Love From A Star: A BWWM Alien Romance Read online

  Jalicia looked at him, but she couldn’t see why a girl of that age couldn’t be fine on her own for a few days. “Look at me,” she smiled. “I found you all by myself, and I am taking care of you. I left home to be a doctor and came back to stay with my father when my mother died, and I am only twenty-six,” she beamed as she tried to reassure him.

  He looked up sharply when she stopped speaking. “You are twenty-six?” he asked in shock.

  “Yes, and if I were to guess your age, I would say you are the same,” she said. “But I take it you are about twenty-seven since you would be older than your sister.”

  Antash started laughing. “Now it makes sense. No wonder you don’t understand. How is it you look so grown and you are only twenty-six? Santina is this high,” he told her as he leveled his hand with his waist; only a little girl.”

  It was Jalicia’s turn to be amazed. “What?” she asked. “That’s not possible.”

  “I guess time passes differently here,” he said, and then looked mischievously at her. “Guess how old I am again.”

  “I am afraid to,” she said.

  “I am one hundred and eight years,” he told her. “Just about the prime of my life,” he grinned.

  Jalicia’s hand flew to her mouth as she stood there gaping at him. “Oh my God,” she said. “That’s incredible. Well, no wonder you are worried about her. Wow,” she said as she tried to wrap her mind around what he just told her.

  “Yes. Now if only I could get this thing fixed,” he said as he took up his communicator. “Trouble is brewing for Solaris, and I need to get word to them before it is too late.” His face grew serious as he spoke and Jalicia could tell he was anxious for many reasons.

  “Let me see that,” she said. He handed her the communicator and sighed. She turned it over in her hands, examining it. “I think I know just the person who can fix this,” she said as Ned’s image floated across her mind. “Wait here, I will be back soon.”

  Jalicia went as fast as she could around the back of the house and across the fence to Ned’s house. He was just stepping outside when she rounded the corner at the back.

  “Jalicia,” he said as he wore a surprised expression. “This is odd,” he said as he referred to her coming over that early.

  “Yes it is, but you need to come with me,” she told him. The urgency with which she spoke compelled him to move and he hurried behind her.

  “What is it?” he asked along the way.

  “You’ll see,” she said. She surveyed the yard to make sure her father wasn’t around before sneaking back into the barn. “You will not believe this,” she said excitedly as she made her way to the back. But when she got there all she saw was the empty hay stack where she had left Antash. He was gone!

  Chapter 4

  “Where is he?” she asked as she turned around looking for him.

  “Where is who?” Ned was asking.

  “Antash. I left him right here,” she said. And then her eyes brightened as an idea came to her. “The ship,” she said as she grabbed Ned’s arm and led him outside and across the yard.

  “Who is Antash? And what ship? What is going on?” Ned asked, but Jalicia’s mind was too preoccupied with worry to answer any questions logically. Not that she could provide a logical answer to who Antash was. “What the hell is that?” Ned asked as he crossed the fence and caught sight of the vessel.

  Jalicia didn’t answer still as she got to the vessel. “Antash!” she called.

  Sure enough an answer came from inside. “In here.”

  “Come,” she said to Ned who seemed more stubborn to move now. But he followed her nonetheless as they both squeezed into the wreck. As soon as they were inside, Ned whistled. “Whoa,” he said as he eyed the dashboard. “Sweet.”

  “Don’t touch that,” a voice from behind commanded. Ned turned around and then froze. His eyes bulged as he saw Antash, who by now had resumed his alien appearance. “I’m Antash,” he said. Ned’s eyes rushed to find Jalicia’s for an explanation as to what was going on.

  “What is this?” he asked.

  “Don’t be scared,” Jalicia said to him. “He won’t hurt you.”

  “Even though I am one of Solaris’ most feared warriors,” Antash added and scowled at Ned. He laughed when he saw Ned shrinking back in fear. “I won’t hurt you,” he smiled as he turned his back and continued looking for something.

