How to Date an Alien

by Magan Vernon

  “Impressed?” His words were like ice clouds forming in the air between us. I wanted to open my mouth and catch them on my tongue, but I resisted.

  “Well…I…uh." I tried to find the right words, but all that would come out was babble.

  He smirked as he sat back down in his chair. “I thought so.”

  “You know, most guys when they try to impress a girl, they do something like buy her flowers or take her out to a movie or something,” I remarked, spinning my chair back toward the computer screens.

  “I think we’ve made it pretty clear that I’m not most guys.”

  “Well you don’t have to be so gruff about it. It’s not like I don’t know what you’re capable of.”

  As the words escaped my lips I immediately regretted them. I saw flashes of Magpie with her hand slithering around my neck and her words echoed over and over, You know what she’s capable of. I froze. Every single bone in my body stiffened as her words crept into my ears. They took me away to another place, one that left me in darkness. A place I didn't belong.

  “Alex? Alex? Are you okay?”

  I looked up to see Ace hovering over me, his hands on either side of my face. A warm glow radiated onto my cheeks. I gazed into his eyes and noticed they weren't cold or calculating, but filled with concern and longing. The black of his irises blended into his pupil, which were so dark that I could see my own reflection in them. His eyes had the same beautiful radiance as they did the day Magpie attacked me and when he saved me from the cafeteria brawl.

  I swallowed, not moving as I kept my eyes locked on his. The dark thoughts slowly faded away. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry I was just thinking about something."

  He let out a deep breath, still hovering over me. “You really zoned out there and I was afraid something was really wrong.”

  Something was very wrong. Magpie’s words still haunted me. No matter how much I tried to forget about what she did, I couldn’t get her words out of my head. A traitor. Different.

  “Don’t worry." I cleared my throat as he gradually sat back down in front of me. “I’m fine, really.”

  “You didn’t get dizzy or something from me lifting you like that?" He arched his eyebrows.

  I laughed, trying my hardest not to snort. “Ace, I’m an Air Force colonel’s daughter. I’ve been up a lot higher than that and not gotten dizzy.”

  “Well, look at you.” He leaned back in his chair, putting his arms behind his head. “Miss I’m-tough-because-I’m-the-colonel’s-daughter-and-know-Shakespeare.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Oh, please. You’re just upset because I was only pretending to be impressed by your little lifting trick.”

  “Little lifting trick?” He inched forward, placing his hands on his knees. “I just lifted you over my head. That’s what you humans like to call mad skill.”

  I covered my mouth to stifle my snort-like giggle. “And you really don’t think you act like a teenage boy?”

  His eyes glowed against the computer screen as a huge smile spread across his face and he burst out laughing. “Okay, maybe I actually did just sound like a human boy there.”

  “I’d say so.”

  He shook his head, sucking in a deep breath of air. “I’m normally not like that. It’s not every day I go out of my way to try and show off for a human girl.”

  “So why start now?” I inched closer, waiting for his answer.

  He shrugged, the smile disappearing from his face as he turned back to his computer. “I don’t know. I guess I haven’t really interacted with humans much in the past couple years and kind of got carried away.”

  I nodded, feeling a pit of disappointment gathering in my stomach. For a moment there I had felt something between us, not the usual fear mixed with intrigue, but more intrigue and longing. “Oh, I guess that makes sense then.”

  “Besides, I shouldn’t try and get you too impressed with my special talents or you may never want to leave Circe.” He flashed a hint of a smile in my direction.

  “Oh, I’m definitely getting out of here and will hopefully have an acceptance letter to Columbia waiting for me when I get home." I widened my eyes, absently clicking some numbers on the keyboard.

  “Is that the real reason you came to Circe? To get into some Ivy League school?”

  I looked over to see that his eyes were fixated on me with that same protective stare he held whenever we were in public. I tried to hold back my smile and turned toward him. “Well, as much as I love spending my time hanging out with aliens, I needed to add more extracurriculars to my college applications and Circe seemed like a great option.”

