Invasion at the Grocery Store

This is the first story in a planned series (if the response is favorable).

It was Janie Edgemere's second trip to the grocery store that day and she was fed up. Fed up with the demands of ungrateful kids and a distracted husband who all seemed to believe their favorite foods magically appeared in the pantry and on the table, conjured there by sparkly elves. She wouldn't trade her family for the world, but sometimes she fantasized about running away for a week to a private island or a chateau in France—fuck, even a Hampton Inn by the freeway would do the trick. A few days to herself was all she asked, without the bottomless neediness of the people who she loved, but occasionally disliked.

She parked and stalked through the early summer heat into Tasteman's Market, trying to take deep breaths and calm down. Janie liked to be the sunshine in people's days, not the black cloud that infected others with her bad mood. Despite her irritation, she had to admit she felt good. A diet and exercise program begun in the New Year was already paying dividends; she felt strong, and her clothes fit better than they had in years. She'd gone from a size ten to a curvy six and was hoping to reach her high school weight by fall. There was absolutely nothing wrong with being a size ten, but for her, size ten meant she wasn't exercising at all and felt like crap. Lately, she felt like she could take over the universe.

Janie looked down at the outfit she'd thrown on before leaving for the store. A sleeveless sky-blue summer dress that brought out her blue eyes and a pair of strappy black high-heeled sandals. She wouldn't have been able to squeeze the dress over her ass three months ago and knew it accentuated her curves. She'd worn it two weeks before and caught the hot, young assistant store manager staring at her chest, as if hoping one of the dress' delicate buttons would pop open and reveal her boobs. The dress had gone into regular rotation after that.

Forgoing a shopping cart—she only needed milk, apples, goldfish crackers for the kids, and a six-pack for her husband—Janie strode through the store's wide double doors and felt the A/C hit her like a blast of Arctic air. Her nipples immediately hardened, and she resisted the urge to cross her arms over her chest. She was a woman. It wasn't a secret she had nipples. If some dude—or chick—wanted to take a peek, why should she deny them the pleasure?

Smiling, Janie entered the produce section, gave the apples a quick inspection, and decided on Honey Crisps. As she reached for a bag, her fingertips brushed a man's hand. She looked up, eyes wide, to find her neighbor smiling at her. Gabe Pearce lived three houses down from her in a Victorian he'd restored himself. He'd always been friendly, helping her husband Derek when a pipe had burst in their kitchen two Christmases ago and inviting her and the kids to take a tour of one of his job sites last spring. Gabe was an architect and had designed the new art museum downtown. He'd had a few long-term girlfriends over the years, but none of them had stuck, and he was currently single as far as she knew.

Gabe was around ten years younger than her, in his early thirties, with wavy brown hair that brushed his collar, expressive brown eyes, a jawline you could carve stone against, and a lean, athletic body she'd seen him put to good use in neighborhood soccer games. To say she had a slight crush on him was like saying Monet was pretty good at painting.

"Janie!" he exclaimed, flashing his teeth in an easy grin. "I feel like I see you whenever I come to the store."

She brushed a lock of her long brown hair behind her ear, embarrassed by the nervous leap her stomach took every time she saw him. Happily married women weren't supposed to have crushes on their neighbor. "That's because I live here, didn't you know? At night, I sleep behind the Pepsi display."

He snorted and touched her bare arm. "You're hilarious, I swear. How are Derek and the kids?"

Fighting down the shiver his touch caused, she took a deep breath and noticed his eyes stray briefly to the neckline of her dress before returning to her face. "They're fine, though they treat the grocery store like some mysterious, far-off kingdom only I am capable of venturing to."

"Yeah, I remember when I left home for college, finally appreciating all my mom had done for me."

"Did she call you and gloat?" Janie joked.

He quirked an eyebrow. "Yes, in fact, she did."

"Well, I look forward to my turn."

Gabe grinned and handed her one of the plastic produce bags, then gestured to the apples. "Ladies first."

Janie accepted the bag and chose a few apples, nearly causing an avalanche of fruit in her nervous clumsiness. Gabe stopped the cascade and began making his own choices.

"Well, I've gotta run," she said. "See you the next time you need groceries."

He gave her a slow, considering look. "You look great, Janie. Confident. And that dress really accentuates your... eyes."

