Chapter 7

Poppy

 

"Where are we eating?" I asked once we were in his car. It amazed me that humans haven't figured out teleportation or just hovering quickly. This car seemed a bit old, and like every other earth inventions, slow.

"Um... do you like pizza?" he asked, glancing over at me, his eyes a bit nervous. "Or if you're not hungry, we could go see a movie first or just hang somewhere."

"What's a movie?" The computer hasn't briefed me on human entertainment much yet. It seemed I still have a lot to learn. "This metal is old and starting to rust. Why do you use it and not get a new one?"

We came to a stop light where he took a left onto another street. He looked back over at me, his mahogany hair falling in front of his face. "My car? I know it's old, but I can't afford a brand new car, not even a used one. I don't think it's gonna break down or anything yet." he said. "And movies are like moving pictures on a big screen. It's like TV shows, just longer."

I contemplated this, my curiosity in the human ways guiding me. "Your country's currency value is going down, correct?" When he nodded, I asked. "Why is that?"

Ben didn't seem to be bothered by my questions. "Our country keeps on making more money, so that makes the value go down. So can I ask you a question?"

I became weary. During the day when we had classes together, he had been asking about me. Personal things like my family or where I came from. It wasn't like I could tell him that I was from a different planet. I had read enough books and enough research to vaguely know what the government would do if they figured out that there were "extra-terrestrials" out in space. "What is your question?"

"What do you think of me?"

The question took me off guard and I was relieved it wasn't anything about my past. "I think you're interesting."

The car came to a stop and we were in front of a large building with flashing lights on the head board. Educated guess said it was the movie theatre where people saw movies. Ben cut off the engine and turned towards me.

"No, I mean, what do you think our relationship is." he said, his silver eyes drilling into me.

"Relationship?" I said confused, and I remembered the definition for relationship was a connection or association with a person. "You're my friend, Ben. You were the first person to help me and answer my questions when other people just gave me baffled looks."

He was quiet for a moment, and I felt the emotion disappointment go through him, then determination. "Well, let's go see that movie before we go eat." he said, and we both got out and started walking towards the theater. "So you don't care if I'm a nerd?"

I turned towards him as we stood in line. "Nerd? The slang terminology for that is a stupid, irritating ineffectual, or unattractive person. You are none of those things." He snorted and I looked over at him, eyes narrowed. Was he mocking me?

Ben looked back at me and his humorous expression faded. "You're kidding me."

"According to other classmates, I am not good at kidding." Ben stepped up to the booth and paid for two tickets to a movie. Curious, I asked, "What movie are we watching?"

"Since it's your first time watching a movie, I'm gonna lay it down hard for you." he said, chuckling. "The Grudge."

This world was strange.

 

 

 

  Ninety-two minutes later, I walked into the pizza place with Ben. The movie was strange, just like I predicted. Lots of people said it was scary on their way out, but I didn't think it was scary.

The pizza place was warm, almost stuffy, the lights dim. People milled about, eating their food or having a drink. Blinking neon lights were on the wall paper and twinkling Christmas lights went all around the place.

We sat down at a booth and Ben noticed how quiet I was. "You didn't like the movie?"

I looked over at him. "It was alright. I didn't understand most of it." The dim lights cast shadows across Ben's face.

"Sorry." he winced. "I should've made us do something else. I'm not good at planning these things."

He was scratching his hair, embarrassed, and it made me want to laugh at his actions, but I didn't. The foreign emotion had been coming a lot when I was around this human, and it puzzled me. 

I just couldn't understand why I felt so different when I talked to Ben, but not someone else like Liam.

Author's Note

This is the last chapter of the original version that I wrote with my friend. Any other chapters after this is all my writing.