How to Marry an Alien (6 page)

"Erm, I'm not sure Monte is exactly Lucy's
type," I mumbled.

"Is she breathing?" Ace asked.

"Yeah, but..."

"Well, then she most likely is his type!" Ace
said.

I shook my head. "No, Ace, she isn't into
guys like Monte."

"What's wrong with guys like me?" Monte
narrowed his eyes. "Most human girls find me attractive. I have
been asked many times to fornicate!"

I covered my mouth to stifle my laughter.
"Uh, dude, I mean she isn't in-to guys. She likes girls. She's
gay."

Monte and Ace both stared at each other for a
split second before they burst into laughter.

"Alex, that is the funniest thing I've heard
you say!" Ace breathed out between laughs. "You can just be honest
and say she isn't into aliens instead of something ridiculous like
that."

I pulled away from Ace, holding my hands out.
"Whoa, are you saying you don't believe my roommate is actually
gay?"

"Isn't that what he just said?" Monte
asked.

Ace ignored Monte and turned his body toward
me, the smile leaving his face. "I'm just saying that it seems
highly unlikely that a woman would prefer the company of another
woman unless they were using it for power like women do on
Calta."

I narrowed my eyes, placing my hands on my
hips. "Well, boys, this isn't Calta and there are plenty of women
that enjoy the company of other women and guys that prefer other
guys as well."

Monte and Ace both shared a collective
gasp.

"Really? This shocks you guys? You haven't
watched enough human movies to figure that out?" I rolled my eyes.
It was getting ridiculous with the two of them.

"I thought that was just acting." Monte
shrugged.

"Gah, you guys are ridiculous!" I threw my
hands up in the air.

Ace looked down at me and then back up at
Monte. "As much fun as this conversation is, do you mind giving us
a moment?"

Monte let out a big, overdramatic sigh.
"Fine, I guess I can tell when I'm not wanted."

"Would you rather I ravage Alex with you
still in the room?" Ace arched an eyebrow while he smirked. The
combination of the two looks sent a warm, electric buzz through me
that wasn't even the result of his touch.

Monte shook his head. "I'll pass." He turned,
calling out before he left the room. "Just let me know when you are
done." He shut the door behind him with a resounding thud that
echoed through the room.

"And now that I have you alone." Ace turned
his attention from the door and his gaze was back on me. He moved
his other arm around my waist and pulled me as close as we could
be. Tilting his head down, he pressed his forehead to mine,
inhaling a deep breath through his nose. "Only a few days without
you and I thought I was going to fall apart."

"You fall apart?" I lifted my eyebrows,
wrapping my arms around his neck. "I was so worried that I hurt
you. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I would have
been your demise."

Images briefly flashed in my head of all the
times I had to save him: the queen's threats, Simone throwing him
against the wall in the coffee shop, but those weren't directly
caused by me. Okay, maybe indirectly since they were mad about our
relationship, but this time it was me that caused the accident that
could have killed him.

"Hey." Ace's left hand moved from my back to
run his fingers along my jaw line. "Accidents are just that,
accident. You didn't do it on purpose. These things happen,
Princess, and they are beyond our control."

"But look at you. It's been days and you have
been stuck in the infirmary. I was so scared that the worse had
happened." I tried to keep the fear out of my voice, but the words
came out shaky.

"Don't talk like that, Princess. In fact..."
His words were nothing more than a whisper on my lips. "Don't talk
at all."

And that was all I needed to put the images
in the back of my mind. The thoughts of aliens coming after us and
all the craziness that surrounded me to just enjoy the moment were
my lips met his.

My first online class of the summer and I
skipped it. I figured spending time with my alien was more
important than watching an online discussion when I could just
catch up on the chat transcript later anyway.

Monte drove me back before my dad or anyone
else knew I was at Circe. I wanted to see my friends that I hadn't
seen since last summer, but technically I wasn't even supposed to
see Ace until he was released. But wasn't like I was a very good
rule follower when it came to my alien.

"Hey, where you been all day?" Lucy was
sprawled across her bed, watching a re-run of some 1990's cartoon
that she swore was a cinematic masterpiece and far superior to
nothing else on TV.

