by Magan Vernon
I grabbed his hand, even through his gloves I could usually feel his warmth when it would radiate through me, but they felt as cold as the rest of his body. "What's going on? For real."
His eyes slowly shifted from the screen until they were fixated on mine. The sadness behind them was the kind of dark sadness that you found when you turned the lights off in an orphanage. I could barely look at them without tearing up myself.
"Do you really want to be with me, Alex? Or did you just say those things to spare your own life?"
I shook my head. "What are you talking about? Of course I want to be with you." I scooted my chair closer to his, feeling the cold shock from his body when I leaned in.
"I heard your conversation with Gavin."
I rolled my eyes. "Oh please, since when do you care what some lame human guy thinks?"
"Since you actually listened to what that lame human guy had to say."
I tried to catch my breath, realizing that Ace was right. Instead of enjoying what little time I had left with Ace at Circe before going home, I was letting what Gavin said about our relationship get inside my head and tear me away from all of the things I really felt.
"I'm sorry," I whispered, looking down to the ground. I felt ashamed and embarrassed. This alien gave up everything to be with me and stay on Earth, and I took it for granted by listening to what Gavin had to say.
"Hey." He tilted my chin up with his fingers, letting our eyes meet. I could feel the warmth as it started to spread back through his hand. "Nothing to be sorry about. If that's how you really feel, we have at least five years before you're done with school and we have to figure it out. But in the meantime there's no reason why we can't just try and be a normal couple."
A small smile started to creep onto my lips. "Since when have we ever been a normal couple? I don't think we've even been on an official date."
"That's because you always pick the stupidest movies to watch."
I started to laugh, but stifled it, knowing this was a serious conversation despite his attempt to make jokes. "Ace, I do want to be with you, whatever that means now and for our future. I'm not going to let someone else make my decisions for me. You should know better than that."
He grinned, the whiteness of his teeth spreading over his pale face as he leaned in closer. "So you're saying that you still want to be with me? Maybe even think about wearing a tiara?"
I shook my head. "I am not wearing a tiara. That's not my style."
"Well I've got a few years to convince you of that." His other hand trailed up my side, landing on the small of my back as he pulled me closer. "You'll have a lot of time to think when you're sitting alone in your room back in Illinois or your dorm room at one of those Ivy League schools."
I didn't want to think about spending the next year without him. How was I going to explain to my mom about my new boyfriend? How would I even arrange to see him? "I'm sure we'll have the holidays together and The Northern Arizona University isn't that far away from here."
He tilted his head. "You know, I'm pretty good at Earth's geography and I'm pretty sure that Columbia isn't in Arizona."
"Well then it's a good thing that I'm not going to Columbia." I breathed the words onto his lips before he kissed me. His warm glow radiated through every part of my body and made me never want to leave that moment.
Chapter 35
"Elijah has been talking non-stop about how his big sister went off to spend her summer playing with airplanes," mom gushed as we pulled into the familiar oak-lined neighborhood.
I smiled, watching out the window. Kids played in the yard, making the most of their last few days of summer. I might have hated living in small town suburbia for so long, but there was something eerily comforting about the cookie-cutter homes with their white picket fences and two-car garages. I figured just because I was with an alien didn't mean I had to give up that little piece of suburbia. After spending the summer watching aliens surf the internet, I knew most of them lived farther into the suburbs than I did.
"Yeah, I'll have to tell him all about it." Of course, I had to leave out the fact that I was actually interning at a secret government alien operation center, but I was sure he would lose interest as soon as his favorite show came on TV.
Mom pulled the sedan into the driveway of our brick home that I never thought I would see again after that summer. I inhaled the scent of fresh-cut grass and hose water as I walked down the stone path to the front door. Inside I was greeted by the familiar red walls of our living room and let my feet tap on the hardwood floors. It smelled like my mom had attempted to bake, again, and the aroma of spices and yeast rolled in from the stainless steel kitchen. I dropped my suitcase near the leather sofa and scanned the room, taking in everything from the pictures on the walls to the toys scattered randomly on the floor near the TV. Everything that I thought I would never see again and there it was.
After spending the summer coming so close to death more times than I could count and living my daily life among people I barely knew, it felt good to be in some place so familiar. I took in everything that I used to complain about from the house's open floor plan, with the living room and kitchen all combined into one and realized how good it felt to be among the things that were normal. I knew there wouldn't be any evil queens or aliens coming out from the fireplace, and even though I missed Ace and the other alien friends I made, it was so good to be back home.
