He Comes in Peace

Skye looked awkwardly at Kartayon and averted her eyes when he stared plainly back at her. He seemed to be missing the part of your head that makes you blush and look away from the opposite sex.

He just looked at her curiously, obviously wondering why she kept sneaking glances at him even though he could plainly tell she was doing it.

"What are you doing, Skye?"

It made her blush even more.

"Were you observing my physical features?" he asked matter-of-factly.

Wow, this guy really lacks the ability to be embarrassed. Well I'm jealous.

"Um, no, of course not! I was, erm, just uh..."

"Observing my physical features," Kartayon finished for her, gazing at Skye like she was lacking something in her brain.

Skye shook her head and stopped speaking.

"Well, because you are observing my facial features, I suppose I shall do the same." And with that, he pulled Skye down onto the floorboards and yanked her closer until she was about a foot away. His eyes stared unblinkingly at her face, and Skye felt very awkward.

Who wouldn't?

"Um, I think I'll just scooch back a bit..." she mumbled, scrambling away from the freaky extra-terrestrial.

Tay mirrored her movements and remained exactly one foot away from Skye. Eventually, her back met the bed, and she jumped up onto it, flattening herself against the wall.

"Your behavior is quite unusual," he murmured, sitting down cross-legged on the bed.

"Uh, can I just say something?" she said frantically, slumping down on the bed.

Tay had no idea how uncomfortable Skye got during close contact events like this. That was how she messed up her first kiss by backing away from her own crush when he leaned in to kiss her.

"Yes, you may."

"Okay, one, please back off. I mean, away. I can't really, um, er, talk with you this close." She made 'shooing' movements with her hands and he went back a bit.

"Thanks. And second, the whole 'observing physical facial features' thing, or whatever, kind of creepy," she continued nervously.

"Strange. I did not feel...What do you say...Creeped out? When you were gazing fixedly on my face. And other areas."

Skye's face turned a dark, dark, sickly shade of red, and concern showed evidently on his face.

"What is the matter?" he asked.

"Um...Nothing. Never mind."

Kartayon tilted his head to the side and frowned, a crease coming between his eyebrows.

"You are a very peculiar human being, Skye."

"Er, yeah, I know. I've been told."

Now it was back to awkward silence again.

"Miss Cedona?"

Skye looked at Kartayon in surprise. Then she laughed at his formal words. "Just call me Skye if you want to get my attention. Or tap my shoulder or something."

"Yes, of course. Would you please explain to me what we are going to do after this?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, after this. Night is very clearly upon us, so what shall we do now?"

"Oh, um...Do you have somewhere to spend the night? A nest, or space ship or something?"

"Are you by all means referring to my species as one that behaves similarly to birds?" he accused lightly, raising his eyebrows and giving Skye such a disapproving stare that she immediately dropped it.

Kartayon smiled gently, as if reassuring her, and continued with answering. "No, I do not have a place to spend the night, nest or otherwise."

"Oh, then, you can stay here if you'd like. And I'm guessing the police will drop the whole 'chase down the alien' thing by tomorrow morning. So you should be fine. You can sneak out the window again bright and early. That sound good?"

"Fairly good. Where shall I sleep?"

Skye looked around her room and got up from the bed, brushing past Kartayon as she walked towards her closet.

"Tay, d'you mind sleeping on the floor? I'll give you a blanket and pillow and everything," she called from the closet. When he didn't answer, she turned around and bumped right into him.

"Oops! Sorry," she mumbled. His hands were rested on her shoulders, as if Skye would fall right over if they weren't. She removed his hands and opened the closet doors wider.

Tay picked up a bundle of blankets and a pillow before closing the door quietly.

"And where shall I set these down?"

"Wherever you like." Skye gestured at the wide open space, and Tay walked over to her bed before dropping the blanket and pillow right beside it.

"Is here a good spot?"

"Doesn't matter."

Submerging herself in the closet again, she politely asked for Tay to turn around, and she was soon changed and in the baggiest shirt she could find, along with flannel pajamas.

Suddenly, her eyes felt like a million tons, and after dropping onto her bed, she fell fast asleep.

One thing she remembered before she was completely down under was a pair of soft hands brushing the hair back from her face and rubbing her cheek ever so gently.

Skye thought it was her mom, but that would just be silly. And then she thought it might be Tay. But that was even sillier.