#lyrawrites

Though John was good at picking up new skills, it seemed that he had absolutely no social awareness. It amused her greatly whenever anyone tried to flirt with him, only to be met with an impenetrable wall of denseness. She wondered if maybe he was homeschooled.

“How were your finals?” He asked, making conversation while there were no customers around. It was strange, she thought, how he had suddenly become interested in her as of late. But it didn’t feel like a romantic sort of interest. Rather it was just plain old curiosity. Ah, what a poor sheltered child he must have been to be curious about her boring old life. 

“Easy peasy. I got the results back for most of them and I passed with flying colors.” She replied. After all, she had spent the last month cramming for all her tests. She didn’t pay all that money for college just to slack off. No, siree. She was going to graduate with top grades, get a good job and eventually become a rich businesswoman. “What about you?” 

“I also passed all my exams. The subject matter wasn’t too difficult.” He said. 

“Then we should go out to celebrate after work.” She grinned. She knew she was being too vague. After watching several failed attempts from others who have asked him out, she knew that she would have to be specific about it being a romantic endeavor. But for now, she was satisfied with just hanging out.

“Go out… like for a drink?” He asked in confusion. She couldn’t help but snicker and remember that he was also confused the first time when he invited her for a drink. 

“Sure. A drink, a meal. Whatever. Unless you already have plans.” She had forgotten that unlike her, he did have other friends to hang out with. Wow, that sounded pathetic. 

“I don’t have plans.” She noticed some hesitance in his reply. She didn’t want to pressure the poor guy.

“You can say no.” She chuckled. It’s not like she was hell-bent on getting into a relationship since she was going to be busy with school come fall anyway. She just figured it would be nice. But there were plenty of other fish in the sea if things didn’t pan out with John. He seemed a little surprised at her words and possibly worried that he offended her.

“No, it’s a good idea. What did you have in mind?” John asked. Alicia pondered over his question for a bit before asking how old he was. He paused at her question and looked nervous for some reason.

“I’m only asking to rule out any places. We shouldn’t go to a bar if you’re not old enough to drink alcohol, right?” She couldn’t help but raise a brow at him.

“O-oh, right.” He laughed sheepishly. “It’s alright. I’m twenty-one.”

“I know it might not seem like it, but I pride myself in being a goody-two-shoes and I’m not interested in breaking any laws. So that had better not be a lie.” Alicia said sternly but then laughed. She honestly didn’t believe he would be the sort of person to do such a thing. “Then Erin’s Pub on the corner of 5th and Hyde? Let’s say eight?”

“Sure.” He agreed, his hesitancy completely gone.

“Great. I’ll meet you there.” Alicia patted herself on the back. That went much smoother than she expected.

When they finished work for the day, they said their goodbyes and went on their way until their gettogether later that night. Entering her apartment, kicking off her shoes, and plopping down onto her couch, Alicia briefly pondered over what she should wear. It was a casual hangout and she didn’t expect John to be someone who really cared about fashion. But maybe it was a good way to get his attention?

No. Scratch that. There were plenty of attractive girls who came in the coffee house and even the provocatively dressed ones didn’t catch his eye. Maybe he wasn’t into girls, she cupped her chin, deep in thought. This would be all moot point if he was into guys, or perhaps ace. Well, she supposed it would be nice just to have a friend. She’d just have to wait to see where the pieces fell. 

She sighed and pulled herself from the couch, going to the bathroom to wash up. It was fine at work but being home alone, the coffee smell reminded her too much of her childhood. Her mother had always made coffee for her father every morning and would occasionally sneak some extra sweet, milky coffee for her. Happier, more ignorant times. 

When she was done with her shower, she checked her phone and saw that she had a missed call and had a message. She frowned when she saw who it was from. Dismissing the notifications, she tossed her phone away onto her bed and went to her closet to find something to wear. A nice blouse and jeans would suffice. 

When she arrived at the pub at 7:50PM, she was pleasantly surprised to see him already waiting there. She was always made fun of by her peers for her Type A personality and her need to be punctual, that she felt extra appreciative of his consideration.