"Thanks." She held the bag of apples at her side, a blush scorching her face. She wondered what he'd meant to say before settling on 'eyes.' "See you around, Gabe."

"See ya."

She turned and hurried to the next aisle, simultaneously relieved and disappointed. God, the man made her feel like she was fifteen again, nursing a crush on the boy next door. Derek was the love of her life, no matter how annoyed she might get with him sometimes, and she'd never do anything to hurt him. Thinking about Gabe was a harmless fantasy she indulged in sometimes—one she would never act on, but that sometimes made her day a little brighter. It was nothing to feel guilty about, she told herself. All married people had fantasies that didn't involve their spouse.

After she'd grabbed the milk and an industrial-sized carton of goldfish that might last her kids half a day, Janie realized she'd forgotten Derek's beer and backtracked to the middle of the store. She headed down the beer aisle, juggling her items and regretting not getting a basket. As she reached for a six-pack of Miller Lite, the ground shook slightly beneath her feet and the lights flickered overhead. "What the hell?" she yelped, as the store filled with the frightened, confused voices of other shoppers. The shaking grew more pronounced, and she tried to keep her balance as the floor roiled beneath her sandals, wondering if earthquakes were possible in Florida. At a particularly hard lurch, she lost her balance, her groceries flying from her hands.

"Janie!" she heard a male voice shout as the ground came rushing up to meet her. Then everything went black.

**

Janie woke to a pounding headache and the feel of something both hard and soft beneath her body. The air surrounding her was cold and scented with citrus and wood smoke, calling up a vivid memory of a camping trip she'd taken her junior year in high school, the trip where she'd lost her virginity to...

"Bobby Jensen," she mumbled.

"Janie, thank God! I thought you'd never wake up."

The voice was familiar, deep and smooth like honey, but tinged with uncustomary panic. She touched her fingertips to her aching head and tried to open her eyes, but they didn't seem to want to cooperate. "Gabe?" she whispered.

"Yeah, it's me."

The soft warmth beneath her head and upper body shifted, and she realized she must be lying in his lap. With a tremendous effort, she cracked her eyes open and found herself staring up into his worried face.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I don't know exactly," he said. "The last thing I remember is the ground shaking and watching you fall and crack your head on the floor in the grocery store. Then I woke up in this room with you."

She tried to pull herself upright, but Gabe stopped her with a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I don't think you should sit up, Janie. Your head is bleeding."

Sighing, she settled back. She couldn't believe she was currently lying nestled in her hot neighbor's lap. "Where are we?"

He shrugged. "In a cold, windowless room that has a twin bed but doesn't appear to have a door. That's about all I know. I woke up maybe an hour ago and haven't seen or heard anyone or anything. I tried to move you to the bed, but you started making sounds like it hurt, so I stopped."

Janie wondered what had caused the earthquake at the grocery store and why they'd been taken to this strange, cold room. She hoped her family was okay. The kids were probably driving Derek crazy asking where she was with their goldfish.

"Did you take my shoes off?" she asked, bewildered.

"No. Mine are gone too. Woke up without them."

A soft female voice suddenly filled the room, issuing from nowhere and everywhere. "Hello, Gabriel Pearce, Jane Edgemere. My name is impossible for human tongues to pronounce, so you may call me Tabitha. You have been brought on board our vessel so that we may study you."

Gabe and Janie stared at each other in stunned silence.

"We are aware that human intelligence does not allow for the ready acceptance of novel data," the voice continued. "Therefore, we will allow you a moment to ponder the information I have provided." The voice—Tabitha—sounded artificial, yet sentient, and almost sly, like Amazon's Alexa imbued with a mean-girl persona.

"Did we just get negged by an alien?" Janie asked in wonder.

Gabe scoffed. "An alien? Come on, Janie, this has to be some kind of prank, or something."

As soon as he spoke, one wall of the small room morphed from smooth, gray metal to pure inky black, and an image appeared on its surface. A black, endless expanse filled with glittering white stars and a fleeting view of planet Earth, rapidly shrinking in the distance.

Janie's mouth dropped open, and she felt Gabe tense beneath her. "It's just a video," he whispered. "A trick, a prank. An insanely weird, expensive pr—"

"Our schedule will not allow time for disbelief," Tabitha said. "We apologize in advance for any discomfort this may cause you."

