Loads of people are now in contact with aliens

Ah, yes, boredom. I hit the moment where I began to consider the true value of money compared to the endurance of drudgery. It was a constant occurrence today. It was late afternoon Thursday, post lunch rush. Most people had already stocked up on gas 600 feet away at the cheaper Shell station. There was no great reason for anyone to bother me at the counter. I was trapped at my job.

I didn’t hate working at a gas station. I expected to hate it after my first summer job working as a waiter. In this job, I saw customers for a shorter period of time. The good ones got help quicker and the bad ones got lost sooner. An overall win, for sure. The problem was the abundance of time I had to slack off here.

No one had stopped in for over an hour. The reason I could tolerate this job was because I could enjoy any task I was given. Having nothing to do just felt bad. For a moment I considered taking out my phone, because I had cleaned the whole store. The consideration, combined with boredom and the Nevada heat, left me spacing out. The cheap AC droned on like an oversized bee. I thought about seeing if I could quiet the AC down a little bit.

The next thing I remember, there was a loud “ding!” as someone came through the door. I checked to make sure I hadn’t drooled while I looked to see who had come in. A guy and a girl, though they probably hadn’t come together. The guy was at least 40, and he had a long beard and sunglasses.

Interestingly, I thought I recognized the ginger girl. She wore a blue blouse and some cutoff jeans. She came directly up to the front. “Excuse me, could I have a Ring-Pop?” She asked, pointing at the display behind me on the counter.

“Oh, sure. Can I get you anything else?” I reached over and grabbed one of the candies.

“No, thank you.” She replied. “I’m just waiting for someone.”

I rang her up, sure that I recognized her. Pale, freckled, and carrying curly red hair, though I had never seen it in a ponytail. She had been in my English class in high school. I still couldn’t remember her name.

I led with a question I knew the answer to. “Did you go to Magellan in high school?”

She cocked her head while trying to smile politely. “Yeah, did we share a class?” She seemed to forget my name as well.

“Yeah, I’m Kurt! I was two rows over in Allred’s English class.”

“Oh my god! I can’t believe you recognized me after all this time!”

“Yeah, well, everyone knew you back then. I had to remember!” After that, there was a moment where we said nothing. The biker guy had grabbed some snacks and was looking at the beer cooler. I felt this girl could tell I didn’t remember her name.

“So, are you waiting for someone?” I asked mostly to keep the conversation going.

“Yeah, uh…” she paused for a moment before her smile returned. “Do you remember Derek?”

I thought for a moment. I had met Derek and Derrick more recently than high school. “Is he that guy who dyed his hair blonde? Like, he dyed it once before cutting it if I remember.”

“That’s the one.” She said, “He’s going to pick me up before we head to a party or something.”

“Oh cool!” I saw the biker-looking dude coming over from the cooler. He probably wanted me to open it. “Well, I need to get back to work. Can we talk after I help this guy?” I didn’t want to shut her down. It would be nice to chat until Derek showed up.

“Um,” she looked around uncertainly. “Tell you what! Here’s my number. Give me a call after your shift ends.”

I blinked in surprise as she took a pen out of her purse and started scribbling on the back of her receipt. Thinking she must have seen Derek pull up, I looked out the window. Sure enough, I saw a blue sports car pull in. It looked new.

I thought it weird that she had come alone. There were better places to meet up than a gas station, especially if someone were waiting alone. I suppose this worked best for them, but it was odd.

“Okay.” I said. “I’ll catch you around I guess.” I wasn’t about to say no, even if I did assume Derek was her boyfriend.

She slipped me the paper and smiled before walking back around to the snacks. I looked at the paper. “Jesse” it said, followed by her number. She definitely caught that I had not known her name, but at least she was nice about it.

The guy who had been looking at the beers came over. His white hair and beard had grown out like a lion’s mane to frame his shades. “Do you have any Norbecker?” He asked as he took off his gloves and started to search for his wallet. That beer brand had been getting more popular.

“Yeah, we have them here in a little cooler behind the counter. We’ve had some people try to steal a few singles, so we’re keeping them off the shelf until we can find a better solution. Did you want a single?”

“No, I’m picking up for the crew. Go ahead and give me a pack, alright?”

“No problem.” I pulled out a case of bottles and put them on the counter. The guy had pulled out his license, even though there was no way I would have asked to check it. I gave him the okay, and he asked if I could sell him some lottery tickets. I could, and while I got the roll he went back to the beer cooler.

Oddly, I didn’t see Jesse anymore. Derek’s sports car was still visible through the window. Had someone gone through the door without me noticing? The chime would need to be broken for that. Weird.

The biker came back over with a case of cans. I rang him up while he scratched his lottery tickets. I was still thinking about Jesse. I guess she wanted to hang out if she gave me her number. Would Derek be okay with that? It was honestly uncomfortable territory for me. I knew a lot of guys and couples that went through a lot of drama for no reason over something like this. Then again, maybe I shouldn’t worry about it. I wasn’t looking for a girlfriend anyway. Odds are nothing would come of it.

