Chapter 8

Helga

I look around to make sure my boss isn't nearby and say, "Yes, please."

I revel in the feel of his strong hands lingering on my décolletage as he fastens the stunning gold sautoir necklace with diamonds and blue stones around my neck. It's delicate enough to be worn with my dirndl but exquisite enough to know that this wasn't cheap. I've purposely not told Fox my real occupation. I didn't want him to ask me any questions with answers that would be tainted with how I feel about my other job. I also think it's endearing that he doesn't judge me for being a waitress. A lot of men would, even if they were just in security themselves. And if we don't last as a couple, I'll repay him for this necklace as it's so gorgeous but minimalistic, I'm definitely keeping it forever.

"It fits perfectly," he says from behind me. "I was worried it wouldn't be long enough."

I become aroused following his train of thought. He's looking down my shirt, in between my breasts where the aquamarine bead at the end of the necklace is hanging snuggly between my breasts and my white blouse, so it won't fall into any beer.

"That was very thoughtful," I say, my voice sounding huskier than usual. I like the idea of him looking at my body.

Fox's hand lingers on my neck before he reluctantly pulls it away, and I turn and give him a small kiss on the cheek. "I love it. It's perfect. Thank you."

Clearly I've surprised him, and I find this attractive. Most men would expect more, like the promise of a date or sex, for a lot less. But in the last few days while getting to know Fox, I've found out that he's a very moral man, which is rare in the modern world. And I've not asked about religion, but maybe he's an evangelical and doesn't have sex before marriage.

"Sorry," I say catching sight of my boss. "I've got to go so I don't lose my job." As I walk away, I realize I actually don't need this job. I only took this job to get away from my turmoil in Berlin and it's already served its purpose. But I wouldn't want to get fired and make Ella look bad.

So I get back to work and smile as I see my new necklace out of the corner of my eye every now and then. I'm positively ecstatic. No man has ever given me anything so gorgeous. Every piece of jewelry Adam bought for me, I picked out myself, and sometimes even bought and wrapped myself, so there was no thought on his side and it never was about the money. I could have bought everything. It was always about the thought. And I love that Fox thought of me and he even thought enough to get me something I could work in.

"Too much talking," the manager says to me as I pass close to where he's monitoring everyone. "I know when two people are newly in love when I see it, Helga, but keep it wrapped up until after hours or, better yet, when Oktoberfest is finished."

"Understood," I say. Just then, Ella passes me and notices my new necklace. I reach into my pocket and pull out the box it came in with a happy and surprised look on my face.

Her eyes widen and her mouth opens but it takes her a few seconds to find her voice. "Is he rich or something? I thought he was a military man?"

"He is a military man. I don't know if he's rich, we've not talked about it. But he said I could have this with no strings attached."

"And you believe him? Don't be so na?ve, Hel."

"I do believe him, and even if there were strings, I think I want the strings. I want him."

"Well, I approve. If you want the alien, I think he's harmless."

"I'm sure he was just kidding. And like I said before, better to be with someone who's into fantasy but is nice than someone who's popular and cruel." We both share a look and a momentary shadow falls between us. Better to be with Fox who may be quirky than Adam who hits.

"Helga, this is your last warning," I hear our boss say.

"Okay!" I say and squeeze Ella's arm as I walk past her to take another table's order. The tent is in full swing now with "99 Luftballons" playing. Already some people have begun dancing on the tables.

When we're allowed to leave, Axl and Fox walk us to Ella's car. They're the perfect gentlemen. When I turn to say, "Thank you again," to Fox, he runs his fingers over the back of my neck where the necklace sits. It sends shivers down my spine, and I look up into his fierce green eyes. He's so tall. I put my hand up and touch the side of his face. It's smooth and strong. He must use the best razor ever invented. He instinctively leans into my palm and I feel as if I'm in a trance. I've never felt like this about anyone before. I never want to stop touching him or say ‘goodbye.' Even ‘goodnight' is too long.

"Will you give me your contact number so I can hear your voice tonight?" he says in a low, dreamlike voice.

Compared to most men, he's taking this relationship very slowly, even after I told him it can't be permanent because we don't live in the same city. But by not rushing things, it makes him even more attractive. "Give me your phone," I say, and hold out my hand for it.

Fox unlocks his phone and willingly gives it to me. I scroll through some of his contacts to see his reaction. He says nothing, and when I look up, his expression is only one of curiosity. I put in my phone number, then call myself. I can't help but notice he doesn't have many other contacts in his phone. I wonder if this is a burner phone and if it's the same with his social media. Maybe he's married and has a whole other life? I freeze at the thought.

"You don't have many contacts," I say.

