How to Marry an Alien (22 page)

"What? I don't understand. How could we have
done that?"

Ace swallowed. "When Caltians get married, as
you call it, or take on a mate as we do, there is a ceremony but
all that is involved in the ceremony is procreation."

I widened my eyes. "A public ceremony to have
sex?"

Ace let out a small laugh. "Well, there is
more to it than that. There is an altar and white gowns, but
basically, yes, sex is all one really needs to do to be married in
the Caltian world."

Well that explained why he wanted to wait so
long.

"But wait, so you are saying that we are
already married?" I asked.

Ace nodded slowly. "It's kind of like we just
eloped, which is why we need to keep it secret. This royal wedding
is a huge deal to all of the others in the universe. Could you
imagine if one of your earthly royal wedding couples decided to
just elope when everyone was making a big hoopla of the royal
wedding?"

I gasped. "Oh God! What's going to happen to
us?"

Everything started to click in my head. The
way Ace acted differently ever since we consummated the
relationship. How he almost attacked the waiter at La Noria for
talking to me and called me his princess. I just thought his over
protectiveness was normal, but now I understood that it took on a
deeper meaning with me as his wife.

"As long as we keep it quiet from the alien
world, we should be fine. This means you can't even tell Jen since
she has such close ties at Circe."

The only person I'd told was Lucy and I was
sure she hadn't told anyone. I thought that I should maybe not let
Ace in on that little detail that I did tell someone.

"So until I graduate, I'm supposed to pretend
like we've never had sex?" I asked. "No one is going to believe
that."

Ace sighed. "We can try it. At least put on a
front like we have been. And there are plenty of other things that
one can do that doesn't involve sex. Just because we've consummated
the relationship, doesn't mean its over."

I sat up straighter, wrapping my arms around
his neck. "Does this mean that we won't be able to ever do it
again? Would it just be like we were getting married over and
over?"

Ace smiled. "As much as I would marry you
repeatedly. It only takes once for the marriage to happen, after
that it's for fun."

"So we're okay, then? No one is going to come
after us?"

"I hope not," Ace said. "We still do have to
worry about whoever may be trying to hurt us. But at least we know
that, since you are now officially my princess, we do have that
protection. They can't un-mate us."

At least that part was comforting. After all
the people that had tried to break us up over the last year, I knew
it wasn't possible now, that Ace and I were actually married. And
now I knew how to marry an alien.

Lucy texted me not long after Ace and I woke
up for the second time and asked us to meet her and Riley for lunch
downtown. Since the last time we ate with them turned out pretty
well, Ace agreed.

We were going to meet at a little café near
campus, so Ace and I strolled, hand in hand, down the street. I
literally felt like I was glowing. I actually felt like I was a
princess now that I knew we were married. I wanted to bust out a
royal wave and maybe even carry a scepter. It was silly, but every
little girl pretended to be royalty at one point in her life and
now I actually was.

Before we even got near the café I spotted
Lucy and Riley skipping down the street with their arms looped
through each other's.

"Alex!" Lucy yelled. "Come on, we have to
show you something."

As soon as they got to us, Lucy and Riley
peeled me away from Ace and put me in the middle of their skipping
loop. I heard Ace's boots clomping behind us and couldn't imagine
where they were taking me.

"We found this place on our way to lunch and
we totally have to stop!" Riley squealed.

"Found what?" I asked.

"Some place that we need to go, and Ace can
go on to the café without us," Lucy said with equal enthusiasm.

"I'm not leaving. I'll just find a chair
wherever you ladies decide to go," Ace murmured behind us.

"Men." Riley rolled her eyes. "That's why I
don't date them."

They stopped their skipping, and we turned in
the direction of the store front. My mouth literally dropped open.
Three mannequins stood in a giant window, each of them in a long,
white gown. It was a bridal shop.

"Aren't you excited?" Lucy asked. "It was
Riley's idea. We know that you still have a few years and will
probably want to wait for your mom, but we thought it would be fun
to try on some bridesmaid dresses and see what you look like in all
white."