"Hey, you didn't wait long did you?" She jogged over to him. 

"I only arrived 5 minutes ago." He checked his watch. "I learned that one should always arrive 15 minutes early to appointments or meetings." He said.

"Oh my god, marry me." She laughed, his confounded expression spurring her laughter more. They entered the pub and found a comfortable booth in the corner. "I'm not much of a drinker and I mainly picked this place because they have some comforting meals here. But feel free to drink yourself silly. I'll make sure you get a ride home if you need one." She said as she pulled out the menu that was tucked inside the condiment holder on the table. She already knew what she was getting so she held out the menu to him.

Alicia watched him as he looked over the menu, contemplation written all over his face.

"I recommend the lamb stew. I know the weather is a bit warm for it, but it's really good." She said, giving him some assistance. "As for drinks, is there any sort of flavor profile you like? Something creamy? Citrus-y?”

"I don't have any preference. Honestly, I've never had alcohol before." He admitted. She couldn’t say that she was surprised. He definitely seemed more of the straight and narrow type than she did, but with him just simply being more of a good, nice boy type rather than her petty vindictiveness. She suddenly remembered the message she received earlier and muttered that maybe she would get a drink.

“I’ll order some of the ones I like for you to try and we can go from there.” She grinned before getting up. “So are you good with stew?” John nodded so she went on her way over to the bar and started talking to the bartender, an older woman named Erin who ran the pub with her husband. It wasn’t incredibly busy yet since 8PM was early for a lot of the students to get smashed, but Alicia made sure to point out her table to make things easier. After placing her order, she returned to the table eager to learn more about her companion.

“Are you friends with the bartender?” John asked, taking Alicia by surprise considering that Erin was old enough to be her mother and then some. 

“She’s a bit like a motherly figure, I guess.” Alicia chuckled. “How about you? You seem to have a lot of friends. Never went out drinking with them?”

“They’ve invited me. I just never participated.” He said, as if it wasn’t anything peculiar at all.

“Oh?” Alicia’s eyes lit up in anticipation. That meant that she was special in some sort of way, right? Since he accepted her invitation. But before she could dig any further, Erin’s husband came by with their food and several drinks. The two thanked the man and he nodded before heading back into the kitchen.

“First up is a mojito.” Alicia said as she held up the glass. “Cheers to a year well done!” She laughed when it took him a second to realize what was going on. He belatedly picked up his glass and clinked it against hers. She decided to go with a light cocktail to ease him into the burn of his first alcoholic drink. She watched as he took a sip to gauge his reaction. His expression was unexpectedly positive. She’d never seen anyone actually enjoy their first taste of alcohol. “How is it?” She asked.

“I like it.” He replied, eyes bright like a child who had their first taste of candy. She was flabbergasted when he then proceeded to down the whole glass.

“Well, there’s more where that came from. But you should probably eat first. The food will help absorb some of that alcohol so you don’t get wasted too soon.” As much as she was curious about what sort of drunk John would be, at the rate he was going, she at least wanted to enjoy her meal first.

“You seem very knowledgeable about this.” He said as he eyed the next drink waiting for him.

“It’s more like I’ve been here around drunk people enough that I know, rather than it being from experience. I actually worked here for a bit last year when Erin’s husband was hospitalized for some time.” She revealed. The nightly hours had worked out well with her class schedule and coffee house job, so she gladly took the offer when Erin expressed that she needed help. 

“I've noticed that you're a pretty diligent worker. You have the most hours out of the employees at the coffee house." He remarked, catching her attention again. Though it was perfectly normal to take notice of your coworkers' work schedule, especially the ones you liked or didn't like, she couldn't help but think that maybe he was interested in her.

"You don't have a choice when you need the money, right?" She poked at the chunks in her stew. She really didn’t want to be ruminating about her life thus far, but she had been in a sour mood since that man tried to contact her, and she couldn’t help it. "I've been working since I was a teenager. Due to some circumstances, I took a break between graduating high school and going to college so scholarships were harder to come by.” Annoyed by the subject matter, she ended up chugging her own drink. 

