Nkechi doesn’t expect to hear about her childhood best friend for the first time in over a decade this way.

Her friend Ethan slams a book down on her table, making her jump a little before taking it in her hands. “What—?”

“It’s a great book! I ate through it!” Ethan says. “I know the author’s probably a nutjob, or that she’s a scam artist, or something, but it’s nice to read if you remember to put your suspension of disbelief glasses on. Her aliens are more interesting than most other ufologists!”

She looks at the cover. Pretty nondescript, apart from the usual depiction of alien spaceships. A Woman’s Experience With An Alien Spaceship, the title reads, and underneath in tinier script— Micaela Torres. She blinks twice, three times, trying to absorb this information.

She looks up at Ethan, who has gone through his ritual of taking off his shirt to show off his top surgery scars.

“Is… Micaela Torres a pseudonym?”

“No idea,” he admits, turning to go to the bathroom.

Nkechi swallows and opens Google Chrome, starting to look for answers. She looks for the book, which is doing pretty well sales-wise, and she finds out Micaela Torres is very much not a pseudonym. Of Colombian parents, Torres grew up in north-east Brooklyn… Nkechi stops looking through the biography, knowing it will be familiar— she looks for where she lives now, for an email, for anything. The picture of her finally loads— dark brown hair, pale skin, small eyes. Nkechi bites her lip and goes to her Twitter.

It’s not like she’s a glamorous best-seller author, too. It’s not like her email will get buried amongst many, many more personal ones. She’s just an ufologist trying to make some money.

Micaela Torres,

Hi. You might remember me as Emeka Okorie. I found out where you are now because my friend told me about your book. After you moved out I didn’t think I’d hear about you ever again. I

She draws in a breath and resists the urge to delete all she’s written so far.

I would like to meet up. I’m leaving attached my Twitter and my Instagram, so you have a feel of what I’ve been up to in the last fifteen years.

Love,

Nkechi Okorie

She sends it and when Ethan comes back, she doesn’t explain anything. She doesn’t want to get her hopes up — the mere idea of Micaela not remembering her or not wanting to do anything with her because she’s trans makes her feel all wrong and bad. She wants to make sure everything’s okay before going on rambles about the first crush of her life.

---

She gets an email back two days later.

Oh my GOD!!! I never thought I’d hear about you ever again either!! I’d love to meet up, it’s been so long!

I live in Montana now! Are you still in Brooklyn? I can manage to go there, you don’t have to go here, there’s not much to do apart from the UFO groups all over the state. Message me on Twitter instead of replying to this, much faster

XOXO

Micaela Torres

The use of XOXO makes her just a little bit dizzy with wanting to kiss her, but she ignores it. It’s too soon, they’re practically strangers now — sure, they were best friends at some point, but that was over a decade ago. Now she’s a grad student, and Micaela is writing books and being an ufologist, and they’re both twenty-six.

It’s been so, so long.

She goes to Micaela’s Twitter, and they message each other for the rest of the day. She doesn’t bring up the elephant in the room— when, how, why did she transition— and she just talks about meeting up and about how long it’s been. She mentions how gorgeous Nkechi looks and she’s floored with appreciation and with a renewed crush— it hurts all over. She wants to kiss her. It’s like she’s eleven all over again.

In a week’s time, Micaela confirms she’s got a plane ticket bought, and that she’ll be in Brooklyn next Tuesday. Next Tuesday.

“Ethan,” Nkechi says the day Micaela says her plane ticket has been bought.

Ethan looks up and fixes his undercut blond hair. He’s a little ugly, but it’s okay, it’s not like Nkechi likes men anyway.

“Yeah?”

She draws in a breath, fiddling with her hands as she finds a more comfortable position in the couch. “You remember that alien book you showed me?”

“Uh-huh?”

She bites her lip, and drops the bomb; “It was written by my childhood best friend.”

“What?!” he exclaims, straightening up and putting his phone down. “No way!”

“Yes way,” she nods. “Micaela Torres. We're talking, she's coming to Brooklyn next Tuesday.”

Ethan draws in a breath and messes up his hair. “God, that's fuckin’ crazy. Holy shit.”

