anything, but I don’t want to push you to do or say anything you don’t want to. I don’t mean to take. I just… It’s not about what I want. It’s about what you want.”
“Is it?” she bursts out, whirling on me, jabbing her finger to my chest. “Is it about what I want? Because you had to realize that I wasn’t answering some of your questions, yet you kept asking them. Yes, I asked you uncomfortable questions, but you didn’t have to answer them. You could’ve said no or stayed quiet.”
"Yes, the questions were a bit uncomfortable, but I want you to ask me anything. I'll answer. I'll even tell you my cock size." I wait for a second. "That was a joke."
“Not funny,” she hisses. “You want to know about my parents? I never met them. I don’t know who they are. Maybe my mom died giving birth to me. Maybe she abandoned me and stayed with Dad and have a family far from here. Maybe she found another guy and ditched me to be with him and start a new family with him. Who knows? Maybe I do have siblings or half-siblings out there, but I’ll never know.”
“Ava…”
She holds up a finger, a warning for me to back off and not get to close. “You want to know who raised me? I did. I had to get myself clothes and food and everything. Shelter, an education… I taught myself how to use electronics and how to fix them so that I could have a way to barter with people for what I need. That’s how I started down the path toward becoming an inventor. I’m not ordinary. I’m not normal, and I make no apologies for that.”
“You shouldn’t have to. You don’t have to,” I try to assure her.
She just shakes her head. “I don’t have any friends. Not really. The one time I let a guy close, a guy who I thought saw me for who I am… He ran off with everything I had. My first prototypes, my very first ones? He stripped them for parts and sold them. Took the money and got a ticket and flew the coop. I don’t know where he is right now, but if I ever see him again…”
I gape at her. “I’m so sorry.”
“And the worst part about it? I think he did all of that for revenge. Why? Because I wouldn’t sleep with him. I liked having him around, and I liked that he gave me attention, but I wasn’t really attracted to him. He just… He made me feel special, and I like that even if I didn’t like him in that way. I didn’t love him, and I didn’t think he loved me. He probably didn’t, probably just wanted to take as much from me as he could, and that included my body. So he tried to come at me, and I used that bat and broke his ribs. At least the crunch made it sound like I broke them. I tried to stay awake all night to make sure he didn’t come around, but I fell asleep anyhow and woke to find everything gone, everything but the clothes I was wearing and the bat. I guess he didn’t like that it was stained with his blood.”
“Ava, that’s terrible.”
“That’s the story of my life. I had to build everything up, had it all stolen away, and had to rebuild. I’m jaded, and I hate most everyone, and despite all of that, I want to share my inventions with the world. I want to make the world a better place. My name to be mentioned in every household like all of the greats. I want to become someone special.”
“Ava, you already are special,” I whisper.
She barks a bitter laugh. “Is that so? You really think so? Oh, let me forgive you? Here, I’ll fall into your arms, and we can strip and fuck and everything will be all sunshine and rainbows and unicorns and all that shit for the rest of our lives.”
“I understand that life has dealt you a terrible hand,” I say, closing my hands into fists to keep from touching her. As much as I want to draw her into my arms, to rub her back, that would be for me and not her. I need to learn what she needs, and right now, I have no real clue, but I do understand what she doesn’t need.
“Yes, ain’t that the fucking truth.”
“And it’s all right for you to cry,” I continue.
“Cry? Why the fuck would I cry?” Ava asks, and she looks genuinely surprised by the idea.
“You haven’t ever had anyone in your corner, have you? No one to fight for you, no one to help you. You’ve done everything all alone—”
“Well, there was one girl who helped me. She left the window open so I could hear the lessons from her teacher for a few years. And there was a restaurant owner who would ask me to fix this or that around his place, to redecorate it, to do little odds and ends in exchange for food. It wasn’t the best of places. I mean, I saw a few rats—”
“For the most part, you were alone. You had to fight for everything. Not all battles are fought alone, but you survived, and you became so very smart. It’s insane to think about what you’ve accomp
lished despite the world being against you. You kept on fighting, and you never gave up, and honestly, Ava, you inspire me. You…”
She tilts her head to the side. “Are you getting choked up?”
“Is that not manly?” I grumble, purposely deepening my voice. “I can be manly.”
A tear does trickle down my cheek.
Ava sucks in a breath and exhales it slowly. “You have too much of your mom in you,” she grumbles. “You talk too much.”
“You prefer to be a doer, more like my dad. I can respect that. I just wish you didn’t feel like you have to do everything alone. How can I help?”
“I don’t—”
“I’m not insinuating that you need help. Just that I want to help. There’s a difference, Ava.”
She grimaces. “Your mom taught you to mean what you say and say what you mean, didn’t she?”
"Yes, actually! That's a common saying? I didn't realize. All this time, I thought she was really wise and came up with it herself. Wow." I chuckle to myself. "You think you know someone."
Ava bites her lower lip. “I can’t believe you cried.”
“One tear isn’t crying,” I protest.
“A big, strong, muscular alien crying because a girl had a hard life. Wow. What is the universe coming too?”
“You’re mocking me. That’s so nice,” I say sarcastically.
“I just can’t believe that you were crying.”
“Again, one tear—”
“You don’t even know me,” she continues.
“How much more do you need to share with me before you can stop sharing that?” I ask gently.
She bites her lower lip. “I… I don’t know.”
“Do you want me to track down that asshole who did you wrong?”
“And just what do you plan on doing to him?” she asks dryly.
“I’ll put him in his place.”
“And just what is his place?”
"Wrapped up like a pretzel. Balls chopped off. Maybe then rammed down his throat. Something like that."
“You’re violent, you know that? Or is that just you trying to seem macho after that crying jag?”
Enchanted by the Alien Explorer Page 8