  “Oh.” A hint of disappointment rang in his voice.

  “I told you, Ace; I didn’t even know that aliens, or you, existed before I came here." I was confused, wondering if he was actually hurt by what I said, but tried my best to hide it in my face.

  “Well, I just hope your Ivy League school will let you come back next summer. No one can internet stalk like you can." He grinned. “Pretty impressive for a human girl.”

  “I do what I can.”

  I couldn’t get past wanting to know what Ace was really thinking. I longed to be able to read what was going on behind those mysterious eyes of his. The real alien. The security office with Ace was the first place I felt like I really belonged. I didn’t want to do anything to ruin that, but part of me wanted to know how far I could push this relationship.

  Chapter 8

  The weeks had become even more uneventful. Sure, there were a lot of aliens that had put some questionable things on their blogs and the usual cafeteria fights, but the alien I was the most concerned with didn’t act like he thought any more of me than a coworker.

  “Any big plans for tonight?" Jen looked up from her laptop as I lay across my bed, reading my worn-out copy of Frankenstein. I had planned to reread it before the end of the summer, but the way things were going, I was starting to feel like Dr. Frankenstein myself, trying to convince the world there was nothing wrong with adoring a monster.

  I shook my head, looking up from the book. “Just another exciting night at Circe.”

  Jen slid the computer off her lap, sitting up. “You know you’re going to have to get out of here sometime. We do have clearance to leave Circe and it would be nice to see you in another part of the building if nothing else.”

  She stood up and made her way over to sit next to me, pushing my pillows out of the way as she spread her long body over the bed. “And you haven’t even hung out with the rest of us since that time we had horror movie night.”

  I hoped the curl of my lip in disgust wasn’t too obvious when she mentioned horror movie night. I was trying to put the whole thing in the back of my mind. Gavin was attractive and I liked hanging out with Jen, Malcolm, and Justin, but I just didn’t want to give anyone the wrong idea. It wasn’t like I was dating Ace or anything, but somehow it just felt wrong to try to give anyone else a chance when all I could think about were his coal-black eyes.

  A knock came at our door, interrupting Jen from whatever she was going to say next.

  “It’s open!" Jen yelled.

  Slowly a brown mess of hair poked through the door, followed by the rest of Gavin's lean body. “Uh, hey guys.”

  “Hey Gavin.” Jen beamed, doing a little wave.

  Great, the last person I wanted to see. I sucked in a deep breath of air, trying my best not to sound annoyed. “Hey.”

  He closed the door behind him as he approached my bed.

  Please don’t make yourself comfortable and sit down, please, please, please.

  “Here, cop a squat." Jen scooted over, making room for Gavin to sit right next to me.

  He sat down, of course, uncomfortably close to me. The overbearing scent of his cologne and deodorant reached my nose and it was hard for me not to gag as he made himself right at home on my bed. He even leaned back on the headboard, sliding his shoes off and putting his legs next to mine.

  “So any big plans tonight?”


  I thought he was speaking to both of us, but his eyes never left me.

  “Funny that you should mention that." Jen tapped my leg, grinning from ear to ear. “Alex was just telling me how she had nothing planned for tonight.”

  “Huh, well that’s a coincidence." Gavin’s smile widened. His teeth were definitely not as white as Ace’s, and I was pretty sure that he had that same underbite as my grandma’s shih tzu. I started to wonder why I actually found him attractive the first day.

  “Well, I, uh,” I stammered, trying to think of excuses in my head to not have one more awkward moment with Gavin. “I was actually just thinking that I probably do need to head to the security office to do some extra work tonight. There has been a lot of crazy stuff out in the blogosphere lately. I’m not sure that Ace can handle it all himself.”

  Jen laughed. “Alex, I think a Caltian can handle a few delusional alien blogs by himself for one night.”

