The New Guy (Office Aliens Book 2)

by V. C. Lancaster

She let herself be pulled away, though she admitted to herself that she was curious and would have liked to stay. It wasn’t worth hurting Ro over it, even if she knew she wouldn’t be swayed by what she saw.

  They stayed at the party for hours. Ro introduced her to his friends, and she ate Balin snacks and drank more of the syrupy white liquor, pacing herself. She had a good time, laughing and leaning on Ro more and more, his arm comfortable around her waist. Eventually, her glowsticks were starting to fade, and the alcohol and crush of bodies were making her over-heat, so Ro led her back to the elevator so they could go to the roof.

  The night felt impossibly fresh and big when she stepped out into it. Even though the air was warm, it still cooled her cheeks, and dried the sweat on her skin, her hair prickling. They weren’t alone, other Teissians and a few humans standing around in small groups, drinking or leaning against the railings. She could see on the other towers around them that people were gathering on those roofs too. Ro came up behind her and she leaned back against him, laying her hands over his as he wrapped his arms around her.

  She looked up at the stars and thought about her tiny place in the universe, the lives that were out there, human and Teissian and Rhacahr, and species they hadn’t discovered. Earth still hadn’t sent any transporter ships back to Teiss. The UNE said that they were still investigating how the Ypex got on board the Tiberius, and until they were satisfied that it wouldn’t happen again, they wouldn’t risk another crew, another million lives. So for now, they had negotiated for the Rhacahr to resume their initial evacuation duties, diverting their warships to shuttle back and forth between Earth and Teiss. It would still be months, maybe years before the Rhacahr ships reached Earth with new groups of evacuees.

  And what would happen to DETI in that time? What would happen to Teiss? How much longer could anyone survive on that planet when it was being torn apart in the war between the Ypex and Rhacahr? If the UNE ever decided to send their ships back out, it was a four year round trip. Anything could happen in that time. The Rhacahr could change their mind about picking up the slack, and decide killing Ypex was more important than saving Teissians. No one was saying what Earth had traded the Rhacahr for the re-assignment of their warships as transporters. Maybe they were doing it to make up for destroying the Tiberius, but they had never expressed any regret or remorse for that. Even though the official statements all sounded like the situation was resolved, it still felt like they were all just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

  There was still twenty minutes until midnight. Maggie sighed. There would be no answers tonight. All she could do was wait, and be ready to help when they needed her.

  “It’s beautiful up here,” Maggie said. She could see downtown in front of her, and the DETI building was lit up off to one side. “I’m glad I could spend it with you.”

  Ro hummed in agreement. “Me too. My first new year on Earth.”

  Something in his voice made her twist to look at him. She wondered if he was thinking the same things she was. She didn’t know if she would ever understand what it meant to him to have made it safely to Earth, to have a whole new life, knowing that at that moment giant bugs were ravaging his home, that one day soon there might be nothing left of it. “Do you like it here?” she asked, unable to put her thoughts into words.

  He looked at her. “I do,” he said, smiling softly.

  She had to take him at his word. She was too tipsy to think any harder about it just then. “If you ever want anything, you know I’ll try to get it for you,” she said.

  “Thank you.”

  “I’m serious.”

  “I know.”

  She looked at him again, and his magenta eyes caught her like melting amber, and he lowered his head and kissed her gently. Then they just stood and watched the night. The roof gradually got busier as more people came to watch the fireworks. Maggie imagined the crowd in the city centre. She knew what it looked like from the local TV coverage every year, though she normally tuned into the broadcast from New York as it was the biggest one. She and Ro were happy to keep to their shadowy spot leaning against the wall of the stairwell, out of the attention of the crowd. Her skin gradually cooled, but his chest against her back kept her warm.

  Then a human voice started calling out a countdown, everyone joining in, and Maggie straightened.

  “Three! Two! One!” the crowd hollered excitedly. There was a pause, a breeze sweeping over them through a suspended moment of silence when they wondered if they’d got it wrong. There were no bells to chime, no gongs.

