Chapter 13
It shouldn’t surprise me that Dace knew exactly where to look for me when she returned and I wasn’t at her place.
“Thought I might find you here,” she chirped as she came up on me.
“Needed a minute to think,” I muttered from my hunch in the snow.
“Brought backup,” Dace joked.
Glancing up, I opened my hoodie and lifted my head. It was blue guy. Tipping my head to the side, I nodded in greeting at the tall blue beast Joanie had called her Buu. Buu had multiple sets of arms, I noted as he followed Dace up to me.
Buu dipped his head in a polite nod. “Dace say womens not ‘kay with Dace be friends Pur-drue.”
Pru, Dace softly mouthed as Buu tested out my name and Dace quietly helped him out.
“Prrr-oo,” he tried again.
“Purdue is fine. It’s close enough,” I mumbled with a shrug.
“Dorothy caught us on the way down. She said she was kinda worried about you.” Walking right up to me, Dace plopped down beside me. Like it was the most natural thing in the world, she leaned against me.
Shoulders slumping, I leaned into her.
Wrapping my arms tighter about my legs, I whispered, “I just want to go home.”
Dace wrapped an arm around me and gave me a squeeze. “I wish I could help you. I’m so sorry. If I could find a way to get you to your mates, I’d try it.”
“Dace would,” Buu chimed in. Walking over to Dace, he joined us in our sit in the snow, scooting in on Dace’s other side. “Buu help too, Buu knew how.”
Sniffling and annoyed at myself about it, annoyed at everything but the little group gathered really, I smiled past watery eyes and a runny nose. “Thank you.”
“Buu’s going to go back home tonight but he’s going to come to movie night.”
“Buu bring snacks,” Dace’s friend that was more like family to her chimed in. Shifting restlessly, he grabbed at his tail to twist at the tufts of fur in his clawed fingers uncertainly.
“That would be awesome.” Turning my head, I offered Buu a smile. The male grinned like I’d just given him a boon.
Both sets of ears perking up, Buu nudged Dace. Meant to be an affectionate gesture, he nudged her a little too hard, sending us both tumbling to our sides.
Buu’s uh-oh face had me cracking up. Dace got a good look at it and then joined me.
“Oops-ed,” Buu rumbled sheepishly.
Gaining my feet, I helped Dace. At Buu’s tail swishing urging, we started off for Dace’s.
We were just shy of her hut when Dace told me, “Buu’s never had a sleepover.
” Dace grinned. “He was curious. Joanie told him all about them and when he said he wanted one she said he should come with me and check it out.” Leaning in, she whispered, “Not like a non-naughty one anyway.” Louder, she went on, “Before he met his Joalee, we each had our own cave rooms in the Sun’s cave. ”
“Buu heared that,” he grumbled.
“I know but I said it low so no one else would,” Dace chirped.
Buu made a face at that, that had Dace making a face back at him. It was very sibling like and immediately made me think of my guys.
“Rek wanted to come too but he didn’t want to leave Joanie alone.” Dace gave me a look that said that while she wasn’t going to say it out loud she was glad Rek had decided against it.
“No want leave ‘lone with Go and Odix, think him miss the things out,” Buu said with a snort.
At her door, Dace turned to Buu suddenly.
“I did it. I figured out how to make popcorn,” she excitedly informed Buu.
Walking over to her stove as we filed inside, she lifted the lid off the pot from the popped kernel things she’d turned into their version of popcorn.
“Gotta use a lot of animal fat with these things, and get the pan super hot.” Holding up a kernel, she grinned.
Lo denaii popcorn was an odd light blue and more puffed up ball than puffed popped corn.
Buu’s eyes widened as he lifted his nose and gave a loud sniff.
Dumping the contents of the pan into a bowl, she walked it over to us and set it down in front of Buu. Buu purred appreciatively.
“I vote romance!” Dace chirped. Then, with a frown, she added, “But I’ll watch whatever you put on, really.”
“Buu no care,” he mumbled around a huge mouthful of popped kernels. “Buu watch all.”
“Any old school horror on there?” I asked.
“Horreders no scare Buu, not like Rek,” Buu mumbled around a second mouthful. “Luk say all preedtend. Not real. Peoples in soods.”
At the rate he was going, we’d run out of popcorn before the movie even started.
Thinking of the pop culture gems Dace hadn’t picked up in talking to people, I eyed her. “I have a few suggestions.”
With a shrug, Dace handed the tablet over.
“We’ll watch Anastasia after this one,” I promised as I hit play on a tried and true for me and Elm when we couldn’t figure out what to watch.
Dace pulled out a chair but dragged the blanket on her bed over to her, then wrapped it around her like she was preparing for a few jump scares.
