Oh No, Aliens

Hadley was surprised and almost repulsed at how relieved she felt when Jack woke up and seemed to be doing better. Apparently, as much as she thought she hated him, she didn’t want him to die.

“If we’re in a super creepy, possibly haunted town, did you really need to pick the creepiest possible hotel to stay in too?” Jack asked, taking another gulp of water. Hadley scowled.

“Listen here, I had to physically carry your six-foot-one ass out of the truck, into a building, and up a flight of stairs because this is some sort of B and B in a two story house. There’s no rooms on the first floor. We’re lucky I’m not dead.”

“Okay, okay.” He held his hands up in surrender.

“Also if your head hurts it might be because I accidentally banged it on the top step on the way up. I tried to be careful but, you know, you’re twice my size.”

“My head does hurt a bit actually but, thank you...I think.” He paused, looking thoughtful. “You could’ve left me.”

Hadley was startled. “What?”

“You could’ve taken the truck and just kept going but you dragged me up here instead.”

“Well...yeah. What kind of person would I be if I just left you for dead with that thing, in the middle of the road? I’m not psychotic.”

“But you have a family to get home to.”

“My family raised me to help people when you can.”

“Well uh, you can go now, if you want to. I’d understand. I think it’s gonna be a couple of days before I can travel again.”

“I’m not just going to leave you here alone,” Hadley found herself saying. There were a few beats of awkward silence.

“I can’t believe you tased an alien.” Jack started laughing, almost falling out of the bed. “You should put that on your resume assuming anyone has jobs anymore.”

“Maybe we can form an alien extermination business, but you might need some gloves if you’re gonna keep punching worm-dog monsters, Rocky Balboa.”

“Out of this world service is our guarantee.”

Hadley pressed her lips together and turned away. “Idiot.”

“God, who needs all these dolls?” Jack asked. “I think that one is definitely going to murder us in our sleep.”

“Oh, you big baby.” Hadley went into one of the other rooms and yanked a sheet off the bed. She tossed the sheet over the bookcase, hiding the dolls from sight. Then she fixed him a bowl of oatmeal in the frilly little kitchen downstairs and flicked on the TV to some Looney Tunes re-runs. There was only one bed in this room, so she she sat in the chair beside the window and curled up in it like a cat. She didn’t pay much attention to the cartoons, too busy watching out the window for any signs of more aliens or car stealing thugs. She had already locked all the doors and windows, and drawn all the curtains closed.

After a while she went to check on Jack’s arm again. “Well the weird discoloration is definitely gone, so the poison must be out of your system. But now that I can see the bite better, I think you might need some stitches. Hang on.” She retrieved her first aid kit and cleaned the wound again.

“This isn’t going to feel very good, but try to hold still,” she said. She sat beside him on the bed and did her best to stitch the worst of the bite closed. It gave her something to focus on and she fell into an easy rhythm.

“You’re weirdly good at that,” Jack said after a while.

“I grew up in a farm. Self-sufficiency is kind of important, and there’s a lot of fun ways to hurt yourself.” Hadley finished the stitches and wrapped his arm in fresh gauze before reaching up to feel his forehead and face, making sure the fever was really gone. He was staring at her and she felt her cheeks get hot. She pulled her hand away from his face.

“A little warm, but it should be gone by tomorrow.” She got a washcloth and ran it under cool water, then laid it against his forehead.

“Hey, Hadley?”

“Hmm?” She cleaned up her tools and threw away anything with blood on it.

“I uh, wanted to say thanks. You know, for not just leaving.”

“I told you, I couldn’t do that.”

“Yeah well, I’ve known a lot of people who would do that, and I know how much you don’t like me. So, thanks.”

Hadley was quiet. She went down into the little kitchen and rummaged around for something to make for dinner. She settled on grilled cheese and tomato soup. They had little breakfast trays so she put Jack’s on one and carried it up to his room, feeling a little ridiculous.

“Room service,” she said awkwardly, setting the tray in front of him.

“What about you, aren’t you going to eat?”

“I have mine in the kitchen.”

“You’re just going to sit down there all alone? That sounds sad.”

“I don’t mind.”

“Okay but you’re gonna miss out on all these nineties sitcoms they’ve been running all evening. It’s back to back Seinfeld coming up next.”

Hadley went back downstairs and debated for a long time what she was going to do. With a heavy sigh she took her food and went upstairs. Jack didn’t say anything when she returned but he looked vaguely smug about it. Hadley ignored him, sitting back down in her chair and nibbling her grilled cheese. She cleaned up the dishes, checked Jack’s arm again, and took up her post at the window again. She had intended to move to another room to go to sleep, but apparently she was more tired than she realized and she fell asleep curled in the chair. She woke up with a stiff neck and one of her legs had fallen asleep, and Jack had draped a blanket over her while she slept.

Her cheeks turned pink again. She folded the blanket and left it on the chair, going to check his temperature. He was still asleep and his sandy blond hair had fallen over his face so she had to push it back to feel his forehead. His eyes blinked open and Hadley squeaked in surprise, jumping back so fast she banged her head on the closet door.

“Fever’s gone,” she mumbled. “I was just checking.“

“Okay.”

“I’m going to make breakfast now.”

“Okay.”

Hadley went into the bathroom first and splashed some cold water on her face before staring sternly at her reflection. Her chestnut hair was mussed, her ponytail a little lopsided now. She looked too pale, and her light, copper-brown eyes looked exceptionally judgmental.

“Stop acting weird,” she told herself. She fixed her hair and tried to pinch a little color back into her cheeks so she looked a little less zombified. She changed into clean clothes and went to inspect the kitchen cupboards again. She was just going to fix a bowl of cereal but she ended up making pancakes instead. Cold cereal just wasn’t going to do it today. Jack’s eyebrows shot up when she came up the stairs with two stacks of pancakes drowning in blackberry syrup.

“I didn’t make them for you,” Hadley informed him. “I wanted pancakes.”

“Of course.”

She’d only eaten a few bites when she abruptly set her plate aside. “Listen, Jack, I have something I need to say to you and I need to just say it or I’ll probably talk myself out of it.”

He looked at her in surprise, his mouth full of pancake.

“First of all, I never did actually thank you for helping me get out of New York, so, thank you. You didn’t have to help me. Second, I’m...sorry, that I’ve been kinda bitchy since we’ve been out here. You have been trying to help, and I know I haven’t been the easiest person to deal with. All my feelings from high school came back when I saw you, and I was pretty angry. But high school was a long time ago and yes it was horrible and yes I finally had to go back to homeschooling to escape the bullying because it was so bad and I couldn’t hide it from my parents anymore, and yes you were part of what made it horrible but you weren’t the only one, and I guess you’re not so completely awful now. We’re not sixteen anymore, so I won’t act like we are.”

He started to say something but she pointed her fork at him. “You’re still annoying though, I want to make that clear.”

“Got it.”