How to Marry an Alien (17 page)

"Crazy ideas by the poe poe," Rachel
added.

"Hey, tell them about what those aliens did
to our relationship, baby." I couldn't see him, but I definitely
recognized Brody's voice from behind the camera.

"Oh, yeah!" Gemma leaned forward, placing her
hands on her knees and rocking back and forth. "These aliens put
ideas into Brody's head that he should break up with me and go
after one of the geekiest girls in our class. Can you imagine? They
actually brainwashed him to believe if he dated her, then he would
become a famous rapper!"

Lucy shook her head, looking at the screen.
"This stuff is hilarious."

"Yeah, heh, hilarious." I tried to keep the
tension out of my voice, but my hands were shaking. All of those
things did happen and all of those things were caused by a jealous
alien ex-girlfriend of Ace's.

"I hope they keep putting these things out.
They are definitely a great way to take a break from homework,"
Lucy called over her shoulder as I headed back to my desk.

"Maybe you should just stick to environmental
science instead of alien video blogs," I said back.

"Yes, Mother!"

I shook my head and picked up my phone from
my desk, sliding it open to text Ace.

So, weird thing. Brody, Gemma, and Rachel
have been putting video blogs out about their experience with
Simone last year. Can you check on this?

Ace quickly responded.

Already on it. It's a viral sensation, but
no one is actually taking them seriously. We have nothing to worry
about.

Easy for him to say. He didn't have kids from
his home town talking about him on the internet.

Okay, I guess you are right. Are you still
coming over tonight?

Another quick response.

Wouldn't miss it for all the stars of
Calta.

I set my phone back down on my desk and
figured I deserved a little study break that didn't involve video
blogs. I closed out of my Word document and pulled up Facebook
where a new friend request was waiting.

Gavin Thomas wants to be your friend.

No, it couldn't be the same Gavin. There was
no way. I clicked on his profile and there he was: the same side
bangs he had last summer and the same cocky grin. The same Gavin
who wanted to do nothing but destroy Ace's and my relationship.

I clicked on our mutual friends. I definitely
expected to see Jen, Malcolm, and Justin but there was one name
that really concerned me.

Riley Hathaway is a mutual friend.

He couldn't still talk to her, could he?

A Facebook message popped upon my screen from
one Gavin Thomas.

Hey, long time no talk.

Crap.
I wasn't expecting that. I
hadn't talked to him in a year, and the last time I talked to him
was when he was cornering me in a room and saying that it was
unnatural for me to be dating Ace.

Yeah, been busy, you know hanging out with
Ace, going to school.

He was quick to respond.

I saw that you were at Northern Arizona.
That's where Riley is now, right?

What was the side banged kid trying to
pull?

Yeah, And? Are you trying to see if you can
get us together for a double date? Because if you are, I'm still
taken. Thanks.

Lol, you are too much, kid.

Kid? Since when was I just a kid? He was the
one that was trying to get with me all last summer. Bet I wasn't a
kid then. Before I could think of a good response, another message
came up.

No, I'm with someone else now. Someone more
my style. You'd like her.

Uh, huh, sure. I have a project to work on.
So I will ttyl.

I quickly signed off Facebook before he could
respond. I didn't care that he had a new girlfriend, but I did care
what his interest was in me and Riley. I did a quick scan of his
profile and saw that he was still living in Boston, so wasn't like
he was going to pop in for a visit.

Besides, he never really posed a threat to
me. He never tried to hurt me. I just would need to make sure to
make good use of my Facebook block button to not deal with any more
messages and to keep the past in the past.

And hopefully he would be doing the same.

As soon as Lucy left for class, Ace beamed
into my room. The brilliant blue light faded from the ceiling, and
he was left standing there in a pair of seersucker dress pants and
a blue gingham button-down shirt. He may look exceptionally good in
the preppy gear, but I was going to have to take him shopping in
something a little more down-to-earth, literally.

"Is there something wrong?" He tilted his
head, approaching my bed and taking the spot next to me.

"Uh, yeah, something is definitely
wrong."

He shook his head, leaning his back against
the wall behind my headboard. "Every time you tell me that it's
never as bad as what you think it is."

"It may not be all the time, but a lot of the
time it is, like when Simone was sleep creeping."

"But it didn't turn out to be that bad with
Lucy dating Riley. You three have turned into an inseparable
trio."

I rolled my eyes. "Can we move on?"

He held his hands up with his palms out
toward me. "Okay, I surrender, what is the problem now?"

"Gavin added me as a friend on Facebook and
then messaged me to see how I was doing."

"Gavin?" Ace arched an eyebrow. "The little
Boston one from last summer?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but that isn't the worst
part. I also found that he is still Facebook friends with Riley. He
even had the gall to bring it up and ask how we were doing."

Ace swallowed, his eyes blank and staring off
in front of me as if he was looking right through me.

"Well? Say something. Don't just go off
somewhere else in your head." I tapped his knee.

Ace shook his head and sat up. "I don't think
it could hurt anything," he said like each word was a struggle. "He
did have to sign a contract that he wouldn't reveal any of the
secrets of Circe, so it's not like he could bring up anything
alien."

He put his hand down on top of mine.
"Besides, it's not like Riley remembers him anyway. We should be
fine. Nothing to worry about." He held a tight-lipped smile.

"You are a terrible liar," I said.

He shook his head as if he were trying to
shake whatever thoughts he had out of it. "I'm really not too
worried about it, but if you are that worried, I can do some
research and see what I can find through the internet. Maybe even
block it so that the two of them cannot communicate through any
online networks. I can do the same block for you as well"

I perked up, sitting on my knees. "Are you
serious? You can do that?"

