Page 1 of Manny for the Alien
Chapter One
MARCO
My heart sank as I scrolled through the available job listings.
I’d seen all of these already. I’d seen them every day this week to be exact. I had the website set to alert me every time something new came up, but my email was silent. That didn’t stop me from checking religiously, of course.
I needed something now, even if it was temporary. Even if it paid like shit. I would basically take anything.
Sighing heavily, I forced myself to shut the browser just as my phonepinged.
For a split second, I fooled myself into believing it was an email with a new possible job, but no, that was one of my dating aps.Alien Mates, to be exact.
It seemed I’d matched with someone.
A little flutter of hope went through me as I opened the message.
Meeting someone right now would be great. My romantic side hoped for the most—a long-term boyfriend, companionship, love—but then a dick pic came through.
I was taken aback for a full minute, staring at the thing which was distinctly not human. It was kind of shaped like a big, fleshy pear.Would that work..?
“No, Marco!”I told myself, shaking my head.
I didn’t need any weird alien sex that might lead to an ER visit. Not unless the guy wanted more...
Another message came through before I could decide how or if I should respond.
Hey
I rolled my eyes.
And if the dick pic wasn’t enough to turn me off, the lazy message was.
I shut my phone, releasing an even heavier sigh and moved from my desk to my bed where I could dramatically collapse with enough room so as not to hurt myself.
My bed bounced under my weight as I threw myself onto it, groaning loudly.
Here I was at twenty-nine, months from my next big birthday with nothing to show for it.
I’d lost my job months ago. My savings were just about gone. I was on the verge of losing my apartment and probably having to move back in with my parents and I was so desperate and lonely that I had briefly considered trying to get to know pear-dick alien a minute ago.
This was where I was in life at the moment. Lucky me.
I’d managed to keep my chin up most of the time. After all, I had realized accounting wasn’t for me ages ago. I had loved it less and less as the years had gone by. I just hadn’t known what else to do with myself. Lying here now though, with no prospects whatsoever, hopelessness hit me hard.
“What was I going to do?”
My phonepingedagain, another message from pear-dick alien, I presumed, so I didn’t get up to check it.
I was open to aliens, I didn’t discriminate to be honest and some of them were super hot. Of course, I was on all of the other ones too. At the end of the day, they were more or less all the same, but I would meet someone in any way I needed to.
It had been far too long since I’d had someone to curl up on the couch with or whisper to in the middle of the night. My last proper boyfriend had dumped me about five years ago now. Again, at the time I hadn’t minded. We had already drifted apart and didn’t have much in common. It hadn’t bothered me much and casual dating had suited me.
I was sensing a theme; me, ungrateful for what I had until it was long gone. At this point, I would kill for my old job and old boyfriend back, if only for the comfort of knowing them.
Eventually I convinced myself to stop moping, to get up and wash my face and brush my teeth before I fell asleep.
Maybe I could watch a bit of TV before bed. It wasn’t that late yet.
