How To Break Up With An Alien (21 page)

"It looks pretty dark in there, are you sure it is still open?" Ace asked as he stepped out of the car and walked to the front.

"Yeah, I'm sure it doesn't close until seven." I grabbed his hand and pulled him inside.

Simone was nowhere to be found, but a man with short salt and pepper hair was standing at the counter holding an orange refillable mug.

He turned toward me and I recognized him as Mr. James. We ran a promotion for the month of September in which we sold a refillable Winnebago coffee mug and if you brought it in you got a free drip coffee every day in September. Mr. James took full advantage of the promotion. Something about coffee helping him get through his day at work.

"Oh Alex, are you here to work?" He looked over at me. Even at six o'clock at night, and probably working a full day, he still looked put together with his polo shirt tucked into his Dockers.

I shook my head. "Um, no just stopped by to see Simone before the dance."

He laughed, smacking his forehead with his hand. "That would explain the fancy dress and the guy in the suit."

"Heh, yeah." I took a few steps toward him and held out my hand. "But I can get a refill of that for you no problem."

"Oh, really? Thanks." He handed me the mug and I went around the corner, pulling one of the coffee carafes out from behind the counter and filling it up with coffee before handing it back to him.

"Hey, thanks a lot, Alex. Sorry for making you work on your night off." Mr. James took a sip of his coffee and then placed the lid on.

"No problem, Mr. James, have a good night."

"You, too, Alex, have fun at the dance!" He yelled and headed out the door.

"Isn't that sweet? Helping out a guy that didn't even leave you a tip?" Simone waltzed out of the backroom. She looked just like the Simone from my dreams in a long black cloak and her bright red hair tied up in intricate knots.

"Simone?" Ace asked, taking a step closer.

Maybe I was dreaming.

Simone placed her hand over her heart, "My gods, you still remember me? I thought maybe your new human girlfriend had muddled your brain so much you had forgotten."

Human girlfriend?

"Simone, what are you even doing here?" Ace made his way toward the counter, his head cocked ever so slightly and his hands balled up at his sides.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt this reunion, but can someone tell me whats going on?" I pointed from Ace and back to Simone.

Simone tilted her head back and let out a laugh that sounded like a cracking whip. "And you thought Columbia really wanted you based on your intellect? Oh, dear!"

"Simone, just stop. You don't have to do this." Ace held his hands up, making his way toward the pastry case.

"Do what, Ace?" She cocked her head. "Let this human girl know the alien you really are? The one that was promised to me, but left for a silly little earthly war!"

"I thought you were with some girl named Venus?"

Simone shook her head. "You speak of the Kelarian, but you don't even tell her of your Caltian mate!"

"She wasn't my mate, Alex." Ace looked over at me, his eyes growing darker. "After my last relationship didn't work out, the queen tried to match me with Simone and combine the southern and northern Caltian hemispheres."

"Ah, yes." Simone took another step toward Ace, coming out from behind the counter. "We were going to be the ruling power. You with your warrior brutality and me with my impeccable beauty and unmatched power of sway."

Ace winced as she took another step toward him.

"But, no, you had to ruin it all by falling for this, this pathetic human!" she screamed, her nostrils flaring like a giant bird.

"Hey, I thought we were friends! You were the one that told me to dump Ace and I would be better off!" I yelled, getting as close to the counter as I could.

"Tsk, Tsk." Simone shook her head. "Such an attitude for someone so insignificant."

"Simone!" Ace shouted. I turned to see him crouched down with his hands out in front of him.

"Machiavelli, what do you think you are doing? Do you really think you can overpower me? A Caltian woman?" She took another step toward Ace.

"I haven't been sitting around and playing tiddlywinks all these years. I am a trained Caltian and earthly fighter, you know? And I will fight for Alex."

Simone tilted her head back and let out another cackle. "You really think your earthly training can do anything against me?"

So, he wasn't with another girl after all. It was someone trying to sleep creep on our relationship. After all my doubts and fear about him, he never had any doubts about me. There he was ready to fight for me like he always did. And I was stupid to ever doubt him.

I watched as Simone's eyes took on an eerie glow that reminded me of glow sticks in the dark. Ace swallowed, his left hand slightly shaking.

"Your fight is not with Alex. I'm the one you are after. I'm the one you have been mad at for all of these years. Take it out on me and let the girl go."

"Ace, no!" I yelled, reaching out toward him. I couldn't lose him. It was as if a light bulb had finally flicked on in my head and I realized what I had been missing. If I gave up Ace, I wouldn't have Brody or Columbia, it was all just an illusion. Ace was my reality and he always had been. He might have been the one from a different planet, but without him I was the alienated one. He made me whole.

Simone snapped her head in my direction. Gone was the best friend I had known for so long and in her place was an evil alien.

"I thought I told you to be quiet!" she yelled, moving her arms in the air as bits of ceiling tile flew down to the ground. I bound to the side, barely avoiding a big chunk that flew at my head.

"Simone…" Ace appeared behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder. "You don't need to do this. There are plenty of other eligible Caltian men that would be happy to have you. You don't need me or to destroy Alex."

I looked down to see Ace motioning his hand to the side for me to leave.

The color in Simone's eyes faded and went back to their normal navy blue. "Do you know all the sacrifices I made for you?"

She put her hands up to her eyes and popped out two pairs of blue contacts, her eyes behind them were blacker than any night sky. "I tried to make myself appear human! These contacts, this awful red hair dye! And for what? NOTHING!"

