by Daya Daniels
I was definitely drunk, only proven by the slow sway of the walls in the hallway each time I stepped forward. When I made it to the door, I banged on it a few times, straightening my clothes and brushing my hair, hoping to make myself look as presentable as possible. I knew this hadn’t been my most clear thinking but I was tired of feeling lonely. Luke wasn’t coming back. Staring at the floor, my eyes lingered on my glittery, happy shoes. After knocking two more times, Steven’s door finally opened. I lifted my gaze, maintaining my sexy pose and swallowed hard, nearly choking on my own saliva.
A woman stood in front of me and loud dance music blasted through the apartment.
“Hello, beautiful.” She smiled.
I couldn’t close my mouth. I was completely lost for words. The brunette wore only silver bikini bottoms and stars on the nipples of her large breasts. Her long hair draped over one shoulder and her legs went on for miles, in the four-inch heels she was wearing.
“Do you have the right place?” she asked softly when I didn’t speak.
Maybe I had the wrong apartment number? It was a possibility. I allowed my gaze to take in the number on the silver plaque on the wall. Nope, it was still number forty-one. I narrowed my eyes taking the number in again and then allowed my eyes to absorb the half-naked woman in front of me again.
Suddenly, Steven appeared standing behind the woman a few feet away, in only a pair of blue boxer briefs that his hard cock was straining against the front of. A red, white, and blue neck tie was hanging from his forehead and a fan of playing cards in one hand and two red poker chips were sticking out of his mouth. It was obvious I’d interrupted something.
Time seemed to freeze when Steven and I met each other’s eyes. His mouth fell open and the poker chips hit the tile floor, scattering everywhere. Steven’s blue eyes turned a watery shade I didn’t think I’d ever seen.
“Evie,” Steven said, as I slowly backed away, speechless.
He scrambled towards the door shoving the woman out of the way. Then I ran.
I moved down the hallway at breakneck speed.
“Evie!” he shouted. “Evie, fuck! Please stop! Let me explain!” he thundered, catching up to me in only a few quick strides.
I spun around and gave Steven a burning glare. He put his arms out in a surrendering gesture but before he could speak, I did.
“You don’t have to explain anything, Steven.”
“Evie, please.”
“We’re not together. You don’t owe me any explanation. Go and live your life, Steven,” I spat out, forcing myself not to cry.
“You came here tonight,” he said the words as though he didn’t believe them. “Why did you come here, Evie?” he asked softly, while his voice cracked and his face twisted, looking me over.
I came to tell you yes, I wanted to say. Even though I hadn’t said the words, Steven heard them through my momentary silence. He took a deep breath.
“I don’t know, Steven. I don’t know! It was a mistake,” I said throwing my hands up in the air and shoving the Tiffany box in his hand.
He looked at the box stunned, while tears fell from his eyes. I turned on my heel and headed towards the elevator without stopping, trying to control my sobbing.
“Fuck!” he roared, while he stood in the middle of the hallway barefoot only wearing his underwear.
“Fuck! Fuckkkk!” he yelled again, followed by the sound of glass breaking.
Stepping into the elevator when it dinged, I slumped against the wall, wiping my wet cheeks. Happy freakin’ New Year.
Evie
“What happened?” Ariana whispered through the telephone.
Normally, it would have annoyed me that she was whispering but then I realized it was three o’clock in the morning.
I took a deep breath. “I don’t know, Ariana, everything is going wrong.”
I sat in the lobby bar of my building, loading up on apple martinis, while I held the phone to my ear. Richard, the bartender, scrutinized me with his eyes, with each long sip I took.
“Steven’s such a douche.”
“It’s not his fault, Ariana. We were never together. He didn’t really do anything wrong.”
“You’re always defending his bullshit, Evie. You always have!
“He’s cheated on you Lord knows how many times, broke your heart. Let’s not forget he abandoned you, Evie. Steven owed it to you to keep his dick in his pants for at least three months, until you made your decision,” Ariana snapped.
“I don’t hate him, Ariana. I don’t want you to hate him.”
“That’s the problem! You welcome him back with open arms so he can stomp on your heart again.”
I stared at the green liquid in my glass and the olive that rested at the bottom of it, wishing maybe I could crawl into the glass and drown in it. I looked around at the happy couples lining the bar that were laughing, kissing, and conversing with each other. They were all interacting after a great night out. It only made me feel more pathetic sitting here alone.
“Are you drinking?” Ariana asked.
“Yes, I am actually.” I paused. “He’s never coming back, Ariana. That’s the one thing that flashed through my mind a few hours ago. Luke is never coming back. I was going to tell Steven yes.”
Ariana remained silent on the other end of the line.
“I was going to tell him yes. Let’s just start over.”
“Evie, where are you?”
“You don’t have to come here, Ariana.”
“I should, Evie. I will be there in an hour.”
“Ariana.
“Ariana,” I repeated again but she’d already hung up.
