"Insane people are always sure that they are fine. It is only the sane people who are willing to admit that they are crazy." -Nora Ephron

I never really wanted a friend when i was a child. Sure, people came to me, but we weren't friends in the real sense of the word. She showed up when I was ten. I'd just made my first friend. Not a real friend, not someone I could sit around and talk to, just someone to occasionally watch TV with. Someone to see, and be seen with.

She was my friend on Antara, our home planet. I guess we were more like enemies and we were the best at we did: Seduction. One day, she seduced the wrong man, and his wife poisoned her with a natural plant. Sort of like taking two bottles of Valium, only more painful. She'd always been a real bitch, but she'd been my friend. And no matter what the insults were about, we defended each other to other people. The little people standing on the side of the road dressed in their ragged clothes, watching us go by, talking behind our backs about Meekuva's latest affairs, and mine. Once, she heard a woman talking about me, and she walked up to her and slapped her.That was what we did for each other. We walked up and slapped the ungrateful assholes that had nothing better to do than spread rumors about us.

She showed up when I least needed her, and she refuses to leave. Sometimes she just stands there, smirking, or she'll talk over someone so that I can't hear them speaking. I don't know why her soul chose to follow mine around like a parasite, and I don't care. I just want her gone. That childhood friend, her name was Alice. Appropriate, don't you think? We were talking one day, and there she was. Just standing there. Glaring at me. She looked ten years old. She had a head of blonde curls, and a mouth that could make a boy whimper. She was sitting on a fence, glaring at me. A cigarette firmly planted between those soft, rosy lips. And my first thought was 'Who are you?' She smiled then, and shook her head. Alice was looking at me. Poor, plain Alice who'd move to Flagstaff, Arizona two days later. If she hadn't left, she'd have thoroughly ruined my reputation as the sanest girl in Roswell.

"You can call me Daisy." She said with a know-it-all grin.

"Who are you talking to?" Alice asked, like I'd just become a leper, someone to be ridiculed.

"The girl! On the fence!" I hated that look. She looked at the fence, studied it.

"There's no one there Isabel." She said while she looked at me. She said she had to go home and she left. And I was stuck talking to snotty girl on the fence. In the short two days that she remained, she'd told the short story to four children, who then told four others and so on. Afterward I told everyone she was crazy, and everyone believed me.

"You do realize that you're completely screwing over your husband, don't you?" She asked, puffing on a cigarette. Somehow it fit her, even though I didn't even remember if we had cigarettes. She wears things I only imagine in my dreams, and I think she does it to tease me. To remind me of all the times when we'd meet underneath stars and moons, in those times we were one, and our bickering didn't matter because we became one. The only reason I can think of for her being here was that she must be angry with me for not warning her about the angry wife. Yeah, I knew. But given the choice between warning an evil woman from hell and ruining your career or letting your friend die, what would you pick? If I'd warned her, she would have killed the wife, and I would have been an accomplice to murder. I feel guilty for this.

"Michael isn't my husband anymore, and it's none of your business.'

"Oh! I'm sorry, it's none of my business! By all means, screw him over. Again, what do I care? I love watching your misery."

"I am not screwing him over!" Liar, liar.

"Yeah? How do you think he's gonna feel when he finds out? Are you gonna be the one to tell him? Or are you just gonna sit there and wait 'till she's calling your name in his bed?"

"GO THE FUCK AWAY!" There is only so much one can take from the soul of a dead alien.

"Sorry Is, I didn't know you were busy." I look up, and Max is standing in the doorway. Liz is standing behind him. He looks abashed. I don't think he's ever heard me talk like that.

"Yeah, I am. What did you need."

"We just, uh, wanted to borrow a movie."

Welcome to my twisted, confusing life.

