Aliens Are Real: Part 2 (11 page)

Jasmine approached the
Sedan
.
“Hi”

Malika ignored
her
.
Joseph waved slightly with one hand, his arms still crossed.
Yumi and Tyrone smiled while Honorio straightened up and turned to
her
.

Jasmine glared at Honorio.
“We’re a go for tomorrow.
Be at
my
house at 3PM.”

Honorio nodded once.
She
waved at Yumi and Tyrone then headed to
her
car.
She smiled all the way
.
She
felt in control of the situation and elated at the positive progression
of
her
relationship
with Mark
.

“Jasmine!” It had been a female voice.

Jasmine turned around a
nd saw Alex running toward
her
.
That day, Alex wore her dark hair in two short pony tails
,
and they bounced as she ran
.

“Hi,
” Jasmine said when Alex
had drawn nigh
.

A car horn startled both Alex and Jasmine.
Alex stopped in the middle of the parking lot throughway and turned to the noise coming from a truck
;
stopped a few feet away.

The driver
rolled
down
the window then leaned out to shout,
“Watch where you’re going!
”

Alex
turned towards the truck,
“I’m walking here
!
” She sauntered slowly past the irate driver.
As soon as she stepped out of the way, the driver gunned his engine
,
and sped off.

“Sheesh.
S
ome people are so inconsiderate,
”
Alex said.

“Uh, yeah,
”
Jasmine replied, doing her best to avoid rolling her eyes.

“S
o, what are you doing tonight?”

“Nothing really, you?”

A chilly wind swept up, grabbing Jasmine’s hair
,
and whipping her in the face
.
She brushed the wild locks behind her back then stuffed her hands into her pocke
ts. A
shiver
tried to crawl
up her body.

“Wanna come over?
We’re going to do girly stuff.
”

“
Yeah,
I
’ll
need to ch
eck with my dad but I’d love to,
”
Jasmine said, grinning from ear to ear.

“K”

Jasmine
reached in her bag for her cell
phone.
She pulled it
out
,
and scrolled through her recent calls for her dad’s number.
She located it then hit send.
She he
ld the phone to her ear as another gust of wind blew past
.
The cold stung her fingers as she waited for her father to answer.

Finally, her father picked up.
“Hello?”

“Dad, Can I g
o to Alex’s house for a while?”
Jasmine asked immediately.

Alex looked at Jasmine, waiting to hear the verdict.

“Who’s Alex?”

“The girl who had me over for movies, remember?” Jasmine was annoyed at her father for forgetting already.

“Oh,
yeah.
Do you have homework?”

“Yes, but I have four days to finish i
t.”

“That’s right
!
Thanksgiving is tomorrow.
Crud.
I need to buy groceries.
”

“So can I go to Alex’s?”
Jasmine persisted.

“Just a moment.
I’ll be right there.
”

“What?” Jasmine worried that he thought he needed to pick her up from school or something.

“Not you Jasmine. That’s fine.
Have fun at Alex’s house.
Be home
at a reasonable hour.
”

Like you would know
, Jasmine thought.

Like I would know what?
Again, Yumi
responded to
Jasmine’s stray thoughts.

Sorry, that wasn’t meant for you. I’m still not used to this.

Jasmine returned her attention to her father.
“K. Dad.
Thanks.
”

“Bye.
”

She stuffed her phone back in her bag.

“Well?”
Alex asked.

“Yeah.
I can come over.”

“Sweet.
You can give me a ride home,
then.
”

“You mean,
this was all a ploy to get a ride home?” Jasmine
said
.

“Naw.
It’s a fringe benefit.
” Alex
said then
winked as she
walked around the front of Jasmine’s car.

Jasmine unlocked the driver’s side door, opened it and hit the unlock button on the panel.
Alex jumped in the car
,
and they drove to Alex’s house. Jasmine only needed a couple reminders on the directions. One of her freak abilities was remembering directions. If she were a superhero, she would be the side-kick navigator. She only hoped she was funny enough to be the comedic relief. Otherwise, she would just be lame.

When
they
walked in the door at Alex’s house, a wonderful smell welcomed them.

“I’m home, mom!” Alex dropped her backpack by the front door.
“Where are you?”

“Back here.”
Alex’s mom responded from the back of the house.

Jasmine’s heart contracted. She missed the days of running inside the house and calling to her mother.
Not the time or place
, she reminded herself as tears welled in her eyes.
She followed Alex back to the kitchen.