"I told you I'm not from here." He points to the night sky. "I work up there. I have another communicator with contacts all over the galaxy."

"Fox, I want to believe you, but I can't. What do you really do? Is it classified and that's why you're making up this lie? Or do you have a secret wife and family somewhere? Is your social media even real? Is any of this real?"

He removes his hand from my neck and says sincerely, "It's all very real. If you hit any other number in that device besides yours and the Holiday Inn Munich, someone will answer in a language you've never heard before. A language that does not exist on Earth."

"I know a lot of languages, and I've heard even more spoken enough to recognize them, including the Khoisan languages. Do you really want to carry on with this charade?" I try to give him his phone back.

Fox closes my hand around his phone and says confidently, "Helga, I'm telling the truth. Call any of those numbers and listen."

I scroll through all the names in his phone. There aren't many and the names all seem like normal men's names from any international organization: Axl, Lev, Sem, Kol. I don't choose Axl because he's standing right behind me listening to this whole exchange. I chose someone called Sem and hit the call button.

"Put it on speaker," Fox instructs me, which is good so Ella can also witness it. I do as he says and wait. It rings a few times. Everyone is quiet in the parking lot.

A male voice, in a language I've never heard before, answers. At first, he seems casual, then he repeats himself with a little more intensity.

Fox replies in the same unintelligible language.

Then the man on the phone says in British English, "Madame Helga, Fox is telling the truth. We are aliens."

I drop the phone and take a few steps back from Fox. "How did you set this up?"

"I've set nothing up. This is real. I'm not lying to you, Helga."

I look over at Axl. He looks sympathetic. Have these men escaped from the mental hospital?

"I'm not supposed to be telling anyone," Fox explains, keeping his distance, his hands up in the air to show me he means no harm. "But there's something so special about you and there's a divine connection between us. I couldn't just order a beer and let you walk out of my life. I believe that we are meant to be, Helga."

I pick up his phone from the concrete and try to hand it back. My hands are shaking. "I don't know…" I say. "I don't know why you would do this."

Ella speaks up then. "I saw a documentary. Well, to call it a documentary is a stretch. It was about a man who looked like he hadn't left his basement in years. Anyway, he said he'd met aliens that looked like humans. Helga, are you listening?"

"You never said anything about that the other night," I say. "Why do I feel like I'm the only one upset by this? Ella?"

"Because I'm not the one violently in love with a space man. I'm just going on what I've seen and what Fox has said. Why should he lie? I can't say for certain there aren't aliens that look like humans," Ella says pragmatically. "I've hardly ever left Europe."

"Helga," Fox says, and I turn my attention back to him. I can't help it, I still find him very attractive. "That's my only secret. I promise."

"You don't eat humans and aren't lizards underneath that skin or anything?"

"No. My species and yours are the same."

"No weird blood sacrifices of virgins at alters?"

"No sacrificial virgins," Fox says evenly. "I'm sorry. If you never want to see me again, I'll go. I'll vanish from your life completely."

He looks so serious. My blood is pumping so fast I can hear it in my ears. I feel like this decision might be the most important of my life. What if he really is an alien? Is he stuck here on this planet? What if he has a mental illness? But the foreign language, it was real. That many people can't all have the same delusion together, can they?

"Can you give me time to think about this?"

"Of course."

"Do you want your necklace back?"

"No, absolutely not. It's yours. I want you to have it to remember me by, no matter what our future is or isn't together. I don't ever want you to forget me, Helga," Fox says. He's so sincere, I almost want to forgive him and accept him for all his insanity right on the spot. But I can't. I must be prudent.

Fox and Axl wish us a goodnight and then walk away into the dark parking lot.

I look at Ella accusatorially. "What's with you watching alien documentaries all of the sudden?"

"It just showed up on my FYP. You know, doomscrolling late at night, you watch some crazy stuff. Anyway, I think it's interesting. And look, how many women can say they've met and fallen in love with a space man? I wish I could've recorded that language. What was that?"

"Stop calling him a space man," I say. And just when I'm about to get in the car, I hear Adam's voice and freeze. I wait a second and hope it was just my imagination, but then he repeats himself. I don't turn around but ask, "What are you doing here, Adam?"

"I came to see you, of course."

I force myself to turn around and look at him. On the outside he looks like a tall, handsome rugby player, just one of the guys, but on the inside, he's a controlling lunatic. "How did you know I was here?"

"This was your last known location," he says with a sick smile. "Well, about here. I think it was more over there-ish." He points to a different area of the parking lot and then pulls out the crushed air tag from his pocket and shows it to me. "I wanted to check up on you. It wasn't right the way you left Berlin without saying anything."

