by Tasha Black
Clearly the first part of that was a lie, he couldn’t be her cousin.
Or maybe he was, and she was banging her cousin…
No, Honey wouldn’t boink her cousin. And it followed that if the first part was a lie, then Honey was a liar and the whole thing was a lie.
And therefore, Kitt could not be from Andorra.
And if he wasn’t from Andorra, then his brothers weren’t from Andorra either.
But did that mean they were from Aerie?
He’d looked up Aerie on his phone.
There were endless pictures of three big guys - Bond, Rocky and Magnum. They looked as different from Kitt, Remington and Indiana as those three looked from each other. But they were the same type of guy. Without exception they looked like a bunch of UFC fighters doing a commercial for adopting homeless kittens or something. Big scary muscles and big shit-eating smiles.
Freaking women loved them though. There were about a million web sites dedicated to their “masculine beauty”, whatever that was.
Yes, it was true. Kitt, Remington and Indiana were definitely aliens.
Wade had hardly been able to contain his news. He’d called his dad and made him come out to the island so he could tell him in person.
“What are you talking about, boy?” Sam Travers demanded sternly. “Did you make me row across this lake in the middle of the damned night to tell me this fairy tale? Please tell me you have something real.”
Nothing that Wade could say convinced his father that he had uncovered the truth. And the meeting ended with his dad tromping back to the canoe in the darkness and telling Wade he’d better stop ordering gadgets on his credit card and spend his time looking for real evidence.
After that, Wade had come up with a really smart plan to rat them all out.
He’d paid that idiot to snag his anchor on the gas line, knowing that Remington wouldn’t be able to help playing the hero, and that he would out himself for everyone to see.
Of course he hadn’t counted on Addy using her staff training to get everyone off the grounds before anyone could see Remington showing off.
It was sheer brilliance on Wade’s part to take the video and upload it to YouTube.
He’d thought he was in the clear and had exacted his vengeance on the lot of them.
But even though it started off promising, most of the newer comments on his video said viewers thought it was faked. It had garnered thousands of “dislikes” in the span of a few days. And in the deluge of real video of real aliens over in Stargazer, his was all but forgotten.
Even his dad figured Remington probably came up for air outside the frame a couple of times.
He’d expected reporters and government-types to come flooding in as soon as he’d posted the video. But apparently, they didn’t know how to do their jobs.
It was a minor setback. He would just have to move on.
Wade had considered leaving the island, car or no car.
But in his mom’s daily email she let him know that her sister, Aunt Teresa, was coming out. Teresa was nice enough, but her visit always meant a week or two of cleaning and cooking in preparation and Wade detested being around people who were cleaning.
So he decided to stay until he could take them all down.
It was fine during the day. There was plenty going on at the resort, and the place was laid out along the shore of the lake, so he could see practically everything that went on.
At night though, it could get a little creepy.
Not that Wade believed that dumb ghost story. Only a baby would be afraid of that.
But still, there were a lot of weird noises in the house at night.
Over in the staff commons cabin, the alien was blowing out the candles. One moment the screened box glowed warmly across the lake.
The next, it disappeared into darkness.
Wade suddenly became aware of the sound of the tree branches scraping the roof of the cottage and the creak of the floorboards downstairs in the empty living room.
He shivered and turned on his phone again.
His dad had said he shouldn’t use any light at all in the cabin at night, even the phone, since someone on the mainland might see it. And his battery was running low.
But he needed a little comfort.
He pulled up his favorite video “58 Epic fails” and smiled at the compilation of baseballs to the groin, boating accidents, cats being frightened by toasters and other signs that the universe was a magical place, and that Wade still held a dignified position within it.
Indiana
Indy must have fallen asleep eventually. He also must have awoken, showered, and walked down the hillside and across the lawn to the restaurant at some point.
But his whole mind had been so taken with Nikki that he didn’t really remember a moment of it.
He had learned that when he made a mistake his perfect memory could be a curse. Again and again he would relive each instant of his error, replaying it in an endless loop of misery.
But if he thought bad memories were difficult to bear, he had no idea how tortured he might be by a good memory. Especially a memory as good as the one he had made with Nikki last night.
The exact instant of her surrender, every note of her cries, each pore of her skin, the rich tapestry of her scent, her exquisite taste - all of it was at his fingertips, as if she were still in his arms.
Of course Indiana was free to put those perfect memories aside, file them away for another time when he could better enjoy them.
But how could he possibly go through his day, knowing they were there and not replaying them?
And so in his mind, he pleasured her again and again, and held her in his arms, pressing his lips to her hair, reveling in the warm weight of her, the sleepy way she rested her head against his chest.
He hadn’t pressed her for more. She would come around, he was sure of it. She was his.
“Indiana, how are you, my boy?” Malik’s voice roused him from his trance.
