How To Break Up With An Alien (12 page)

"Look." She sighed, just as we saw a lady getting out of her car and walking toward the door. "I'm not telling you what to do, but I'm just saying to maybe think about things. That's all."

Simone had me thinking. Maybe it really wasn't sleep creeping; maybe it was just another sign pointing out that I needed to break up with Ace. Without him I wouldn't have to worry about sleep creeping aliens or when I wanted to hang out with my friends. But if someone was trying to keep us apart, then that might even be a bigger problem. And now I had a whole new list of reasons to add to my pounding headache.

Chapter 21

A full day of working around coffee did not help my headache, but what made it worse was the lingering feeling of the unknown nagged at me. I didn't know if it was a Caltian woman I should be fearing or my own commitment to Ace.

"You know, I can get in a lot of trouble for this?" Malcolm said.

I called him as soon as I got home and knew he had what I needed.

"Come on, I really want to learn more about Caltian culture," I begged. I had my phone up to my ear and a talk radio podcast on my IPod, so hopefully no one would hear our conversation. My mom was pretty wrapped up in her new novel, so I was sure she wasn't listening, and I was hoping I could just pull it off as research for English class.

"Caltian culture my ass." Malcolm laughed. "If all you wanted was more information on Calta you would have asked Ace."

"Pllllleeeeassse, just help me out this one time."

"Don't you think I've helped you out enough these past few months?"

I sighed. Malcolm was right. He was the one that helped me when I needed to find Ace and even helped me pilot a ship. That was why I knew he would still help me; he was always a sucker for helping the underdog.

"But you are still going to help me now, right?"

He groaned. "Alright, you got me. I'll email you a couple PDFs, but I warn you, these are Circe files, so read them quick because they will disappear from your computer within an hour of opening them."

"Why would they do that?"

"Do you really think we want classified alien info out there for the world to see? Come on Alex, you had to do something in alien security."

"Well..."

"Wait." He laughed. "You were working with Ace in security, so I don't even want to know what you were doing instead of working."

"A lady never tells."

"Okay. Whatever you say. I'll get these files sent over now. Happy reading."

I hung up the phone. Just as I set it down Malcolm's email popped up in my inbox. There wasn't a subject and the PDF was just titled
One
. I opened the file and a big warning came up.

This file is property of the United States government. Any unlawful use or possession of this property will result in serious consequences.

Figured I'd take my chances. I had nothing else to lose.

A green Circe logo popped up on the screen and a message scrolled underneath it, reading,
This message will self destruct in one hour
. The logo then minimized to the top of the screen where a countdown clock ticked. I scanned through the PDF. No way I'd be able to read 100 pages in an hour; hopefully I'd be able to scan through it and find something, anything to help me figure out if someone was using sleep creep against me and my friends.

I clicked the Ctrl and F keys. A search box came up and I typed in sleep creep. The document scrolled up and down repeatedly until a highlighted passage came up and another string of highlighted passages showed up minimized along the side of the document.

I clicked on the first one and quickly read through it.

Blah, blah, powerful Caltian women, blah, blah manipulating dreams. Then after a few pages I finally found the answer I had been looking for.

The ability to sleep creep is usually only reserved for female members of royal families as bestowed upon them by their royal blood. Through the years it has expanded to every member of the female Caltian race and passed down through the generations. But the royals are the only ones who can control more than one being at a time.

Bingo, I knew the queen had to be behind this. Now I just somehow had to prove it.

***

"Did you get along with your ex's mom?"

The lady ordering her grande, nonfat, iced, caramel latte was too busy on her cellphone to even notice Simone and me talking.

"Yeah, I guess so. Why do you ask?"

I poured ice into a plastic cup and poured espresso over the mixture before adding milk and syrup. Simone hated working with any espresso drinks. She did it in a pinch, but she said she preferred to stay away from anything with steam. Something about it messing with her sinuses. I wasn't exactly sure. She went on about it one day for like an hour and I kind of zoned out.

"Because Ace's mom hates me."

I handed the lady her drink. She just kept chattering away and ignored me while I took her payment and probably messed up her total. She didn't seem to notice and I had a whole five cent tip to place in the jar.

"That's crazy. I'm sure she doesn't hate you." Simone walked from the pastry case to stand beside me while I cleaned the espresso machine.

I wanted to tell Simone the truth, how Ace's mom was actually an evil alien queen who tried to have me killed and invaded my dreams. But I couldn't reveal that secret and Simone would probably think I was crazy talking about aliens.

"Well, she definitely doesn't want me and Ace together. She doesn't think I'm good enough for him or something."

Simone rolled her eyes and leaned on the counter next to the sink. "Okay, you are totally dating Ace and not his mom, but it can't be that bad, can it?"

"You have no idea."

"So, if it's that bad with his mom, then is it worth it to stay with him?" She tapped her feet on the linoleum floor.

"What do you mean? You just said I'm dating him and not his mom."

She shook her head. "I'm just saying; it seems like you are looking for any excuse you can to break up with him. Instead of blaming everything else around you, why not just look at what's really bothering you?"