  And then in the distance, the tiny flicker of a single phoenix streaking into the sky before bursting in a shower of gold, immediately followed by a whole flock. The crowd cheered and Maggie laughed. The fireworks were silent for a few seconds before the sound reached them, distant concussive booms out of synch with what they were seeing but that didn’t matter. Maggie grinned as she turned her face up to watch.

  She felt Ro flinch and turn his face away, and she looked at him. He was tucking his face into her hair and his eyes were closed.

  “Oh no! Is it too bright for you?” she asked, twisting in his arms to cup his face, trying to get him to look at her as if that would help.

  He nodded. “I don’t have my lenses,” he said.

  Maggie looked at the fireworks, appalled both that he was missing them and that they were hurting him. She tried to think of a solution but he wouldn’t have time to go all the way down through dozens of storeys to put his contacts back in and them come back. She dithered, conflicted.

  “Do you want to go back inside?” she offered.

  He opened his eyes a little, squinting. “No, you should watch them.”

  “But-”

  “I’ll watch you,” he said, smiling at her and turning them so that his back was to the display and he was facing her. He blinked as if to clear his vision. Maggie chewed her lip, she wasn’t sure about it. “Watch, Maggie,” he told her, so she looked over his shoulder at the fireworks. They were beautiful, and she soon found herself smiling in amazement.

  She couldn’t hear the music that she knew would be accompanying the display downtown, but all around her she could hear quiet gasps, laughs, hisses and clicks from the gathered audience. On the roofs around them there must have been hundreds of people all watching, and she wondered how many of them were seeing it for the first time.

  When the display petered out, then finished on a big finale, Maggie looked back at Ro to find him staring at her. She tried not to blush at the look on his face.

  “Sorry, that must have been boring for you,” she said.

  “Not at all,” he replied, his voice soft and deep.

  “Next year we’ll remember your lenses,” she said, and he grinned. She squeezed his hand. “Let’s go back inside where you can see.”

  They went back to his apartment, where he explained his plans to scope out parties on the other floors, introduce her to his Volin and Volon friends, see how they were celebrating. Maggie was on board with that plan, she didn’t want her night to end just yet. She stripped off her dying glowsticks and refreshed her make-up and brushed her hair while Ro went to put his lenses in so the light wouldn’t bother him. Then he led her back into the black corridor and upstairs.

  The whole tower, and she assumed every other tower, was alive with parties and celebrations. Music and voices poured out of enough apartments that there wasn’t a quiet space to be found. Maggie and Ro toured from one party to the next, one floor after another. They drank and ate, laughed and talked to strangers as well as people who knew Ro. The Volin and Volon were happy to explain anything she didn’t know, while she answered her fair share of questions about human society. Maggie even got Ro to dance with her for a few minutes, not like the Balin had danced, but with her arms around him or spinning her on the dancefloor.

  The atmosphere in the building was amazing, bubbly and welcoming, like everyone was friends with each other. There was a slightly frantic edge to it, and Maggie wi
tnessed more than one toast to lost friends and family, but she also saw family and friends hanging off each other, telling war stories and tales of how they had found each other again on Earth.

  Maggie and Ro only stumbled back into his apartment at the end of it all at three in the morning. Propping each other up, she ended up following him into his bedroom. He activated the muted lighting as they collapsed on the bed, a regular king-sized one she might have expected to find anywhere, with a dark spread. She was suddenly exhausted, almost unable to keep her eyes open. She kicked her heels off.

  “I don’t want to go home,” she breathed, pushing her hair back off her face.

  “Stay,” he offered simply.

  “Can I?” She knew it was an imposition, that it might be a bit too much that early in their relationship.

  “Of course,” he said, rolling onto his side to look at her, his head on the pillow. “I would like to sleep next to you.”

  As she watched, his eyes drifted closed and she poked him. “You can’t sleep with your lenses in!” she reminded him.