The two ate their meal, gossiped about their professors, and talked about their plans for the next school year. It was going to be Alicia’s final year and she was hoping to find an internship before graduation so that she could have a job lined up right afterwards. She ordered a few more rounds of drinks and soon enough, she was starting to feel a buzz. John, on the other hand, despite going through his drinks one after another, looked unfazed. 

“How are you not drunk?” Alicia narrowed her eyes at him. If she was counting correctly, they had at least three cocktails and five shots each. It was much more than she would drink but John was a deceptively heavy-weight drinker and she hadn’t realized she was going along with him. She groaned and put her head down on the table, almost knocking over some empty glasses in the process.

Alicia hadn’t even managed to woo him yet and she was already drunk. Just her luck.

Chapter Four

John was well aware of the effects of alcohol on the average human being from his studies back at home. It was noted that his kind was immune to the effects of alcohol, so with the knowledge that it was safe for him to consume, he decided to try it to satiate his curiosity. To his surprise, he found that he enjoyed the flavor of it. It was almost addictive and he wondered if it was the same reason why so many humans enjoyed partaking in it—at the cost of becoming belligerent fools.

But belligerent fool, Alicia was not. Rather, she was a tired and apologetic mess.

“I’m really sorry about this.” She slurred for the umpteenth time as they stumbled through her apartment halls. He tried his best to support her, with her arm slung around his shoulders and his hand on her waist. But she was such a deadweight at his side that he thought it probably would have been easier to just carry her to begin with. 

He was glad that Erin told him that sending her home with a rideshare service was a bad idea. When he suggested it, Erin expressed distrust in having Alicia in a car alone with a stranger and that she might have trouble getting into her home in her state. So she requested that he accompany her, adding that she trusted Alicia’s judgment and believed he would be trustworthy enough to get her home unscathed.

Seeing Alicia fumble through her keys and repeatedly failing to get any of them into the lock, he took them from her and tried them all until he got the right one. They entered the apartment into a narrow foyer and he felt around the walls on either side of them for a light switch. He wanted to at least see to it that she was safely laid down before leaving.

“Oh, I got it.” She said when she noticed him trying to find the light. She mumbled about the stupid placement before withdrawing from his support and attempting to get the switch that was around the corner. He watched her shaky footsteps warily. She successfully flipped the switch only to trip over a pair of shoes seconds after. 

Startled, John grabbed Alicia’s arm in hopes of preventing her from falling. But with her having barely any control over her body, she collided into him and her head slammed into his chin. The impact sent him careening backwards into the door. The two bodies slid to the floor in pain.

No amount of deliciousness was worth this much trouble, John decided. And at this point, he was 99.9% certain that she was human. He couldn’t imagine that any other alien race—with the intelligence and knowledge to come to earth—would drink themselves into such a state.

Knocked out cold from her drunken stupor and the bump on her head, John gathered Alicia up into his arms and walked her over to the couch where he laid her down in as comfortable of a position as he could. Grabbing one of the couch pillows, he tucked it behind her head, making sure she was turned to the side in case she vomited. One of his classmates told him he had nearly died from aspirating vomit once when drunk. Luckily there was someone there to help. 

What a dilemma he was in. He had planned on leaving. All of his necessities were at home. But now he was too worried that it wasn’t safe enough to leave her alone. He came to earth to study, not to murder humans. Not that he was murdering anyone… nor was it technically his fault that she was drunk. But still, he’d feel responsible.

He plopped himself down in a chair perpendicular to the couch and eyed the sleeping woman. She looked like she was sleeping peacefully. She would be fine… right? He checked his watch before fishing for the chain around his neck and grabbed the ring that dangled at its end. It was morning where she was at right now.

“Suri.” He spoke quietly.

“What is it, Rah?” Came a reply almost immediately, followed by a yawn. 

“The woman I told you about—”

“The one who thought I was your wife?” She laughed.

“Yes.” 