I dropped my bag on my desk chair and flopped
down on my bed across from hers. "Classes and then one of Ace's
friends stopped by and picked me up so I could visit him."

Lucy sat up, smoothing out her hair. "Was
that the dude in the sports car that looked like the lead singer of
one of those whiney punk bands everyone was talking about?"

I nodded, smacking my lips. "I'm guessing
so."

"No offense or anything." Lucy pulled her
bare feet up and tucked them underneath her. "Sorry, if your
boyfriend, or fiancé, or whatever is like that."

I shook my head, letting out a short laugh.
"No, Ace, is definitely nothing like Monte. Thank God!"

Lucy snorted. "Good! I was hoping I wouldn't
have to deal with a roommate with a D bag boyfriend. My last
roommate dated this guy that swore up and down he was the next big
white rapper."

I smiled, not because of what Lucy said, but
I thought back to last year when I found out Brody was being sleep
creeped. The good old farmer boy dreamt of being a famous white
rapper. The thought of him in his Carhartt jacket yelling about
hoes and dough, still made me laugh.

"Yeah, that totally isn't Ace. I think he
would die rather than be associated with anyone who raps. He makes
fun of the music I listen to enough. I couldn't imagine what he
would do near a wannabe rapper."

Lucy took in a deep breath, still smiling.
"Well that's a relief. How is he doing anyway? Still in the
hospital?"

"Yeah, it sucks. He should hopefully get out
soon, but I didn't get too much detail."

The truth was, he wouldn't tell me anything.
Not if he broke a bone, or if he spent days in the goo bath,
nothing. I was just supposed to believe that he was fine even
though Justin informed me on the ride in that Ace was definitely
unconscious for a while.

Before Lucy could say another word my phone
rang a rockabilly version of
Video Killed the Radio Star
, my
ringtone for when I got a video message. I wanted it to be Ace, but
knew it wouldn't be.

Mom
. Ugh. I talked to her briefly
after the accident, but nothing in length. Justin informed me that
since it was a Circe vehicle and we didn't want her questioning
anything with Ace's injuries, or calling insurance, to just say it
was minor and that my dad came and picked us up.

I slid the screen on my smartphone and opened
the video chat icon. "Hey, Mom."

As always, she was way too close to the
screen. I swore I could see every single one of her nose hairs.

"Hey, Alex," she practically yelled into the
phone. "How are you doing? How was your first day of classes? Tell
me everything!"

"Whoa, slow down there, lady." I held the
phone as far as I could away from my face, for fear of hearing loss
from her yelling. She needed to learn that one didn't need to yell
on a video chat, and fast, before I went deaf.

"I'm just excited to actually talk to you.
After your accident I was worried sick, even if it was just a
scratch! How is a mom supposed to concentrate when her newly
engaged daughter has an accident and starts college all within a
few days? It's a lot to take in."

I rolled my eyes, hoping she couldn't see it
with the pixilation of the screen. "Yeah, I'm the one living it so
I understand. Sorry I didn't call earlier. I've been busy."

I looked up to see that Lucy had turned off
the TV and was putting her laptop in her bag.

"Going somewhere?" I looked over the phone at
my roommate.

"Why would you ask me that? Do I look dressed
up?" mom yelled from the phone.

"No, ma, talking to my roommate," I
huffed.

"Oh! Let me say hi to your new roommate!" mom
squealed.

"Fine." I turned the phone toward Lucy.

"Hi, Alex's new roommate!" mom yelled and I
could just picture her waving frantically.

"Hey, Alex's mom." Lucy slung her bag over
her shoulder and did a little wave in the direction of the phone.
"Would love to stay and chat, but I'm going to head down to the
Union for an Americano."

"I don't know what that means, but have fun!"
mom yelled.

"Alright." Lucy nodded and went toward the
door. "See you later, Alex." She called before closing the door
behind her.

"She seems nice, reminds me a little of that
girl, Simone, you used to hang out with," mom said as I turned the
phone back to me. Yeah, like Simone if she was an evil alien who
tried to kill me.

