How to Marry an Alien (14 page)

"You know how I love my vintage." I smiled,
thinking that was the same thing I always said about Ace, my
vintage alien who came to Earth in the 1940s.

"How is your love life going? I know that Ace
and you have been spending more time together since you've moved
out here," dad questioned, peering at me over his menu.

"Dad." I rolled my eyes. "That is not
something that a girl wants to talk about with her father."

"Come on, Alex. I think we both know this is
a different sort of thing. Not every girl is promised to a boy in a
written treaty," he said.

"You make it sound so romantic when you put
it that way."

"Alex." Dad put my menu down, forcing me to
look at the way his forehead wrinkled. "I'm serious. I know that
you and Ace are now engaged in every sense of the word, and I just
want to make sure that there isn't anything I should be concerned
about. A lot has happened this past year and I hope that everything
is still alright."

I smiled, putting my hand on my dad's. We
could have been twin hands if mine were just a little bit more
wrinkled, but they were the same: short, a little stubby, and with
a perfect olive complexion.

"Dad, I promise you, everything is great with
me and Ace. He really is wonderful, if you must know. I couldn't be
happier to know that I am spending the rest of my life with
him."

Dad nodded before he patted my hand with his
free one and then slid both of them back to his menu.

"Good. You know, when Ace approached me about
proposing to you with an actual ring I didn't know what to think.
We already had the treaty, but I didn't know he wanted to put the
extra commitment forward for you. That boy loves you in every sense
of the word."

I could feel the heat rise to my cheeks.
"Yeah, I know."

"I'm serious." He took a sip of his water and
set it back down on the table. "I've never seen anyone so enamored,
especially someone like him."

We were careful never to say the alien word
outside of Circe, but we both always knew what we were talking
about.

Dad continued. "I never thought I would see
the day that someone I worked with would fall head over heels for
my daughter. I know you will be in good hands with him."

"Yeah, if every other person like him would
get over this whole celebrity status we've somehow built up." I
took a sip of my water and set it back down.

"What do you mean by that?"

After the waitress took our order and we made
sure she was out of earshot I told him about my professor, the
poster salesman, and even the aliens at the canyon. It was good to
finally talk to someone about all the weirdness that was
surrounding me.

Dad laughed, leaning back against the booth.
"That is quite a spectacle. I guess you underestimated how big of a
deal this all was."

He was right, of course; he was the one who
tried to warn me about it. When Ace and I started dating he did
everything in his power to keep us apart and stop any sort of an
alien battle. Now we were engaged, officially, and I was finally
starting to realize the gravity of an alien and human relationship,
and how it propelled me to superstar status as the future
princess.

"Is it always going to be like this? I know
you've been with Nerses for a while now."

Nerses was the head of Circe. She was from a
planet that was destroyed years ago, even before her and dad
started a secret relationship.

Dad sighed. "Nerses and I are different. If I
could have what you and Ace have, I would be the happiest man in
the entire galaxy."

We stopped talking when the waitress brought
our burgers. I felt a tinge of guilt. Dad couldn't have the
relationship he wanted, but he still stayed with Nerses. He loved
her so much that he was willing to keep it hidden from the world. I
guess not everyone could have their happily ever after.

Dad and I got back to Circe and he didn't
even follow me to Ace's hall. I hoped I wouldn't run into anyone
else and quickly made a few taps at his door. Ace opened it,
grinning from ear to ear. It had been a long time since I had seen
him in only his jumpsuit, and the way the material of the suit
conformed to the contours of his body automatically sent a rush
through my stomach and into my legs while my eyes lingered on his
hipbones.

"I thought you wouldn't show up, maybe you
had decided to leave me for a night with Lucy and Riley." He pulled
me into the room, shutting the door behind us.

"Lucy does look good in a pair of pigtails,"
I teased.

"I bet you would look better." He put his
hands up to my hair, holding two handfuls on either side of my
face. "Much better than her, I believe."