“I thought you erased her memory? What’s up?” She sounded almost entertained by his troubles. Suri, his sister, who was sent to Earth with him, was just as inquisitive, but exponentially more outgoing than he was. She often found great interest in social interactions, which proved to be an invaluable help to him when he had any issues. So he thought it would be best to contact her.

“I did, but… It seemed her interest in me didn’t wane, so I was worried that the memory gun didn’t work and that there was an off chance she could be of another alien race sent here like we were.” He explained. There was a light snorting sound followed by some coughing in response.

“Suri?” 

“Sorry about that.” She said, “Just choked on some tea for a bit there. So what did you do?”

“I decided to observe her for a bit. I’m fairly certain that she’s human but I still can’t figure out why she’s been keeping her eye on me.”

The same snorting noise came in response again, but this time, followed by audible laughter. John frowned, confused by his sister’s response, but continued. “She invited me out for a meal and some drinks. She’s currently incapacitated from alcohol consumption and I’m not sure if it will be safe for me to leave her alone. I made sure she’s propped onto her side but I still have concerns. I wanted to check in with you to see if you had some advice.”

“Oh, Brother dearest…” She chuckled. “Go home. She will be fine. You sound like you’ve had a long day. If you’re still worried, you can always check up on her in the morning. And if she ends up dead, oh well. Not our problem.”

“Suri…” John said warningly.

“I kid. Seriously. Just leave her a glass of water and go home. If that’s all, I have to go. I have something called a ‘bridal shower’ to attend to and I have to get ready.”

“Alright…” John said, with some hesitancy. 

Following Suri’s advice, he went to the kitchen to get a glass of water and placed it on the coffee table beside the couch. He surveyed Alicia a final time. She was breathing at a normal rate and her positioning was fine. Perhaps Suri was right and there was no cause for concern. Despite being wary of Alicia, he did enjoy her company and appreciated their commonality in the joys of learning. So it would be a sad thing if anything were to happen to her. 

When morning came, John found himself in front of Alicia’s door with coffee in hand. It was supposed to help with hangovers, according to his resident advisor. He knocked on the door and waited, but there was no response even after a couple of minutes. John considered himself to be fairly patient, but at the moment, he felt incredibly nervous about the reason why she wouldn’t be able to come to the door. As he went to knock again, the door flung open and a flustered and disheveled Alicia appeared.

Relief washed over him when he saw that she was indeed okay, like his sister said she would be. Alicia cleared her throat and straightened herself before stepping off to the side.

“John, come in.” She said and raised her arm to gesture for him to enter.

He entered the apartment and took notice of the pairs of shoes lined up along the foyer, a pair of brown ankle boots being the culprit of last night’s debacle. His eyes shifted over to Alicia’s bare feet. ‘A shoes off home,’ He concluded. He suddenly felt bad about wearing his shoes inside the apartment the night before. The flurry of events had prevented him from taking the time to survey the new surroundings.

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that if it makes you uncomfortable,” Alicia said, noticing his downward gaze. But John shook his head and slipped his sneakers off. The two entered the living area and Alicia gestured to the couch, the pillows neatly fluffed and put back to their original positions. “Make yourself comfortable. Would you like anything to drink? Water, tea, coffee…” She trailed off when she noticed the coffee in his hand. “Oh, it looks like you already have some.”

“Uh, no. This is for you.” He said before holding out the cup to her. “I ran into my RA this morning and we chatted for a bit. She said that this might help make you feel better.” He explained.

“O-oh. Thank you.” She took the cup from him.

John was fascinated by the rosy glow on her cheeks. He remembered that she was flushed last night as well and wondered if it was a prolonged effect from the alcohol. He watched Alicia shuffle off into the kitchen presumably to get a drink for him. He took a seat on the couch and let his eyes wander around the apartment. It was small, but neat and tidy. It appeared to be a one-bedroom apartment, which he found surprising. He would have thought that she would rent a studio instead since it would be cheaper. 

Alicia returned and placed a cup of tea down along with a plate of cookies.