“Do you believe in aliens?” I asked Richard, when he edged closer to me across the bar.
Richard looked up at me from the martini he was mixing. “Yeah I guess I do but I don’t believe they’re little green people. I think they walk among us. They look like you and me,” he joked.
I laughed. After a few seconds, that laughter became so loud that I couldn’t contain it. Then, Richard began to laugh with me.
I was definitely drunk. I pointed a finger at him while I tried to stand from the stool I was sitting in, gripping the lip of the bar clumsily. Richard was giving me a full-on smile, watching me slowly slink out of the place. I laughed so hard that I was holding my stomach, gasping for air. Slipping off my strappy sandals, I held them in my hand, making my way barefoot along the cool tile of the beautiful building.
My phone beeped. When I hit the faceplate, they were all missed calls from Steven...exactly twenty of them. I slipped the phone back into my purse.
“Good Evening, Ms. Diaz,” the man at the security desk said when I approached the elevator.
I gave him a military salute and laughed some more. It was New Year’s Eve. I was certain there was no shortage of drunk people that had crossed this lobby tonight. Stepping closer to the man that sat at the security desk, I banged my hand on the counter and grinned at him. He smiled and gave me a wink.
“If a man named Steven comes here tonight, please do not let him up. Thanks, man,” I slurred out.
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied.
I gave him a thumbs-up and danced my way into the elevator, doing a little shimmy right before I hit the button for my floor.
Luke
Evie had given up. There was a time before when I wanted her to do just that but knowing she was actually considering moving forward without me, felt like a punch to the gut. It hurt.
Evie’s adrenaline was pumping and her blood pressure was elevated. At least that’s what the keyter in her ears told me. Evie’s heart was pumping hard, so I knew something had upset her. I settled against the back of the chair at my desk and hit the touchscreen, watching the bird’s eye view of Las Vegas and the Strip appeared in front of me. It was New Year’s Eve. Fireworks lit up the sky and people lined the streets.
Gazing out the window from where I sat, I took in the clear view of Earth. As far away as I was in the galaxy,
Earth looked like a tiny blue pinprick that I could barely see but it was there. Evie jumped into a taxi outside of the Palms Place. She was leaving Steven’s apartment. I wondered what he did this time. The taxi headed back to her apartment building on the Strip. The drive was long. In the last few minutes, her vitals steadied and she seemed to be calming down.
I linked my fingers through each other as I watched the yellow cab change lanes, until it was in the right one heading back to her building. When it stopped, Evie exited and headed inside. She looked stunning with her brown hair out. Her skin was golden underneath a tight gold sequined short dress and four-inch heels. The vision made me hard in my chair, watching her sway sexily inside. The bellman also followed her path with his eyes. It made me chuckle, noticing how much attention men gave her that Evie was usually oblivious to.
There were computer screens everywhere, some larger than others all around the deck. They all lit up with bird’s eye views, for all over the world. Some broadcasted the news. Others were strictly used for surveillance purposes of Earth or other planets. Every being that worked on the surveillance deck seemed to be busy with one thing or the other. I wasn’t sure I would miss being deputy commander of this ship, if it meant I could be with Evie.
I slumped against the back of the chair, observing the beautiful shiny exterior of the building that Evie now lived in. It was a stark contrast to her grandparents’ house in Rachel. This place was all flash. There was nothing low key or country about it.
Another red light flashed, Evie’s blood alcohol level was on the rise. I would have given anything to be there with her but I was sure that I was a part of the reason why she was drinking.
I took another deep breath. All I wanted was to tell her that I was sorry that things had gone this way. I was sorry for the pain and loneliness that I’d caused her. It was a strange thing for me to now feel the depth of these emotions that made me feel human.
If all went well, I would see Evie soon.
Evie
“Wake up, sleepy head,” Ariana whispered, pulling me out of my slumber. She held a cup of coffee in her hands, gesturing for me to take it.
“You didn’t have to come, Ariana,” I mumbled.
She stared at me with her brown eyes. “I was here last night but you were out cold.”
I sat up in bed taking the coffee cup out of her hands. “Thank you.”
Ariana plopped down at my feet. “You look a mess.”
“Thanks,” I said ruffling my hair.
“Steven called me last night,” she said.
I stilled the coffee cup against my lips.
“I’ve never heard him like that. He was crying. He said he was worried about you and asked if I’d seen or heard from you, because you weren’t answering your phone.”
“Oh.”
“Maybe he needs to cry, you were always a puddle of tears over him—now it’s his turn. I gave him a piece of my mind.”
“It is what it is, Ariana. I don’t really have anything to say to him. Whatever we were trying to salvage from the patched-up relationship we already had, is gone. It’s best we both move on. “
“Steven never had a problem finding women. I’m sure he will be fine.” She smirked.
“Yeah.”
“How are you? That’s what I’m concerned about.”
I took a deep breath, looking out the window, taking in the bright sunny outside. I was sure it was still cold outside but it was nice to sit back and just watch the people move along the Strip, taking in all the billboards and large screens with images on them for shows or upcoming performances.