  “What is that?” Ned whispered to Jalicia as he pointed at Antash.

  “That would be a person,” Antash answered with his back still turned. “And yes, I could hear you.”

  Jalicia laughed. “Antash, this is my friend Ned, and I believe he can help you with your communicator. He is a whiz with gadgets and stuff like that.”

  Ned looked at her with shock. “Yeah, but only with things from earth. Look at this control board; I don’t even know how to turn this on,” he said as he glanced at it.

  Antash walked over and flicked a switch. “Like that.”

  “I don’t know,” he said nervously. “It kinda looks complicated to me.”

  “It’s alright if you can’t,” Antash said as he goaded him. “I completely understand if this is entirely beyond your scope of understanding.”

  “Now hold on a minute,” Ned interjected. “I didn’t say it like that. All I am saying is I can’t promise anything. Besides, it is beyond your scope of understanding or else you wouldn’t need my help,” he said as he swiped the communicator from his outstretched hand. Antash only smiled when he did. “Where are you from anyway?”

  “Thousands of miles from here, on a planet called Solaris,” Antash responded.

  “How did you get here?” Ned wanted to know. He was already dissecting the portable device and examining its parts.

  “I was out patrolling, then I spotted some enemies plotting to overthrow my planet,” Antash said and then looked upwards in the direction of the sky. “I tried to get back home to warn them, but I couldn’t get past them. I drifted further into space and when I ran out of fuel I crash landed here. Now I need to get that fixed so I can radio and tell them what’s happening. I only hope I am not too late.”

  “You won’t be,” Jalicia said in an attempt to reassure him. “They lost the element of surprise, or that’s what they probably think. They don’t know you didn’t make it back eventually.”

  Antash looked at her with renewed understanding. “You might be right,” he said. “That may have bought us some amount of time, but they seemed very intent upon taking over Solaris. They may have already tried.” A worried look came over his face just then and he sighed.

  “She will be alright Antash,” Jalicia said as she walked over and touched his hand. He felt softer to the touch than his appearance intimated. His scales felt like feathers from a swan, and the texture had her pleasantly surprised. She noticed him watching her, and she couldn’t help thinking how beautiful his facial features were. He had a hard jaw line and a rigid outline that accentuated lips of a darker shade of green and made his dark eyes even darker. “Now, let’s get out of here and get something to eat. You must be hungry and my dad must be worried.” Jalicia had to find a way to compel herself to move before she got too enthralled with her guest.

  Antash noticed her blushing and smiled. She was different from the women on Solaris; her skin was darker, and different from the human male, yet they were treating him as if he belonged there. Now it seemed everything he was told about earth may have been false. “I must say you are nothing like my people told me you are,” he said as he grabbed the gift Santina had made for him as he exited the glider.

  “What did you hear about us?” Ned asked.

  “That I would be treated cruelly if I came here,” Antash said.

  “That may not be far from the truth. It was just sheer luck I was the one who found you. Had you landed in New York, or Washington, then you wouldn’t be treated as nice. You might have wound up in a laboratory as an experiment as we try to understand you, and perhaps where y
ou come from,” Jalicia explained.

  “But wouldn’t that be easier if you just ask?” Antash queried. Both Ned and Jalicia looked at each other, and then laughed. “What’s so funny?”

  “Just the simplicity of your answer,” Jalicia replied. “They find more thrill in the hunt I suppose.”

  “Hmm,” grunted Antash. “Weird and uncivilized.”

  “Yep. That’s us,” Ned agreed. “This doesn’t seem so different from the audio set I was working on the other day,” he said as he turned the device over and over in his hands as they walked to the barn.

  “What happens if it doesn’t get fixed?” Jalicia asked Antash.

  He stopped and stared dead ahead as if something was keeping him grounded. “It has to be fixed,” he said and then started moving again.

  Ned looked over at Jalicia with hopeful eyes. “I will fix it my alien friend,” he grinned. “I wouldn’t want to be stuck here either.”

