Sleepover

A few hours had passed since I had laid the girl down in my bed. I was busying myself by cleaning the floors when a knock sounded at my doors.

I go over to the door and open it, being greeted by Riley.

"Hey Estelle! How have you be-"

"SHHH!"

He wasn't that loud, but I did not want him to wake up the girl.

"Uhm, what's going on?"

He spoke much quieter, using a whisper to communicate.

"I rescued this girl in the woods earlier today who was being chased by goblins. What about you? Why are you here in the middle of the night?"

The moon was out and the stars were shining from above, yet here Riley was in my house.

"Me? I just came to hang out, but that isn't important. You said you rescued a girl from goblins? What happened?"

"Her entire village was forced to search for a new home after it had been devastated by a bunch of raging animals, and while they were moving, they were all kidnapped by goblins. She managed to escape, and now, here we are."

"What about everyone else?"

"When I arrived at their camp to eradicate them, there was only human remains."

"Damn. That must be rough."

His girly features took on a sympathetic expression as he looked down a bit. As he did, the door to my room suddenly opened up, revealing the girl.

"Who is she?"

Yeah, I can understand why you would mistake Riley for a girl.

"This is a guy, and his name is Riley."

"He's a guy?"

She looked him up and down before looking back at me.

"Why are you lying?"

The look of pain on Riley's face was Immediate. He was always mistaken for a girl, and it always hurt him just a little.

"Estelle is not lying, I am a guy."

"Well, if you are a guy, does that mean the two of you are married?"

"No, were not."

I flatly denied what the girl had just claimed, and an almost unnoticeable twinge of hurt appeared in Riley's eyes, but it disappeared the next instant. Did I imagine that?

"Forget about that though. Why are you awake?"

"I got hungry."

"Okay, I'll make you some food. Might as well make some for you too since you're here, Riley."

"Okay, thanks."

With that, I walked over to the kitchen and began to prepare my ingredients while listening in to their conversation.

"So, you know my name, but I don't know yours."

"My name? It's Amelia."

Aha! I learned her name! I didn't even have to ask her myself.

I created some water in a small pot with my magic and added a few seasonings to it. Once I did, I put it over the fire and waited for it to come to a boil, which didn't take long since I could manipulate the temperature of the water.

"Okay, nice to meet you Amelia. So, how do you like it here?"

"It's nice. It's quiet like my home, but I miss my parents."

I could feel the dark atmosphere enveloping the room. Thankfully, Riley jumped in to try and prevent it.

"Oh yeah? What were they like?"

"They were a lot of fun. They played with me a lot, they worked hard, and they loved me."

"That sounds lovely. Oh, it seems like our food is already done."

Yes, within the time of their brief conversation, I had made a nice and delicious stew. Magic can be very convenient when you need it.

"Done already? How did you do that?"

"I used my magic."

"Wow!"

Her face was bright with awe and excitement. Despite being a fairly mature little girl, she also surprisingly acts like a little girl too.

I laid the food out at the small table in the corner, but since there was only two seats, I had to stand while they both ate together. I wasn't that hungry anyways, so it was alright. I'm going to have to get a new seat though.

Amelia ate her food surprisingly fast, taking as many large spoonfuls as she could. Despite how fast she was eating, she managed to stay fairly clean, which was a pleasant surprise.

Once she had finished eating, Amelia went back into my room to go back to sleep, leaving me and Riley alone.

"So, she resembles you a lot."

"I thought so as well. She almost seems like a little sister to be honest."

"Yeah, I could imagine that. Say, I don't know why it never occured to me, but how old are you?"

"How old am I?"

When I came to this world, my body was that of a fifteen year old girl, and it still hasn't changed in the slightest. Technically, I am twenty one years old though, since I was twenty when I died in my previous life.

"I'm twenty one. Why?"

"Just curious."

He blushed a little as he said it, and I could feel he wasn't telling the whole truth, but I let it slide. The thing is, I don't want to question him about it. If I do, I have no idea what might happen and how it could affect our relationship. All I want is for it to stay the same.

We sat there in silence for a slightly awkward amount of time before I finally made a suggestion.

"I guess we should go to sleep. Anywhere you prefer?"

"I guess the chair by the fireplace. It seems like the most comfortable spot in this room."

Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with you on that one.

"Okay, let me go fetch one of my spare blankets."

With that, I snuck quietly into my room and grabbed one of my spare blankets that had lying around. I had been cleaning, sure, but I couldn't clean in here since Amelia had been sleeping the whole time.

Once I grabbed the blanket, I came back out of the room and handed it to Riley, who had already gotten comfy on his chair. He pulled it up and over himself while I went to sit in the other chair.

"You didn't grab a blanket for yourself?"

"I didn't have any others. That was my only spare."

"Well, why don't we just spread it out over both of the chairs so we can both use it?"

"Yeah, that could work. We would just need to move our chairs right next to each other."

Hearing that, Riley's face immediately went red from embarrassment. Please don't make this awkward for me.

"U-uh, okay."

He moved his chair next to mine and then spread the blanket overtop the both of us. I could hear his heart practically thumping out of his chest with my incredible hearing, but I pretended it wasn't there.

"Good night."