“I feel like a grandma serving you tea and cookies.” She grimaced. “But I’m really, really sorry about last night. I gave you a lot of trouble.” She avoided his gaze and nervously tucked her hair behind her ear. “How embarrassing.” She laughed lightly.

“It’s okay. It was,” He paused as if trying to find the right words. “An interesting experience?” Alicia sighed and sat down in the chair, clearly not pleased by the response. 

“I’ll buy you lunch to make up for it… How’s your chin?” She asked and raised a hand up to her head where she had literally headbutted him. “God… how embarrassing…” He heard her mutter under her breath. 

John raised a hand to his chin and rubbed it. It was a little sore but not noticeable unless he touched it. When he checked that morning, there didn’t appear to be a bump or any bruising.

“It’s fine.” He said. “You remember everything? My friends tell me they never remember anything when they’re drunk.”

“Unfortunately.” She said dryly. “This would be less mortifying if I didn’t remember. I usually fall asleep before I ever manage to drink myself into oblivion.”

“You were quite tired.” John laughed. His experience with the drunk Alicia was a far cry from what he had learned and heard from others. So it really was a valuable experience. Not all drunks were loud and rowdy, he had noted when he got home. 

“Well, I’m glad that you’re taking all of this so well. You even came to check up on me. I appreciate it. It’s hard to come by good people.” She sipped on the coffee that he brought her before munching on one of the cookies on the table. It reminded him that she had brought him a drink and it would be rude to leave it untouched. “Which reminds me, I had a wild dream last night where you were an alien—”

A loud strangled noise came from John as he attempted to keep the tea in his mouth and off of her furniture, causing the liquid to go down the wrong pipe. He coughed sporadically and Alicia jumped up to pat him on the back, asking in concern if he was okay and if the tea was bad.

He really couldn’t afford to let his guard down around her.

“Hey John, come join us.” Even his name was plain. Alicia sighed irritably when she found that her attention was drawn back to him. She raised an eyebrow when he began to slather himself with a healthy amount of lotion, but she dismissed it, reasoning that he was pale and would probably get skin cancer if he didn’t. After his skin treatment, John stood from his spot in the grass, a few feet from her, and dusted off his jeans.

Nothing he wore stuck out either— white polo, blue jeans, and dirty, once white sneakers. She asked herself again why she was so inexplicably drawn to someone so unassuming. But she supposed anything was more interesting than economics at the moment. As he spoke to his friends, an incredulous look crossed their faces. From the bits and pieces that she caught from their conversation, she gathered that he didn’t know how to play football. So they began going over the rules of the game and he diligently nodded along. Much to everyone’s surprise, he played well.  

Another sigh passed her lips and she attempted to go back to her economics work. Her assignment was due soon and she needed to finish it, not gawk at boys in the courtyard. But her ears perked up again at their not so discreet attempts at whispering.

“Hey, John. That girl has been watching you this whole time. You should ask her out.” Her eyes flickered up to find them all staring at her as they talked about her. She unabashedly returned their gaze. Hey, if they were going to stare, she was going to stare back. John looked baffled, clearly not understanding what they were getting at. She almost felt bad for him.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“Dude, where did you come from? The girl is watching you, which obviously means she’s interested in you. She’s kinda cute, so go ask her out for a drink or something.”

Alicia rolled her eyes at their simple-minded conclusion. She wasn’t interested in him. Not at all. A slight frown made its way onto his face as if he didn’t want to do it. She wasn’t sure if she should be offended or not. Before she could make her choice, John was already in front of her.

“Hi, my name is John. Would you like to get a drink? My place is right over there.” He pointed to the nearby dormitories.

How… straight-forward.

But she had to admit that she could go for a drink. It was starting to get pretty hot. And it’s not like there were any strings attached. He was clearly only inviting her because his friends egged him on. So she accepted the invitation. 

The two had a casual conversation on their way to the dormitory. It turned out that they were both studying in the business field, with her studying finance and him, economics. She almost snorted. It suited him. When they reached the building, he dug into his pockets in search of his ID and then turned around with an inquisitive expression.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t get your name. I need to sign you in to the building.” He said. 