  They got to the barn then, and Antash went back to the corner like it had been assigned his temporary home. “Maybe you could do that thing you did before so you could come inside the house and not have to stay out here. You must be hungry by now,” Jalicia offered.

  “I don’t want to impose,” Antash said.

  “No imposition,” Jalicia said. “I feel bad leaving you out here all alone. I wouldn’t want anyone to come upon you unsuspected and make an alarm. People will do anything for money these days.”

  “Thank you Jalicia, but I don’t think your father would take too kindly to you letting a stranger inside his house,” Antash responded.

  “How do you know what my father would do?” she asked.

  “Because he is coming over here now, and he isn’t too pleased,” he said.

  Ned and Jalicia turned to face the house instantly. “Where? I don’t see him,” she said.

  “Three, two, one,” Antash said as he counted down.

  And as if on cue Samuel walked into the barn. “Jalicia, who was that man I saw you with just now?” he asked sternly.

  “Ned?” she asked.

  “No, there was someone else, and don’t be coy with me,” he responded.

  “Oh, him,” she said as she blushed. She looked behind her, but Antash was nowhere to be seen. “It was just someone asking for directions. He is from the city and a little bit lost.”

  “Don’t you go bringing any strangers around here missus. And where have you been all morning? It is almost nine and normally you would be in the kitchen by now,” he said, still maintaining his suspicious gait.

  “Dad, I am not a child. I know better than that. There was something I needed to do with Ned,” she lied. “I will be up in a little while. I am beginning to feel hungry too.”

  “Okay then,” he grunted and walked off.

  “Good Morning Sir,” Ned said as an afterthought. The old man only looked back with a frown, grunted and continued walking. “Whew, that was close,” Ned said as he looked around for Antash. “Where did he go?”

  “Right here,” Antash said, and as he emerged he was wearing the human camouflage he had shown Jalicia earlier.

  “How did you do that?” Ned asked, his eyes wide open with fascination.

  “One good thing about not being human,” Jalicia said. “He did it last night too.”

  “Can you turn into anyone, or anything?” Ned wanted to know.

  “Okay Ned,” Jalicia said as she interrupted his childish fantasies. “You should probably get started on working on that thing.”

  “Right,” he said and nodded. “I need to get some things from my house.”

  “And Ned, please don’t say anything to anyone,” she pleaded. “The people around here will turn this place into a circus if they find out about him.

  “Well what about the ship? What if someone sees it?”

  “Not now they won’t. For now it can’t be seen. We have cloaking technology for all of our vessels,” Antash explained.

  “I need to visit Solaris one day,” Ned said.

  Antash laughed. “You have no idea how long I have wanted to visit earth.”

  “Well, I will see you soon,” he said as he held up the communicator.

  After he had gone, Jalicia left Antash in the barn and went up to the house. She had to make breakfast for them all, and she didn’t want her father to suspect anything further.

  “What’s going on between you two?” he asked her as soon as she stepped inside.

  “Nothing,” she said as she immediately went to the stove. “What would you like to eat?”

  “Anything,” he said in a spoiled childish tone.

  “Anything it is,” she said as she ignored him. She made pancakes, eggs, sausages, hash browns and toast, followed by coffee and orange juice.

  “Are you planning on feeding an army?” he asked.

  “Just us,” she smiled as she spooned some onto his plate. He took the plate from her and went to the table. When he wasn’t looking, Jalicia hid some on paper towel and hurriedly wrapped it before her father caught her. She wasn’t sure how she could explain that to him then. She then ate a little before excusing herself once more.

  She didn’t go to the barn right away because she knew he was watching her, and she worried Antash would starve before she returned. The second he went next door she seized the opportunity to return to him. “My father is so suspicious and he kept watching me. I couldn’t get away,” she explained.

  “It is alright Jalicia of Earth,” he said and smiled. “You have done enough as it is.”