  He groaned dramatically and rolled off the bed, losing his balance but catching himself before he fell and making it to the bathroom, turning off the lights so he could take them out. She giggled as she watched him until she was plunged into darkness.

  She spotted his eyes like wobbling embers as he swayed back to the bed, bouncing her as he collapsed next to her. She heard him sigh and his eyes vanished as he tried to go back to sleep.

  “Ro.”

  “Mm?”

  “I forgot something,” she whispered

  “Do you need me to put the lights back on?” he murmured, sounding half asleep.

  “No.” She shuffled closer, patting about until she thought she’d found his chest.

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  “It’s traditional to kiss at midnight on New Year’s Eve,” she whispered conspiratorially, though she didn’t know why. It just felt like they should whisper, since it was dark. “If you kiss at midnight, you’ll stay together all year. That’s what they say.”

  “Oh.”

  She followed his chest up, her fingers fluttering over his throat, the faint pink shapes on his cheeks disappearing as she covered them. She could see his eyes now, open again and watching her. She was half-lying on his chest, one leg thrown over his as she drunkenly dragged herself into position. “So. Happy new year,” she said.

  “Happy new year, Maggie,” he whispered back.

  Using her thumb to find his bottom lip, and locating his mouth by where his breath was coming from, she leant down and kissed him, almost elbowing him in the neck when she slipped off him. Kissing him made her light-headed. His hands snapped up to catch her.

  “Wow,” she laughed, studying his face, his ribs digging into her stomach. “I think I love you.” She giggled again as she stared back at the pink gems watching her. Before he could answer, she flopped down and passed out.

  Chapter 18

  Maggie woke up under the covers and alone. She sighed as she blinked gritty eyes, sliding her legs over each other as she tried to find the best way to get up. The room was pitch black, but she felt like she had to get up for some reason, like something was missing. She was thirsty and she needed to pee. Her dress had twisted around her waist in the night and the sequins were jabbing her. She could feel that she hadn’t taken her makeup off, or she would rub her face.

  The night before came flashing back to her. Ro. The fireworks. All those drinks. Ah.

  She looked around, for all the good it did. She was in his bed, in his apartment, and he wasn’t. She had no idea what time it was or where her bag was so she could check her Gadgit. He must be somewhere else, waiting for her to get up so he could start his day.

  She struggled up to sit on the edge of the bed, wobbling to her feet. At least she didn’t feel badly hung over. A shower, a drink and some food would fix her right up. She stumbled as she stepped on her shoe from the night before, cursing. She had no idea where the door was.

  “Maggie?” called Ro from the hall, and the door opened.

  “Can you put the lights on please?” she asked, her voice rough.

  He whistled a few notes and a soft glow grew around the room. It still wasn’t bright but she could see. It made her wince and shield her eyes. She wanted to cover her face anyway. She didn’t want to see the wreckage of the night before, and she didn’t want him to see the wreck she was either. She didn’t want to face him. She knew she must look a nightmare after sleeping in her makeup.

  She took a steadying breath and forced her hand down. “Hi,” she said, wincing and blinking as she looked at him. He looked clean and fresh in a black T-shirt and blue jeans. He’d obviously been awake for a while. “What time is it?”

  “It’s a little after ten,” he told her. She estimated she’d had around seven hours’ sleep. Could have been worse. “Do you want anything?”

  “Coffee,” she croaked, moving over to him so he could take her to the kitchen.

  “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have a cup of choba? It’s very beneficial for the body,” he teased.

  “Honestly, don’t even joke about that right now,” she told him, laying her head on her arms as she sat at the table, trying to remember more of the details of the night before. He dug around in his cupboards. She felt like she could remember all of it, which was good. She tracked her movements from her apartment to his, seeing his eyes for the first time, to the Balin party, to the fireworks, then the parties upstairs, then back to his apartment, asking him to let her stay the night… She gasped and then groaned as she remembered drunkenly telling him she loved him.

  “What is it?” Ro asked.