Riley turned to Ace. "And that is why you
have to wait outside, sir!"

Ace held up his hands. "Whoa, if I'm going to
be paying for the dress I think I should at least get a sneak
peek."

Riley rolled her eyes and looked back at us.
"Fine."

I looked back at Ace's big doe eyes while I
was dragged into the shop. After our conversation that morning, I
was less than excited to look at wedding dresses, and I knew that
he was forced to go with us since leaving me alone without alien
protection was not an option. Now I just had to make sure Lucy
didn't say anything about a white wedding.

A short, stout woman wearing a black skirt
suit greeted us as soon as we walked into the shop. There were
mounds of white dresses on black mannequins stacked up in every
nook and cranny. The floors were blue carpet with sparkles in them,
so they shined like diamonds, and a row of big, white doors flanked
the far wall opposite a standing row of mirrors with a small
platform right in the center.

"Welcome to Olga's Bridal Boutique. I am
Svyeta, how can I help you today?" the woman said in a heavy
Russian accent.

Lucy pushed me forward. "Our friend, Alex,
here is getting married to this cool drink of water behind us and
she needs to try on some dresses."

"And we want to try on bridesmaid dresses!"
Riley yelled beside me.

Svyeta nodded. "Okay, we see what we can do.
Come, Alex, I measure you."

Her gruff hands took me around the wrist and
pulled me to the platform. She nudged me on top of it and removed a
spool of measuring tape from her jacket pocket and looped it around
my waist, legs, and bust. I was not meant to be a model or to be
measured. I squirmed with every touch of her bearlike hands, and
she had to keep re-measuring.

"Okay, looks like you are a size twelve. You
tell me what style you want and I pull some, then you try on,"
Svyeta said.

Twelve? I was a size ten in pants! How did
that work? I didn't want to ask and I didn't exactly like her
blurting out my size in front of my hot alien husband, but he
seemed unfazed. He didn't even look up from where he sat on a couch
that was opposite the podium. He just stared down at his phone,
clicking away at a few keys. He found some new app that he was
obsessed with and kept playing games with Monte whenever I'd give
him a spare moment.

"I think she needs something strapless to
show off her giant rack!" Lucy yelled from where she thumbed
through the bridesmaid dresses near the dressing room.

"And lace!" Riley added.

I could feel the heat creeping up my cheeks.
Ace looked at me with a huge grin on his face. "That sounds good to
me."

I nodded and could barely speak. "Okay, that
sounds good," I squeaked.

Svyeta didn't say anything, just disappeared
behind the counter, and then came back a few minutes later with her
arms full of dresses. She opened one of the white doors, hung up
the dresses, and ushered me in, closing the door behind me.

"We're going to try on some dresses in the
rooms next to you. Come out when you have the first one on!" Lucy
called.

"Great, just what I want to do today," I
muttered.

I slipped out of my shorts and tank top,
sliding the silk fabric over my thunder thighs. Suddenly the idea
of having the church wedding and planning the ceremony wasn't as
much fun as it had been a few hours ago. Now that I knew I was
already married to Ace, I didn't feel the need for a big
hoopla.

I tossed my bra aside and pulled the lace and
organza up over my chest. I reached back and zippered up the dress
as far as I could get it and then stepped out. "READY!"

Riley and Lucy threw open their doors, their
mouths flung open as they oohed and ahhed.

I felt like I probably looked like a big,
white whale while they both looked gorgeous in their short, royal
blue bridesmaid dresses.

"That looks awesome on you! Come look!" Lucy
said, and then pulled me over to the podium, forcing me to stare at
myself in the three-way mirror.

I gasped when I saw myself. The last time I
wore a dress or anything white was homecoming, and I had forgotten
what white did for an olive girl. The dress really was perfect. I
didn't look like a beached whale, the mermaid cut actually enhanced
my curves instead of making me look like a giant fish. The neckline
was a sweetheart cut and right beneath the bust line was a row of
tiny pearls. The whole dress had a lace overlay, and I couldn't
help but let the soft material glide through my fingertips.

