Aliens Are Real: Part 2 (3 page)

Jasmine’s
cell phone
played a melody from a popular song,
startling both Jasmine and Yumi
.
Jasmine
dug in her pocket and
glanced at
the screen
.
“
Call from
Dad
”
blinked on the screen
.

“It’s
my
dad.
I
need to take it.”

Yumi nodded.

Jasmine turned away to focus on the call.
“Hello?”

Her dad sounded worried.
“
Jasmine
, where are you?”

“At a friend’s house.
I
left you a note
, didn’t you see it?
”

“Are you with that boy from last night?”

Jasmine cringed.
“No.
I’
m not with Honorio.”
She
smiled at Yumi.

He audibly sighed with relief.
Jasmine wondered what bothered him so much.
“Come on home.
I
need
to talk to you.”

She raised her eyebrows.
“Right now?”

“Yes.
It’
s important.”

She struggled internally.
She wanted to stay and talk with Yumi but she also rejoiced at an excuse to
leave. “Five
more minutes?”

“Okay
,
but come straight home.”

After saying goodbye,
she
hung up the phone and looked at Yumi.
“It looks like D
ad
wants to play house again.
He says
I
need to come home.”

Yumi searched Jasmine’s face.
“How do you feel about that?”

Jasmine looked at Yumi out of the corner of her eye.
“
I
feel
that it’s weird for you to ask
me
how
I
feel
about that.”

Yumi cocked her head.
“You do not feel comfortable talking to
me
about this?”

“
I
’m fine talking to you but not when you sound like a head-shrink.”

“What is a head-
shrink?”

“A psychologist or counselor or whatever.
I
had to
talk to enough of those after M
om died.
I
don’t need you to talk like one as well.”

“
I
am sorry.
It is
my
training to be the equivalent of a human psychologist.
I
will work hard to relate to you in a different manner.”

“
Yeah, well, I’ll try to cut you some slack since you’re still learning how to be human
.
”
For a moment
,
she
wondered if
her
d
ad had gone and found an alien shrink to fix
her
.
She wouldn’t put it past him to reach that far to patch his broken
, unsuitable
daughter.

Jasmine
stood.
“Well,
I
better head home and find out what he wants.
Parents are such a pain.”

Yumi lightly touched Jasmine’s arm.
“Parents do carry some wisdom.
Try to hear him out.
I
wish
I
could talk to mine everyday.”

Jasmine pulled her arm away because
of the tingle but turned toward
Yumi.
“You can’t talk to your parents?”

“Not often.
Our amplifiers are damaged and
I
can only hear
our home base
sporadically on clear days and from this room.”

“Huh?”

“There is
something about this room.
The
way the house was b
uilt or the materials used
creates a clear
er
signal.
Tyrone spent weeks trying to find a house to r
e-establish communications
.
He was fortunate to find this one and it was available for renting.”

“
I
’m sorry.
It must be hard to be cut off from your family.”

Yumi
smiled.
“We have learned to cope
,
and
we
hope to end the mission soon to return home.”

“What exactly is your mission?”

Yumi
smiled again.
“Do you not have to return home?
Your father is waiting.”

“Fine.
You’re not off the hook though.”
Jasmine
pointed at
Yumi
.
“We’ll talk more later.”

Yumi
walked
her
to the door and
they
said farewell.
Jasmine
, on a whim,
even reached down and gave her a quick hug goodbye.
The tingle spread across
her
arms and shoulders where
they
came in contact.
Jasmine didn’t think the sensation was terrible.
She even thought she might get used to it.
It left her slightly energized.

At home,
Jasmine
sat in
the living room with her father. She scrunched into the back of the overstuffed microfiber cushions, wishing she could sink through the fabric and out the back of the
arm
chair.
Mortification overwhelmed her
,
as
she
realized why
her
father
had
called
her
to talk to him. H
er face burned from embarrassment.

He
r dad sat
on
the matching
couch
positioned at a right angle to the
chair
.
He leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees.
He glanced at her then looked back to the wall across from him. He
continued his halting monologue after clearing his throat several times.
“These feelings that start developing inside you are perfectly natural but you need to control them.”

She
tried to interrupt but
her
father had gained momentum by the time
she
figured out
they
were having
the talk
.

“Boys
,
especially
,
have these feelings.
Boys have a hard time controlling themselves so you need to be careful around them.
You are never to be alone with a boy.
Always be in a group.
Also, you don’t have to do anything you aren’t comfortable doing.
You know that
,
right?”

Jasmine covered her face with her hands and leaned forward.
She
needed
to process the fact that she
was best friends with an
alien and her dad wanted to explain the birds and the bees.

Through her fingers she said
“Yes D
ad.
We don’t need to have this conversation.”

He gently touched
her shoulder.
“
I
think
we
do.
I
know
we
don’t spend a lot of time together
,
but you’re almost an adult and
I
think this is the sort of thing
we
need to be able to discuss openly.”

She wanted to jerk her shoulder
s
back and tell him to butt out. She resisted the temptation to snap at him knowing that the fastest way to end the di
scussion was to agree with him.