  “Nothing,” she replied, grimacing. Maybe it was true, she certainly liked him a lot, and had been full of all kinds of warm fuzzy feelings the night before, but she hadn’t wanted to tell him like that. Not drunk. Not on their first official date. Maybe if she was lucky he hadn’t heard her, or couldn’t remember.

  He put a steaming cup of black instant coffee down in front of her and she straightened. “Thank you,” she said. She didn’t usually take it black, but just then she’d drink rocket fuel if it was hot. He passed her some sugar sachets that looked like they might have been accidentally carried home from cafes, and she stirred them in.

  He lowered himself into the seat opposite her. “How did you sleep?”

  “Well, thank you. Thanks again for letting me stay,” she said, falling back on good manners while she waited for her brain to come properly online.

  “No problem.” He was watching her strangely, seeming oddly pleased.

  “What?” she grunted.

  “Did you know, it’s true that if you tickle a human’s nose while they sleep, you really do do this, like on TV!” He rubbed the end of his nose with the back of his hand, puckering his face in cartoonish discomfort, then grinned. “I think it was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  She stared at him. “You tickled me in my sleep?”

  “Just your nose,” he reassured her. “I had to see if it was true!”

  She was too tired to think about how to respond. “Happy to oblige,” she murmured, sipping the coffee. Then she smiled in spite of herself. He thought she was the cutest thing he’d ever seen, even in last night’s glitter. And he looked so satisfied with his discovery, she couldn’t be mad about it. He could tickle her nose in her sleep as much as he wanted.

  She finished her coffee and borrowed his shower, wasting no time getting clean. She wouldn’t be happy until she got home and brushed her hair out properly, not to mention brushing her teeth and changing her underwear. She didn’t impose on his hospitality any longer than necessary, calling a podcab, wanting to make it home before too many people would be out and about. She’d consider herself lucky if she could get home without any of her neighbours seeing her in last night’s dress, though on the first of January, she knew she wouldn’t be the only one.

  Ro caught her
by the front door, kissing her goodbye for several minutes. The beauty of a self-driven taxi was that it didn’t get impatient, though she would start racking up quite a fee soon. Maggie promised to see him at work soon. She was due back the next day and he said he would see her then.

  Ro walked her to the security checkpoint, passing a few Teissians who gave her smiles and nods. She didn’t recognise all of them from the night before, and wondered whether they’d actually met or if they were just being polite, or if she had somehow become renowned overnight. They said goodbye again, then she got in her cab and got home, repeating the process of exchanging nods with her neighbour who she passed in the hall, marring her perfect unseen infiltration of her own building.

  She changed and cleaned herself up until she was back to her own standards, then ate lunch in front of the TV. The news anchors were recapping the world’s New Year’s Eve celebrations, then moved on to discussing the various statements from the UNE world leaders, all of them wishes for a prosperous and peaceful year, some with more detailed plans than others.

  As it was a local station, clearly with time to fill, they brought up Adam Wyatt’s latest social media ramblings. The xenophobic governor-wannabe had sent out a few new posts calling Teissians ‘the enemy within’, and citing weird statistics on home and business ownership in California that she didn’t believe could be true and seemed vague and unsourced. He seemed to be arguing that DETI was creating “ghettos” of Teissians in San Diego by buying up all the affordable housing, forcing working-class locals out of their homes and onto the streets.

  Maggie sighed and shook her head. The man had never found a platform in all his years of political manoeuvring, but this was dirty even for him. It might have been true that DETI had rushed to rehome Teissians to alieve the accommodation crisis, but the properties were spread all over the city, and there was no way San Diego could house the hundreds, even thousands of Teissians that had been kicked out of their homes.

  Maggie knew the majority had been redistributed all through California, and even the surrounding states. The accommodation teams at the office had been objecting for months, but no solution had been found, and one of the most common enquiries she received was how Teissians could arrange to be rehomed near their family or friends. The problem was that their waiting list was so long, and the dorms still so choked, that DETI’s first priority was getting everyone a place to live, regardless of where it was.