“Hello,” Indiana said, trying not to notice how much less enjoyable reality was when compared to last night.
“Odd thing,” Malik threw an arm around Indy’s shoulders and walked him back toward the door to the lawn. “Mr. Travers called down this morning. He said you were to have the rest of the week off with pay. Something about needing you well rested for a job later in the week?”
“Oh,” Indiana said.
“Do I want to know?” Malik asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No,” Indiana said, grateful that his employer had given him a choice about explaining.
“Good, then please don’t tell me,” Malik smiled. “Will you be okay without tips?”
“I’ll be fine,” Indiana said.
“Well then, enjoy your week, young man,” Malik said, giving Indiana a final pat on the back and heading back into the kitchen.
Indiana found himself back out in the sunshine.
The area was alive with activity.
A guitar class spread out on the lawn. Squealing children filled the pool and somewhere among them was Addy and maybe Remington, if he was teaching today. On the terrace by the lodge, several groups of older ladies gossiped under the brims of their sun hats while sipping tea or mimosas.
And the pavilion was teeming with movement.
Nikki must be teaching.
His feet began to carry him to her before he had made a conscious choice.
“Hi Indy,” Nikki said as soon as she spotted him, her happy tone letting him know his instinct had been correct, that she would not be disappointed to have her work interrupted.
“I came to see if you needed any help,” he said.
“Don’t you have work?”
“Mr. Travers instructed Malik that I was to have some time off,” he said with a wink.
“Oh,” she said. “Wow.”
“I thought maybe I could help you in some way,” he offered.
Nikki bit her lip and looked him over appraisingly.
/> “God yes,” a woman’s voice said from behind her. “We need all the help we can get.”
Nikki laughed and took a step back, revealing the speaker. It was the blonde woman Kitt had been helping with her lines for the play.
“I’m Violet,” the woman said, offering him her hand.
Indiana shook it. “I’m Indiana.”
“We just lost one of our actors,” Nikki said.
“Is he dead?” Indiana was horrified.
“No,” Nikki said, looking startled. “There was an emergency at his office, and he had to head back to the city early. So we’re missing the male lead for our performance.”
“Rumor has it that his daughter was schtupping one of the staff,” a middle-aged lady seated beside a gentleman about her age cackled.
“Tina,” the man scolded, patting her thigh firmly.
“Marcus, you know it’s true,” the woman laughed. “And in this day and age, I don’t understand why he wasn’t happy for his daughter to sow some wild oats.”
Indiana was most fascinated by this conversation and curious about why the father would not want his daughter to take up the noble profession of farming.
But Nikki quickly put a stop to it.
“Okay, everyone,” she said loudly.
There was immediate silence in the pavilion.
“This is Indiana,” she continued. “He’s offered to help us out temporarily while we look for a new male lead.”
Indiana looked around at all the eager faces.
“I’d like for you all to take a fifteen minute break while I bring him up to speed,” she went on.
The students began to gather their things and exit the pavilion.
“Thanks for helping out,” a rather forward young girl said to Indy, squeezing his biceps on the way past and blinking up at him in a way he thought might be meant to be sexy.
“Thank you, Julia,” Nikki said pointedly.
The girl got the hint and scooted out quickly.
And then Indiana was alone with Nikki.
“Hi,” he said softly to her, wondering what she would do next.
“Hi,” she replied. Her face turned bright pink and she looked down at her feet.
So he wasn’t the only one replaying the memories.
He smiled at her unsophisticated response, and wasn’t offended when she darted out of reach and over to her laptop which sat at a card table near the railing.
He followed her, leaning over her chair.
“What are you working on?” he asked.
Nikki started slightly as if she hadn’t been expecting him to follow her.
She quickly clicked the top right corner of the foremost document on her screen - an action Indiana knew would close it.
He wasn’t a snoop. It was only her haste to hide it from him that drew his attention to it at all.
In an instant it disappeared from the screen.
But that fraction of a second was more than enough time for Indiana’s brain to take a mental photograph.
Every word of that document would be indelibly printed on his mind, forever.
And that was a shame.
Because as soon as he thought about it, he could plainly see that it had been a list of notes about himself and his brothers. They were the kind of notes a reporter might make if she were planning to write a story about aliens to catapult her own career, without regard for her subjects’ safety… or their feelings.
Nikki
Nikki spent the afternoon with Indy and her theater group.
It was a bittersweet day - wonderful because she was with the man she was beginning to think of as her partner, and because she was doing work she enjoyed.
But there was something… off about the way Indiana was interacting with her today. Maybe he was just nervous - being around all these guests, reading his lines.
It was odd - she’d been looking at her notes on the guys this morning.
She knew she could not write that article anymore. Now that she was involved with Indiana she had no shot at having her research respected.