  “Yeah, come on, Al. I’m sure you can use some human interaction.” Gavin nudged my hip with his. I tried not to slither away, but just the feeling of his sweaty boy body against mine was enough to gag me. Not to mention the fact that I absolutely did not like his stupid little nickname for me.

  “No, really it’s fine." I shook my head, jumping up from the bed. Jen and Gavin looked up at me, their eyebrows raised like I was acting crazy.

  “Alex, you were literally just telling me that you didn’t have any plans." Jen crossed her arms over her chest.

  I shrugged. “Yeah, it just kind of slipped my mind.”

  Gavin stood up, slowly circling the bed. “Or you just want to spend more time with that weird alien that you work with.”

  Jen shook her head. “Oh, come on, Gavin. Alex is certainly not into Ace.”

  “Really?" Gavin took a step closer toward me, a smirk painted on his face. “Because you know, who could blame her? He’s saved her twice from an alien attack, somehow always ends up in the same place that she is, oh and of course I can’t forget that creepy stalker stare that he always has latched on to her.”

  I tried not to let my mouth gape open. Ace did not have a creepy stalker stare. Okay, maybe his eyes did tend to linger in my direction, but he definitely did not have a creepy stalker stare.

  “Gavin, you’re being ridiculous." Jen stood up next to him, putting her hand on his shoulder.

  Gavin shrugged off Jen’s hand, keeping his eyes locked on me in a cold stare. “Am I being ridiculous, Alex? Or does that creature have some sort of a stalkerish crush on you?”

  “I…uh…” I pushed my glasses up on my nose, looking from the floor and back to Gavin. “I mean, not that I know of. He’s never said anything about it. We just talk about work things.”

  Gavin took a step even closer, the smell of potato chips and Mountain Dew seeping from his mouth. “Is that really all that you talk about? He’s never tried to impress you with his little Caltian tricks, like super strength or maybe even asked to probe you?”

  Jen pushed herself in the middle of us, making Gavin finally step back. “Okay, seriously, I think that’s enough.”

  “Whatever.” Gavin lifted his arms, sliding around Jen and walking backward toward the door. “You can have your little alien stalker all to yourself. Just have fun trying to explain to people why you are dating someone from another species.”

  Before Jen and I could even get another word in, Gavin had stormed out and slammed the door shut behind him.

  Jen looked from the door and back to me. “Well that was interesting.”

  I plopped down on the bed, letting out the big breath of air that I had been holding in. “How about awkward?”

  Jen giggled. “Uh, yeah, to say the least.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I don’t know what his deal is. Just because I don’t want his grabby hands all over me, doesn’t mean that I’m just going to start pawing Ace.”

  Jen sat down beside me, chewing at her bottom lip. “Gavin is kind of right. It does kind of seem like Ace likes you."

  I shook my head. “How could you even think that? I’m barely with him except for at work.”

  “Oh come on, Alex!" Jen tapped my knee. “Like we all haven’t noticed the way he looks at you when you're with us, or that he just always happens to be around when there’s danger. It’s like he wants to be your guardian or something.”

  I shrugged. “It’s really not like that, Jen. We’re just friends.”

  Even though I had really hoped that what Jen and Gavin were saying was true, I couldn’t let them know that. After Gavin's bad reaction, I didn’t want to know what everyone else would say if they knew how I really felt about Ace.

  “Uh huh, and I’m sure he feels the exact same way.” She giggled.

  “I think you’ve been watching way too many of those sappy romantic comedies.”

  “Well fine." Jen stood up, putting her hand out to me. “If you really think that I’ve been watching too many sappy movies, then we’re going to have a girl’s night and you’ll show me the type of movies that you like to watch.”

  I was happy to have the distraction as I pondered in my head what Gavin and Jen had said. Could Ace really be interested in me or was that just gossip? As Jen and I sat huddled on my bed, watching one of my favorite movies, I couldn’t help but think back to Ace’s star-crossed lovers comment. Even though I would never admit it out loud, I thought that maybe Jen was right and maybe so were all those sappy movies—except none of them said what happens when you fall for someone of a different species.