I always had a passion for old movies and
vintage, so having a vintage alien husband was just the icing on
the cake. As I stared at myself, I thought about all my favorite
vintage wedding movies and how I always imagined Dustin Hoffman
rescuing me from a marriage just like he did in
The
Graduate
. Now I didn't want to be rescued. I really did have it
all.

"You are breathtaking." I saw Ace's
reflection in the mirror, his eyes wide and staring at me. His gaze
trailed from the long, cathedral train, up each faux button and
finally to my face. I'd never seen him smile that wide and I felt
tiny butterflies flapping all through my stomach.

"Where is Svyeta?" Riley looked in every
direction. "We should ask her a price for this and see if we can
put a hold on it for three years or something."

I expected the saleswoman to be hounding me
every second to buy something, but she was nowhere in sight. Odd. I
turned away from the mirror and looked around.

"Svyeta is indisposed right now, but I'm sure
I can help," a high voice called from behind the counter, and then
I saw her walk out, the very Caltian woman who tried to kill me
before, Simone.

Simone looked just like she did in my
nightmares, except she traded in the dyed red hair to go back to
her natural, Caltian black. It was tied up in intricate knots on
her head, and she wore a flowing black robe.

"Alex, Machiavelli, it has been so long!" she
said, putting her hand over her heart.

"Is this a friend of yours?" Lucy raised her
eyebrows.

"Ah, the lesbian roommate. The key to all of
our plans." Simone's thin lips formed a tight smile.

"Uh, what the hell is going on? Are we being
punked?" Riley asked, looking from me to Ace. I just stood there,
staring, with my hands balled into tiny fists. What was I going to
do?

"No you definitely aren't being punked,
Riley, but you must feel like it," another voice came from behind a
door near the counter. This time it carried a Boston accent and out
stepped Gavin.

Gavin looked just like he did the summer
before when I met him: same side-swept bangs, tight jeans, and smug
smile like he owned the world. What was he doing here?

"Oh, yes, Gavin. I was just beginning to
inform them of our plans," Simone said with a cackle.

Their plans?

Simone walked slowly, each stepped
methodical, until she was at Riley's shoulder. "Circe was stupid
enough to let me go, thinking I wouldn't have resources on Earth. I
met Gavin in one of the many Circe alum chat rooms."

Ace cursed under his breath. "I knew I should
have gotten rid of those."

"Anyway," Gavin said. "We both had similar
views on humans and aliens dating and figured out we were a better
force if we worked together." Gavin went over and stood at Riley's
other side.

So that was why he wanted to add both of us
as friends on Facebook. And obviously Simone was the new girl he
had met. Ace should have taken my request more seriously. As mad as
I was about that, I had to focus on the situation at hand and
figure out how to stop them from whatever they were planning to
do.

"But it would take more than just the two of
us. We knew of your roommate's attraction to girls and all we had
to do was get her and Riley in the right place, and then we'd have
an inside track to you," Simone said, placing her hand on Riley's
right ear and pulling it sharply.

"OW!" Riley shrieked, quickly putting her
hand to her ear.

"Some sleep creeping did help for both of
them and this little implant," Simone said, holding up a small
computer chip.

"Now the only thing we need to do is give
Riley back her memory, so she can remember how much she hates you
and your alien maggot," Gavin spat. "Then we can destroy you both
and Riley can take the fall. It's perfect."

"Whoa, can someone tell me what the hell is
going on?" Lucy asked, thrusting herself between Simone and Riley.
"Aliens? Maggots? Circe? This all sounds ridiculous. If this is
some sort of hidden camera show, it sure as hell isn't funny."

"Ugh, this human is already getting on my
nerves," Simone said. With a flick of her wrist Lucy was pulled off
the ground by an invisible force and thrown against the glass of
the three-way mirror. It broke under her weight with a small pool
of blood gathering on her back. She slid down the mirror leaving a
long streak.

"LUCY!" Riley screamed, jolting forward, but
was stopped by Simone's grip on her back.