Chapter 8
I slurped the noodle into my mouth like a cartoon cocker spaniel.
My cat anime alien had a strand of my messy hair in his hands, and I could feel him lifting it, the nerve endings in my scalp sending shivers through me.
He was so close to me, looming over me. I chewed and swallowed, licking the salty sauce from my lips as I searched for something to say before remembering that talking wasn’t possible.
I was using a utensil that looked like a spork, but instead of being flat with a slight curve, the thing was like a claw used to pluck the pits out of fruit, only wider I put the spork back into the takeout container in my hands and turned towards him.
I wanted to know who this man was. I wanted to know why he was doing all this for me.
I wanted to touch him.
I reached up and put my hand on top of his, my fingers gently brushing the edges of my own hair. He turned his hand, carefully cupping mine as he stared at it, running the pad of his thumb over the smooth edges of my fingernails, the tip of his retractable claw just barely visible.
The band around his wrist made a chiming sound. He let go of my hand, turned away, and was out the door.
I sighed.
So much for getting to know him.
Why didn't he stay?
A few minutes later, a chime rang at the door, and the Neen’s Boy Toy answered it.
I frowned when I saw who it was. It was that cat woman, the doctor, or whatever she was, who had crammed me into the tiny crate cage.
I crossed my arms and glared at her, wishing I had a better way to express my gtfo vibes.
Wait, I totally could figure this out.
Just because I couldn’t sing worth a damn, didn’t mean that I was completely helpless in expressing myself.
These aliens clearly put a lot of body language into their communications, and though I didn’t have all the body parts in question, I was all about finding new ways to move through space and time.
I was a dancer after all.
She handed a small bag to the Boy Toy, singing something before her eyes slid past him to me.
I lifted both my hands and put them above my ears on the side of my skull.
I kept my fingers glued together.
Then, in one motion, I rotated my hands inwards until they turned fully around, and the pinkies on each hand were now on the insides, then flattened my palms down towards my skull.
Her ears flicked back slightly, then rotated back to point at me as she tilted her head.
I wanted to say thank you for healing me, but instead it was way more fun to go for the f you for sticking me in a cage option. The Boy Toy glanced over and made a chuffing sound before gesturing towards the door and singing at her. She shook her head and left. Good riddance.
I grabbed another container of food to smell it.
Arnina chose that moment to exit the shower. She must have found a hairbrush, as her hair was looking quite nice. I was going to have to find that after I finished eating this delicious food.
"Your alien boyfriend ordered takeout," I said. "Oh, and the butt probe lady dropped by with something for you."
I knew I should mention Zale as well, but I kept that little tidbit close to my chest. I hated that feeling of distrust, but I couldn’t let go of it.
Even in my wildest mental state of cognitive dissonance, the reality of Arnina’s ability to choose a guy over our friendship was burned into my heart with a branding iron.
"So I guess she knew he was taking us here," she pointed out as she moved to join us at the counter. As she approached, I kicked my foot against the side of the counter, and there was a click.
A stool slid out, just the tip sticking out first.
She pulled it out the rest of the way and climbed up next to me. We had to look ridiculous. Everything was way too big for us. These cat elves were giants.
"Here, try this." I slid over a round carton and an alien spork.
"Dinglehopper?" Arnina joked, holding it up to look at it.
I laughed, which was a mistake, as I had just taken a bite of noodles. I ended up coughing - my airway was not noodle-friendly.
"Don't choke!" Arnina patted me on the back. "You're the one always making mermaid jokes. If you can't take them, don't fish them."
Oh, she was definitely feeling pretty good now.
It felt like my mission as a friend to cheer her up had succeeded. Who knew it would only take an alien abduction, torture, and giant cat elves to cheer her up? Of course, she skipped the torture part. That part was all me.
I wiped a tear from my eye as I swallowed.
"That's because I am the mermaid queen of Port Townsend! It's my royal duty to drop some fish talk!" I smiled, digging my dinglehopper back into my noodle container. "I wasn't expecting it from a landlubber like you."
"Whatever you say, Your Majesty," Arnina grinned, looked at the chicken teriyaki-like carton in front of her, and sighed.
Her alien Boy Toy sang something at her and pushed the package the doctor had dropped off across the counter to her.
Inside the wrapping were five tubes filled with a purple substance.
The tubes were half an inch wide and the length of my palm.
One end had a removable rubber cover, and the other had a compressor to push the cream out.
He sang at her again, and she gazed at him like he was made out of chocolate pie.
"I think you're supposed to take the meds with food," I said, then slurped down another bite. I didn't know what I was talking about, but we were eating, and he was giving it to her now, so it seemed sensible.
"I wish there were some magic way to implant their language in my brain," she said. "I would like to know what I'm taking and why."
"If there are spaceships, then there are translators," I commented. "Unless we fell through a dimensional rift instead of being abducted and are, in fact, still on Earth. Oh, where is the doctor when you need him?"
"Who?" She asked, and I wasn't sure if she was falling for it or playing along. It was hard to tell with her sometimes.
"Exactly. Now, are you going to trust the random alien doctor and take those or what?" I pointed out. I didn’t like the doctor but she definitely fixed me up.
"I think she is a vet." Arnina popped the top off one of the tubes and chugged it.
I paused, food halfway to my mouth. A vet? Did that mean my murderous hunk of burning cat boy thought I was an animal?
Arnina’s Boy Toy sang at her and pushed one of the food cartons at her.
"Okay, okay," she said, picking up the dinglehopper again. "I'll eat."
I frowned as I watched them. There was no way these guys thought we were animals, judging by the way he was interacting with Arnina. At least, I really hoped not.
I really wanted him to see me as a woman.
It would be easier if I knew his name.
Ugh, I needed to get this whole latch on to the first guy who saves me thing under control. It didn’t matter that he was super hot, and gentle, and slaughtered my enemies for me.
I couldn’t fall for him at first rescue. No way.
When I was done chowing down, I stepped out to investigate the shower. The controls were annoyingly high, but the temperature was great and easy to adjust. Even better, the soap smelled and looked like soap, even if it had a funny curve to it.
It wasn’t surprising that this species had so many similarities, given they had a very humanoid look to them. Then again, there had to be differences I didn’t know about yet.
I discovered the mystery of the hair dryer when I turned off the shower and it blasted me with warm air. I found the hairbrush on the counter, cleaned Boy Toys' hair out of it, and took care of my own unruly mop of hair. Then I went to door number two, the one Lorelei thought was our bedroom.
Behind the door was more of a nest than a room. A large, thigh high furniture piece took up most of the room. It curved up at the edges in a gentle saucer shape. The whole thing was covered in a fitted sheet. A wadded up blanket lay in a bundle at one end.
Clothing spilled out of an open bag on the ground, as if someone had just arrived for a trip and, instead of unpacking their clothing, was living straight out of their bag. Another pile of clothes sat next to the door.
It was an immature male kind of nonsense; he couldn't even be bothered to unpack. Then again, how long was he planning on staying here? Maybe this was a hotel or another type of temporary dwelling.
I ended up falling asleep the moment I laid down, waking up partially as Arnina crawled into the large nest of a bed with me.
When I woke in the morning, she was gone.