And beyond that, she’d been learning these last few days that even if she managed not to sleep with Indy, she was too close to her subjects anyway. She cared about them, and cared deeply about Honey and Addy too. She could no more monetize those relationships than she could with her actual family back in Ohio. Maybe even less so, because she felt a connection with these five that seemed to surpass any of her past relationships.
But she had been looking over the notes because she felt curious about Indiana, because she couldn’t stop thinking about him. It was fun to read her remarks about him from back when they first met - when she saw him as a source and not as a friend. It was strange and wonderful to see her notes on his looks, his eating habits, his way of interacting that was smoother than his brothers’ - uncolored by the emotion she felt when she observed him now.
Of course she’d closed the document window immediately when he came over. He wouldn’t have had time to read what she had written.
But she had the uncanny feeling that something was different between them now.
Maybe it was because of last night. Maybe he thought she was slutty for making out with him.
Nikki wasn’t ashamed of her desire. And though she wasn’t one to jump into bed at the drop of a hat, she certainly wouldn’t judge anyone who was.
Besides, if Indiana had some hang-up about chastity, she had no idea where he would have picked it up. As far as Nikki knew, ‘80s movies were practically nothing but teenagers partying and “going all the way” every time their parents left town.
No, she couldn’t put her finger on it, but something was off with him.
“How was that?” Violet asked.
Nikki blinked, realizing that the scene was done and she hadn’t paid attention to it at all.
“Let’s move on,” she said, hoping it hadn’t been a good or bad enough scene for anyone to expect a note.
They all moved along without comment. Nikki applied herself to paying attention. She didn’t think it would be very hard, since it was time for Indy’s first scene.
Violet scrambled over to lean on one of the pillars.
Indiana obligingly stood before her, as was instructed in the script.
“Don’t you need your book, Indy?” Nikki asked.
“I have memorized my lines,” he said lightly.
That was unlikely. But Nikki let it go. He could grab his book in a minute or two when he realized that he didn’t really know all the lines yet.
“I’m so glad you came, William,” Violet sighed. “Where have you been?”
“I-don’t-know-here-and-there,” Indiana said at lightning speed.
There was a moment of silence where everyone looked around at each other.
“Your next line is ‘What is that supposed to mean?’” Indiana whispered loudly to Violet.
“Um, Indiana,” Nikki said. “I think we were just all impressed that you had your line memorized.”
“Thank you,” he said with a big smile. “I know all of them, not just this one.”
“That’s amazing,” Nikki said. “Just do me a favor and speak your lines more slowly, so that it’s easier for us to understand them.”
“But, you have already read the play, haven’t you?” Indy looked confused.
“Yes,” Nikki said. “But that’s not the point. The audience won’t have read the play already. They will want to understand you. So we have to practice that way too.”
Indiana nodded and winked. “Got it,” he said.
Nikki nodded to Violet.
“I’m so glad you came, William,” Violet sighed again. “Where have you been?”
“I… don’t… know… Here… and… there,” Indiana said, as slowly and carefully as if he thought she might be hard of hearing.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Violet asked in a distraught way. She really was committed to her role.
“Hang on,” Nikki said. “Sor
ry, Violet. But Indiana, can you try just pretending you are the character, speaking at his pace?”
“What do you mean?” Indy looked mystified.
“William believes that his fiancée is cheating on him,” Nikki explained. “He feels betrayed. But he’s pretending everything is okay. He doesn’t want to give her the satisfaction of telling her he’s upset.”
Indiana’s eyebrows lifted slightly.
“Can you imagine what that might feel like?” she asked.
“I think so,” he nodded, rubbing his jaw in a distracted way.
“Okay, then,” she said. “Great, let’s try again.”
Violet went back to the column.
The entire class leaned forward, doubtlessly wondering what in god’s name might happen next.
“I’m so glad you came, William,” Violet sighed for the third time. “Where have you been?”
“I don’t know,” Indiana said. He walked slowly toward her, then picked up an apple someone had left on the bench from lunch. He made a show of polishing it on his t-shirt. “Here and there,” he said lightly.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Violet demanded. She sounded sincerely indignant. Nikki figured it was because Indy was using a prop, but if he had done it to get under her skin then it had worked.
Indiana looked up at Violet as if in surprise. “I didn’t know you were so concerned with my whereabouts,” he said coldly. “Don’t you have your own private calendar of events to attend to?”
“You mean the meeting with our wedding planner?” Violet was practically screeching now. “The one that you missed?”
“Did you really want me at that meeting?” Indiana held Violet captive in his dark gaze.
“I-I…”
He moved toward her as if stalking her.
“You should focus on your own agenda, Lucy Miles,” he said. “Get your head around what you want. And I’ll be getting my head around what I need.”
Violet stood before him, kissing distance away, trembling.
Indy paused as if he were going to kiss her. Then turned on his heel and walked briskly away.
There was a moment of silence.
“Scene,” Violet squeaked.
The students all broke into applause.