Simone screamed and before I could make my move to get to the front door, she flicked her wrist and the pastry case flew forward. I tried to duck out of the way, but it came at me in full force, pinning me between the case and the espresso machine.

"Ace, help me!" I screamed. I tried wiggling my way out, but it was like an invisible force field had kept the case pressed against me, choking all the air from my lungs.

"All of this work for nothing!" I watched as Simone's cloak billowed around her and she walked toward Ace. "We could have done this the easy way. She would have broken up with you, the treaty would be broken, and we could have been together. It was perfect!"

She threw her arms up in exasperation and then let them hang back at her side. I remembered what Malcolm said, it was the Caltian females that had all the power. I knew the queen was very powerful, but I never imagined that anyone else could have that sort of immense control and strength over anyone, including a guy I saw pull an alien with a death grip off me.

Ace shook his head. "Simone that could never be. I'm not going back to Calta and I don't feel that way for you."

"What?" She lifted her arms in the air with purpose, holding them stiff as a board. Ace's body hovered off the ground and was thrown against the fireplace by a blue glow that flew out of Simone's hands. "How dare you speak to me like that! This human brat must have gotten to your head!"

She ran toward the fireplace, using her long hands to lift Ace up by his collar and dangling him above her head as her eyes glowed brighter than the sun. "You just leave me no choice but to destroy you both."

"No!" I screamed but it was no use, all she did was laugh as Ace lay there as limp as a rag doll while she threw him back down onto the cold concrete of the fireplace.

"Now to finish you off, human."

I could barely move with my shoulders wedged between the espresso machine and pastry case. Then I remembered what Daisy had said the other day about how Simone hated making espresso. It brought me back to last summer with the fireballs. If only I could get to the carafe of coffee.

She lunged on top of the counter, throwing the pastry case aside as if it were nothing more than a fly. "Too bad you didn't just listen to me, Alexandra. We could have been friends."

Her cold fingers traced along my cheek, a small smile creeping on her face. How did I not realize she was a Caltian before? The cold body? The fear of hot items? I should have known. I looked back at the coffee; it was barely out of my reach and my feet seemed to be planted firmly to the ground.

Simone laughed her wicked laugh. "And you still seem to think you can fight me? Really I don't know what they teach you in that school of yours, but you are no match for a Caltian woman."

She sat down on the counter, crossing one leg over the other. "I don't know what you are trying to prove. Just take this all nobly and maybe you will even be regarded as hero. A martyr for the human cause." She laughed again. "A human hero, that is just too funny."

"I'm not as insignificant as you think." I tried my hardest to make my voice come out strong, but with what little breath I had it just came out as a whimper.

Simone put her hand to her lips and pressed her combat boot clad foot to my chest until I fell against the back wall, knocking down a few carafes of coffee with me.

"You really are funny. Too bad I can't keep you around for my entertainment."

I could barely breathe and my glasses had been knocked crooked, but I had enough strength to know what I needed to do. Simone didn't realize that she actually helped me by knocking me down. I grabbed one of the carafes of coffee lying on the floor and opened the container before swinging it as hard as I could at Simone. A wave of steaming brown liquid poured out of the container and bathed Simone in a haze of smoke.

She screeched like a dying rabbit and fell to the floor below. She hit her head on the pastry case, and the blow was enough to knock her out. She laid there in a black heap, a waterfall of brown liquid flowing over her body and turning her skin a bright pink.

As quickly as I could, I ran over to Ace, jumping over Simone in the process.

"Ace, are you okay?" I helped him sit up. He was like deadweight, but I did my best to prop his head up against the fireplace. "Ace, please be okay, please." The tears started to sting my eyes, but I could see a glowing red light in the reflection of the fallen mirror from above the fireplace.

I held Ace in my arms and closed my eyes, preparing for a lot of questions from the police.

"You know, if you want us to save you, you will have to let go of the alien."

Chapter 39

It turned out it wasn't the police, but a crew from Circe that had been notified of the attack. Simone's limp body was quickly apprehended and taken back to a cell at Circe. Some other workers were busy doing clean up and working to make sure that everyone within a 100-mile radius believed that Cuppa Java had a robbery.

Ace sat in the back of one of the unmarked vans, barely awake after a few doses of something glowing and green in a syringe.

"Are you okay?" I whispered, running my fingers along the cut on his forehead. "I'm so sorry this had to happen. We never should have stopped."

"Hey." Ace sat up slowly. "Don't be sorry. If we hadn't come here we would have never figured out that Simone was the one at fault here."

"Yeah." I sighed. "I guess you are right. About everything. I'm sorry."

Almost losing my boyfriend and finding out one of my best friends was actually an evil jealous ex-alien-girlfriend out to kill me. What a day.

Ace smiled. "Still want to go to the dance?"

"What?" I arched my eyebrow. "After all this?"

"Yeah." He made his way up until we were standing. "I'm not going to miss my first dance with you."

After the Circe workers cleared us we headed to the high school. The dance had already started and the gym lights were dimmed with a few strings of Christmas lights decorating the bleachers. But even through the dim lights Ace and I still looked like we just crawled through a ditch with our torn up and blood-stained clothes. I didn't even want to look in a mirror to see how my hair looked.

People whispered as we made our way into the gym. But I was finally able to ignore the stares and gawking and just focused on Ace's hand in mine. I didn't let go of it until we made our way to the middle of the dance floor.

"May I have this dance?" he asked.

"Of course." I wrapped my arms around his neck and he pulled me tight against him.

I didn't have any idea what song was playing or if it was even a slow song, all I could focus on was the pair of dark eyes of the alien that not only saved my life countless times, but would forever be in my life.