"You're just saying that because she isn't
here." I reached my arms around to the small of his back and pulled
him against me.

"And since she isn't here, what did you have
in mind to do tonight?" He leaned down and pressed his forehead to
mine.

It was all I needed to crush my lips against
his. He reciprocated in full force, his hands running through my
hair and down my back. All reason had gone out the window, and I
wanted the alien that I loved, all of him.

I broke the kiss for a brief moment, pulling
my shirt off and tossing it to the side. He didn't stop me, or say
anything. He just pulled my body back against his. The coldness of
his body against my bare skin was like a summer breeze, letting
goose bumps build up and down my torso. I moved my fingers to the
front of his jumpsuit and quickly pulled down the zipper. He moved
with lightning-fast speed, peeling his arms out of the suit and
shrugging the top of the suit off him, never breaking our kiss.

His body was pressed to mine, skin against
skin, dropping my temperature on the outside, but my blood was
boiling beneath. This beautiful alien loved me; this beautiful
alien was all mine. I led him to the bed, slowly taking steps
backward until we fell onto the dark cotton sheets. I pulled him on
top of me, his hips meeting mine again. I knew he was anatomically
correct, but feeling the hardness of it underneath his suit made me
realize that it could actually happen. Boom-booming was a definite
possibility.

Ace broke our kiss abruptly, making a
suctioning sound when he pulled back. He closed his eyes,
scrunching his face as if he was in pain. "We can't do this."

"What do you mean?" I breathed.

He shook his head, standing up and pulling
his suit back over his upper body. "I'm not ready…"

"Oh, okay." I forced myself off the bed and
picked up my shirt from the floor, quickly putting it back on. I
was completely embarrassed, ashamed as if I had done something
wrong.

"No, it's not. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have
started something I couldn't finish." Ace took a deep breath. "You
just take me to places in my heart that I have never been before
and it's hard to control myself around you."

"We don't have to do this. I know I love the
feeling of being so close to you emotionally and physically, but
I'm not going to force it." I turned so that I was looking at
him.

"I do love you. You will always be the only
girl that makes my heart beat this fast. Do you feel it?" He
grabbed my hand and put it to his chest. His heart beat so rapidly
beneath my hand that I thought it might explode. "You are the only
one who can do that to me."

"You do the same for me, Ace. I was so afraid
that I would lose you after the car accident. Ever since then all
I've wanted to do was give myself to you, all of me."

Ace shook his head, taking another step
toward me and breaking the space between us. "You don't have to do
that to give yourself to me. As long as I know that you will always
be there no matter how many alien battles we face or how many
obstacles we have to fight."

I moved my hand from his chest and pulled him
against me. "The best things in life are always worth fighting
for."

The weekend went by way too fast. One minute
I was sitting with Ace and assuring him that I loved him more than
Dustin Hoffman and the next I was rushing to biology lab. Between
all the homework and nights with little sleep I really needed a
break and Lucy offered the perfect one.

"I know it's a school night and the middle of
the week, but I have a test in my five o'clock class, so I'll get
out early if you and Ace want to grab dinner with me and
Riley."

I'd hung out with Riley and Lucy plenty of
times since they were practically inseparable, but never with Ace
along. Maybe we could use a double date with a set of humans.

"Sure, why not?" I looked up from the book I
was reading for mythology.

"Cool." Lucy slung her book bag over her
shoulder. "How about I text you when we get out of class and we
meet you at that sushi place downtown?"

"Sound good to me, and if Ace is busy, then I
will definitely be there anyway."

"Sweet." She smiled and headed out the
door.

"I still don't understand what sushi is and
how your roommate would want to eat it if she doesn't eat meat, or
dairy, or anything that is the best of all the food groups."

Ace and I walked through campus, swinging our
intertwined hands back and forth.