"We broke up. Why would I tell you where I'm going?"

"We aren't broken up. We're only on a break. You know that, baby."

"No, Adam. We broke up, and I'm not your baby." I try to get into Ella's car, but Adam pulls me back by the bodice of my dress. I throw my phone to Ella and say in a loud whisper, "Call Fox," as I struggle with Adam.

"You're coming with me, Helga. We've a lot to discuss. You can't just run off like this. Do you know how it makes me look?"

Through Adam trying to pull me away, I see Ella calling someone, but I can't make out what she's saying because Adam is yelling at me about how he had to come all the way down to Munich to find out what I'm doing. I keep repeating to Adam that we are no longer together, but he won't listen.

Suddenly, out of the darkness, Fox appears and pushes Adam so strongly, he falls down.

"Helga said you two were over. You should go," Fox says forcefully as he stands over Adam. I've never seen Fox like this. With me his tone is gentle and soft. Now he's hard as nails and scary. A force to be reckoned with.

Adam gets up and spits on the ground. "Who is this, Helga? Are you cheating on me?"

"That's her space man," Ella supplies. "And he's going to make you wish you never came here."

Adam looks Fox up and down and then does the same to Axl. They're both strong men. And now we'll see if Fox and Axl really are in the military. Adam is a professional rugby player and knows how to fight dirty.

"Two against one isn't fair," Adam whines.

"You just assaulted a woman who's much weaker than you. What do you care about fairness?" Fox points out. His voice is calm, but it has a strong edge to it that demands respect.

"Doesn't matter," Adam says. "I can take you both. You look like the kind of men who go to the gym but have never thrown a punch."

Ella and I exchange looks. All the men are about equal size.

"Fine. You throw the first punch then," Fox says, and opens himself up theatrically to receive it confidently.

Adam doesn't hesitate to swing first.

And I can't help it; I have to look away. All I hear is a fist hitting flesh again and again. I'm afraid to look back and see if Adam is pummeling Fox.

Shielding my eyes from the fight, I look over at Ella. She looks fascinated. I then find the courage to turn around and see Fox beating Adam to the ground. His face is bloody. I don't like seeing him this way, but on the other hand, he has hit me bloody, and he had this coming. Fox told him to walk away or he'd regret it.

Fox holds up Adam's head by his short brown hair. "Now apologize to Helga and tell her you'll never bother her again."

"She's my girlfriend. I love you, Helga. How can you just stand there and let him beat me up?"

Fox kicks him. "She's told you it's over. Now say you're sorry and you'll never bother her again, and say it like you mean it."

Adam finally says plainly, "Helga, I'm sorry and I'll never bother you again."

Fox kicks him again. "I said to say it like you meant it. Try again. Feel the words. Make me believe what you're saying is true."

"Helga, I'm really sorry I came down here. I know we're broken up."

Fox kicks.

"And I won't bother you again. I promise."

Fox then allows Adam up and says, "We'll walk you to your vehicle so the women can go home. They've had a long day working. They don't need this kind of nonsense." Fox's voice is so calm, as if he wasn't just in a fist fight and didn't just beat a man bloody.

Ella and I watch as Fox and Axl flank Adam and walk away. Stunned, we get into Ella's car and lock all the doors. After a few seconds, Ella starts the car and she drives out of the parking lot as fast as possible.

"What just happened?" I ask, adrenaline still pulsing through me.

"I don't know. I was going to ask you the same thing."

"I didn't watch the fight until the end. You watched the whole thing, didn't you?"

"I don't mean the fight, that went as expected. Fox beat the living daylights out of Adam, who got the first punch but not another one. I don't even think Fox broke a sweat," she says looking over at me, then adds, "But I was talking about how they got back to us so quickly while you were wrestling with Adam," she pauses. "I don't know how to tell you this, but I think Fox and Axl teleported back. They just materialized out of nowhere and they were holding ray guns. I'm not kidding. I think they really are from space."

"You're seeing things, Ella."

"I'm not," Ella says, shaking her head while she concentrates on the road. "I saw what I saw. Now mind you, I'm never going to mention it to anyone ever again because anyone other than you will think I'm out of my mind, but I saw them appear under the streetlight, right out of thin air there's no way I could have mistaken that."

I touch my necklace from Fox. It's real enough and from a jeweler right in town, as if somehow that makes what Fox said about being an alien not as true. How did he buy this if he is an alien? How does he have money to pay for anything? Perhaps it's stolen. I don't even want to think it because he's too good of a man to be a thief.

"Are you going to see him again?"

"I don't know."

Ella turns on the radio and coincidentally Holding Out for a Hero is playing. I think about Fox coming back and beating up Adam for me.