“Hey, buddy.” I looked up from the register. The customer had finished his first ticket and was fiddling with the second. “Girlfriend got your head in the clouds?” The question made me uncomfortable.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that. Is there anything else I can get you, sir?” He put his card in the reader while he replied. I hastily set the register to read it.

“No, that will be all,” he said. “But let me give you a piece of advice kiddo. If you want to make an impression on a lady, you can’t let her distract you too much. Do you get what I’m saying?”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I said. I had no idea what he meant of course. I also wasn’t about to take romantic advice from a stranger. It was weird advice anyway. I gave him his stuff and sent him on his way to get wasted with his friends. He tripped the doorbell, loud as ever, on his way out. Now it was time to resume the grind of sitting and waiting.

Something bothered me while I was left to think on my own. I still didn’t know where Jesse was, and Derek’s car was still outside. There was no way I could have missed Jesse leaving. Maybe she was by the snacks. After all, there was that big shelf that she could hide behind.

Then it occurred to me, how long had that shelf been there? It was maybe seven feet tall. Since when did any gas station have a huge shelf in the middle of the store? Besides, I remembered looking over this same area. Before, it was set up so that I could look across the whole store to deter theft. Was it installed sometime last week? What an odd thought. I would have noticed it when I came in, if that were the case. Did I restock it earlier? These thoughts were becoming less coherent. Maybe I should call Denice and double check with her? I could handle it, it could wait. Where was Jesse?

That thought bothered me most of all. She was still here somewhere. The only place I did not have sight on was behind that oddly tall shelf. She must be behind it. Oddly, I did not want to look behind it. Whenever I considered it, I got embarrassed and started to rationalize a million and one reasons why I shouldn’t look behind the shelf. Odds are I would poke my head around and Jesse would be staring at the juice section. Then I would look like a creep as I shuffled back behind the counter. I sat there awkwardly for a moment, knowing where Jesse was, wanting to go see if I guessed right, and being too scared to do anything.

Cars drove by outside. I felt stupid. What was I doing? If there was one part of my job that really mattered, it was concealing blatant surveillance behind awkward customer service. I had been trained on it for a whole week. I could go over there no problem, and it was my job. I grabbed a broom before walking across the room to where the snack shelves were.

As I got close, almost rounding on the last shelf, I stopped. I heard something. It sounded like someone was chugging a beverage. Had Jesse snagged something from the fridges that lined the walls? I thought about turning around. Was I really going to turn around because I thought someone I knew was stealing? I spaced out for a minute. Coming back to myself, I steeled my resolve, tightened my grip on the broom and stepped around the corner.

It was kind of confusing, turning that corner. I realized that all of my hesitation had been justified, because the image of Jesse giving some guy a blowjob kind of shook me. It must have been Derek, though I hadn’t seen him come in. He was leaning against the refrigerator doors, holding Jesse’s head down near his crotch. He was dressed with simple jeans and a long sleeve tee. He kept his eyes on hers breathing softly but deeply. Jesse seemed to be in the less comfortable position. She had squatted down, her jeans outlining her spread legs tightly. Jesse held Derek’s hands as they cradled her head, and he moved her head up and down on his hard shaft. What I had assumed to be the sounds of drinking was actually Jesse’s muffled blowjob.

I was quiet for a moment, swept away by my surprise as my grip on the broom loosened. The couple definitely didn’t seem to notice me. They just kept on enjoying themselves. Derek pulled Jesse off of his boner with a slurping sound. He looked her in the eye, and I could hear a sort of stage whisper.

“Go on, touch yourself. You know I won’t mind.” He had a deep voice, but with the kind of intonation that told you he didn’t take a lot of stuff seriously. That kind of guy always set me on edge.

Jesse shifted around, resting her hands on her legs. She replied saying, “That’s so fucking perverted.”

“Hey, guys, not here,” I interjected. They both startled and turned to look at me. I had enough voyeurism for one day. “You can take care of that somewhere else, but this isn’t the place.” I guess I felt pretty brave standing in the aisle there. I felt like my knees could start knocking at any moment, but hey! I had broken through that awkward moment to take a stand.

Jesse started to stand up from her squat, her eyes going wide upon seeing me. Derek stopped her though, holding her down with his hands on her shoulders. Her eyes started to turn back and forth between the two of us. I stared them down expectantly, but Derek seemed all too cocky. “Hey man, sorry you had to see that, but we’re not doing anything wrong.”

Hearing that, I remembered all the times I thought about stopping a crime. It’s something that crosses the mind of every retail worker. They train you to give everything to a robber, especially when you’re held at gunpoint. Despite that, every retail worker has thought about stopping a robbery. Maybe tackling a guy as he sprints out, or calling someone out loudly for pocketing something. In reality, I had stopped most crimes by asking to check peoples receipts on the way out. No one stole anything in the end, so nothing ever came of it.

Sitting there hearing that from Derek though, I had a stupid thought. It seemed like I had a lot of those that day. I took a step forward. The only thing I thought about was the potential need to fight either of these two off. I was wound up, but I was ready to go. Maybe I would have felt less aggressive if Derek had looked less smug, but I suppose we’ll never know. He said something, and everything changed.

