Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 43818 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 219(@200wpm)___ 175(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43818 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 219(@200wpm)___ 175(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
I hold up a finger. “But how many a night? Out of the hundreds of women who crowd this bar every night, how many get chosen?” I resume chomping my gum. I need it to keep calm. I feel like I’m so close to convincing him.
He sighs. “Maybe two a month. Sometimes more. Sometimes less.”
“See? Let’s work with the odds, yeah? So slim. I’m not the type even human men chase after, let alone aliens from another planet.” I hold my chin high as I continue, “I’m not exactly sexy, Zack. I’m goth. I don’t even have tits,” I boldly point out.
That’s not exactly true. I have boobs, they just aren’t the kind that make men drool or do a doubletake. And part of the reason for my preferred look is because I like to keep men at bay. I’m not interested in dating.
I’m from the wrong side of the tracks. I dated boys in high school and after I graduated, but eventually I decided it wasn’t worth my time. I didn’t want to end up pregnant and stuck in a run-down trailer with a leaky roof and a dripping faucet.
I grew up in such a home. My friends grew up in the same trailer park. Not the nice kind. The kind where no one owed money for the hunk of junk because it wasn’t worth much. The kind where we played in the dirt between our “houses.” The kind where we knew everyone’s business because the walls were so thin we could hear every time people fought. The kind where the kids got their butts whipped on a whim.
I have dreams. I’m someone. I was blessed with a voice. I intend to make something of myself. And I need Zack to give me a chance.
Zack runs a hand down his face. “I once hired a woman to clean the club during the early morning hours when it wasn’t even open, when we assumed all the men would be sleeping and no one would notice her. Guess what?”
My eyebrows lift. “Someone wasn’t sleeping?”
“Exactly. And I lost my cleaning woman.” He snaps his fingers.
“Well, you don’t have to worry about needing to replace me on the wildly unlikely off-chance I get whisked off the planet. I’m a one-night gig.”
“Let’s discuss that wildly unlikely, off-chance possibility. What if you were chosen?”
I draw in a deep breath. Do I care? The answer is no. Not really. “Then I guess I’d be in for the adventure of a lifetime. It’s not like I have anything gluing me here to this earth. I weigh so little even gravity barely tethers me,” I joke. I’m like a hundred pounds. Wet.
“Think about this seriously, Sara,” he says, ignoring my preferred name. His eyes are narrowed again. He’s not smiling. “You don’t even get to go home and collect your belongings. You don’t get to say goodbye to anyone. You just get on one of those pods and head for the mothership. It happens within hours of being chosen.”
My heart rate picks up. I glance at the ceiling even though I can’t see the mothership from inside the club. I know where it is. Everyone knows where the mothership is. It’s hovering above Earth—a constant reminder there are aliens visiting our planet.
I know they have a symbiotic relationship with Earth. The Eleadians exchange knowledge that will help save our planet in exchange for the opportunity to find a love match while they’re visiting. Apparently there are no women on their planet.
Do I care? I ask myself this again. Surely their planet is better than ours, considering they seem to have far more advanced technology. The men who come to Earth, seeking a life-partner, must be wealthy. I bet it costs a lot of money to make the voyage. Maybe I could get discovered on Eleadia for my talent. Lord knows I’m struggling to do so here on Earth.
I don’t need to think this over. “I accept the risks, Zack. I’ll sign whatever you need me to sign. If it makes you feel any better, I’ll even bring a bag with my most cherished belongings just in case the sexiest giant in the universe decides he can’t live without a pixie like me with a stupid name like Sara.” The only cherished belongings I have are the pages of sheet music for my own songs.
Zack frowns. “Do you have family you’re close to?”
I shake my head. It was just me and my mom growing up, and she took off as soon as I turned eighteen. I haven’t seen her since.
Zack draws in a deep breath and blows it out. He’s not laughing. I know I’ve finally talked him into this. The gig is mine.
One way or another, my night playing at Club Zoom could be life-changing. Either I get noticed by hundreds of women or I get whisked off the planet. Either way, I win.