  Chapter 9

  Romeo and Juliet, Tristan and Isolde, and even Catherine and Heathcliff were all star-crossed lovers who weren't supposed to be together. Of course none of these characters were aliens and all of them knew at one point or another that there was a mutual attraction.

  “So, do you like me?" The words took forever to form in my head, but once they came out it was like word vomit.

  Ace didn’t even take his eyes off some random Martian’s blog.

  “Well, I don’t really know you, but I guess you're okay. You’re a good worker and you come up with some witty commentary."

  I stared at him, waiting for him to look in my direction, to do anything.

  “No, I mean like really like me." I cocked my head to the side. “Or is that a weird question since you’re probably a lot older than me?”

  He shook his head as air escaped through his nose like a silent laugh. Then he slowly turned his chair toward me, his eyes drifted from the screen and over to my face as a smile curved onto his lips. “How old do you think I am, Alex?"

  I let my shoulders shrug. “I don’t know, light years?”

  He sighed, shaking his head and glancing at the ground before his eyes stared right into mine, with a look that made me wonder if he was searching for something. “I’m eighteen.”

  “Really?" I leaned forward, inching my chair closer as I tucked my feet underneath my legs.

  “Well, yeah. I’ve been this way for awhile, but eighteen nonetheless." His eyes shifted from the screen, then back to me.

  “What do you mean it’s been awhile?" I leaned even closer, hoping not to fall out of my chair. “How long have you been here, you know—” I twirled my hand above my head. “—on Earth?”

  “Since the 1940s." He shifted his weight from one side to the other, his eyes trying to avoid mine.

  “No way!" I bounced in my seat. “Did you come here with the Roswell crash?”

  “The what?" His eyes finally locked on mine again before he burst into a fit of laughter. “Do people actually believe that weather balloon crash in New Mexico was an alien?"

  I pouted. “Well, it’s all over those specials on the History Channel."

  “If an alien ship actually crash landed, more people would know it. They are usually pretty big, unless it’s some sort of a fighter plane. And when we do land, we usually are better at covering it up." He looked at the floor and then back up to me. “That’s what hurricanes and other natural disas
ters are for.”

  “Whoa, wait a second." I put my arms out as I slid my feet down to the floor. “So you’re telling me that natural disasters are just a cover up for alien landings?”

  “Well, not all of them." He rolled his eyes. “But most, yeah.”

  “So did you come over during a hurricane, then?" I scooted my chair closer to his.

  “What’s with all the questions today, Alex? This is more than you’ve spoken all week." He rolled his chair closer to me. His knee bumped against mine. We officially could not roll any closer. I felt a cold shiver radiating through his suit and onto my body. I trembled, wondering how his body could be so cold when his fingers always felt warm beneath mine.

  I shrugged, looking down at our touching knees. “Just curious, I guess.”

  “Fine, I answer a question about me and you answer a question about you. Fair enough?"

  I looked up, focusing on his jawline instead of his face. There was no way I would ever say no to his stare, which could definitely get me in a lot of trouble.

  “Fair enough." I pointed at him. “But you have to answer my last question first. How did you get here?”

  “Well, that’s an easy one." He leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his body. “World War II hit and your fighter pilots weren't up to snuff against the Japanese and the Germans, so the Army Air Force recruited the Caltians to help them out.”

  “So is that why they call you Ace?" I tilted my head.

  “Someone’s been studying their history." He beamed.

  “Well, yeah. My dad, is, or was, in the Air Force, so I think I should know about Ace fighter pilots." I tried to sit up as straight as I could, folding my hands on my knees.

  “Okay, my turn.”

  He stood and put his hands on both of my armrests, leaning in so that his face was only a few inches from mine. He smelled like peppermint tea and the breeze after a snowstorm. It was the most wonderful thing I had ever smelled and I wanted to inhale all of him.