He hesitated, then reached out a hand. “Of course. What are friends for?”
Aelyx had once heard Bill Sweeney say, A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. As he sat beside Cara on the sofa, watching her face tipped toward the makeup artist, her full lips parted to receive a coat of lipstick, he began to understand why. Ever since his research into kissing and other human mating rituals, his mind had relentlessly fixated on Cara, flashing manufactured sensations of how her soft, wet mouth might feel against his own. He could almost taste her on his tongue, and when his traitorous body responded to the fantasy, he had to pull an accent pillow onto his lap and force himself to recite Earth’s periodic table of elements. Gods, what had he unleashed? How would he survive the remainder of the exchange like this?
“You know,” Sharon Taylor said to Cara, “with your fair skin, you’d look great as a blonde.”
“Oh.” Cara touched her hair self-consciously and cleared her throat, a nervous habit she displayed during each interview. “I don’t think so. The upkeep’s too spendy.”
“You sure? My stylist’s a miracle worker. I can get you squeezed in for an emergency appointment. You’re practically a celebrity now. We’ve had a ton of requests for photo spreads, and I figured you’d want to look your best. But if you don’t care . . .” She trailed off, making her judgment clear.
What nonsense. He’d grown weary of humans trying to modify Cara’s hair, cover her skin with cosmetics, stuff her into revealing clothes. “I like your natural color,” he announced. “It reminds me of the autumn leaves.” They’d all fallen now, and strangely enough, he missed their vibrancy.
“Really?” She inspected a lock of her hair and parted her lips again. Those lips . . .
Hydrogen, helium, lithium, what comes next . . . oh, beryllium, boron.
“Whatever.” Sharon studied her reflection in a compact mirror and tilted her head from side to side. “We’re changing things up tonight.” The compact snapped shut with a click. “I’m asking questions submitted by the viewers. And I’ll warn you, some of them aren’t pretty.”
Aelyx knew this should please him. All the hate mail he and the Sweeneys had received indicated humans had nearly reached the breaking point, which meant returning home sooner. So why did his stomach sink at the thought?
He wished he could escape with Cara and leave both their worlds behind. Would she go? It didn’t matter. There was nowhere to go.
The interview began in the typical fashion, with Sharon making thinly veiled implications about his relationship with Cara. He didn’t discourage her. The idea of an illicit human—L’eihr tryst would drive extremists half mad, sparking them into action.
“Aelyx.” Sharon’s voice brought him to attention. “Our first question comes from Jamie in Ohio. She asks, How do L’eihrs feel about the Expulsion Act, especially considering all you’ve done for cancer victims?”
He leaned forward and folded his hands. “We don’t harbor any ill will against humans for HALO’s actions. We know they make up a small percentage of the population.” He smiled. “They’re just more vocal than the rest.”
“And why is that?” Cara demanded, straightening beside him on the sofa. “Why is it always the crazies who make their voices heard while everyone else shuts up and does nothing?” Her face darkened, pulse thumping at the base of her throat. “This is how discriminatory legislation gets passed—people know it’s wrong, but they’re too lazy or too scared to take action. Hello? Jim Crow laws, anyone? Not that long ago, it was illegal to consort with a member of another race. What if the civil rights leaders of the sixties had sat back and waited for someone else to fix the problem? Nothing would’ve changed.”
Sharon’s reaction reminded Aelyx of a parent patting a youngster on the head. “Well,” she said with a smile, “aren’t you opinionated?”
“Yeah,” Cara said, lifting her chin. “And unlike most of America, I’m not afraid to express it.”
Sharon tapped the end of her golden pen against her lips, then pointed it at Cara. “But you’ve suffered the consequences for that, haven’t you? Isn’t it true your best friend and your boyfriend of three years have stopped speaking to you, along with most of the school?”
The color drained from Cara’s cheeks, but she smoothed a wrinkle from the tan slipcover and gave a quick nod. “That’s all right. Just shows who my real friends are.”
“Aelyx,” Sharon said, “why do you think your presence has sparked such an extreme reaction here?”
“It’s biological,” he said. “A natural human response to fear something different or strange. It’s in your genetic makeup. And when an individual’s afraid, it’s an equally natural human response to strike out in defense.”
“Like the basic flight or fight reflex?” Sharon asked.
“Exactly.” Cara had warned him against hurling “jabs,” but no one could fault him for delivering a blow disguised as compassion. “I don’t believe members of Humans Against L’eihr Occupation are terrible people. I think they’re frightened and misguided, and we should pity them. In fact, I believe a quote from your Bible summarizes the situation perfectly.”
“And what’s that?”
“They know not what they do.” He added a sad shake of his head as he relaxed against the sofa. “They’re afraid but quite harmless, I’m sure.” If that didn’t stir their rage, nothing would. He glanced at Cara, who studied him beneath a puckered brow. Perhaps he’d “laid it on a bit thick,” as the human expression went.
Sharon nodded in agreement and said, “Our next question comes from Sean, right here in Midtown. How do you explain the death of crops near Midtown, Lanzhou, and Bordeaux? It only makes sense that L’eihr exchange students are to blame.”
“I can’t explain the anomaly,” Aelyx said, “but it’s absurd to assume we’re killing your crops. What would any of us stand to gain from that?”
Sharon lifted one shoulder. “You have to admit it’s quite a coincidence.”
“Or not,” Cara interjected. “People need to take off their tinfoil hats. I’ll bet someone’s trying to frame the L’eihrs by blighting our fields. I wouldn’t put it past these crazies. I mean, what’s a little soybean-murder to someone who threatens people just for talking to us?”
“I guess it’s possible.” Sharon flashed a loaded grin and said to Cara, “You’re quick to come to Aelyx’s defense. I can tell he means a lot to you.”
Cara turned her soft blue gaze to him, holding there and shaming him with the admiration he saw. “You’re right.” Then, just when he thought he couldn’t feel any lower, she added, “He’s an amazing friend, and I’m proud to know him.”
Aelyx swallowed hard, trying to push down that old familiar feeling that burned a hole in his throat. He wondered how grateful Cara would be if she knew his real purpose on Earth. He wasn’t a friend. Friends didn’t deceive each other, destroy lives, and then escape to another galaxy.
For the first time since arriving on Earth, Aelyx felt subhuman.
Chapter Fifteen
Tuesday, November 26
Alone in a crowd.
Let’s get serious for a minute. These days, my family’s not feeling the love, and it kinda hurts. My dad was banned from his favorite pub, the one he helped save from an electrical fire last year. My mom—who insists on “re-homing” captured moles from our yard and volunteers thirty hours a week at the library—had her car keyed three times in the parking lot.