Page 48 of All You Need is Alien Love
She nods in satisfaction. “Then we are ready to begin.”
With deep solemnity, she pours the servings and hands them to us.
I then watch in amusement as River announces, “Let’s get this party started! Down the hatch,” before he tosses back the drink like it’s a shot of tequila at the bar.
I wince and sip mine more slowly.
“Oh, good god! Bad decision,” River rasps, followed by a wheezing noise. “Fucking hell. I swear, I think this stuff’s stronger than Nirblob’s ship moonshine.”
“Ooh,” Benji muses from the audience, studying the bottle. “I definitely want to try some of this.”
Mal leans closer to him. “Well, you never know. You might get a chance someday.”
Benji doesn’t seem to grasp what my brother’s hinting at. I want to tease my brother about it, but I’m starting to feel toomellow to bother. It seems like too much work when I just want tochill…
River clumsily sets down his empty cup and then takes hold of both of my hands. He sways where he sits on his pillow, and I start to sway with him.
Two of my tentacles decide to come out and join in the swaying.
River stares at me dreamily and then giggles. “I love you. My feels are overflowing. Not in a gross way, but in a magical way.” He nods sagely to himself.
I grin back at him so hard my cheeks hurt. “I love you, too. More than anyone or anything else.”
How did I get so lucky? I still can’t quite figure that part out.
“You’resoooohandsome. Have I ever told you that?” River’s pupils are huge now.
I nod and my head feels oddly heavy.
“Oh, good,” he says, relief washing over his face. “I was worried maybe I hadn’t told you. That would be majorly sucky because I think you are the hottest man I’ve ever seen.”
I let go of one of his hands so I can tug on a golden curl. “You’re far more attractive than me. I could play with your beautiful hair all day.” I hear myself sigh dreamily.
River snort-laughs and I find it utterly endearing.
“You can touch my hair anytime you want, boo.”
I surprise myself when I let out a playful growl and say, “I want to touch all of you right now.”
River’s eyes go comically wide, and his voice comes out exaggerated and breathy. “Oh, my stars!”
“None of that,” my mom interjects, ruining the mood a little. “The elixir is starting to work its magic.”
I scowl at her for interrupting our vibe but she just smirks.
When I stick my tongue out in response, River giggles again before his eyes start to roam around the room. “These glowing rocks are so fucking cool. Where’d you get ’em?”
“They’re from my home world. My grandparents brought them.”
“We totally need to visit the Iyaran home world together one day.”
“We will,” I promise.
“Do you think we could nab a few of the glowing rocks on the way out? I think they’d be pretty awesome in our bedroom.” He waggles his eyebrows at me, then gasps, and his eyes widen. He points an unsteady finger at the green one. “It’s kryptonite! I never thought I’d see the real deal.”
I can’t help it. I start to laugh, only it sounds oddly like a giggle.
Hold on a second. I’m Kai Genaro.CaptainKai Genaro. I donotgiggle. Yet it sounds strangely like a giggle coming out of my mouth. I decide to ignore that.