"Awex, you made it back fow me!" Elijah ran toward me as fast as his chubby little legs could carry him. Watching the way his eyes lit up when he saw me made it all worthwhile to be back on Earth alive.
"Hey, little man." I crouched down as Elijah threw himself into my arms.
"Did you bwing me somefing?" He pushed back a strand of curls that had stuck to his forehead.
I smiled. "Well if you look in the front pocket of my suitcase you might find something for you in there."
"So it looks like the internship turned out better than you thought." mom placed her hands on her tiny hips. She looked more like my older sister than she did my mom with her fitted t-shirt and boot cut jeans clinging to her small frame, but I guess I couldn't blame her for looking good in whatever she wore. She was still my mom and it was good to be able to see her again.
I shrugged and stood up. "I think it won't hurt to put on my application to Northern Arizona."
"Northern Arizona?" she questioned, tossing her blond ponytail back before crossing her slim, pale arms across her chest. "What happened to Columbia?"
"Awex?" Elijah tapped his tiny fingers at my leg.
I looked down at him. "Yeah, El?"
"Who's dis?" He held up a picture.
I grabbed the picture from him, almost forgetting that I put it in my suitcase. It wasn't anything special, just one that I happened to snap when Ace and I were fooling around with the webcam in the office. Even a photograph couldn't hide the way that Ace's dark eyes could take my breath away, or how much his radiant white smile could always make me smile as well.
"That would be someone very special to me," I replied.
"Is he youw boyfwiend?" Elijah giggled and flashed his tiny teeth.
Boyfriend? It seemed kind of silly to call the guy that I had agreed to someday marry in front of one the most powerful queens in the universe my boyfriend.
"Yeah." I smiled, not taking my eyes off the picture. "That would be Ace."
"Would this be your reason for wanting to go to Northern Arizona?" My mom plucked the picture from my hand, studying it as if Ace were any other boy with spiky black hair and what looked like guyliner.
"Don't you think that he's a little old for you?" She looked back at me.
I rolled my eyes, taking the picture from my mom. "He's only eighteen." I turned, hiding my secret smile, wondering how long I would be saying that about him. Elijah found the plastic toy airplane that I had brought for him and was played with it on the floor.
"I guess I better start unpacking."
I grabbed m
y suitcase and headed down the hallway toward my room. I opened my door to see it was exactly how I left it—same twin size bed in the corner, desk with my laptop, and posters of different celebrities (who I now knew that most of them weren't from this planet) parading my purple walls. But as I shut my door, I suddenly felt different about my room, like something had changed in me that made me a whole new person. I smiled to myself, thinking that even though I was a different person than the girl that left this house, one who knew more of what she wanted in life, I wouldn't have traded my summer at Circe for anything in the world.
I set the picture of Ace down on my desk, propping it up against a stack of books. I looked up from the picture at my computer screen where I saw the outline of someone's head. I gasped, grabbing a paperweight from my desk as I turned around. But it wasn't an evil alien coming to destroy me, or even just my mom coming in to check on me, but my favorite alien.
"Ace?" I whispered, putting down the paperweight. "How did you get here?"
He looked out of place in his temperature control suit, standing in the middle of my pink shag rug and I could tell that he felt it the way he shifted from side to side. I started to feel self-conscious about having him in my room, which was definitely crazy since we had been through a lot more together than most couples did in their entire relationship. But yet I still felt the urge to throw the kitten stuffed animals off my bed and hide all traces of my girliness before he saw it.
"Did you really think that I could go that long without having you try to hit me with a paperweight?" He stepped closer and I felt the cool air from his body press against me.
"But how did you get here?" I stood on my tiptoes to look past him. "Did my mom or Elijah see you walk in?"
He shook his head and took my face in his hands. "Did I ever tell you that you worry way too much?"
"Did I ever tell you that I usually have good reasons for worrying?"
He let the air escape through his nose as a large grin crossed his face. "I figured since the Caltians had perfected the beaming technology that there wasn't any reason I couldn't use it to see my girlfriend a little bit more than a couple times a year."
I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned my body against his. "Don't you think it's kind of a funny term? The whole girlfriend and boyfriend thing?"
He pressed his forehead to mine. "What would you rather I call you? Future princess of Calta?"
I shook my head slowly. "No, how about we start with just Alex for now?"
"I think I can live with that one." He leaned in closer, letting his lips press to mine.