“I know!” she says. “I'm… really excited. She looks even better now.”

“Was she your childhood crush too?” Ethan intercepts, and she can't stop her face from burning up and from giving him the middle finger.

“Shut up, Ethan.”

“Absolutely not,” he says, laying back down on the couch. “I made you find your childhood bestie slash crush after over a decade! It's destiny, ‘chi!”

“It's absolutely not destiny,” she says, embarrassed and flushed. The mere idea of anything happening in between her and Micaela makes something funny stir up inside her. But she's fine. It's fine.

She'll see Micaela, they'll talk, they'll reunite, and nothing at all will happen. That’s all it will be— just two childhood best friends reconnecting after fifteen years. Nothing more, nothing less.

“I can hear your denial from here,” Ethan says.

Nkechi grabs a pillow and throws it at him instead of answering.

---

I just landed!!!

Nkechi is very, very nervous. The week had gone by agonizingly slow, each hour of class feeling like an eternity. She did some tests in that week and was a distracted mess, talking to Micaela whenever she could. And now she’s here, in the airport, waiting to see her from the corner of her eye.

She draws in a breath, sitting down and looking around.

Getting my luggage!! [Picture attached]

She draws in a breath at the sight of Micaela— a flannel button-up, her hair pulled up into a bun, thick black frame glasses put on. She’s beautiful, and goddammit, she really does want to kiss her.

After maybe ten minutes, she hears footsteps.

“Nkechi?”

She jumps and turns, seeing her there, alive and kicking, breathing the same air as hers, and she immediately rushes to hug her tight. She drops the bag in her hand and hugs back, digging her nails into Nkechi’s leather jacket before pulling away and looking up.

Her voice is honey sweet; “Wow, you got a growth spurt or two.”

Nkechi laughs. “And you’re like, as short as I remember you.”

“Excuse you! I’m not the same height as when I was eleven!”

She laughs harder and hugs her again before pulling away and picking up her bag. “You look like it. Are you hungry?”

“I was in a six hour flight,” she says, stretching a little. “Of course I’m hungry. Let’s go.”

“Where would you like to go?”

Micaela grins at her as they head to Nkechi’s car. “McD’s like the good old days?”

“Oh fuck,” she exclaims, “Of course!”

She drives to the McDonald’s drive-thru and Micaela asks for a milkshake, nuggets and fries. Nkechi asks for Coke and a Big Mac, and soon after she parks somewhere they can eat in peace.

“Tell me about your book,” Nkechi says.

Micaela’s eyes light up and she immediately starts going off about her alien encounter and how they’re nothing like the media usually portrays them, that they’re huge and barely humanoid, about how scary but exciting all of it was. She half-listens— she’d never admit it, but she just likes hearing her talk.

Micaela turns to her, her nuggets long eaten, and smiles at her. “You’re not listening to me, are you?”

Blood rushes to her face and she stutters. She’s glad that her dark brown complexion hides her blush. “I’m sorry,” she says. “I just like hearing you talk about something you’re passionate about, even if I don’t exactly care about it.”

“That’s gay,” Micaela says without missing a beat. There’s a faint blush on her cheeks.

She draws in a breath. “Quite.” She pauses. “I know we’re basically strangers, but—”

“Oh no we’re not,” she immediately says, grabbing her arm gently.  “We were childhood best friends. Sure, a lot changes in fifteen years, but that connection doesn’t disappear in fifteen years.”

“The first crush connection doesn’t disappear, either,” she says softly.

Micaela’s eyes widen and she stares at her, and Nkechi only looks away, a bit embarrassed, a lot ashamed, waiting for her to say something awful or maybe just laugh awkwardly. She doesn’t know what she’s supposed to do — apologize? Try to change the subject?

“Ah,” Micaela breathes. “We were both idiots.”

Nkechi blinks. “What?”

“I had a massive crush on you,” she provides. “And I was struggling with the fact I was obviously bi so I focused on it a lot more than my crushes on girls because, y’know.”

Nkechi thinks her heart will beat out of her chest. “Really?”

Micaela scoffs. “Of course!”

