WHO: Sarah Zellaby and Michael Guerin WHAT: A date WHEN: 2/4 WHERE: A bar WARNINGS Nah STATUS: Closed/Completed Gdoc
This was stupid. Michael knew he was being an idiot about this, but he’d promised his sister he’d put himself out there. He’d done the speed dating thing. That had gotten him some booty calls, but nothing panned out. And dammit, she was right. He wasn’t going to get anywhere with getting over Alex and Sean if he didn’t do anything more than work and drink. And, like the dumbass he was, he decided to do the network thing. He’d been a little surprised at the response.
Tonight he was taking out another alien: Sarah. She was insectoid so that was new., but judging by her human form she was a hot insectoid. He told her to meet him at the Off Broadway Taproom figuring something lowkey would be best.
Michael waited outside wearing a new pair of jeans, a button down shirt, and a sherpa lined jean jacket. In his hand was a single rose.
***
Sarah couldn’t believe she’d actually signed up for this, whatever this was. It wasn’t something she normally would have done. She much preferred to stay in her room, doing math and meeting people as little as possible. It was probably because she was lonely. She went to work every day, but when it came to really meeting people, well, she didn’t. Back home there’d been people she could talk to online, like Artie, but she hadn’t managed to find anyone here.
So she’d taken a chance and now was going on a date with another alien who was undeniably hot. Of course, she wasn’t at all bad looking either, and although she was biologically closer to a wasp than a person, she looked entirely human and you’d pretty much have to cut her open to know that she wasn’t.
She’d taken a long time to get ready tonight. Her black hair was loose around her face, her blue eyes shining against the blue top that she’d bought just for tonight. It was a shirt that, while not being super fancy, nicely highlighted her ample cleavage. She wore it with tight dark blue jeans, her anti-telepathy charm around her neck.
She arrived just a moment later than Michael, and smiled.
“Hi.”
“Hey,” Michael smiled when his date showed up. “Nice to meet you in person.” Then he jerked his head toward the door. “This okay? We can go somewhere else. I’m not picky so long as there is beer and food.”
Seriously. If anyone wanted super fancy from him they would be in for a big surprise. It would be like putting a dress on a pig.
**
“Nah, this is fine.” Sarah wasn’t really into fancy things either, except when she’d been living in New York and had to use her abilities to get herself both a place to hide and a place to stay. She didn’t expect the best, though, and was happier at her home in Ohio than she ever had been in New York.
“I don’t think Madison Valley does fancy or anything anyway, even if I did want it.” Which she didn’t.
She looked at his face maybe a moment longer than usual. She was trying to read his expressions, to practice what she’d been trying to learn her entire life, but the truth was his facial expressions meant nothing to her. They didn’t have to - not when her telepathy was so very strong. It was easier to identify people by thought patterns than by physical appearance, after all. But with her telepathy completely off because of the charm she wore, she had to at least try to read his facial expressions. Which meant that she was going to have to watch him very carefully to make sure that she didn’t completely misinterpret him.
***
“Something on my face?” Michael smirked as he held open the door for her. “Ladies first.”
This wasn’t the reservation kind of place but they weren’t that busy so he and Sarah got sat right away. “I gotta ask,” he said as he sat down. “How old are you in human years? To be specific, what does it say on your ID?”
***
She blushed a little. She was going to have to explain…
“Facial expressions are…hard for me. We’re not born able to understand them. My people use telepathy instead which is much more accurate, but I don’t do that without permission. So…yeah, it kind of sucks.”
She settled into her seat and smiled at him, hoping he’d accept her explanation - which was the truth - as to why she could seem a little weird at times.
“I’m 24. In normal human years. We age about the same. Why?”
***
Michael nodded. “I get it. Not being human it wasn’t something you had to know before.” She looked human. She was a good looking human. That would take some getting used to, but Michael was familiar with alien proclivities so he’d just have to remind himself.
Then he smiled. It was a little devilish. “Two reasons. Wanted to make sure you were old enough to drink and that you aren’t jailbait.”