"Discomfort?" Janie yelped. "What do you—"

With that, a wave of unimaginable sensation assaulted her—images, sounds, and smells that seemed to overtake all five of her senses and drown her psyche in their power. She felt her body shake and quail against the floor as Gabe was pushed flat beneath her, presumably trapped within his own sensory assault. She didn't know how long the phenomena went on, but when it was over, she was curled into a tight ball on the floor, shaking, tears streaming down her face.

Aliens existed. The species that had kidnapped them were from a galaxy millions of light years away from Earth and had been searching for other civilizations for millennia. Janie and Gabe's planet was not the first they'd visited and wouldn't be the last.

Gabe recovered first, struggling into a sitting position, and gently lifted Janie's head back into his lap. She dropped her hands from her face and stared up at him, unable to speak. They were both breathing like they'd run a race, overwhelmed by the information they'd just received and the way they'd received it.

"We wish to study human copulation," Tabitha said. "You are one of many sample pairs chosen to perform it for us, based on psychological, pheromonal, and socioeconomic compatibility readings, as well as terrestrial proximity. A bed has been provided for your comfort. Once you have recovered from the sensory deluge, you may proceed with copulation."

"Human..." Gabe trailed off, staring down at Janie with horror and a touch of what she thought looked inexplicably like excitement.

"Copulation. Sexual intercourse. Mating." The voice sounded almost irritated. "Proceed."

A startled burst of laughter escaped Janie's lips. She'd always giggled at the most inappropriate times. But if you couldn't laugh when an annoyed alien was ordering you to fuck your hot neighbor in a spaceship streaking away from Earth at the speed of light, when could you?

"What does it smell like in here to you?" she suddenly asked Gabe.

He thought for a moment, then closed his eyes. Finally, he said in a thoughtful voice. "Like my ex-girlfriend's bedroom, vanilla and something floral. Susan Sweeney. She was my first love, my first everything." His eyes shot open. "You?"

"Citrus and wood smoke. The scent I associate with the first guy I ever... well, you know."

Gabe laughed shakily. "I think they're trying to get us in the mood."

"You have deduced correctly," the voice said. "Proceed."

Gabe threw his hands into the air and began to shout at the ceiling. "Hey, Tabitha, we're not your lab monkeys, and we don't fuck on command. She's married! And hurt. Maybe you jerkwads have figured out interstellar space travel, but apparently you skipped the class on human physiology. Janie probably has a concussion and might even be bleeding into her brain. One of her pupils is blown."

Janie flinched, startled by the information that she could be seriously injured. True, her head was throbbing with the worst headache she'd ever experienced, and her vision kept dancing with black spots, but she was awake and alert. She couldn't be bleeding in her brain, could she?

"Stand by," the voice said.

The oddest sensation she'd ever felt gripped Janie, which was saying something considering what she'd experienced just a minute ago. It felt like cold fingers were rifling inside her body, starting at her toes and traveling upward until they reached her skull. The prodding became more insistent, and she suddenly felt as if her skull might burst.

"Stop!" she cried. "Please!" A whoosh of white noise filled her ears, and she couldn't even hear her own voice. Gabe held her tightly against his body, shouting soundlessly at the ceiling as she shivered in his arms.

Seconds later, the pressure in her skull and the sensation of probing fingers beneath her skin ceased and her hearing returned, as if someone had unmuted a television. She lay there, staring up into Gabe's angry, terrified face, and just breathed, enjoying the feel of her body suffusing itself with oxygen. She realized she felt good—no, excellent—better than she had in decades. The minor aches and pains she'd grown used to over the years were gone; the rotator cuff injury she'd received playing tennis in college that had never fully healed, the hand she'd slammed in a car door when her youngest was a baby. Also, her head felt good as new.

"Janie!" Gabe yelled, his voice frantic with worry. "Are you okay?"

"Yes! I'm okay. I'm good." She sat up and touched her forehead, where the wound had been. The skin was smooth, the blood gone.

"The woman has been healed," Tabitha said. "Please proceed with copulation."

Now that there wasn't a concussion distracting her, the full import of what was happening suddenly hit Janie and she felt a blush scorch her cheeks. She looked away from Gabe toward the sweeping view of outer space, straightening her dress and smoothing her hair. Earth had disappeared from sight.