Her dad waited patiently for a response until he could no longer take the suspense.
“Well then, have you?
...
uh
...
I
mean
...
are you still a
...
um
...
you know? . .

She jerked her head up and stared at him, mouth agape.
She couldn’t believe he was asking.
When she
regained control of
her tongue, she replied
“Dad,
I
haven’t even kissed a boy.”
In her mind she convinced herself that
Honorio didn’t count.
He wasn’t human so not technically a boy
,
which meant
she
was telling the truth.
Also, it was a fake kiss which made it count even less.

Her
father
looked extremely relieved.
He sat back
a little and s
la
pped his knees with his hands,
looking relieved.
“Tell
me
about the boy from last night.”

Jasmine shrugged.
“Honorio?
He’s just a friend from school.”
She sat back into her seat again.
She glanced at the clock on the wall and wondered how much longer he wanted to continue talking.
She didn’t have anywhere to go but she wanted the conversation to end.

Her dad laughed.
“He likes you.”

Jasmine shook her head.
“No way.
He was just being nice.”

This time her
d
ad shook his head.
“
Jasmine
.
I
know guys.
If he was just being nic
e, he wouldn’t have put his arm
around your shoulders or asked
my
permission to see you.”

Jasmine squirmed in her seat. If her dad knew the truth about Honorio, how Honorio treated her
,
thought she was annoying
,
and
that he
came from a different planet, he
r father
would know better.

“Really
,
D
ad.
He’s not into
me
like that
.
”

Her dad gave her a
n
I-know-more-than-you smug smile.
She fought down the temptation to spell it out for
him.

Her dad pointed at her.
“Regardless,
I
want to get to know him.
I’d
like you to invite him over for dinner.”

Jasmine’s heart dropped into her stomach.
She struggled to find a plausible explanation that would dissuade her father from pursuing this train of thought.
She stammered.
“
He-
He’s really busy.
He probably can’t come.”
She nodded, willing her father to accept her explanation.

Her father’s face turned serious.
“Tell him if he would like to take you out again, he has to share a meal with
me
first.”

While Jasmine knew that Honorio wouldn’t want to come over, she thought of Mark and
a shiver of anticipation crawled up her spine
.
“
I doubt
Honorio and I will
go out again
,
but
you aren’t going to embarrass
me
if I brought a guy home,
are you?”

Her dad chuckled.
“Would
I
do that?”

She rolled her eyes.
“It’s in your genetic make-up.
You can’t help your
self.”

Dad held up his hands in surrender
,
and laughed.
“Fine, fine.
Nothing embarrassing.”

She pointed at him
,
and leaned forward trying to convey the seriousness of the subject.
“No photo albums, childhood stories, amusing anecdotes or anything!”

He continued chuckling.
“So
we’re
going to talk about the weather?”

Jasmine sat up straight.
“Yes.
That
’
s allowed.”

He shook his head.
“
Jasmine
, it will be fine.
Let
me know when Honorio
can come.”

She shook her head with frustration.
He wasn’t listening again.
To appease him and finish the conversation she said, “I’ll ask him on Monday.”

“Sounds good.”
Dad looked at his watch.
He stood and reached in his pocket and pulled out his car keys.
“Honey,
I
need to run to the base for a few hours.
Do you need anything from the store?
I
’m swinging by there afterward
.”

“Wanna grab
me
some pads?”

His face blanched
and he dropped the keys.
He stooped and picked them up.

S
he
had taken
care of the womanly purchases since
she
was 12
, after
their
first disastrous trip to the store.
S
he
swore
to
never again have him anywhere near
her
while purchasing feminine products
. W
hen he
had
tried to place the bag
of maxis
on the counter
,
his nerves endowed him with super-human strength
.
T
he bag
had
shot into the air.
He
had
tried to catch it
,
but just
ended up knocking
it up in the air again.
He volleyed
the bag up
several times before the package caught on his
grasping
finger and ripped open.
Pads
had
shot out
, scattering around the check
ou
t
.
One pad
had
bounced off
the cute guy standing behind them
in line.
Jasmine distinctly remembered the look of disgust on the guy’s face as he recognized what
had
hit him.

S
he
tried to pretend
she
wasn’t
with
her
dad but
he
turned to
her
and practically yelled at
her
to help pick up the loose items.
He was horrified and apologized profusely to everyone in line.
S
he
erupted in a full body blush as
she
squeezed down the aisle and recovered as many pads as
she
could.
The cute boy in line handed
her
the one that hit him.
When
she
turned around, he started laughing.
Had she the power to stop existing - that
would have been the day
she
would have used it.

Now, it was a non-topic between them.
She didn’t mention the subject
,
and he pretended woman issues didn’t happen.

She
started laughing at dad’s pale face.
“
I
’m kidding.”

“Uh, well, if you need them
...
”

She
looked at him.
He was such a trooper to try to act like he could handle the task.
The haunted look in his eyes pleaded with
her
to say no.

“Dad,
I
was kidding.”

“Okay.
I
’ll see you later then.”
He
turned,
grabbed his wallet
from the small table by the door
then fled the house.

S
he
just hoped that he learned his lesson.
Uncomfortable topics like the birds and the bees and
that time of the month
were best left
alone
.