***
“I am and nope, I’m not.” Sure, she didn’t drink all that much, but they were out and having a good time, so she’d have a couple of beers no problem. Usually she’d ask to have tomato juice in them but she didn’t want to completely weird him out with strange alien food preferences.
“So…I’m Sarah and I teach math at the high school. Love the math, not so much the teaching, but it’s money and I like to eat.”
That sounded so boring but she was afraid that if she started telling him all the weird stuff that had happened back home, like about how she had transported an entire dimension using, er, applied calculus, he might think she was just a little too weird for his tastes.
***
If only she knew. Michael and his siblings drank acetone on a regular basis. He didn’t judge.
Michael chuckled. “I’m Michael and I’m a high school drop out.” He grinned. “But that just means I hated school. I’m pretty good at math myself.”
***
“Yeah?” Her eyes brightened a little in interest. “Calculus?” It would be great to have someone to work through the hardest problems with again. Her math skills were more advanced than anyone she knew, but apparently it was a genetic thing, at least partly. She worked hard for it, too.
Meeting his eyes, she couldn’t help but smile. He was distractingly good-looking, and it was annoying at the same time it sent a bolt of heat through her body.
“Smart and good looking.”
***
“Physics,” he answered. “Functioning and theoretical with a lean toward alien tech.” Which he used to put together the pieces of their busted up ship. “But I understand calculus.”
Michael grinned for the compliment. He had no shame. “And that’s just scratching the surface.”
***
She cocked her head slightly, fascinated in the idea of alien tech. Her people didn’t do tech, per se. You didn’t need to when your understanding of math went to understanding what made the universe itself tick. You could manipulate reality easy enough that way.
“That sounds fascinating. I’ve never been much for…applied mathematics, as humans would call them, or science. Pure math is my thing, but it definitely does plenty. A few months ago, I used pure math to cross dimensions. It was…something.”
She raised her eyebrow with a small laugh.
“Oh? What else is under there?”
***
“They say math is the secret to the universe.” Michael shrugged a shoulder. “I can see it.” There was a lot of mathematics involved in the controls he’d been able to figure out.
Her question pulled a smirk from Michael. “Can’t show my whole hand right away, darlin’.”
***
“It is,” she agreed. “More than most people even know. It’s not…you know, metaphorical.”
She didn’t know if she’d be able to do what she’d done again, but she was honestly a little afraid to even try, afraid that she’d end up somewhere even less hospitable than last time.
“Where are you from? I mean, your people?”
***
Michael forcibly reminded himself that he wasn’t supposed to be adding to his Booty Call list with this. It would be so easy to do that, but these were supposed to be dates. Not potential hook-ups.
“Honestly?” He shrugged. “I don’t know the name of it. We just kinda crashed here. Everyone else was killed. Since we looked human we got shoved into the system.” And he got the shitty end of the Foster stick.
***
“Oh. That…that really sucks.” She hated most of the other people she’d met of her species - her adoptive mom excluded - sure, but at least she’d met them. At least they existed. At least she’d never been the only Johrlac on the planet. But honestly, she didn’t know if that would be better or worse than his. “There are quite a few of us. They give us up to humans as little children, and then when we reach our first Instar we usually end up killing the humans and going to join the others. It didn’t work that way for me. I was found my another of my kind who feels the way I do, and she raised me not to be horrible.”
She tapped a finger to her temple.
“Most of us just manipulate people to do what we want. Take over their minds, you know, that sort of thing. My mom thought that was wrong and raised me to believe the same.”
She indicated the necklace she was wearing.
“Anti-telepathy charm. I wear it all the time.”
***
Michael’s eyes widened. “Geez! I don’t know what an Instar is but damn. That’s a bit harsh.” There had been times he’d thought about tossing some of his Foster parents through a wall, but he never did. Let alone kill them. He just always took off. He was glad to hear Sarah wasn’t like that, though.