"Like I said," Gabe snapped. "We're not lab animals. People don't just have sex with each other on a whim." His brow furrowed. "I mean, they do. But not with their neighbor, on the floor of a fucking spaceship because some alien voice tells them to!"

Silence. Then, "The room is cold. We understand humans require comfort to copulate."

The sound of cycling air filled the room, and the temperature rose gradually, stopping at what felt like a balmy seventy-five degrees.

"Comfort isn't the issue," Gabe said to the ceiling, and Janie had to resist the urge to reach out and smooth away the crease frustration had drawn between his eyes.

"If comfort is not the issue, what is?" said the voice, impatience straining its robotic vocal cords. "Human mores? Modesty? Restraint? We do not have time for such trivial issues. You will copulate or we will... encourage you until you do. You have five minutes to decide."

Janie didn't like the sound of that. What the voice had described as 'discomfort' had nearly driven her to the edge of sanity. What would 'encouragement' look like?

Gabe met her gaze from inches away. The look in his eyes was wild, almost feral. His jaw was shaded with a hint of new growth, his hair tangled. He stared at her mouth, then flicked his eyes back up.

"Um," he said.

"Um, is right." Janie didn't have a clue what to say. "Everything about this is insane. And like you said, I'm married."

"True. Of course, if anything would give you a hall pass, I think being kidnapped and forced by aliens might be it."

"You don't know Derek very well. He's extremely... territorial." She sighed. "What do you think they'll do if we say no? Kill us?"

Gabe frowned. "Is having sex with me really a fate worse than death, Janie?"

She glared at him, exasperated. "Oh, please. You know you're gorgeous."

He blinked. "You think I'm gorgeous?"

"Of course I do! Every woman in the neighborhood fantasizes about you when they sleep with their husbands. You must know that."

A slow smile crept over his face. "You fantasize about me?"

She looked at the floor. "I... didn't say that."

Gabe tipped her chin up gently. His expression was serious, with no hint of the teasing from a moment earlier. "Remember that New Year's Eve party at the Holdens' two years ago? At midnight, when we hugged after you'd kissed Derek, I came so fucking close to kissing you—right in front of your husband and all our neighbors. It shook me, Janie. You're the definition of unavailable, and I wanted to tear your clothes off and take you right there on the floor like some kind of wild animal." He shook his head. "My attraction to you wasn't like anything I'd ever felt before, and it scared me."

Janie stared at him, breath caught in her throat, unsure how to respond. She remembered he'd been cold to her for weeks after that party, short with her when she tried to exchange pleasantries, refusing even to wave when they passed each other on the road. Then, one day, he'd been his usual friendly self again.

She decided the safest course forward was to ignore the feeling behind what he'd said and address the aftermath. She slapped his chest. "I thought you were mad at me, that I'd done something to offend you!"

He laughed and caught her hand, held it tightly in his own. "The only thing that offended me was that I couldn't have you."

She felt her skin flush with heat as he began stroking his thumb across her palm. "I was chubbier then," she said. "I hadn't started exercising yet."

"You were as beautiful then as you are now."

They stared at each other, his warm brown eyes locked on hers. She looked away first. "Gabe, I don't know what to do. This feels wrong."

"Hurtling through space in a ship full of hostile aliens?"

"Sleeping with you." She imitated the bodiless voice. "Cop-u-lating."

He nodded. "If we give in easily on this, what will they ask of us next?"

"Exactly."

"So we'll refuse and see what happens?"

"Yes," she said. "Thank you." Suddenly her eyes were wet. "My kids. I can't stop thinking about them, if I'll ever see them again."

He pulled her into a hug, whispering soft words of comfort into her ear. She felt safe in his arms, seen and valued. He'd always made her feel that way, like he was truly interested in what she had to say. The scent of citrus and wood smoke filled her nose, stronger than it had been.

"Your five minutes have expired," Tabitha said. "Proceed with copulation."

"We're not going to do that," Gabe told the ceiling. "So, uh, fuck off."

There was a long pause. Janie held her breath.

"The brief research we've conducted on human gender dynamics indicates stimulating the pain receptors of the male of the species will produce the most efficient response, as the female, more likely to be the reluctant partner regarding copulation, will wish to spare him and will abandon her resistance."