Professor Henry Walter scowled, receiving several weird looks. He smirked at the professors’ disquiet for his distaste for the ‘paradise’ they were enjoying. The air-conditioned lobby at the hotel was a sigh of relief from the scorching sun. The long plane ride from Phoenix, and then the taxi from the airport, had frayed the professor’s nerves.

He’d been invited to an advanced applied mathematics symposium in Miami. And he hated them. The hosts always made him explain the same principles over and over, and Henry got tired of repeating himself. He believed that if people didn’t understand it the first time, they never would. Yet, he accepted the idiocy from his students, but from his colleagues, he just could not.

Henry shook his head, gazing through the hotel lobby out the glass doors, to the beach about a hundred meters away. He scoffed knowing that he much rather have stayed at home, but the university where he worked, demanded he attends. And the extra money was worth the journey.

Henry pushed his way through, slipping through the open doors. He grimaced at the sunlight and quickly put on his sunglasses. There was time for Professor Walter to take a walk along the beach, and maybe take some ridiculous selfies for his friends back home who told him he never has fun. 

Henry’s shoe sunk into the sand as he walked closer to the shore, reaching into his pocket for iPhone. Yet, he was far enough when his jaw dropped seeing a woman rise out of the ocean wearing a bikini that masked her figure perfectly; resembling an angel who had appeared on Earth. She had short blond hair trimmed to her neckline, and eyes that outshone the sun. Henry shook his head, not believing what he saw. “This is a dream, wake up, Henry!” 

The woman walked past him without a drop of water on her skin as the waves of the shore crashed against the rocks. She met Henry’s eyes and he swiftly ran back to the hotel, not believing what he just saw.

The following morning Henry was unprepared; the symposium schedule wasn’t ready because its organizers wanted to wait until everyone was checked-in before passing out the final itinerary. Someone had pushed one under his door late in the evening marking his presentation being first. When Henry saw it, he yelled “Fuck!”

Professor Walter’s mood lightened as he gave his lecture. The spotlight on the stage was too bright, making it difficult to see his audience. The applause at the end was assuring but Henry realized he made an error of accepting questions instead of using all of the time allotted. There were many stupid questions, proving that the listeners hadn’t been paying attention. Maybe their minds were on the beach. His patience was running out as he checked his watch, grateful that the time was nearly up.

“One last question Professor Walter,” the assistant organizer said, eyeing him.

“I noticed on the third slide you were using field theory. Wouldn’t group theory have been more applicable?”

Henry blinked and shook his head. It was the first decent question of the morning and was the last. He stepped forward so he could see who asked it. From the voice, he could tell it wasn’t a professor. Henry raised his eyebrows, seeing it was the woman from the beach.

“Well ... you see um ... if you remember the fifth slide, then as the algorithm progressed, field theory made for a more elegant solution,” Walter stuttered through his answer.

“Thank you, Professor,” she said.

“Ah, ah—you’re welcome,” Henry said wondering if she was really there.

“This session has concluded, we’ll reconvene at 2 pm,” the assistant organizer said.

There was a moment’s pause and then a great swell of sound swept over the auditorium, as everybody headed for the exit. Walter grabbed his materials and pushed through the crowd best as he could. He finally made it to the exit and looked around, hoping to catch sight of that space girl. However, she was gone, perhaps back to the beach. Henry then headed straight to the bar.

“Scotch, please,” Henry said.

He looked at the bartender, just daring him to launch into the hotel spiel about the ridiculous cocktails. He didn’t rise to the bait, just turning wordlessly to get his Scotch. Suddenly out of the corner of Henry’s eye, he saw the seat next to him being taken. He turned to give out whatever comment would be appropriate when the words got stuck in his throat - it was her.

“Zora,” she said, holding out her hand.

Walter took it. “Professor Henry Walter. Thank you for asking your question, it was the most intelligent I heard all morning.”

Zora laughed. “Oh I know, these symposiums are the worst. But still, you can’t beat the location? It’s gorgeous. Isn’t it?

“Indeed, it is.”

“I’m going for a swim after the afternoon’s session. Want to join me?”