I can tell she wanted everything to be perfect, because she's just that type, the incense burning, peppermint oil-sniffing wannabe Zen master that lives inside all of us. She knows things about cultures that we all have wanted to learn, but never had the time. She knows what herbs treat cuts better than bandages, and what kind of candles set the right mood. I walk, I sit down, and she sits down beside me. She's wearing a cute, floral print dress. She looks nervous, darting her eyes around like she's on a soap opera. It's cute, and I'm pretty sure her palms are sweaty. She smiles. The stack of Blockbuster movies on the coffee table is perfect. Typical of your high school sweetheart date, the kind where the boy doesn't cop a feel until the second date because if she reacts badly the news will be spread by tomorrow morning. But, I'm not a part of the high school football team, and she's not a cheerleader. We are not an official couple. She sits down beside me on the couch.

Her mom has the heat turned up too high, and my black yoga pants are a little too warm. I wonder if this is really what she wants, to go Alex's route. To sit down and watch movies nobody would ever possibly want to watch on a date. This may be our first unofficial/official date, but I know her well enough to know that this isn't what she wants. And I definitely know she wasn't planning on her mother being home.

"Hi Miss DeLuca."

"Well hello Isabel! You look nice. From the way Maria here was rushing around, I thought she had another big date with that Michael guy." Maria blushes, and I smile.

"Nope, just us girls watching movies." Maria says.

Well, it's nice to see you Isabel. Maria, if you need me I'll be in my room."

I look at Maria, she looks at me. I analyze the emotions running through my body, trying to label and sort them out. Sitting next to me is one of the most beautiful women on earth. The one person I really care about that isn't part of my family. She makes my heart race and my palms sweaty. She's the one person Daisy doesn't interrupt. Maybe she likes her or something. I can't sit still around Maria.

"So, I rented some cheesy horror movies. I didn't know what else to get."

"Yeah. You want to go somewhere?"

"Smooth. Why don't you just throw her down on the ground and fuck her right here?" Daisy speaks. Even the sound of her voice annoys the hell out of me.

"Sure, let me just get a coat."

"Pretty cold out there, might want to change."

"Yeah, I'll be right back."

Maria walks off into her bedroom and closes the door. And I'm stuck with Daisy.

"This is good. This is really good Isabel, you finally found someone weirder than you."

"Maria is not weird. What do you want?" I whisper at her.

"To see you feel sweetie." She says with a mock smile and a tilt of her head.

"I feel plenty thank you."

"Do you? You know what I think? I think-"

"I don't care what you think."

"- that you're looking for another Khivar. And, I hate to break it to you, but she's no Khivar. So what happens when you leave her huh?" I'm about to respond when Maria comes out of her room, bundled up and ready to go.

"So where are we going?"

"What about the pod chamber? Liz is with Max, Michael's off with Kyle, no one will find you there."

"I don't know, I was thinking about visiting the pod chamber."

"The pod chamber? Is that where you guys were born or whatever?"

"Yeah, I guess you say that. I don't know, I just haven't been there in awhile. And it's nice and quiet," she looks at me for a moment and shrugs her shoulders.

"These looks you two give each other, it's like watching a daytime fucking soap like that CRAPPY one you flipped past today. You remember, when you skipped class? Keep doing that and you're gonna get in trouble. They stand around looking at each other for ten minutes and then the camera cuts to another scene. GET ON WITH IT! I don't have all day." Daisy shouts, and I wince inwardly. The least she could do was go find a psychic child to screw with.

We walk among and over the dusty rocks, the crisp smell of the desert flowing around us. If I had to pick a place to die, it would be here, at night, when the world is sleeping, but mine is just beginning.

"Michael is being so difficult, maybe you can tell me how to handle him. He's not paying attention in class, so he expects me to help him cheat!"

"Michael's always been that way Maria, and no one's gonna change that." She sighs, then continues.

"And he expects me to pay for everything. Just because I don't pay rent, I'm supposed to be his..."

"Girlfriend?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"We're here."

I place my hand on the rock and the door opens.

The eerie glow coming from inside illuminates us as we walk inside, where the room opens up and she breathes deeply. The scents are strong here, and I stopped trying to identify them a long time ago. The lights aren't very bright that come from the pods, and I have no idea what causes them. She looks around, studying the pods. I walk over to a corner and pick up a duffel bag.