“Oh. I don’t… I need to…”

She nods and leans in to give her a quick hug. “I understand. Take your time.”

“Go on about your aliens, I need background noise.”

“Okay so, their ships—”

Nkechi smiles and listens to her distractedly as she tries to take in all the new information about her relationship with her childhood best friend, all the rambling about UFOs and alien spaceships and the aliens themselves.

“Did they say gender is fake?” Nkechi asks after she doesn’t say anything after a while, jokingly.

Micaela’s eyes light up. “They actually have no concept of gender! It’s really cool. Anyone can reproduce with anyone.”

“How long were you with them again?”

“Three days! It was extremely information-packed.”

Nkechi can’t help but grin wide and toothy. Micaela is adorable, going on and on about these things Nkechi isn’t sure if she believes in or not. There’s a part of her that just wants to shut her up with a kiss, pull her onto her lap, make out with her like they’ve got all the time in the world.

As they drive back to Nkechi’s apartment, she starts getting a bit nervous. She knows it’s not weird— they have crushes on each other, goddammit— but she’s still nervous. She draws in a breath.

“There’s only two beds, and one is for my roommate Ethan. Do you want to…?”

“Of course I’ll sleep in the same bed as you, nerd,” Micaela says, pushing her a little.

“Listen,” Nkechi protests, “I’m nervous.”

“You shouldn’t be.”

She draws in a breath and undoes her seatbelt, getting out of the car. “I know,” she says, “I know.”

Ethan is jumping a little in excitement, wearing clothes that are a little better than his usual apparel.

“Ms. Torres!” he exclaims, offering his hand. “I loved your book!”

“Thanks,” she says, looking nervous out of her mind. Nkechi wonders if anyone’s ever been this excited about her book to her before. Probably not. Micaela shakes Ethan’s hand. “I’m glad you liked it.”

“She’s staying here for a while,” Nkechi tells him, and he just nudges her and winks, causing her to flip him off.

They make small talk and eventually end up watching TV on the couch, Micaela leaning against Nkechi and Ethan comfortable by himself.

“Since when have you been an ufologist?” Nkechi asks.

Micaela glows at the question. “Uh, since I was twenty-one or so. Firm believer and then it happened to me, too.”

“I’ve had a couple UFO things happen to me too!” Ethan exclaims. “Nothing as personal as your book, that’s for sure, but I’ve had my fair share of weird things in the sky.”

“Ooh, tell me about it,” Micaela says.

---

As the day fades into night, Nkechi can’t wait to be alone with Micaela. They talk a lot, they catch up— Micaela dropped out of college when she was twenty-two, Nkechi is a grad student, which is not how one would think things would’ve gone. Her grades were terrible back in elementary school, while Micaela’s were high and great.

Micaela goes to get her suitcase and when Nkechi comes back to the bedroom she’s wearing a bralette and some boxers, and Nkechi can’t help but stare.

“You’re…” She shakes her head. She’s at a loss of words. “You’re stunning.”

Micaela steps closer to her. “Thanks, sweetheart.”

A pause. Nkechi puts her hand on her side; she doesn’t have many curves, but she looks incredible, she looks perfect. Thick thighs and a bit of a belly and her hair down, and God, she likes her so much.

“Can I kiss you?” Nkechi asks.

She grins and instead of replying she pulls her into a soft, slow kiss, and puts her hands on her hips. They’re not too different in physique apart from Nkechi’s height— she’s at five foot eight while Micaela must be five foot five. Apart from that and Nkechi’s broader shoulders and her darker complexion, they’re pretty similar.

“You’re absolutely breathtaking,” Nkechi says once she pulls away.

Micaela pulls her closer. “You too. You have really soft lips. You use lip balm?”

She laughs a bit nervously. “Only today.”

She blinks, and then it dawns on her. “Oh—” she starts, leaning against her, laughing softly. “You’re a dork.”

“I wanted my lips to be soft if I kissed you!” Nkechi protests, wrapping her arms around her, squeezing a little. “Let’s go to bed now.”

Micaela keeps giggling, but she lets her lead the way, and cuddles up next to her.

Nkechi thanks Ethan for showing her Micaela’s book over and over again in her mind.