Dace squeaked at all the appropriate parts, and Buu gasped and jerked and growled as he really got into the movie.
By the time it was over, Dace had stopped jumping and actually looked sad it had ended, and Buu jumped up to grab the tablet from where it sat on one of Dace’s shelves so we could all see to blurt, “More ones? More ones like that?”
“I think they’re all there. You’ll have to look”.
Glancing my way, she smiled. “I’ve seen parts of that one but never all the way through.
I watched it when I was too small to be watching it, scaring myself sick with it so much I never tried to finish it.
I’m glad I did. That was fun!” Hopping up, she rushed over to the stove.
“I’ll make more popcorn for Buu for the next one. ”
Buu made a happy sound.
“Oh! And Joanie lent me her nail polish! I thought, maybe, you know, we could do each others, for fun, uhm, if you wanted to.” Dace looked so damn hopeful I agreed.
“But only if I get to pick my own colors,” I haggled.
“I want pink,” Dace chattered happily.
That got an unhappy sound from Buu.
Dace and I laughed. “For us, silly,” Dace informed him. “Not you.”
Buu made a less unhappy sound and Dace conceded, “We’ll do our nails after you leave. I forgot the smell really gets to you.”
Buu turned to Dace, lifted his hand, and lifted his thumb and index fingers at her.
“Just the thumb, and turn it this way.” Dace showed him and he copied her movements for a thumbs up.
“Forget, some of the times. Buu tries,” he said with a shrug.
“I forget stuff all the time.” Dace lifted her shoulders in a shrug.
“Same,” I chimed in.
“Same,” Buu mimicked, frowning right after he said it.
“Ditto,” I quipped.
“Dildo,” Buu tried once more.
Dace made a choked sound. Face reddening, she blurted as I busted up laughing and Buu frowned at me questioningly. “Ditt-o. Ditt-o,” she repeated slowly.
“Dill-toe,” Buu repeated, to similar reactions from the peanut gallery, and by that I mean mad cackling from me.
Staring at me, Buu growled something at me but I had no idea what it was. It wasn’t an angry thing. He was growl-speaking.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“No know?” Buu’s head tipped to the side as he studied me.
“I read in my dad’s old letters that I used to. Something happened to me and it made me forget.” Lifting my hand to run my fingers across my beanie, I muttered, “That’s when my hair fell out.”
“Does hair start to fall out when humans start to forget?” Dace squeaked out worriedly. Clapping a hand to her head, her eyes bugged.
“No.” Her reaction was so ridiculous it made me laugh.
“My parents found some Gray aliens. You know, like the literal Gray aliens that supposedly don’t exist. They were trying to help me somehow, I don’t know, but what they wanted to do doesn’t work on Lo denaii.
It erased memories and my hair just started falling out.
I have no idea what the grrr speak means but I can gather some things from growl tones. ”
Buu let out a couple of growls and I listened.
“I’d say mad, sad, worried, what the hell, I’m sorry,” I muttered after he’d stopped.
Buu grinned and threw me a very stilted thumbs up. Holding his hand up still, he looked to Dace. Dace threw him a thumbs up back.
“Can I ask, what it was like growing up? You said you grew up with your mates and their brother and they’re hybrids like you.” Dace brought fresh bowls of popcorn for everyone each our own so Buu couldn’t hog it all.
It was harder than I thought talking about it and I choked up a little, but I told her about what it was like in our small, snowy town, my parents, the guys, Sunny, Forest.
Buu asked questions too.
Before I knew it we’d completely forgotten about the second movie in favor of us all sharing stories about our lives, what it was like. Buu had lost his entire family and was living all alone before he came across Dace.
Dace’s family was a hot mess. She was closest to her Grandfather, who taught her how to hunt, track, trap, use a bow, clean and fire a gun, change a tire, the oil on her car. Her mother sounded completely awful and made me feel grateful for mine despite all the crazy mine had kept from me.
“They wanted me to try and have a normal life.” I shook my head at the idea.
“I don’t see how, though. I’m still Lepyr and Lo denaii.
I could have met and married some human guy, thinking I’m totally human, then popped out a furry baby.
Could you imagine? With zero knowledge of any of this.
It would have been confusing as hell, and risked the baby and me being exposed.
Our government is whacked. Who knows what could have happened if it was discovered I was part alien back on Earth. ”
“My Joalee say gudverdment knowed aliums egg-cyst. They just not say. Hide,” Buu rumbled out quietly.
“They’ll lock you up for believing any of it,” Dace scoffed.
A heavy knock on Dace’s door had Buu putting a hand out to stand and approach the door. Leaning in close, he rumbled, “Who knock?”