Walter opened his mouth—“I’d like that,” Walter said, surprising himself with his answer.

“I’ll meet you in the hotel’s lobby?” Zora stood up beginning to leave.

“Hey! Wait a minute. You came from out of the ocean. Are you an⁠—”

Zora shook her head as Henry watched her, stunned. 

“Shit, I need some swimming trunks before my next lecture,” he remembered.

Henry had found a store around the corner from the bar that sold swimming gear. Most were loud, colorful and nothing he would wear in a million years. Do they have any plain trunks? He went over to the counter.

“Excuse me,” Walter said to the assistant behind the counter. “What do you have in solid colors?”

The young man held up one of a cheap pair that had palm trees all over it, against a set of crashing waves. “Honestly, who would wear something like this, unless they lost a bet? These are ridiculous,” Henry said to himself.

“I’m serving another customer sir, I’ll be with you shortly,” the shop assistant said stepping away.

Henry checked his watch. He turned leaned back against the counter. Sighing, he checked his watch again, and out the corner of his eye, he saw someone hurrying out from between the racks, with a swimsuit in each hand. He looked over before doing a double-take and his jaw dropped again.

“Professor Walter,” Zora said.

“Me.”

“Yes, you.”

Henry couldn’t work out why this woman was here, she was strange and beautiful. Her eyes looked down and Henry suddenly became aware that he was still holding the palm tree trunks. He threw them on the nearest rack, where they slipped and fell to the floor.

“Nice shorts. That blue suits you,” Zora said.

“Yeah, right.” Walter cleared his throat and bent down to pick them up. “Maybe, I’ll take these.”

He pushed the trunks onto the counter and reached for his wallet. Zora had laid hers on the counter; a blue one-piece and a cream bikini causing Professor Walter’s imagination to go into overdrive.

“We match,” Zora said as the colors of the outfits change into the same color.

“What the⁠—“

“What?” Zora said pulling out a gold credit card and paying for everything. The shop assistant put them in a bag and thanked them. 

“I’ll see you later Professor Walter.”

“Yeah, later—Thank you,” Walter croaked.

Zora hurried to push open the glass doors of the hotel and shivering, the air conditioning was something she wasn’t used to on her planet of Zagan.

“Zora!”

She turned and smiled at Jaina who waved her over. Jaina was another extraterrestrial who was sent like Zora to learn from the humans at the symposium was older than her.

“Where have you been? The next lecture’s going to start in five minutes,” Jaina said, handing her a bottle of water. “Here I got this for you.”

“Thanks,” Zora said. “I’m thirsty.”

Jaina looked down at her bag. “Is that a swimsuit? You went shopping, I see?”

“Yeah.”

Zora bit her lip, knowing she was going to have to explain and was quite giddy about it.

“So, we’re going swimming?” Jaina said.

“I thought I might try surfing,” Zora said.

“With me⁠—“

“Well, no. I kind of have a date later.”

“Oh really, with a human?”

“Well, who else? There is no one else like us here.”

“Well, can I at least get a name? We were sent here to study from humans not to go out with them.”

“Professor Henry Walter, you know from this morning’s lecture,” Zora said. “I ran into him in the swimsuit store by the bar. I’ll ask him if he liked to go swimming later and he said yes.”

“No, you didn’t—” Jaina said. “That human, I don’t think he’s well-liked here.”

Suddenly, there was a loud buzz, and the doors of the lecture theater began opening. Zora frowned, knowing it was the warning buzzer; the afternoon session would be starting in five minutes. She looked at Jaina.

“That human can’t know where we are from. No matter what you do,” Jaina said.

“He saw me rise out of the ocean yesterday.”

“Oh my—you had to get in the water, didn’t you?”

“It was too hot.”

“You’re sitting next to me. Come on before you get into more trouble,” Jaina pulled Zora by the ear inside of the lecture hall.

Tapping his foot, Henry resisted the urge to check his watch for the hundredth time. It had been twenty minutes since his lecture ended and it was time for him to face facts - Zora wasn’t coming. He didn’t really know why he had ever expected differently; the alien woman obviously had come to her senses and realized the implication inherent in her invitation.