I hated to admit it, but she was right. Sleep creep or no sleep creep that wasn't the only thing affecting Ace's and my relationship. Between his late nights working, constant fear of other alien attacks, and the promise of Columbia, it seemed like maybe this wasn't about sleep creeping at all. Maybe it was about my own fears of staying with an alien.

Then an even scarier thought crossed my mind. If I broke up with Ace and broke the treaty, would it not only be the end of our relationship, but the end of existence?

Chapter 22

After work, I came right home. Ace was meeting my mom and Brian for the first time that weekend and they wanted me to help clean. They said they wanted our house to make a good impression. Little did they know he had already been to the house quite a few times.

"Hey, Alex, can you come here a minute?" mom yelled.

I was down the hall running a dust mop over the hardwood floors, but I would take any excuse to get away.

"Yeah?"

Mom was sitting at the kitchen table, her reading glasses perched on her nose and dozens of papers strewn over the table. She looked at me over her laptop. "There you are."

"I got nowhere else to go!" I did my best impression of Richard Gere in Officer and a Gentleman.

Mom rolled her eyes. "Always with the old movie quotes."

"It's just part of my charm."

"Anyway," she started, as I took the chair across from her. "I'm trying to work on the whole alien and human novel and I need your help since you have experience with this sort of thing."

Gulp, how did mom know that Ace was an alien? Had she known all along?

"I, uh, what do you mean?"

"You know, the long distance, older boy thing? It has been so long since my last long distance relationship, and you know more about today's lingo and technology than me."

"Oh, yeah, right. That makes sense."

"And you still plan on going to Northern Arizona next year even with this acceptance to Columbia."

I didn't want to go over this again. It was getting to be like a broken record.

"Mooom," I whined.

"Hey, I'm just asking to make sense of it all and maybe it will even help with the book."

I sighed. "I know I've dreamed of getting out of Winnebago and walking the streets of New York for as long as I can remember, but now it just doesn't feel the same."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Mom raised her eyebrows.

I shrugged."I don't know. I guess I never felt like I fit in anywhere and thought New York would be the best place for me to fit in."

She nodded. "And now?"

"Well, after my internship, I finally learned a lot about myself and what I actually wanted in life. It was the first time I felt like I could really be myself and being near Ace and dad just added to that."

"So, this is about Ace?"

I poked my tongue with my cheek, pushing it out and then pulled it back. "Sort of. It's more about my comfort zone. I just feel more comfortable being around him and people like him." At least that sounded better than me being more comfortable around aliens than humans.

"Are you not comfortable here? You seem to be happy with your new friend, Simone."

I shuffled in my seat, putting my left leg up and underneath my other leg. "Yeah, Simone is cool and I will miss her when I go off to school, but it should be about what I want, not what everyone else wants, right?"

Mom nodded. "And what do you want?"

I couldn't remember the last time someone actually genuinely asked what I wanted, and I didn't remember the last time I didn't have some witty answer to go along with it.

I shrugged. "To be the best that I can be?"

Mom closed her laptop and tipped down her glasses. "Have you been reading those sappy posters in the guidance counselor's office again?"

"Sometimes they are the best reading material."

Mom rolled her eyes. "Okay, we can stop talking about you and go back to the question at hand, my book."

"You mean this wasn't your hidden agenda so you could convince me to go to Columbia?"

"Alex." She laid her hands on the table. "Where you choose to go to college is up to you. You know I would love for you to go to Columbia, but if that isn't what you want, just say the word."

I let my shoulders fall. "I still have some time to decide."

"Are we still talking about Columbia or about my book now?"

"Moooom."

She laughed. "I'm kidding!"

"Alright, I'm going to finish dusting."

I got up and walked back down the hallway. Mom was right. This was about what I wanted and not what everyone else wanted. When I said I was most comfortable with Ace and other aliens, I meant it. Even spending the past few weeks with Simone and Brody weren't the same as I felt at Circe.

My mind and my heart continued to play ping pong with each other. Columbia or Northern Arizona? Ace or no Ace? Sleep creeping aliens or just my own insecurities?

Chapter 23

I knew Ace would be coming by even before I saw the blue light. I pulled the covers down just as the light disappeared and he stood at the foot of the bed.

"Expecting someone?" He arched an eyebrow and cocked his head ever so slightly to the left.

"Unless you know anyone else that beams into my room in the middle of the night." I sat up and crawled to the end of my bed until I was crouched in front of him.

He leaned over until his face was right in front of mine. His breath smelled minty, like he had just got back from the dentist's office, even though I wasn't sure if an alien actually needed to see a dentist.

"I hope there isn't anyone else." He breathed into my lips.

That was all that I could take before I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him down into the bed with me. His lips were intoxicating. Every touch of them to my mouth and neck sent an electric current through my face and straight down to my toes. I wanted, needed all of him. After all the confusion of everything that was going on, I didn't want to think, just give myself.

"Wait." Ace pulled away, his face still inches from mine. The glow of the moonlight from the widow spread over us and created a dreamy haze. If it was a dream, it was probably not influenced by sleep creep.

"Are you doing this because you want the dreams to go away or because you really want to?"

I let out a breath, my lips trailing back up to his neck. "Does it really matter?"

Ace snapped his head back. "It does matter. We can't keep doing this whole love and hate thing. I don't want this to be something that you just do because you think someone is invading your dreams."