Peter walks just a little bit ahead of me. He seems like he's in a rush to get back to the ship, or maybe he's excited to hear about what's going on around here. Probably that. He turns around on his heel to face me, and he begins to walk backwards, crossing his arms over his chest.
"So, I don't even know you're name yet."
"Huh, oh, it's Marina."
"Well, Marina, it's been 26 years since I've been on this planet, and I'm eager to hear some stuff thats been happening. I can't wait until we get back to ship! Spill it, what's happening?" Peter looks so excited, and I can't help but smile myself. He's acting like a kid at his first time at Disneyland or something.
I keep smiling and look up at him, his face is glowing. "Well, do you want any good news or bad news? Because we have a lot of bad news happening these days. And in the past too after you left."
"Just tell me the biggest events that have happened. Most interesting, don't bore me to death."
I try to think about some big events that happen in the past 26 years. I figure I'll get all of the sad occurrences out of the way.
"You know the Twin Towers in New York?"
He scoffs. "How could I not?"
"Yeah, some terrorists tried to knock them over in 1993 by putting a bomb in the lower parking lots."
"Goddamn, good thing they didn't though. That would have been horrible."
I kind of regret starting with the sad news, because again, just like a kid, he has such high hopes for this planet, and all we have been doing is shitting on each other.
"Yeah, but not compared to what they did in 2001." Peter looks at me, still walking backwards. He seems desperate to know more.
I kind of stutter these next words out. "Uh, I think it was the same group of terrorists but different guys. But they hijacked planes and flew them into both of the towers. And they both collapsed. Over 2000 people died that day."
Peter's face softens. "Goddamn." He doesn't really have any words for this. I look past him to avoid his gaze, to realize where we are. We are long past the field where I was camping, and I totally forgot about Rachel and Kaitlyn.
"Oh shit!" I say, "I forgot to call my friends. They are probably losing their shit over where I am right now." I pull out my phone as quick as possible and dial Rachel's number. She answers on the 2nd ring.
"Dude, Marina, where the fuck are you? We are back here and-" I cut her off before she can go on
"Listen to me. I am fine okay. Don't call the police or anything, and just tell my parents that I went away for a little while. I'll be back, maybe, I don't really know at this point. Gotta go." And thats it.
Peter looks over at me. "Thanks for not saying anything about me. I don't really wanna draw any attention to me here. I got so many guys after me, probably. I know one of them, Yondu Udonta, would fly right to this planet and kill me if he knew I was here. I- uh, kind of tricked him the last time I saw him"
I laugh. "Oh boy. You're probably gonna be in some deep shit with him. He sounds hardcore, by his name."
"Haha, yeah he is. He 'picked me up' from here when I was a kid. So AKA he was the one who abducted me from here. He tells me so much that his crew wanted to eat me, and that he starved them so I could stay alive. He thinks I should be grateful for it?"
"What the fuck, hahaha. Yeah, he DOES sound really hard core."
After this, we keep walking in silence for a little bit. When we are, it all kind of hits me. I am putting my trust into a complete stranger, who claims to be an alien from another galaxy, but he was born here and he just lived away for his whole life, basically. And now, he's taking me back to his ship where his companions are, and none of them are human. I'm starting to think I've made a really bad idea. But I can't really back out now, plus I'm pretty sure that I saw guns on his belt.
"So, are we gonna keep walking in silence, or do you think you could play some music on that thing of yours that you were using before." His voice sounds pretty fed up, so I decide to play something he probably knows, but hasn't heard in over 26 years.
I start to unlock my iPod, and as I do, I explain things to him. "Okay, the thing I have is called an iPod. It stores up so much music, like my friend has over 800 songs on hers. I have about 200. We can probably go out one day and get you one, but we are gonna have to get some money some how, because I don't have any. Maybe you can steal some? Or your companions can. I dunno. Okay this song you probably already know it but since you have been listening to the same mixtape for over 20 years, you're probably gonna wanna hear it." Peter's smile is so wide it could probably bring light to someone who has none.
When the first few chords of "The Boys are Back in Town" start to play, Peter's face is a little confused at first, like he doesn't know this song, but once he starts to sing, he knows the song instantly.
Guess who just got back today? Them wild eyed boys that have been away.
"Boys are Back in Town, by Thin Lizzy! This is a fucking awesome song, and you know it, goddamn. Your music taste is fuckin' awesome already."
They were askin' if you were around, how you was where you could be found. I told them you were livin' downtown, driving all the old men crazy.
After a few of the lines, and me giggling a little bit, Pete clues in. "Oh, you're playing this for me because I just got back here, huh?"
"I thought you wouldn't get it, haha."
"Okay, gimmie that." He swipes my iPod out of my hand, and seems generally confused by it. "How does this thing even work?"
"Just use your finger. And tap the things that you want to. Or just slide your finger down to scroll." He figures it out pretty quickly. He starts scrolling through my music, nodding his head at a lot of it, and cringing at some of it.
"You know Hooked on a Feeling?" Peter looks excited that I know one of his songs, I'm assuming its one of his, since he hasn't listened to much for a long time.
I nod. "Yeah, my friend Kaitlyn showed it to me. I didn't like it at first, but after I heard it a few times i was in love with it."
"Nice." He keeps scrolling.
Suddenly I stop in my tracks. Peter briefly looks up from the screen, and around a little bit, then smiles.
"Okay, yeah. Don't get freaked out."
The thing that is before me is nothing like I've ever seen in real life before, only in movies. So Peter wasn't lying about his ship. This giant orange and blue spacecraft is amazing. And I get to go on it.
"It's called the Milano. Come on, my buddies are gonna want to meet you."