“Oh, It’s Alicia Lang—” Realization hit her like a ton of bricks. After watching him for a good half hour, she had completely forgotten that he was a total stranger, and she had followed him, just like a child lured away by candy. But it was too late. She’d rather be murdered than deal with the embarrassment of backing out now. What could she say? “Hey, I just realized you’re a stranger and I’m worried you might kill me.”

Well… she could just lie and say she forgot about something she had to do. But she had already stupidly blurted her name out and he was signing her in. He wouldn’t try doing anything, would he? Especially since it was on record now that she visited his dorm. He couldn’t get away with it. And he looked fairly harmless, she reasoned.

They both began to ascend the stairs, his room located on the second floor. The halls were dimly lit and she wondered if anyone would hear her if she screamed. She swallowed the lump in her throat and told herself she was being ridiculous. He had been perfectly polite and from what she saw outside, he seemed friendly. 

Reaching the room, he unlocked the door and held it open for her, apologizing for the mess as he welcomed her in. Messy was an understatement. It looked as if a tornado had made its way through. Clothes were strewn across the floor along with endless bottles of lotion. She felt nauseated at the thought of why a guy would need so much lotion.

“I have very dry skin.” He explained as if hearing her thoughts. He somehow made it over to a chair and turned it over, emptying its contents on the floor, and signaled for her to sit. “Please make yourself at home. What would you like to drink? I have some bottled water and soda. I can make tea.”

“Soda, please.” She answered as she finally made it over to the chair. He left the living area to fetch her drink and she let her eyes explore the room in hopes of finding an area that wasn’t covered in clothes or lotion bottles. She decided to take back her judgment of him being plain and boring. He was downright strange. 

Maybe he was an alien disguised as a human sent to study the earth, she mused. She inwardly laughed at the thought. She had been watching way too many science fiction movies. She finally noticed a picture frame sitting on his desk, mostly covered by a shirt. She made her way over to it and saw that it was a picture of him standing next to a woman, his left arm swung over her shoulders. She peered closer to see that they both had matching rings on their wedding fingers. It honestly brought her more surprise than the lotion did. He looked to be around her age and she couldn’t imagine being married already. 

John reentered the room with two cans of soda in his hands. The chilled frostiness of the can looked very appealing to her, but she couldn’t let it distract her. The guy standing before her was clearly married and she didn’t want to involve herself in any situation that could look suspicious to his wife. And wasn’t he worried? Granted, it’s not like he was hitting on her or anything, but he could have just refused to invite her in the first place. 

“Why did you invite me up here?” She asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“Uh… to get a drink?” He replied, looking absolutely baffled by her question.

Alicia nearly rolled her eyes. He couldn’t be this obtuse. You don’t just invite a stranger for a drink, especially when you’re married. No matter how trusting your relationship is.

“Look, I appreciate the offer but think of your poor wife for goodness sake. She might get the wrong idea. I’m leaving.” She said before making her way out. At least she tried to. She ended up tripping over something hard and fell flat on her face. With the amount of clothing on the floor, she thought there’d be more cushion. She groaned as she pulled herself up and turned around to sit on her butt. What greeted her was a strange-looking device that was previously hiding under a pair of jeans. It sort of looked like a mini UFO, the kind that one would see in sci-fi movies. 

Alicia looked up to see him staring wide-eyed at her in shock.

“You… you’re not actually an alien are you?” She asked. Considering that he made no move to deny it or judge her for the crazy question, she felt that she hit the nail on the head. She expected him to pull out one of those high-tech guns to vaporize her, but he just stood there still in shock. When he finally composed himself, he took a small step towards her. The movement made her jump up and she got ready to run out again, when he shouted:

“Wait! I come in peace!” If it was a different situation, not involving her, she may have found that extremely funny. “Please don’t tell anyone else.” He said desperately.

She turned around to see worry written all over his face and it actually made her feel bad. She stopped her escape and reasoned that it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet an alien. It had always been a dream of hers ever since reading her first sci-fi book. She would have picked astronomy or something as a field of study but those fields typically don’t pay the bills. 