Ace returned the smile, moving his hands out
from behind his head and placing them on the small of my back. He
pulled me closer until I was able to sit on his lap.

"I know you had to learn at least a little
something while we were working together," he said. "I can do just
about anything with a few flicks of my wrist and typing in some
code."

I slid farther up his lap, pressing my chest
against his. His heart beat wildly against mine, and his hands
pulsated heat throughout my back. "I'm sure you can do more with
your hands than just some research about humans."

His smile widened as his hands slid under my
shirt, his palms making small circles on my back. "Well, you could
say that the internet is where I first did the research to meet the
love of my life."

I remembered the first time I actually spoke
with him, when he was training me to be his assistant in alien
security at Circe. He was telling me how he trolled different
internet sites to look for any alien wrongdoings, and I saw it
right there on the screen: He frequented my own blog. He loved my
personality before he even met me, and I could never resist a guy
that liked me for my brains.

I pressed my forehead to his, looking deep
into his dark eyes. The first time I saw them they frightened and
intrigued me at the same time, and now, I wanted to do nothing more
than get lost in them forever. "It's good to know that you'll
always be on my side."

He breathed onto my lips, his breath smelled
like peppermint tea. "I will always be here for you, Alex. Even if
it turns out that there is a problem with Riley and Gavin, we can
work through it together. We've survived just about everything else
and I know we can fight this together."

That was all the talking that I needed. I
crushed my lips to his, letting my tongue dance along his. Before I
knew it, our clothes were on the floor below us and I was as close
to him as we possibly could be.

My worries went away as soon as I got lost in
Ace's arms. Once he left, I felt like the weight of the world was
lifted off my shoulders and I could relax again. I finished my
homework and went to bed early. Finally, I could wake up early
enough to be ready for class and get there at a decent time to look
over my notes for my persuasive speech.

"Blogging should be used by every teenager…no
that sounds stupid," I mumbled to myself, scribbling in my
notebook. After talking with Ace, I wanted to do something with
social media or blogging for my persuasive speech. I just had to
figure out what exactly to focus on, and I needed more than a few
minutes to throw a speech together, even though I was sure
Professor Johnson would give me an 'A' anyway. I thought I could at
least show the class I was worth my 'A'.

"You, Alex Bianchi?" A very tall girl with
tanned skin and mile-high legs stood in front of my desk. I knew
she sat on the other side of the room, but for the life of me I
couldn't remember her name.

"Uh, yes, that would be me." I put down my
pen and gave the girl my attention. I hoped she wasn't there to
start a fight. From what Ace told me about the research he did on
my professor, she was actually a former warrior on her planet. He
said she knew her way around the armory. If someone did come after
me, the professor would probably be there in an instant.

"So you're the future princess of Calta?" She
arched her eyebrows high on her forehead.

I almost choked on my own spit and had to
cough and pound my chest with a closed fist to get it out. When I
got through with my coughing fit, the girl was still standing there
and staring.

"Um, well, you know, funny you should ask
that…"

"Listen." The girl raised her hand, palm
outward toward me. "I don't want to hear your excuses or whatever
cover story that Circe gave you. I heard Proji talking to you and a
lot of us aliens talk on this campus." She took another step toward
me, and I saw that this tall girl was definitely not human. Her
eyes were way too blue to be anything other than an alien…or a
hobbit and she was too tall for that.

"I just want to know if it's true."

I swallowed, this time not going through the
coughing fit. "Yes, yes I am marrying Ace, or I guess you call him
Machiavelli."

She stood there staring at me for what seemed
like forever until finally a ghostly smile crossed her thin face.
"I can't believe I'm really standing before royalty. This must be
how all those kids felt in England when Will and Kate were going to
school!" she gushed, turning from the staunch woman to a giddy
school girl.

Was that really how it was? Was I supposed to
be a royal figurehead? I wasn't much for being any sort of
figurehead; I had my own issues with my figure to worry about being
a figurehead.

"Uh, well, I'm not exactly royalty yet. I
still have to finish school," I muttered.

The girl shook her head. "I don't think you
have any idea how big of intergalactic news this is. There have
never been any reports of someone of a royal alien family actually
marrying a human. In fact, you are probably one of the first human
and alien any sort of relationships that I've actually heard of.
Even aliens pretending to be humans still stick to their own
kind."

"Oh." I bit down on my bottom lip. Why did
everything always have to come back to my and Ace's differences in
species? No one could ever get past our genetic make-up and look at
the fact that maybe we had a lot in common, or that we both felt
like outcasts from our own planets.

The girl looked over her shoulder at the
other kids entering the classroom, and then turned back to me.
"Okay, I guess I'll get to my seat. I hope to see more of you
around," she said and shot a wink before walking to her desk.

Why couldn't I just be a normal college
student?

I got back to my dorm and a big brown package
sat on my bed. Lucy must have gotten the mail. I hadn't received
much since I arrived at school, so was a little surprised to see
the box with the return label from my mom.

I put my messenger bag on my desk chair and
sat on the bed. Lucy must have gone to class early or was hanging
out with Riley since her bed was already made and she was nowhere
in the small room.

I ripped back the brown paper and tore the
tape off the package. On top of a bunch of Bubble Wrap sat a small
purple card with my name scrawled across it in my mom's
handwriting. She took a calligraphy class at the local community
college to make her signature look prettier for book signings and
used it whenever she could.

I pulled the envelope from the package and
slid out a card with a white kitten hanging from a tree and the
words Good luck written at the top.

I shook my head and opened the card with
mom's handwriting filling most of the inside.