An Alien Love

Dinner and a Show

The car ride back was quieter. Worn out for the day, Jenna, Amanda, James, and Chris slept soundly. Tosh drove more cautiously than before.

The music played softly and, for the most part, she was alone with her thoughts. Only Connor remained awake. He sat in the front seat with Jenna between them. Her head had rolled onto his shoulder during her slumber and she snored softly into his face, though Connor showed no sign of minding. The only thing he seemed to be concerned with was Tosh. He glanced over at her every few minutes at first. When this wasn’t met with protests or confrontation, his glances became longer looks until he was just staring at her.

“You are cute when you’re concentrating.”

“Thank you, I think.” Before he could say more, Tosh turned up the music, hoping he would get the hint that she didn’t want to talk.

Connor had been making passes at her for the better part of the school year. They were both studying business management at UAA. Purely by coincidence, at least as far as Tosh was concerned, many of the classes they had were the same. In all of the ones they shared, Conner had made a conscious effort to sit next to her. If there was anything that required partners, he had instantly reached for her. If a test was coming, Connor would ask Tosh to study with him and then spend the whole night making it as close to a date as he could.

Tosh had caught onto all of these things and she had continually dropped hints that she wasn’t interested. Similar things had happened with James and Christopher when they joined the group of friends. Tosh had given them the same hints of disinterest and they had, for the most part, backed off from the advances without any awkwardness or confrontation. The friendships between them had thrived and both James and Christopher had gone on to find other girls whom they were interested in. James had been dating one girl for almost a year now with no sign of it ending anytime soon.

Connor was a different story. Tosh had even gone so far as to ask the other members of their shared group to talk to him. Not outright, of course, Tosh didn't want any awkwardness, but to tell him about her messy breakup or just inform him that Tosh wasn’t ready to date yet and that she didn’t know when she ever would be ready to date again.

Tosh had a boyfriend before. In fact, the relationship had lasted for six years, spanning most of high school and well into college. She was in love and was positive they were going to marry, but he never proposed and in the last year of their relationship he had started acting strange.

He had lied to her about where he was. He had become jealous of her interacting with other men in any way. He guarded his phone and he had even called her the wrong name during s*x. Tosh had suspected he was cheating on her and finally she caught him in the act. That relationship ended rather messily with many of their shared friends siding with him, and the life she thought she would have shattering around her.

Amanda and Jenna had been there to comfort her. They had a sleepover and ice cream. The two girls had even tried to throw some rebound guys in Tosh’s direction but she wasn’t biting. Tosh had sworn off men for a while and when she set her mind on something, her stubbornness was unmatched by all except maybe her mother. Amanda and Jenna had eventually given up taking the hint and letting her live her life the way she deemed fit.

With the volume turned up, Connor had gotten the hint that she hadn’t wanted to talk then and there, but he still looked as though he had something he wanted to say and as the drive went on his urge to speak grew. Thankfully, just as he opened his mouth to say what was on his mind, Jenna stirred.

“Are we almost there?” She yawned, stretching the best she could while trying not to hit Connor in the face. About ten minutes away from the pizzeria, Jenna began to wake everyone else and whatever Connor had been about to say remained unsaid. It took five minutes to park, then the group went into the restaurant expecting the long wait time that was given to them.

The time passed quickly though and the group was seated and ready to eat. Their phones were all placed in a stack in the middle of the table. It was a tradition that the girls had started when they first began to eat here on their own. In the age of technology, it was easy to get lost in their phones and not engage in conversation with one another. In order to combat this, they would place their phones in the middle of the table and the first one to grab their phone paid for all the pizza. If no one grabbed their phone before the bill came, it would be split evenly among the group. The conversation without the distraction of cellular devices was lively. The group shared stories of past crashes on the mountain. They laughed at the stupid jokes told. And they made plans for the encroaching holidays.

“When are you guys going gift shopping?” Amanda asked, hoping to bum a ride to the mall.

“My mother and I are going tomorrow. I’d invite you but, as you know, it’s kind of our thing to do it alone. I think it’s going to be even more important this year.” Tosh bit her bottom lip as she fought back tears that suddenly filled her eyes.

“How is your mom doing?” James reached across the table to pat Tosh’s hands reassuringly.

Last January, Natasha’s father had died from complications from his open-heart surgery. Her whole family had been devastated. Tosh knew her brother and she would be okay despite how painful it was to lose her father, but she feared for her mother. The two of them had been high school sweethearts and had stayed together even during their year of separation as he had gone to college and she finished her senior year. Her mother had become pregnant with Tosh at the age of 18. They got engaged and married by the time she was three months pregnant.

Despite their young age, their baby girl, and the fact they were so poor that dinner often consisted of beanie weenies and Triscuits, they managed to finish their respective degrees. Even when a second child came into the picture a little later in the form of a son.

23 years later, they were still so in love with one another. When her father had collapsed at the game he had been a referee at, her mother had remained calm and gotten him to the emergency room. With years of practice being married to an accident-prone man who visited the emergency room often, her mother had been well equipped to handle the situation. This was different though. The doctors had found the issue with his heart that day and had sent him to the best doctors in the whole United States to get it taken care of. The procedure was supposed to be a routine one but it wasn’t one hundred percent safe and her father had been one of the few to die in the process.

Tosh and her younger brother Daniel took care of their mother for two months after that. They bought groceries, cooked, cleaned, and sat with their mourning mother comforting her the best they could. After that two months were over, her mother forced herself back to work. Tosh went to visit often and when she couldn’t visit she would make a point to call every couple of days. On Mother’s Day, Tosh and Daniel pulled together and got their mother a corsage like their father had always gotten her. For Valentine’s Day, they had a double date of sorts with Daniel and his long-time girlfriend and Tosh and her mother. On Father’s Day, Tosh spent the whole day at her mother’s house while she cried. They watched cheesy movies and made popcorn with almond chocolates. It had been a long and sad year but Tosh didn’t share that with her friends.

“She’s good. Loving work and thinking about getting another dog.” She smiled up at the table and the conversation moved on to a lighter tone. Amanda was able to bum a ride off of Jenna and the group finished off their pizza. Once more, they piled back into Tosh’s truck and took the ten-minute ride to her apartment where all the other cars were parked. They said goodbyes and Tosh was alone.