How to Marry an Alien (16 page)

She launched her legs forward and hopped off
the bed in one fell swoop. "But I really should get going to class.
My organic chemistry teacher gets cranky if I'm even a minute
late."

She walked over to her desk, grabbing her
backpack, and headed to the door.

"Hey, Lucy?" I called.

"Yeah?" She turned toward me with one hand on
the doorknob and the other on her bag.

"Thanks for talking to me about all of this.
It's nice to have someone here for me." I smiled.

She nodded, and there was a tiny hint of a
smile at her lips. "That's what good roommates are for."

I survived another week of classes and a few
days without my virginity. I hadn't really seen Ace for a few days,
with how busy we both were, and I wondered how much things would
really change between us. Once we went past the cuddling and
talking phase I was afraid we would never get back.

As soon as my classes were done on Friday,
Ace was sitting outside my dorm in one of the Circe issued SUVs
that looked almost identical to the one that I had crashed. I ran
as fast as I could to the car and threw open the door to see him
sitting there and grinning from ear to ear with giant aviator
sunglasses perched on his face.

"My favorite Air Force veteran in a pair of
aviators. What a concept." I wiggled my eyebrows and shut the door
behind me.

"My beautiful princess in flip-flops, if only
you had a pair of glass slippers, but I’m not sure they make those
in your size." He grinned, leaning over and placing a quick kiss on
my lips.

Nothing had changed. He didn't treat me
differently because he saw me fully naked, or because he was now
the card holder of my virginity. He pulled away from my dorm and
traveled the stretch through the mountains to Circe. The operations
center was actually built in to the mountains, and with tons of
other ones that looked just like it surrounding the center, I never
actually knew which one was which. Luckily, Ace had a better sense
of direction.

"Anything special you want to do tonight?"
Ace parked the car in one of the many underground parking garages
and steered me toward the main area of Circe.

"Are you trying to insinuate something?" I
took his hand in mine, squeezing it lightly.

"I'm not sure what you mean." He shook his
head.

I didn't know if he was just being playful or
if he truly meant it, but I went on anyway, trying to be as
seductive as I could. I pushed the button for the elevator, and
then turned toward him. Slowly, I reached up, trailing my finger
along his jaw line from his ear to his chin. "If I have to explain
it to you, then maybe you really aren't in the mood."

Ace grabbed my hand against his cheek, moving
my palm to his lips and placing a small kiss on it. "What you do to
me is beyond anything I could ever dream."

He leaned over and pressed his lips to mine
and wrapped his arms around my waist. I deepened the kiss, slinking
my arms around his neck and pulling him closer to me. His body was
flush against mine, sending a cold shiver down my stomach. This was
how it was supposed to be. We didn't have to hide our feelings
anymore at Circe; everyone knew that we were together. He was mine
and I was his.

"Ahem!"

Ace and I jumped back and turned toward the
elevator. There stood Justin and Malcolm with huge, toothy grins on
their faces.

"You know, just because you all are engaged
or whatever now, does not mean that everyone wants to see this
tonsil hockey stuff," Malcolm said, as he and Justin got out of the
elevator and stepped into the garage.

"I don't really mind it." Justin shrugged
before Malcolm slapped his chest with the back of his hand. It
wasn't hard, but Justin still held his hand to his chest and bent
forward.

"Don't listen to this fool." Malcolm pointed
a thumb at Justin.

"I should say the same thing about you and
Jen." I raised an eyebrow and Ace put his arm around my waist,
pulling me close against his side.

Justin laughed, standing back up. "Yeah,
Malcolm, didn't you all get caught making out in the hangar by one
of the higher ups?"

"Man, shut up!" Malcolm looked over at
Justin. Even though Malcolm's skin was dark, I could still see a
red blush creeping up his cheeks.

"I guess we should leave you two to your
banter," Ace said as he ushered me toward the elevator, pressing
the button again.

"Why does it have to be like that?" Justin
held his arms out. "You all don't want to hang out with us? We were
just heading out to meet up with Jen at La Noria."