“Polite of you,” he said. “Our mind stuff doesn’t work quite the same way. We can manipulate people, and I can hear my sister, but we don’t casually hear thoughts.”
***
“It’s…like a molt.” For insects, but she wasn’t going to say that. “We get stronger after each one.” And Sarah had been through four, which was more than anyone else and why she was considered a Queen of her people, even if that was stupid and her people were awful.
“You’re lucky. If I took this off, I’d be flooded. And I’d be tempted to just convince everyone around me that I’m a family member or a best friend or something so that they’d protect me and so I’d fit in. And they would fall for it and be under my control. And I don’t want to use people that way.”
***
“That sounds…” Michael paused for the right word. “Terrifying. All the way around. I can’t imagine not being able to keep other thoughts out. Must get confusing as to what was actually said or not.” Not to mention he thought it would drive a person insane in a hot minute.
“Also sounds like you’re a much better person than the rest of your people. Can’t be easy if they all think stuff like that is normal and you’re not doing it.”
***
“It is. Thankfully my adopted family spends their time studying cryptids so they can help me with the charms and all. I also tend to stay away from people as much as I can. That was why when I saw your post, I signed up. It gets lonely, you know?”
And they weren’t exactly the same, of course, but they had enough in common that she felt she could really talk to him. Which was nice.
“So why the post, anyway? You don’t seem the sort who would have problems getting dates.”
***
“Cryptids, like Bigfoot?” And that was the extent of his knowledge on cryptids. He didn’t consider aliens as cryptids since he knew for a fact they were real.
He gave a snort for the question. “That’s…complicated. See, I have no trouble getting laid. It’s the interpersonal crap I’m lousy at. My sister kept telling me I should put myself out there. Be more emotionally available.” And get over Alex, but that remained unsaid entirely. “I told her she needed to come out of the alien closet, and it became a bet. I made the first move.”
***
“Bigfoot, yeah, but that’s just the beginning. I know it sounds nuts, but they’re all real too. My family goes back a long way protecting them.” That was why they’d broken off from the Covenant of St. George in the first place; they were tired of killing creatures - people - just because they were different. It had been good for her, too, because most people who had known enough to know what she was would have killed her on sight.
“You don’t seem so bad at it to me. Or maybe it’s just because I’m horrible at it too? No need to really learn social skills when you can convince the other person in seconds that you’ve been friends or lovers for years just by manipulating their memories.”
She paused, looking over at him.
“Maybe we could do this again sometime? And, I mean, I don’t see why other things have to be completely off the table, either.”
She was NOT very sexually experienced, since she generally hid herself away from people, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t curious or willing.
***
Michael gave a short laugh. “Oh, I suck at it. I’m just really good at hiding my baggage. I make a great first impression. It’s what comes after that screws everything up.” He didn’t just have baggage. He had an entire luggage collection. More often than not, he didn’t like to share. Michael was a private person so opening up was going to take time. A LOT of time.
He smiled for the suggestion. “I wouldn’t mind any of that.”
***
Sarah was fine with that. All the most interesting people had baggage. The only people who didn’t were people who’d never done anything worthwhile with their lives. Baggage was part of being alive, at least that was what she’d come to believe. God knew she had enough.
She finished her drink and attempted a smile, actually coming somewhat close and not looking like a total freak of nature.
“Cool. So…when, then? A few weeks? Weekends are usually best since I teach and pretty much just want to hide from the world after dealing with teenagers all day.”
***
This would be when Michael would blow this off with an answer of I’ll call you. Truth was, that was his first instinct. He was supposed to be doing things he wouldn’t normally do. He was supposed to make an effort. Which meant, putting it out of his hands.
“Call me when you want to go out,” he said. “Just give me enough notice. Couple days at least.”
***
“Sure, of course. I’ll let you know?”
She was shy and a bit antisocial so it would probably take her a few weeks to work up the courage, but she had the feeling that she would. Because the truth was, she was lonely. Very lonely. And she was going to have to do things differently too, If that was ever going to change.