John slowly handed her the can of soda and sat down on his bed. He looked relieved that she was no longer trying to run. Alicia stumbled back over to the chair and sat down. She would be civil. Aliens had feelings too, or at least she thought they did.

“I was sent here to study the humans. The teachers found that our information was highly outdated and didn’t want to teach the children such old material.” He explained.

That’s it? No space invasion or anything? Not that studying was a bad thing, but it was nothing like the movies. It was so… boring. 

“We’ve been trying to find signs of life for a long time now and we’ve never encountered anything. Where did you come from?” She asked. 

“We are much more technologically advanced than humans and obey different laws of physics. We are from the galaxy you humans call Andromeda. I suppose we are like neighbors.” He said. She nodded and let the information soak in.

“Then who’s the woman in that photo?” She pointed to the framed picture. Did he get hitched while on earth?

“She’s my sister. She is also here to study. We use these rings as communication devices.” He held his hand up and showed her the ring. Huh. After half an hour of watching him, how did she never spot it?

“Having a human subject would benefit my task greatly, but I’m afraid that I cannot allow you to remember what just transpired.” John pulled out one of those high-tech guns and aimed it at her. He frowned and had a look of remorse in his eyes.

“Wait! I promise I’ll keep it a secret.”  She scrambled from her seat. But he didn’t budge. The next thing she knew, she was sitting down on the chair again with soda in hand and wondering why there were so many bottles of lotion on the floor.

When he had erased her memory, he erased just enough so that she would forget what occurred in his dorm. But now he regretted not erasing more so that she didn't remember him at all. He would have had to knock her out and bring her elsewhere so she didn't wake up in his room, but that might have been preferable to the current situation. It was too late to try to use his memory gun now. It was only capable of erasing the past forty hours.

His only solace was that summer vacation was starting soon and that hopefully, it was enough time away from her that she'd forget all about him.

...Except they somehow both ended up working at the same coffee shop. 

Unfortunately, he was only given enough assistance to infiltrate the humans' educational system. So that meant he had to earn his keep during his stay on earth. The coffee shop was the only place that offered flexible hours that would work with his schedule. The pay was hardly enough to scrape by and he concluded that that was a good reason why a lot of humans could not pursue further education. How primitive they were. It was no wonder why they haven’t advanced to the level of his kind. 

Suddenly the thought struck him. He peered over to his coworker who was currently working the espresso machine and studied her intently. Her medium length reddish-brown hair and brown eyes were common enough. She was of medium stature—not too short, not too tall. Overall, a seemingly average looking human-being—perhaps pretty in the standards of some of the guys he’s befriended. But what if…

What if she wasn’t human at all, like he thought? 

After all, he was there on Earth. The chances of another alien race being on Earth wouldn’t be so far-fetched. If that was the case, it was imperative that he gain intel on her motives. It wouldn’t do if his studies were interrupted by a hostile force. 

“Excuse me, could I get some assistance?” A voice pulled him out of his thoughts and he faced forward to see that there was a customer starting to look impatient.

“Oh, sorry. What can I get for you?” He asked.

“Green tea latte, large, with almond milk—iced. To-go.” The woman responded.

He repeated her order in confirmation and punched it into the register and was about to ask her for her name when she spoke up again.

“She might be a little out of your league.” 

“Excuse me?” He raised a brow, not understanding the sudden interjection.

“It’s Abigail.” She stated and stared at him until he realized she was giving him her name to write down. He grabbed a large cup and began scribbling her name on it. “Your coworker. You were staring at her. She’s out of your league.”

He didn’t understand what his Abigail woman was getting at. Out of his league? What did that mean? He attempted to sift through the context of her words as he dealt with another customer that came after her. 

Did ‘out of his league’ imply that Alicia was better than him? How could this Abigail make such conclusions simply by looking at them? Unless… Abigail was also an alien. The same kind as Alicia. And her statement was a thinly veiled threat—our kind is superior to yours. 

