Sorry this chapter took so long to come out, but I wanted it to be longer than most of my chapters. Thanks for the encouraging comments that lit a fire under my butt!
*****
"Ugh, fuck," AJ groaned, face down and snuggled in the comforter. Oliver was halfway off the bed on the other side, also groaning in defeat from a massive hangover. Last night's combination of acid and alcohol was takings its toll.
They had fallen asleep just as the sun was coming up. Oliver sat up on the bed, rubbing his temples and looking at the clock on the nightstand. "Goddamnit," he said, stumbling off the bed to find his pants. "We have to go."
AJ tried untwisting herself from the sheets and ended up rolling off of the bed, landing on the carpet with a thud. As she blinked, regaining her vision, the events of the previous night came back to her.
Usually when that happened it was memories of the horrible events of the previous night. But even though she was now sober, she had to admit, that was one of the best trips of her life. In their inebriated state Oliver had been the perfect partner in crime.
She rubbed her eyes, yawning and trying to shake herself awake. It was too early to think about this. Coffee first, then she could drive herself mad after. She clumsily stood up, leaning against the bed. They hadn't brought any belongings, everything was still Oliver's car. Before she could start to wonder about the formally dressed cab driver in the car that certainly did not look like a cab, she quickly found her clothes and got dressed.
Both were not able to revive themselves until they were in the lobby, drinking the hotel's watered-down coffee. "We're going straight home, no stops," Oliver said, slowly becoming fully awake.
AJ looked up at him with heavy eyes, clutching her cheap paper coffee cup. "Can you drive that long?"
Oliver snorted. "Of course I can. But that doesn't mean I like to. Plus it's Christmas eve, so the roads will be clear, hopefully."
That seemed absolutely impossible to AJ. Not that she had spent that much time driving since the city was full of public transportation, but the idea of having to stay awake and stare at a road for sixteen hours sounded like torture.
To AJ's surprise Oliver's car was parked neatly on the side of the hotel. She was curious how it got all the way here, but asking questions never got her anywhere. She just had to keep her ears and eyes open.
Once they were seated in the car, they both slouched in the seats, just starting to overcome their hangovers. "Alright, let's do this," Oliver said with a sigh, and they drove off into the desert.
AJ silently watched the town of Roswell disappear behind them. Of all of the things she could have done on Christmas, this wasn't the worst. In fact, she had a great time in Roswell. Much better than tripping alone with Henry at home.
But now the spell of their adventure was coming to an end, and she didn't know how things were going to continue. For a night he had been a friend instead of a demon. She couldn't tell if this was going to make things much better or far worse.
She didn't know he had the capability to be nice like that. There was no way she could have expected it. Having an adventure with him almost made her want to like him. That's what truly disturbed her.
She huffed and closed her eyes, remembering past their one fun evening. Her mission was to get away from him, not get wrapped up in things like this. If she knew anything, it was that he was a trickster. She had let her shields down and now she had to get them back online.
Two hours into their quiet drive, Oliver nearly punched the radio, giving up finding anything bearable to listen to. "Take out Shadow Puppets," he said, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
AJ turned and shuffled through the bag of books in the backseat. When she pulled out the right book, she looked at him for direction.
"Read it," he said. AJ nervously opened the book and started skimming the first page. "No you idiot, read it out loud."
AJ blushed, embarrassed, but no one ever asked her to read a book out loud. How was she supposed to know that? But she did as he asked, starting from the beginning. She tried thinking about all of the books on tape she had ever checked out from the library. How the person reading it out loud spoke for different characters, putting emphasis on the right things. She felt incredibly silly, but it was better than listening to the radio.
They stopped for coffee a few times, but other than that the drive consisted of Oliver's quiet smoking and AJ's reading. She even read through the night, using a new keychain flashlight they acquired at a gas station, until she passed out.
The sun woke her up the next day and they were still in the car. Oliver looked surprisingly fine for having driven all day yesterday and through the night. Oliver made her read the rest of the book between a few stops until they finally made it back to the city.
Oliver took her straight to her apartment, pulling up to the front of the building. He got out to open the trunk, pulling out her stuffed backpack and jackalope. She had completely forgotten she had bought the furry creature.
Once she had her belongings Oliver patted her head and got back in his car, leaving her by the entrance. She trudged up the stairs to the third floor, body entirely wrecked from their journey. When she made it to her apartment, she didn't bother making it to her bedroom. She passed out face down on her couch, hugging a blanket that sat on the armrest.
In his own apartment, Oliver managed to make it to his bed, but ended up the same. Face down on the mattress, not bothering to even take his shoes off.
The next day AJ was glad to wake up on time for work. It felt as if their trip had been fake, a dream. Now she was back on her home planet.
At work she felt completely refreshed. She had been asleep for almost fourteen hours. There wasn't a ton of work to do, but there was enough to keep her busy all morning. It was mostly mindless work and making trips back and forth from the printer across the floor, which gave her time to regroup.
Really, she hadn't made much progress. She didn't learn much more about him. Only his apparent liking for the Rolling Stones and his tolerance for drugs. He said he had a run-in with a bear, but she didn't believe that. She did learn that he had the capability of being nice, and he had more experience outside of the city than she believed. She still had no idea what he was doing for work when he was gone but having a rifle on him was giving her some wild ideas.
She tapped her pencil against her desk, doing her tedious work while trying to think of any way she could use those tidbits of information to her advantage. She was interrupted by Kevin sitting down in his chair, setting his briefcase on the desk next to him.
"Hey AJ, how was your Christmas?"
AJ nodded and replied, "Not that bad." She was becoming accustomed to his company and was quickly feeling comfortable with him more than anyone else at work.
While turning to open his briefcase he asked, "So what did you do? Family, friends?"
AJ paused. Lying seemed the most obvious thing to do. "Spent it alone."
"Oh, well lucky you. My family just gets trashed every year, it's always a shit-show. Well, at least you don't look sick anymore."
AJ's ears burned when she remembered her last day at work. She sighed and leaned back in her swivel chair, scanning the busy room. "Need anything copied?" she asked, too bored to stay still.
"Nope, all good," he replied, scribbling on a small-printed form. AJ got up and collected anything she could reason needed to be copied, walking to the copy room across the floor.
She leaned on the machine, spacing out and looking at nothing while the copies piled up in the printer.
Just as she heard the last paper being printed a man bumped into her. She snapped out of it and apologized, reaching for the thick stack of papers. "Well hey there," the man said, not budging. She couldn't tell if he was just being polite or friendly. Whatever it was, he was in her way.
"You're Sauer's secretary, right?" he asked. She looked back and noticed he looked familiar. She couldn't place it, but she had seen his face somewhere. He wasn't that tall and looked deceivingly young. "Can you do me a favor?"
Since he didn't move out of her way, she leaned back and replied, "Well, yes, I mean I am his secretary."
The man pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and held them out to her. "I need you to go get something in my car. I know Sauer wouldn't mind. Actually he might be mad if you say no."
AJ could smell a lie from a mile away but wasn't sure what to do. Any threat involving Sauer was one she would take seriously. But going to the garage to an unknown person's car, that sounded like an obvious trap.
Kevin seemed to come out of nowhere from behind the man, snatching the car keys from his hand. "I can do that. AJ has work to do."
