Page 27 of So I Married an Alien
Amara giggles, and I’m surprised by how upbeat she is, given neither of us are feeling our best.She looks happy, even though there are bags under her eyes.
I dive into the food, and I discover bacon is a revelation.It’s salty—a flavor we had very little of onNew Dro’thar II—and fatty in the most sublime way.I’ve never had anything like it, and I feel healed by it.I moan as I obliterate the four pieces she’s put on my plate, and Amara giggles.
“You like it?”
“I do not think that’s a strong enough word,” I say, chewing.
Though the bacon is delicious, I am wary of the white substance with the yellow center.
“Chicken egg,” Amara explains.“It’s pure protein.Make sure you eat it all, and it’ll help.”
I bite into the egg, and though the texture is strange, I don’t mind the flavor.When my food is gone, and Amara has finished hers, she spreads out on her chair, nearly melting to the floor.
“That’s all I had in me,” she moans.
“Don’t worry.I’ll clean.”This time, Amara doesn’t object as I take care of the plates, rinsing and loading them into the dish-cleaning machine I saw her use last time.After scrubbing the pans, I return to find Amara has migrated to the couch, sprawling across it.She lifts her legs to make room for me, and then when I’m seated, sets them back down on my lap.
It is casual in its intimacy, and a warmth spreads across my body.
She turns on a movie, which is a struggle for me to follow, but it’s simply enjoyable to lie here and let my food digest.As she predicted, I do feel better by the middle of the day, but make sure to drink more of that orange juice.
I don’t realize when I fall asleep.
The sun is down by the time I open my eyes, and Amara is gone.
I sit up, suddenly panicked by her absence.She was here earlier, but…
The front door opens, and Amara steps inside with a plastic bag hanging from her arm.She grins when she sees me.
“Oh, good.You’re up.Feel better?”She sets the bag down on the table.“I got us takeout.”
The flavors are unusual, the smells alluring.She explains that it’s “Chinese food,” and though I try to use thechopsticksthat come with it, I find it too impossible in my half-asleep state.After gorging on the food, we find our way back to the couch.
This time, when I sit on it, she sits close to me.I think of ourkissinglast night at the bus stop, and wonder if she is, too.She leans against me, and so I put two of my arms around her, bringing her in tighter to my chest.
We sit like that for some time as the television prattles on, but I’m not paying attention to it.Amara smells different today now that all the artificial scents she put on last night have worn off.I like her natural musk—it reminds me of something familiar.Perhaps it’s a little like my mother before she died.
Amara’s hand traces up my shoulder to my neck, where she plays with the short strands of my hair.
“What are you thinking about?”she asks.
“My mother.”
The words just come out, honest and true.I think my headache has eliminated my filter.
“Your mother?Is she back on the ship you came from?”Amara cocks her head.“I haven’t asked you about your family.”
“I have none.”
Her hand freezes.“None at all?”
“My mother and father both died in my young adulthood.I have no siblings.I have two aunts and an uncle, but we don’t speak much.”One of my aunts worked her way up to a slightly better job on the second rung of the ship, cleaning quarters for wealthier people, so I never saw her.The rest of us were too consumed with simply trying to get by in the Hole to spend much time together, and we live in vastly different places.New Dro’thar IIis the larger of the two ships that hold our entire civilization, and getting from one side of the Hole to the other is a long journey.
“Oh.I’m so sorry.”Her hand resumes playing with my hair, and Amara is gazing at me now with soft eyes.“That sounds difficult.”
“It is what I know.”
“You have a new family now, though.”She smiles at me, snuggling in closer.“You have me.”
