No Aliens Allowed

- Three -

Needless to say, Allen was disappointed in my car. "So outdated," he said. "You should see the ground vehicles we have invented."

"You're aliens," I reminded him. "Of course you're more advanced."

Allen gave me a wry look. "We have dedicated our whole existence towards technology and science."

"No arts? Movies, paintings, video games, music?"

"A long time ago," he said, and his eyes got this faraway look that I'm sure came over my face when I went off on rants in my head. "But no longer."

"That is fucking depressing," I said. "Damn." No entertainment at all?! I wanted to drill him with more questions, but he looked so out of it and sad that I left him alone, and we drove in silence.

He inhaled deeply, his eyes fluttering closed. I noticed his eyelashes, and approved my taste. After all, that had come from my mind. "I enjoy the oxygen on this planet," he said. "You do not need supplementary tanks."

"Tanks? For breathing?" I asked.

"Yes," he said. "Earth has almost three times the amount of oxygen in the air as our planet does. We've adapted, obviously, but when we exercise we have to use tanks full of oxygen in order to keep our brains functioning properly. That is why this body has come out nearly twice as strong as the average human. I'll probably be faster, too."

"No need to rub it in," I told him.

"Not rubbing it in, simply stating," he responded, and went back to serenely gazing out the window. He really was weird. I don't know what I was expecting from an alien, but this was just strange.

We pulled into my driveway. I scanned all the windows -- mine was off, and thank the lord, so was my parents'. Nalani's was on, of course, but I could deal with her.

"Okay," I turned to Allen. "Here's the plan. Nalani will be in her bedroom, waiting to ambush me when I get to mine. You need to duck into my bathroom and hide behind the shower curtain. Do not make a noise. Do not come out."

"Got it," he said. If it were Penn, he would've said something mean or sarcastic and I would've hit him. But I withdrew my fist and we exited Cas' car. I'd texted Catelin telling her I'd return it to her tomorrow. My own car, a battered Mercedes, sat in front of us.

"Okay," I said, fumbling around in my purse for my keys. "Wait...goddammit," I moaned. I'd left my keys inside in my haste to escape from my mother's lie-detecting eye.

"What?" Allen asked.

"I don't have my key with me!" I hissed, and let off a string of curse words, Hawaiian and English both.

"You're Hawaiian?" Allen asked as I searched for the spare.

"Yeah," I grumbled. "How do you know?"

"I can speak almost every language fluently."

I snorted. Of course. "Is there anything you can't do, Superman?"

"I do not understand that reference," he said idly. "And yes. I can't fly on my own without the hoverglider, which I left on the ship which is destroyed."

"It was rhetorical," I muttered. "God, I've got my work cut out for me, don't I?" I straightened. Where was the spare?

I frowned, then I suddenly remembered. Catelin had stayed over a few nights back when it was still summer break and we'd gone out for ice cream (and no, it wasn't a party this time, actually ice cream because we go to Zee's pretty much every day and we know every employee there not to mention that we work there on the weekends and sometimes after school) and I'd left the key inside like an idiot, so I pulled the spare out from where my mom who was kind of scatterbrained left it in the plant by the door and I'd fucking thrown it on the counter.