Alienated [✔] » k.th

24.

Joey

   Ricardo and I were looking in every possible place for V. Hopefully he hadn't gone too far. I wasn't trying to push him away, but I guess he thought that's what I was trying to do.

I should have been more subtle.

   "Where do you think he may be?" Ricardo asked gripping the steering wheel as we drove down the street.

   "I don't know. He could be anywhere."

   "We looked everywhere. Where else could he--" he was cut off by a loud thud in the trunk of the car.

We stared at each other for a moment before taking off our seatbelts to investigate.

   Ricardo opened the trunk and there laid V.

   "Oh my goodness you're ok!" I hugged him.

He pulled away, seeming very intoxicated.

   "Leave me alone!" He whined and retreated back to his curled up position.

Ricardo pulled out all of the empty cans of Bud Light that used to be filled with beer.

   "Did he just drink all of my booze?"

   "Why do you have beer in your trunk?"

   "I forgot about it." He frowned at the intoxicated V.

I shook the alien's shoulder.

   "C'mon, you need to get home."

   "No!" He swatted me away. "I'm not going back to my planet!"

   "I'm not talking about your planet. I'm talking about the house. You need to get back before you do something crazy."

   "No, I'm staying right here. Joey doesn't want me anymore."

   "V, we're going home." I ordered. He sat up frowning and stumbled out of the trunk. "Now get in the car."

He crossed his arms stubbornly then vanished into mid air.

   "W- Where did he go?" Ricardo's eyes grew wide.

   "Great. Now I have to deal with a drunk alien."

Up the street, I saw V reappear and was the cause of two cars colliding with each other. Yet, he did not get hurt.

He wandered around aimlessly, mumbling to himself while disappearing and reappearing.

   Luckily, it was a minor collision and the people stepped out of their cars, shaking their fists and throwing insults at each other.

   "We should split up," I urged. We went in opposite directions, and I just so happened to bump into him first.

Just when I thought I caught him, he disappeared from my grasp.

   "V! V!" I called. I heard rustling and looked up to find him resting on a tree branch. "V, get down here. Don't make me come up there!" But, all I heard was him snoring.

   I slowly and cautiously made my way up the tree. With every move, I prayed that each branch was strong enough to hold my weight.

I finally reached him. He was petting a stray orange tabby cat. "V, you have to come down. You could get hurt up here."

   "Why do you care?" He hiccupped between words. "I'm an alien. I'll be fine."

The cat purred in his arms. "I want to keep it." He held the cat up so he was looking directly into it's blue eyes and gave it a lazy, sleepy smile. He hiccupped.

   "The cat? But, you already have Pincher."

   "I'm not going unless I have Sunny with me," he replied.

Wow, he even named it.

   "V, you can't have every animal you come across."

   "Well, I want this one!" He said before hiccuping once again.

   "V, teleport down right now. I'm not gonna die from falling out of a tree because you wanted to keep a stray cat."

   "Y-- You don't like me. You want to send me off with my brothers. So I'm only doing you a favor," he closed his eyes and rested his head against the tree.

   "I understand that you're upset right now. I do care about you. We're friends V, and as your friend, I promise that I would never do anything that'd hurt you. So could you please hear me out and get down from this tree?"

He opened his eyes and looked me in mine.

"Please?" I added.

In the blink of an eye he was gone, and when I looked down he was laying comfortably in the grass.

__________

   "Do you think he'll be ok?" I laid my head on my boyfriend's shoulder.

   "Of course he will." He replied. "With friends like us, why wouldn't he?"

   "Aww," I smiled.

   "What?"

   "You just said you were his friend."

   "Did I?"

   "Yes. It's so cute," I teased.

   "Stop," he fought a smile.

   "No. You just confessed. You said that V is your friend!"

   "Ok, maybe that weirdo is my friend. But, so what. No need to make a huge deal out of it."

   "When you first met him, you thought he was strange and didn't want him around me." I sat up and looked him in the eye.

   "I still feel that way."

   "Well, obviously, not that much." I pulled him closer and kissed his cheek. "I'm so glad you two are getting along."