“I’ll bet you want to forget you saw that. Let me help you out with that.”

I stopped walking towards him. My brain was still going a mile a minute, but for some reason the only thing I thought about was his statement. I’ll bet you want to forget you saw that. Yeah, I did want to forget that. Looking back, it wasn’t the most important thing, but my mind latched on to it.

“What… What are you talking about?” I asked.

“Listen man, it’s not your job to stop us.” He continued. I noticed that he had kind of changed the topic, but I couldn’t bring myself to interrupt him. “We’ll just finish up here real quick, then we’ll be gone before we can bother anyone else. Does that sound good?”

I stared back dumbly for a moment. It was my job to call these two out, no matter what this guy said. At least, I thought it had been. It became more difficult to think as Derek was speaking. I had come over here to do something though. Surely I wasn’t going to stop now. “I can’t just let this go,” I said.

“Sure you can,” replied Derek. “Tell you what, go back behind the counter and take a nap. I’ll wake you up right after we’re done here. Then you can forget you ever saw us, or pretend this was all just a dream.”

What happens next? Well, I didn’t have a choice. “A dream…” I said, turning around. This couldn’t be a dream. I know what dreams feel like. I thought about that deeply. So deeply that it was the last thing I thought about as I walked all the way around to the counter, set the broom down, folded my arms on the counter and fell asleep resting my head on them.

~

Jesse breathed hard as she watched Kurt walk back around the shelf. The sense of shock she felt at being discovered turned into a sense of dread and certainty. Something was definitely wrong with her life. She had all the embarrassment of being caught, but no opportunity to escape. She didn’t even get the chance to stand. Derek’s hands still held her shoulders as she squatted in front of him.

When Kurt’s footsteps fell silent, Derek took his penis and slapped it against her face. “Come on babe, I still haven’t finished. Open up.” His hands left her shoulders in favor of her neck and his genitals. Jesse turned her head away, shutting her lips.

“Hmm? Did I not play enough into your kink? I’m sorry baby.” Derek’s hand went from her cradling her neck to shutting her nose. “Or should I call you my little fucktoy? I bet degradation is one of your kinks too. Go on, slut. Tell me you love this.”

Jesse shut her eyes and tried to stay calm. The more calm she was, the longer she could hold her breath. This was not something she enjoyed. She did not have a fetish, no matter how often she went along with Derek’s stupid games. She did not enjoy public sex, no matter how many times Derek himself on her in places like this. She definitely did not like being degraded. She would not be aroused by any of this, even if her head was starting to swim from holding her breath, and Derek’s cock was right there…

Jesse opened her mouth as little as she could, but she needed to breathe deeply. As she inhaled, Derek shoved his fingers in her mouth and pried her jaw open. At the first opportunity, he shoved himself into her mouth. Jesse tried to struggle a little, but as soon as Derek got his hands back on her head, she began to suck compliantly. There was just no use, she couldn’t take him in a fight, so she didn’t want to provoke him. Jesse’s stomach burned with shame at the weak rationale she kept feeding herself at times like these.

She hated how much that shame turned her on. Where had it all gone wrong? Jesse had never thought of herself like this.

Derek threw his head back and moaned while pulling Jesse as close to his crotch as he could. His hips bucked out as his shoulders pressed against the glass doors of the gas station refrigerator. Jesse, gagging at his rough treatment, looked up at her tormentor indignantly. Then she closed her eyes as she felt the spurts of his come shoot out.

Continuing to gag, she pulled away from his grip that loosened from around her head. She spat and coughed the spunk into her hands. Considering how best to dispose of it, she sighed. At least it wasn’t the first time, she thought as she slurped up the white liquid. Trying not to dwell on the taste too long, she swallowed quickly before coughing a bit.

Looking around, she turned to see Derek’s conceited grin. He looked very satisfied as he zipped up his jeans. “There’s a trash can right there, you know?” He pointed.

“I didn’t see it, asshat.” Jesse stood and started to walk away.

“Woah baby, sorry about that.” Derek apologized as he grabbed Jesse by the arm to stop her. “I know you get touchy when I call you out like that. I’m sorry. Tell you what, no more funny stuff until we get to the party. I’ll be totally cool, I promise.”

Jesse scoffed as she replied. “That’s not a long break if you ask me.”

“Well we’re not going straight there. I thought I’d take you to dinner first. You know party food isn’t a good meal.”

“I don’t want to eat dinner with you, let me go!” She tried to shake off Derek’s grip.

“Aww, c’mon! Terry’s going to be there.” Derek’s grin widened as he adjusted his grip to lock arms with her. “You don’t want me to look bad, do you? Imagine not inviting Terry’s best friend to eat with us.”

At that, Jesse sighed and rolled her eyes, though she stopped struggling. “Fine, take me to the stupid dinner. At least I get to see one friendly face today.”

Without a reply, Derek began to walk Jesse out the door. As they walked, Jesse saw Kurt. He was asleep at the counter. Wel, she thought, it could be considered two friendly faces.