  “I don’t think I did much,” she retorted. “Anyway, here,” she smiled back. “I hope you like our food.”

  Antash smiled appreciatively as he took the food from her. “Thank you,” he said. His hand brushed against hers, and it felt like a sudden jolt of electricity swept through them that burned to the touch. She instantly pulled her hand away, but it was too late for them not to notice.

  It was hard not to be nice to Antash. Usually when she imagined aliens, or other beings, she often saw them with forked tongues, scaly bodies that scratched when touched, and bald heads that wouldn’t be the least bit attractive. She hadn’t expected anything like this, and as she watched him as he ate, she wondered if he was spoken for back home. She blushed as the thought came to her, and turned her head away lest he read it in her features.

  But Antash wasn’t trying to read hers; he was too busy hiding his own attraction. He was taken by how big her heart was, and he wondered how it fit inside such a small body. He had always thought the women on Solaris were small, and that his sister was abnormally tall for her age, but Jalicia was smaller than them all, and he towered over her when he stood. And if he had known that the women on Earth were that beautiful, he would have snuck away before. He chuckled to himself at the thought.

  “What’s so funny?” she asked. “Food that bad?”

  “No,” he replied. “It is actually good. I was just having a funny thought.”

  “Care to share?” she asked. She found it surprising how comfortable she felt around him, though she had every reason to be afraid.

  “Maybe another time,” he said as he emptied the contents of the napkin. “Interesting meal. What do you call it?”

  “In a category, we would say continental. There are other types of breakfast like oatmeal, or dumplings or cereal. Maybe you will get something else if you are still here tomorrow.”

  “I would like to be, as well as I hope to not be,” he said as he averted his gaze to the sky again.

  She saw the worried expression on his face. “Everything will be alright Antash,” Jalicia said as soothingly as possible. “Santina will be fine.”

  “She must be so frightened. Our mother isn’t around much, so she looks to me more, like a father. I am letting her down now.”

  “It isn’t your fault, you got chased across the galaxy and crash landed here. You can’t blame yourself for this.”

  “It isn’t really a matter of blame. What’s done is done. St
ill, I am not there to protect her.”

  Jalicia could find no words to rebut that claim, because she knew it was true. Hopefully Ned could actually fix the communicator.

  “I won’t remain in this temporary home all day. I will return to my ship. If your friend comes back with the communicator, you can find me there. Pardon my rudeness, but I feel more comfortable there.”

  “No, that’s not a problem,” Jalicia responded. “Whatever makes you more comfortable.”

  But for the remainder of the day, Jalicia was distracted. She kept thinking about the strange man who had infiltrated her world, and she wanted him gone as well as still there in the morning in equal measure. And it conflicted her. It must have been June twenty-first, for she felt like she was experiencing the longest day in the year. By nightfall, it was obvious to her father that something was going on, but she declined to comment and retreated early for bed. Samuel was forced to do the same since she was his only company, but one hour after he had retired to bed, she was up and tossing items in a duffel bag.

  She crept downstairs and out the back door without any further disturbances. She remembered exactly where the vessel would be, and as soon as she passed the old fort she started calling out to him in what was a loud whisper rather than a shout. “Antash,” she called.

  He appeared as if out of thin air and guided her back inside the glider. “I am not sure how the temperature on Solaris is, but the nights here can get cold so I brought you a blanket. And some supplies just in case you want to stay here always.”

  Antash could not help but feel grateful and enamored all at once. “Why are you being so nice to me?” he asked.

  “Because if I crash landed on Solaris on your farm, I would want you to be nice to me too,” she replied as she fished in her bag for the things she had taken for him. “Now, you must be hungry.”

  “I am used to hunting for my own food; not being handed it every time by a woman,” he told her.

  “Oh, the men of Solaris are chivalrous. Here, we sort of have to do it mostly by ourselves. I think some of the women are to be blamed for that.”

  “And what about you Jalicia? Do you like men doing things for you?”