"Uh, maybe later," I said. I was hoping we
could get back to Ace's room and continue what we started before
they interrupted, but I wasn't about to say that out loud.

"Oh, come on, we haven't really hung out much
since the intern days, and Ace has never hung out with us," Malcolm
said, crossing his arms over his chest.

I looked up at Ace, hoping that he would come
up with a better excuse than the only one I could think of, the
truth.

Instead Ace shrugged his shoulders and looked
over at Malcolm and Justin. "I guess we can hang out for a
bit."

"That's what I'm talking about!" Malcolm
nodded his head and gave Ace a high five.

Great, I thought Lucy was the boom-boom
blocker even before I really understood what it was. It looked like
Malcolm and Justin were the new boom-boom blockers.

We got back in the SUV and headed to the
little Mexican restaurant I had dinner at with Lucy on our first
night in the dorms. I soon found out that the restaurant wasn't
actually Mexican, but the owners and all the staff were actually
from a small planet in the Andromeda galaxy. It turned out we
actually weren't eating Mexican food, but Andromedan delicacies
with ingredients they had special ordered in every other day from
their home planet.

We all piled into a table near the kitchen,
that way no one would hear Jen when she spoke Andromedan to the
waiters or bother us when everyone gave our table special
treatment.

"Okay, Alex, you have to let me get a better
look at that giant Caltian rock on your finger," Jen slurred. The
waiters kept refilling her margarita glass and the more she drank,
the bolder she got.

I took my hand from Ace's and held it up to
her.

"OH MY GOD!" She grabbed my hand, yanking it
until it was only about an inch from her face. "This is the most
gorgeous thing I have ever seen!" She released my hand and I put it
back on my lap. "Well done, Ace."

Ace nodded. "Thank you, Jen."

"Yeah, too bad we all know that it really is
just a Caltian rock." Malcolm laughed.

Jen flicked his ear. "Don't be rude just
because you are jealous of those fake things in your ears."

Malcolm rubbed his ear, his fingers trailing
on the giant studs in them. "So touchy."

Justin laughed, slapping his knee. "You would
think I'd be bothered by being the third wheel in all of this, but
the way Jen puts you in your place, I actually don't feel as
bad."

Malcolm shot a glare in his direction, but
then smiled. "Don't hate."

"You know what we should do?" Jen said in a
loud whisper. "We should call Gavin and Riley and have an intern
reunion!"

Justin sucked in a deep breath. "I don't know
about that one."

"What are you talking about?" Jen looked over
at Justin. "You know that Riley is dating Alex's roommate now. With
her memory loss it's like last summer never happened and now her
and Alex are the best of friends."

"I wouldn't go that far," I muttered. "And
there is no way I would want to see Gavin again, ever."

Malcolm laughed. "Yeah, didn't that dude have
some sort of stalker crush on you before Ace came around? He was a
definite creeper."

I started to say something, but Ace let out a
low growl that wasn't sure if anyone else could hear.

"Yes, he did and I would appreciate if I
never had to see that little worm again," Ace said, not looking up
from his plate of Andromedan fajitas.

"Agreed!" Justin raised his glass, lightening
the mood.

"We already have enough guys here that want
Alex. Did you see how that busboy looked at her? I think Ace might
have some competition." Jen's laughter was contagious, and the
whole table was laughing at everything that anyone said. Well,
everyone but Ace.

"What busboy?" Ace asked, arching an
eyebrow.

Malcolm nodded his head behind Ace. "The one
clearing that corner table. I swear I saw him check out Alex's ass
when she went to the bathroom."

"No, he was not!" I shrieked.

"Dude, I think you were right. I think he
even said something in Andromedan about how he'd like to use his
tentacle to break off a piece of that," Justin added, taking a big
gulp of his beer.

"Excuse me a moment." Ace stood up from the
table.

"Oh man, look what you guys started," Jen
whispered between her giggles.

I turned to see where Ace was going, hoping
it was the bathroom, but no such luck. He walked right over to
where the poor, tiny busboy with the shaved head, piled plates into
a plastic container.