“Evie.” She placed her hand on mine.
“I’m fine,” I said softly.
“Why don’t we talk about you? I feel like these last few months all we do is talk about my pathetic life. Let’s talk about your life and the good things that are happening for you.
“How are the wedding plans coming along?”
She smiled. “There was nothing really to plan. We are keeping it sweet, sexy, and small and by small, I mean really, really small.
“I have my dress. Karl has his suit. We have the rings and our honeymoon is booked.”
“I’m happy for you, Ariana,” I said sincerely.
“I always imagined that it would be you and me and Steven and Karl and we would double date. We would eventually marry and live nearby each other. Our kids that would play with each other.” I laughed.
“It was just a ridiculous dream.”
She stared at me when I almost drifted off into a trance.
“We should do something today, Evie. I mean this is the last week I’m going to be a single girl. You have money now and this fantastic apartment that is right on the Strip. Despite everything that’s happened, you should cheer up!
“Let’s get lunch and do some gambling. Maybe we can snag you a cute guy while we’re at it.”
“I should stay single for a while, Ariana.”
Ariana nudged me in the shoulder hard, encouraging me to get out of bed.
“Come on, Evie. Let’s go have some fun. You need to forget.”
I wish I could, I thought, staring into the last bits of coffee that settled into the bottom of the cup.
“I will go and get a shower, then we can leave.”
“I’ve wanted to take that Audi of yours out for a spin ever since I saw it,” she said giving me a huge grin.
Evie
I sat inside the Fleischman Planetarium staring up at the dome-shaped projection screen. The three of us reclined in our chairs, watching a short documentary that Tyler put together, which captured the most recent night sky movement over Area 51. Miranda’s voice could be heard in the background as the scenes flickered by.
On screen, Tyler stood in front of the GoPro camera attached to a helmet and began to speak. His brown skin and full smile fill the frame. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this excited before.
“For those of you who don’t know, Area 51 is a remote detachment of Edwards Air Force Base, within the Nevada Test and Training Range.
“According to the CIA, the correct names for the facility are Homey Airport or Groom Lake. Other nicknames include Dreamland, Paradise Ranch, Home Base, and Watertown.”
The second last name caught my attention…Home Base.
“The special use airspace around Area 51 is referred to as Restricted Area. The base’s primary purpose is publicly unknown but we think it supports the development and testing of experimental aircraft and weapons systems or black projects as they call them.”
The camera pans out to a fenced-in area.
“Area 51 is located on the southern shore of Groom Lake, which is a salt flat here in Nevada, used for runways of the Nellis Bombing Range Test Site airport on the north area of the Area 51 military installation.
“The site was acquired by the United States Air Force in 1955, primarily for the flight testing of the Lockheed U-aircraft.”
Tyler begins walking along the perimeter of the fence.
“The original rectangular base of six-by-ten miles (nine point seven-by- sixteen point one km) is now part of the so-called ‘Groom box,’ a rectangular area measuring twenty-three-by-twenty-five miles (thirty-seven-by-forty km), of restricted airspace.”
Tyler turns the camera in a selfie-like position, while he continues to talk into it as his face fills the frame up close.
“Whatever goes on here had been so secretive, we don’t doubt that its existence is connected to classified aircraft research but we do believe that together with all of the historical reports of unusual phenomena in this area, that it is somehow connected to concealing the existence of extraterrestrial life here on Earth.”
The camera then cuts off to the original video Tyler sent me a few months ago, that show lights flashing off in the desert and then a bright flash of light, which then quickly disappears.
Tyler is again smiling. “Can anyone explain that?
“In the mid-1950s all civilian aircraft had
to fly under twenty thousand feet. All military aircraft had to fly under forty thousand feet. Once the U-2 began flying at above sixty thousand feet there was an increase in the number of UFO sighting reports.”
The film then cuts off to a few more similar videos of moving objects in the sky, bright lights, unexplained shapes and floaters.
“We have been monitoring the night sky over the Great Basin Desert for the last six months and what you just saw was the footage that we have captured of these unexplained events in the sky over Rachel, Nevada.
“There are more registered sightings of UFOs than there is the word count here to deal with them. As we moved further into the twenty-first century these sightings are becoming harder and harder for the government to explain away.
“Back in 1961, astronomer Frank Blake devised an equation by which he could estimate the likelihood of the existence of alien life, taking into account a number of factors including the average number of planets able to support life and the fraction that could go on to support intelligent life.
“The result statistically was that hundreds of thousands of such planets should technically exist. We are not alone,” Tyler said with a serious expression on his face.
The film ended and the lights came on. Slowly, I moved my chair to an upright position.
“What do you think?” he asked leaning towards me.
“It’s good. It’s concise. The images you have captured are amazing.”
“Some believe that aliens come from under the ocean and believe NASA has been looking in the wrong place for years.” Tyler chuckled.