That summer started out with me being so worried about college admissions and things that didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. There was a whole big universe out there, full of aliens who were fighting every day, and some of them spending their days hanging around an operations center in the Arizona desert. I might have only gotten a small hint of what was out beyond the realms of Earth, but I knew one thing was for sure: I never thought that I would have a Romeo and Juliet romance with an alien, and I was pretty happy that our story didn't end like Earth's version of Romeo and Juliet.
Some day, years from now, aliens will be able to come out in the open, and people on Earth will know that humans aren't alone in the universe. At that time, I expect there will be lots of press conferences, and as one of the first humans to successfully have a relationship with an alien I will probably be asked to speak. I envision one of the many reporters asking, "So Alex, how does one date an alien?"
I will smile and look over at Ace, who will be at my side. I will size up the reporter, and wonder how she ended up sitting there and asking me that question. I will lean over the microphone, and say to the world, "A lot of patience, tenacity, and always remembering to lock your door so that no one walks in on you."
Acknowledgements
First off, I should thank my parents. Thanks for making me an only child and bringing on my crazy imagination.
To my wonderful husband Tim, for encouraging me to keep writing and to go for my dreams even when I was at my lowest.
To Olivia, for no other reason than just being you.
To my wonderful critique partners Leta Doerr, Lynsey Newton, Kelsey Ketch, Rachel Johnson, and the ladies of Heart & Scroll. This story would be nothing without you!
To Stacey Kade, for coming up with Ace’s name when he was just ‘Alien boy.’
To Adam Lambert, for the gorgeous Caltian-like face and music that propelled this story. We should do lunch and discuss your awesomeness.
To Dani Crabtree, thank you for saving this hot mess of a book with your editing skills!
There is a thin line between the Darkside and the light side and I thank GP Ching every day for bringing me to the Darkside. To Megg Jensen, Karly Kirpatrick, and Angela Carlie, thanks for believing in me and helping my alien story to see the world.
About the Author
Magan Vernon is a Young Adult and New Adult writer who lives with her family on a ranch in Texas. When not writing she spends her time fighting over fake boyfriends via social media.
You can follow her online by clicking the following links.
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Website Link: www.maganvernon.com
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Other Titles by Magan Vernon on Amazon
Defy The Stars Series
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My Paper Heart Saga
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The Only Series
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Break The Stars
Book 2 in the Defy The Stars Series
Chapter 1
One would think that saving the world from evil aliens would be enough to exempt me from my senior year of high school. Or even the fact that I was promised to the prince of Calta, home of said evil aliens. A future Caltian princess needed her beauty sleep. But no, I was expected to join the non-alien masses in Advanced Senior English at 8 a.m., which meant I had to be awake enough to get through my school and work day. Only there weren't enough sheep in the world to count my way into sleep. My anger and annoyance kept me wide awake.
A brilliant blue light streamed down from my bedroom ceiling, reflecting off the mirror above my dresser.
“You’re late,” I mumbled, not even lifting my head from the pillow.
The light disappeared and the weight shifted on the left side of my bed. A cold burst of air bore through my covers and I knew that my alien was nearby.
“I’m sorry. There was some sort of Martian threat on the Utah capital and I had to handle it.” Ace’s warm fingers brushed against my cheek. The rest of his body might have been cold, but his hands were alway
s warm and left me with a sensation that I couldn't resist. It felt like rubbing aloe on a sunburn.
“A likely excuse.” I opened my eyes and grabbed my glasses from the nightstand, placing them on my face and sitting up next to him.
“But I brought you something.” He grinned, pulling a box from behind his back with a giant cartoon purple dinosaur on it.
“Feeble Weebles!” I tried not to scream and wake up my family in the middle of the night, but it was freaking Feeble Weebles! The Caltian cereal that was like Lucky Charms but with only marshmallows.
“So does this make up for me being late?” He leaned in closer.
I nearly brushed my lips against his, pulling the cereal from his grasp. “I’ll think about it.”
“Oh, come on, for me?” He lifted his eyebrows and flashed his irresistible smile that could have been on its own cereal box.
I swallowed, setting the box on my nightstand. I tried to think of something to say instead of just staring at the way his temperature control suit molded to body. With his body's normal temperature being half of what a human's was, he always had to wear it when he visited, which was supposed to be around ten o’clock instead of two in the morning.
"I just wanted to come and wish you luck on your first day of school and work." He ran his fingers along where my sleeve met my arm. "Sorry, I couldn’t get here earlier.”
“Is this what it’s always going to be like?” I looked up to meet his eyes. They were endless pools of black, a bit frightening, but intriguing at the same time.
“Always like what?” He lay down next to me, his long body spreading along my twin-sized bed while he propped his spiky-haired head up on his extended arm.