I couldn't make out what Ace was saying to
him, but I saw his hands ball up into fists at his side. The busboy
put down the container and held his hands in front of them, waving
them frantically, his lips moving a mile a minute.

"You don't think he's going to hit him, do
you?" I didn't look back at the table as I spoke.

"My money's on Ace," Malcolm said.

"I think I'm going to go for the long shot
and say the busboy," Justin added.

The busboy backed up against the wall with
Ace standing at his toes. The busboy still had his hands waving in
the air and his whole body was shaking. I sprang up from the table
and ran as quickly as I could to the scene of the crime.

"You will not talk about my princess or look
at her that way again, is that understood?" Ace's voice was a growl
on the busboy's face.

"Yes, sir," the busboy's voice came out in a
shaky accent.

"What's going on here?" I pushed my hands
between the two aliens and pried them part.

"Nothing, your highness," the busboy said as
he slowly backed away. "Prince Machiavelli was just teaching me
about Caltian roles. Thank you, sir." He bowed quickly and then ran
through the double doors and back to the kitchen.

Ace followed the busboy with his eyes before
he turned back to me.

"You know this jealous boyfriend thing is
getting real old," I said, putting my hands on my hips.

A lazy smile crept on his lips while he took
a step toward me and wrapped his arms around my waist. "And you
trying to act tough around me will never get old."

"I am tough." I rocked on my heels and put my
hands on his shoulders. "Toughest human fighter you've ever
met."

"And the best looking." He leaned down and
pressed his forehead to mine.

"Hey, if we aren't going to see a fight, then
you all better get back to the table, or Justin and I are going to
eat your food!" I turned to see Malcolm standing over the table
with his fork hovering over Ace's plate.

"Malcolm, you may be the one that works on my
ship, but it is not beneath me to smack you silly," Ace called,
taking my hand and walking me back to the table.

Malcolm put his fork down and sat in his
chair. "You wanna go?"

Ace arched his eyebrow, taking his seat
across from Malcolm. "Do you really want to try to match wits with
a Caltian fighter?"

Malcolm stared at him for exactly two seconds
before he burst into laughter, slapping his hands together. "Man, I
love this guy!"

A smile finally appeared on Ace's face, and
Malcolm gave him a big high five. Finally something normal happened
in our relationship. Now if I could just get rid of his jealous
side.

The days had been going relatively smoothly
since the Andromedan restaurant incident, but now I had to get back
to reality and work on my persuasive speech. After the mad rush to
work on my pitiful Dustin Hoffman speech I had to up my game and
give a speech that actually matched the '
A
' I was getting in
the class. I didn't want to receive special privileges because I
was the future princess of Calta, and I needed to prove I was worth
it.

"Hey, how about why you should rescue a cat
from a shelter for my speech topic?" I yelled back at Lucy, who sat
at her desk behind me.

No response.

"Lucy? Lucy?"

I turned around to see that she had her
giant, noise cancelling headphones on.

I stood up from my chair and took the few
steps over to hers, pulling her headphones back.

"Lucy?"

She jolted and then pulled both headphones
off her ears and let them hang around her neck. "Oh, hey, Alex."
She looked from the computer and back at me. "I'm just watching
some more of these vlogs from these alien kids. These things have
gone seriously viral."

"Really?" I asked, trying to hide the tension
in my voice. Were people taking them seriously?

"Yeah, check it out." Lucy pressed the play
button and a frozen Gemma and Rachel came to life on the
screen.

"I definitely think the government is hiding
some sort of alien conspiracy. There is no way that things like
this can just happen to us and no one will say anything about it,"
Gemma's gravelly voice rang over the computer's speakers.

Rachel sat next to her, her eyes wide as she
bobbed her head up and down at every one of Gemma's words.

"I even tried to file a police report saying
that someone broke my leg who was invading my dreams, and they just
laughed at me!" Gemma threw her hands up in the air. "Like I would
purposefully ruin my future college rugby career."