Slumber Party!

“Driz! Driz! Look at this!”

Driz turned around to be faced with the determined face of a young alien girl he’d come to call his friend, Ripley. She was charging down the hall towards him, waving a pink and purple magazine around like there was no tomorrow.

“Ripley! Hello again!” Driz smiled and waved to her as she approached. Seeing the young alien talk to him about her thoughts on human culture and investigating her past together and learning about life on earth together was one of the highlights of his day and he couldn’t be happier they’d met. Something about her being so enraptured was adorable to him, and whenever they were together, something felt warm and fuzzy inside of Driz.

“Ripley’s been reading!” Ripley said, a little out of breath once she reached Driz. She held out the magazine and rapidly flipped through the pages of the magazine that was obviously aimed at preteen girls.  “And Ripley has some questions!”

“Really?” Driz asked, looking over at the page she’d finally turned to. “Well, lay ‘em on me, what do you need to know?”

“Ripley wants to know what a ‘celebrity crush’ is!” She asserted jovially. Driz thought for a moment.

“Well, um, remember when I explained to you about love?” Driz said. He remembered the last time he did, hoping that it didn’t bring back the memories of her getting sad.

“Yes! Ripley remembers!” She replied, still upbeat.

“Well, it’s when someone sees someone really famous, and thinks they’re in love with them.” Driz explained. Ripley nodded.

“But won’t they feel sad away from them? Or thinking about being away from them…?” Ripley asked, looking a little concerned.

“Usually celebrity crushes aren’t a real love, more like people thinking that a famous person looks and sounds good. It’s a bit difficult to explain.” Driz continued.

“Oooh…” Ripley noded. “Ripley has another question!”

“Alrighty, what is it?” Driz asked.

“Can we try a sleepover? Ripley read it on this page!” Ripley flipped to a glittery page titled Sleepover Necessities and held it up for Driz to read.

“Ahaha, okay. But wouldn’t you have a girl friend you’d rather sleep over with? It’s a bit weird for a guy and a girl to sleep over together.” Driz chuckled. Her enthusiasm was absolutely adorable.

“No! Ripley wants to sleep over with Driz!” Ripley replied. She bounced up and down.

“If you say so!” Driz chimed. Ripley hugged him and he smiled.

“Thank you Driz! Let’s do it tonight!” Ripley exclaimed.

“Gotcha! Whose dorm should we spend the night at?” Driz asked.

“Ripley wants to stay at your dorm.” Ripley answered.

“I’m fine with that, I’ll meet you after my shift and we’ll walk there together!” Driz smiled. Ripley nodded and skipped off.

“Well, I think my break time is over now, time to head back!” Driz said after she was gone, stretching and walking back into the nurse’s station.

---

“Driz! Ripley is here!” Ripley called, opening the door to Driz’s office as he was putting a few patient records back into their folders.

“Alrighty!” Driz called back, closing the cabinet and walking to join Ripley on the way out.

“Off Ripley and Driz gooo!” Ripley sang as they walked together. Driz was tempted to hold her hand, but decided against it. The transit didn’t take too long, with Ripley’s excitement fueling the both of them so it was bordering between “walk” and “run” to the dorms.

---

“Alright, so we’re here! What do you want to do first?” Driz asked. Ripley pulled out a small sheet of paper and studied it.

“Well! First Ripley and Driz… Paint nails!” Ripley read aloud. “But Ripley doesn’t know how to do that…”

“I don’t really either, that’s more my sister’s territory. And I don’t have any nail polish here anyway.” Driz said. He leaned over and glanced at the list and scanned over it to see what they could do.

“Well, Pillow fights and truth-or-dare are usually mid-party activities, so… How about we watch a movie? I have plenty here!” Driz suggested. “I can pop us some popcorn and grab some soda and we can watch some movies!”

“Ripley likes this idea!” Ripley answered, smiling.

“Okay! I’ll go get the popcorn and soda, you can pick out a movie.” Driz said, and walked into the kitchen as Ripley wandered over to the TV area.

When the popcorn was done, Driz quickly scooped up the bowl in his arms and the two sodas that Ripley and Driz would have during the movie. He made his way to where she sat in front of the TV, holding the DVD case for Alien.

“Ah? That’s a horror movie, Ripley. You sure you wanna see that?” Driz asked.

"Ripley is brave!" Ripley assured. Driz shrugged and put it into the player and hit the lights, then sat down next to Ripley on the floor.

The first few minutes weren't so bad, with Ripley being proud of the character that was her namesake.

But soon it began getting too scary for Ripley, and she began covering her eyes and generally seeming distressed, even though she kept mentioning how aliens weren't like that.

"Here, Ripley," Driz said, wrapping his arm around Ripley and pulling her in close to him. "I'm nearby, so maybe this will be easier to watch, yeah?"

"O-okay, Ripley can do this... Ripley can do this with Driz!" Ripley said, determined. They continued the movie, with Ripley only occasionally hiding her face in Driz's side. As the movie started to come to a close he noticed Ripley's breathing had changed, becoming deep, slow, and steady. She was asleep. Driz smiled down at her sleeping form, having so adorably pressed her face into his side.

He didn't remember falling asleep, but somewhere between Ripley's escape off the ship and defeating the Xenomorph for good (Until the sequel,) he'd fallen asleep. He woke up in the morning on the floor, with Ripley using his arm as a pillow.

"Ah, I guess I fell asleep," Driz whispered to himself, careful not to wake Ripley. He looked over to her sleeping form, and he couldn't help but smile at how adorable she was.

"That was a nice sleepover, even though we both fell asleep." Driz continued whispering to Ripley. Her eyes fluttered slightly.

"Ripley likes sleepovers..." She muttered, still half asleep. The two lied there, both slipping in and out of sleep at irregular intervals. It would be a slow morning, but Driz resolved to make Ripley some world-renowned Dew family breakfast once they were both up.