No. He was spiraling out of control with conjecture. He needed to slow down and think about things calmly. First, he needed to evaluate the danger level. Aside from being observant of him, Alicia did not appear to be threatening in any other manner. His memory gun was designed to work on humans. Efficacy on other races was not tested and if she was indeed a more superior race, it would likely not work. The gun working meant that she was probably human.

That is if she wasn’t pretending to not remember anything.

“Abigail,” He called when he finished making her drink. She came over and rolled her eyes, clearly displeased with his inattentiveness. He needed to stop being so distracted. He couldn’t afford to be fired.

When his last customer got their drink, he let out a breath. Being a barista was tougher than he expected. He glanced over to Alicia again to see that she was sitting down and reading a newspaper since there weren’t any customers to wait on. Her brows were furrowed and a disgruntled look was clearly splashed across her face.

“People really are the worst. We’d probably be better off if aliens came and took over the planet.” She muttered to herself.

The statement made him jerk and he bumped into one of the machines, knocking over a creamer—which was thankfully empty. The clatter caught her attention and she raised a brow at him.

“Sorry,” He apologized sheepishly and picked up the little metal pitcher. But he realized it was a good chance to question her a bit. “What are you reading?” He asked.

“Ugh, just garbage news about garbage people. Do you know how many diseases we’ve effectively gotten rid of because of vaccines? But there’s another measles outbreak because of all this idiocy. I don’t care about the adults, but the kids are the ones being affected. Stupid people and their uninformed ‘clean’ and ‘natural’ movements. Everything is a chemical, you stupid twat-waffles.” She whacked her hand against the newspaper in exasperation. 

Wow. She had quite the temperament. 

“So… you think aliens taking over would be the solution?” He asked cautiously.

“Clearly these people are too stupid to rule themselves.” She rolled her eyes. Placing the newspaper down, she got up and sighed. “I’m not saying aliens would be the solution but holy crap, I’m just so tired of reading these things in the news. It’s no wonder why any advancements in humanity take so long.” 

John stood there in an awkward silence, not sure of what to say. It was true that humanity suffered from many setbacks. For his people, the pursuit of knowledge was a necessity. What he had learned so far was that many humans were content with their ignorance. And for those that did want to learn, there were too many obstacles. 

“Sorry for the outburst.” She apologized as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “I tend to be more judgmental and opinionated than people would like.” 

Her eyes landed on the door when she saw someone ready to enter and a smile appeared on her face. He nearly suffered from whiplash at the way her expression had done a 180.

“Hello! What can I get for you?” She asked sweetly.

The customer fumbled for a bit. It looked like he wasn’t used to ordering coffee and wasn’t sure of the options. But Alicia handled him with calm and patience, smile plastered on her face the whole time. The customer was apologetic for not being knowledgeable and left a tip in her tip jar for her troubles. When he left, Alicia pointed to the door and opened her mouth to speak.

“You see that? People like that are great. If you don’t know what the hell you’re doing or saying, own up to it and be considerate to the people having to deal with you. But everyone loves being an arrogant little asshole. You’ll see it more once you stick around longer. Customers will be up in your face swearing up and down that they’re in the right.”

“Huh....” Was all that he could muster. It was impressive how she could switch between attitudes so effortlessly. Two-faced—is what they call it? She laughed at his reaction.

“You know, you’re sort of like that.” She pointed out. “Not the arrogant asshole. The one who has no idea what he’s doing. But you’re a diligent learner, so it’s quite nice.”

“Uh… thanks?” He said hesitantly. He wasn’t sure if being told that he didn’t know what he was doing was a compliment. But it did tell him that she observed him well enough to see that he was not too knowledgeable. 

There was nothing in his conversation with her that could ascertain whether she was human or not. She did once say ‘we’ when regarding them, but it was followed by so much disdain about the lack of human intelligence and advancement that he couldn’t tell.

For the time being, it did not appear that Alicia Lang was a threat. But for safe measure, he was going to have to keep an eye on her, as much as she was keeping an eye on him.