"You can eat all the sushi you want, and I'm
sure you will be fine. She won't judge whatever you decide to eat,"
I said while we rounded the corner and stood in front of the
restaurant.

"Good." He briefly pressed his lips to my
forehead, opened the door for me, and then followed me inside.

The restaurant looked like a vampire night
club, complete with dark red and black walls, glossy fake leather
booths and tile floor that sparkled in the dim lighting. I hoped
some guy with fangs didn't pop out from behind one of the many
gargoyle fountains.

"Hey, guys, over here!" Lucy and Riley were
cuddled against each other in a booth not far from the door."

Ace and I slid across from them, the slippery
seats giving us so little traction that I hit the stucco wall with
a thud.

"Are you okay?" Ace asked, leaning over and
inspecting the damage. There wasn't much to inspect, probably
another bruise to add to my collection. I had become accident prone
ever since my first run-in with aliens.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I rubbed my arm.

Ace placed his arm around me and slid me back
across the booth to his side.

"Aw, you two are too cute," Riley gushed.
"You may be my favorite non-gay couple."

"I'm honored." Ace smiled. I don't know if he
realized she was being cute, or if he took it as something
serious.

"So when is the big day anyway? I've wanted
to ask ever since I saw the gorgeous ring on Alex's finger," Riley
asked.

I looked up at Ace, blinking slowly.

He shrugged. "We haven't really talked about
it that much. Hopefully, it will be sometime after Alex finishes
her degree."

"You mean I have to wait at least another
three years before I get to pick out my bridesmaid dress?" Lucy
asked, putting her hands to her chest in mock shock.

"You didn't tell me you already picked
bridesmaids." Ace looked at me with his brows furrowed.

I laughed, shaking my head. "My roommate
likes to decide my future for me, and I guess she's already a
bridesmaid."

"Oh." Ace let out a big sigh. "That's too bad
because I was really hoping she would stand on my side as a
groomsman."

"I’m up for groomsmen duties!" Riley shot her
hand up in the air and Ace and I laughed, looking back at her.

"We can totally walk down the aisle
together." Lucy grabbed Riley's hand, looking at her with a big
smile on her face.

Riley intertwined their hands, bringing
Lucy's hand to her lips and kissing her knuckles. "I'd walk
anywhere as long as it was with you."

"Ew, keep your lesbo shit at home," A girl in
a way-too-tight blue dress yelled from the bar across from us.

"Excuse me?" Riley peered over Lucy at the
girl who was almost falling off her bar stool.

"You heard me." The girl took a swig of
whatever brown liquid was in her glass and sat it down on the bar.
"No one wants to see that."

Ace looked at me, his eyes dark and steely
before he looked toward the woman. "Ma'am, I believe their
relationship does not concern you."

"You're just saying that because you are a
man and into that nasty stuff." A smirk crossed the woman's heavily
painted lips.

Lucy shook her head, staring down at the
table. "Maybe we should just go. No need to fight with someone
because of us."

Ace reached his hand across the table and
tilted Lucy's chin up so she looked at him. "No one should ever
make you feel like your relationship is unnatural. You and Riley
care about each other and no one should tell you how to feel
otherwise."

Lucy smiled. "Thank you."

"And you—" Ace removed his hand from Lucy's
chin and turned toward the lady. "—need to mind your own damn
business. If you have a problem with two people dating, then
obviously you need something better to concern your time with."

The lady kept yelling, but Ace turned away,
taking my hand in his. "You don't know how long I've wanted to say
that to someone."

I squeezed his hand, knowing he wasn't just
talking about the yelling woman, or Lucy and Riley's
relationship.

After the lady wouldn't stop yelling, the
owner came and kicked her out, leaving us without her shouting for
the rest of the night. By the time we finished stuffing our face
with sushi, a desert rain began to trickle in outside the
window.

"I guess this means we'll have to stay a bit
longer." Riley stared out the window.

"It doesn't look too bad out there," Ace
said.