"We keep blankets here, in case we have to stay here, or just want to stay the night. When I say we, I mean Michael and I. We... hide here. There isn't much light at night for some reason, so we keep candles handy."

Maria takes of her jacket. She's wearing a thin, halter-top that is much too cool for the weather, but perfect for sex appeal. She's wearing a silver cross.

"Alex gave it to her when they were twelve." Daisy says.

"Hide from what?"

"Ourselves mostly. Here, the floor is kind of cold in here." I say, handing her an old blanket. She spreads it out onto the floor and sits down on top of it. I place the candles near the blanket and light them with my powers. I sit down beside her. Daisy walks out from a passage and leans against pod, chain-smoking. Maria's fiddling with her hands. We start to talk, and we end up talking for hours.

"I've never been with a woman before. I mean, I've never been with a guy either. You're the first woman I've kissed." She says to me, her eyes look like murky pools.

"I kissed a few women on our planet."

"A few?! Please, you slept with the entire female population of San Francisco." Daisy cackles. She's good at that.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I had an affair with a friend. I seemed to have a lot of those." She smiles. I smile at her, and then I notice her silver cross snaking down her body.

"Your necklace."

"What?"

I reach over and pull off the unclasped necklace. My hands brush her right breast. I notice her nipple beginning to harden.

"Oh, it's always doing that. I mean... the necklace is the clasp is bent or something."

"So why do you wear it then?" Daisy asks. I don't think she understands that most people can't hear her.

I hold it up to put it on her and she gets on her knees and turns around so that her back is facing me. I put it over her and then fasten it. I use my finger trace down her spine, and she shivers.

"Ohhh, kinky."

"Shut up Daisy." I murmur.

"What?" Maria whispers.

I lean in towards her small body and smell her hair. It smells like herbal shampoo, roses maybe. I kiss the nape of her soft neck, and then kiss her shoulder. As she leans back I place my arms underneath hers so that they're resting on mine. I move my arms so that I can run my fingers up her arm and along her stomach, then move to the left. I push her body a little and she lays down on the blanket, looking upwards at me. I take my hand trace a line from her neck to her navel, lightly so that she moans softly. Her stomach is exposed and I lean down and circle her navel with my tongue. Her stomach muscles contract. I kiss her stomach a few times then move down to her thigh. I spread her legs apart slightly and then look at her. She nods her head and I kiss her thigh. The material of her pants makes it a little difficult, but I know she can still feel me.

She sits up and kisses me deeply. Her tongue slips into my mouth and her hand goes to my thigh. She moves up my thigh until she reaches my pussy. She presses against my clit and I moan softly. I wonder if she can feel how wet I am. She begins to stroke me and I become even warmer. She pushes me down this time and then straddles me. One hand cups my left breast and the other is still stroking me. She pushes my legs even farther apart. She moves her hands to the top of my pants and beings to slowly pull them down, kissing my stomach as she does. She continues, but lets one hand pull up my shirt. She moves her kisses upward to my bra and unclasps it. She opens it up revealing my breasts she leans in to gently suck on my left nipple. I rock my hips slightly. She sucks on my breast for awhile.

"This is happening way too fast, isn't it?"

"Spoil sport." Daisy says, and looks over at her. I'd forgotten she was still there.

"Yes." I sigh. I really don't want her to stop. Then the ringing of her cell phone rips through the silence with all the grace of a freight train. She climbs off of me and I fasten my bra and pull my pants up a little. She gets out the offending phone. She turns it on.

"Oh, hi mom. No, no I didn't realize it was that late. Yeah, I'm on my way." She hangs up the phone and sighs.

"Angry?"

"It's one am."

"Oops."

"Yeah, we gotta go."

"Damn."

I'm lying on my bed with Smashing Pumpkins floating out of my radio. Daisy is sitting in a chair across from me.

"So, what do you think of her?"

"She's okay. I like her a lot better than I like Alex."

"Why are you here Daisy?"

"Honestly? The afterlife is boring as hell."

And with that she starts reading one of my books, and things go back to normal for awhile.

END