"She definitely isn't anything like Simone,
ma."

"Oh, good." Mom nodded. "I liked her until I
found out about that horrible robbery at Cuppa Java. Such a
shame."

"Yeah..." I really didn't want to talk
anymore about Simone. "Okay, sorry to let you go, Mom, but I have
to catch up on stuff from my online mythology class. I will call
you tomorrow."

"Okay," she sighed, the disappointment
evident in her voice.

"Bye, Mom."

"Goodbye."

I tossed my phone on my bed and slid onto my
uncomfortable desk chair. The school could have at least provided
us something better than a hard, wooden vessel, but it would have
to do until I found something different.

I opened my laptop, clicked on the internet
icon, and slowly made my way to the transcript from mythology.
Before I even got halfway through the document my phone sang from
the bed. Frank Sinatra's
Fly Me To The Moon
blasted from the
phone's speakers. Ace's ring tone.

Quickly, I pounced on the bed, unlocking my
phone and sliding it up to my ear. "Yello?"

"Hey, Princess, miss me already?" His voice
made me smile, especially since I hadn't heard it much in the last
few days.

"Of course, I did. Always do." I rolled over
so that I was lying on my back. Gone was the pink madness that my
mother bought for a comforter; it had been replaced by a soft green
down comforter, courtesy of my dad's credit card. lying on it made
me want to drift off to sleep after all the craziness of the last
few days.

"Good, wouldn't want you to have ran off with
some new co-ed in your dorm."

I rolled my eyes, even though I knew he
couldn't see it. "Please, Ace, first off I'm on an all-girl's
floor, so there isn't a single boy around. And second, there is no
way I would find someone else. If someone else liked me, then they
should have put a giant Caltian rock on my finger like you
did."

Ace laughed. "I'm glad you are amused by the
Caltian rock."

"It makes my finger all sparkly. People can't
help but notice, including my alien communication professor and a
waiter at La Noria."

"Oh." He swallowed. "Take it you've realized
that Arizona isn't exactly alien free?"

"I guess I should have expected that with
Circe being so close by." I lifted my feet in the air and kicked
off my flip-flops so they landed on the floor at the end of the
bed.

"Speaking of Circe. I should be released from
the infirmary tomorrow if you can make time out of your busy
college schedule to see me after classes."

"For real?" I asked.

"Why wouldn't it be real, Alex?"

I shook my head. He still wasn't used to
figures of speech. "What I meant to say is that it sounds
great."

"Good, I look forward to seeing what all this
fuss is about dormitories," he said with a laugh.

Tomorrow I would finally get to spend time
with Ace, real time that wasn't in an infirmary or with anyone
interrupting. I would just have to wait another day. At least that
gave me time to prepare and show him how much I actually did miss
him.

I thought my second day of classes would
never end. I constantly kept checking my phone, hoping that it
would be five o'clock and I would get to see Ace, but I would
always be disappointed.

By the time my biology lab was over, I found
myself running back to my dorm. The last time I actually ran was
when I was throwing fire balls and being chased by evil Caltians
through a space ship. Who knew that this time I would be running to
get back to a Caltian?

"You survived your second day of classes!"
Lucy threw her hands up as soon as I sprang through the door. She
was definitely the smarter one out of the two of us. She scheduled
her classes for later in the day, so while I was up at 6 a.m. and
dead by the time classes were done in the afternoon, she was
refreshed and ready for her day.

"Yeah, I guess you could say I survived." I
kicked off my flip-flops and tossed my messenger bag on my desk
chair.

"So, I'm meeting up with my girlfriend after
classes at the Union for coffee. Want to join us?" Lucy pulled what
little bit of hair she had into two tiny pigtails.

"Since when do you have a girlfriend?" I
asked, trying not to sound like I was judging her for it. I didn't
care that she was gay. Who was I to judge? I was marrying an alien.
But the fact that she was dating someone was definitely news to me.
At least that was a way to get Monte off my back about meeting my
roommate.

"We've been talking for awhile now. She is a
grad student and helps monitor the chem lab," Lucy said as if it
were no big deal.