“
Hey sweetie!
”
Mrs. Sinha
beamed
when Alex entered the room. Alex walked over to her
,
and gave her a
little
kiss on the cheek.

“
Jasmine!”
Mrs. Sinha
walked over to Jasmine and gave her a little hug. “I’m happy to see you again.”

“Thanks Mrs. Sinha. I
s it okay that I’m here
? If it’s an inconvenience I can go
...
”

“Nonsense!
I love it when Alex’s friends come by.” She smiled warmly.

“Wh
at smells awesome?” Alex
look
ed
around the kitchen.

“I made cookies!” Mrs. Sinha beamed.

Jasmine sighed.
Homemade cookies?
She hadn’t had those in a while. Making them without her mom sucked. They never turned out right. She took a bite out of the cookie handed to her
,
and marveled at the taste. The texture was perfect. She felt as though her heart were mending and breaking at the same time.
Maybe Mrs. Si
nha would adopt her
...
It was something to consider. The aliens would be leaving soon
,
and she would need somewhere else to stay so she didn’t have to move again.

The doorbell rang
.
Alex jumped up and ran to the door. Jasmine followed her and saw Tasha and Abigail
entering
. A smile spread across her face.
A real girl’s night
. Even though she wasn’t normally a girly girl, she couldn’t wait for anything this group had in store for her.

* * *

It wasn’t long after the girls had had their fill of cookies that they had broken out the nail polish and were decorating their digits.
As Jasmine
clumsily
dragged the brush across her right
pinky
, she started to wonder if she was cut out to be a girl.
The red polish ended up more on her skin than the nail. She pursed her lips
,
and growled at the offending
finger
.

She put the lid back on the bottle
,
and pushed it away from her.
“I give up.”

Tasha looked up from her sparkly purple toes. “What?”

“I’m a failure at this!
” Jasmine
showed
her
red
pinky that looked better fit for a horror movie than a romance novel.

Tasha rolled her eyes with a smile.
“
Oh, you just need practice, hun.
” She stood up and hobbled over to Jasmine, careful not to mar her drying toes.

They were in the basement doing “manis and pedis” as Alex had
described
. The
big
screen television blared the latest song from a boy band
.
Alex and Abigail
were bobbing
their heads in time to the music as they covered their nails in pink and electric blue.

Tasha sang out a line of the lyrics as she grabbed the nail polish remover and a cotton swab. She rubbed the polish off Jasmine’s skin expertly, careful to leave the polish on the nail where it belonged.
She bopped along with the music but didn’t mess up once. Jasmine admired her skill.

“I
t’s time to dish
,
honey.
” Tasha
looked
up at Jasmine’s eyes.

“Dish?” Jasmine
was confused.

“Uhh, yes! Who is that Honorio guy?”
Tasha cocked an eyebrow at her as she fanned her toenails.

Abigail and Alex looked up as well. They scooted closer
,
and Alex turned the television down a little.

“He’s no one really.”
She loved this group but how was she supposed to explain that Honorio was an alien on a supposedly peaceful mission
,
and would go home soon? They would think she was a nut job.

Tasha tsk
’
d at Jasmine’s answer.

Alex insisted. “No, really, tell us about him.”

“There’s nothing really to say. He’s more my father’s friend than mine
.
” It wasn’t stretching the truth too much. Her father did like him a lot more than she
did
.

Tasha persisted
.
“Wh
ere’s he from? What’s he like?”

“Is he single i
s what she really wants to know,
”
Alex interpreted.
They all laughed with Tasha nodding in agreement.

“Well, he’s singl
e, but he’s not really your type.
”

“An
y man as fine as him is my type
,
”
Tasha replied.

Alex agreed and pointed at
Tasha in agreement
.

“It look
ed as though you two were very close.
”

Jasmine rolled her eyes.
“Well, he’s weird like that. He acts like we’re
the
best buddies
in front of people
,
but when no one’s
around he’s a pain in the butt.
” Jasmine examined
at her nails
,
and wondered if they were dry.

“Don’t touch yet!”
Tasha said.
She grabbed
Jasmine’s hand before
the polish was ruined
.

Alex continued the interrogation.
“So you want us to believe that he doesn’t
like you?”
Her face showed skepticism.

Jasmine sighed.
“Honestly, he’s into head games or something.
I know he’s handsome
and all
–
”

Tasha cut her off.
“I think the wor
d you are looking for is dreamy.
”

“Naw, I think it’s gorg
eous,
”
Alex corrected.

“Stunning is more like it,
”
Abigail said.
The three of them laughed and spat out more synonyms for Honorio’s human form.