I AWOKE BEFORE THE ALIEN did, and he was thankfully still where I'd left him the night before; curled up on the couch under his blanket. His feet were sticking out over the edge of the sofa, soft snores falling from his parted lips. It looked as if he were at peace, and for a moment I wondered if aliens could dream like we could. Perhaps he was dreaming of home? 

I moved carefully into the kitchen, determined not to waken him so early. It was only eight in the morning, after all. Deciding that he was probably going to be hungry when he stirred, I prepared us some breakfast which consisted of toast for myself and pancakes topped with strawberries for him.

I shot him another glance while I poured myself some coffee.  I knew he had to eat more than pancakes and strawberries but what else would he like? I'd tried nearly everything there was in my fridge and cupboards yet there had been nothing of interest. 

Perhaps Jason would know? Not that I'd ever tell him I was housing an alien, but I would subtly ask him somehow. There were times where I was excellent at making up excuses.

"Flora?" grumbled a voice from the living room. I peeked round the door to find Loudrix - Louis, I mentally corrected - sitting with his head just visible over the back of the couch, his tousled brown hair messier than usual. 

"Morning," I said. "How are you feeling today?"

"Sore," he admitted. "I am rather sore for some reason. My head aches and the pain won't diminish. It started to occur last night before I fell unconscious."

I looked at him blankly. "Louis?" 

He seemed confused at first with the new name but he soon understood and nodded n acknowledgement.

"What did we talk about yesterday? You know - about you fitting in on Earth?"

He thought, his brow furrowing in concentration. His face lit up when he remembered. "I would require a new name, to speak normally and also to not talk of my home too much in case an Earthling hears and discovers where I originate."

I nodded. "Repeat the second one to me."

"Uh ... speak normally?" he asked, seeming confused.

I just nodded and said, "Now tell me - normally - what is wrong with you this morning."

"Oh..." he grumbled, rolling his eyes. "My head requires some kind of healing aid."

I shook my head. "Try again."

He narrowed his eyes. Speaking through his teeth, he said, "My head is sore. Do you have anything to help?"

"Yay!" I falsely cheered, throwing my hands up in the air before beckoning him into the kitchen. I scratched around in the drawers until I found a box of ibuprofen. I popped two pills and turned to face the curious extra-terrestrial. "You swallow these whole with a glass of water and in due course they'll help with your sore head."

I dropped them into his palm and he just looked at me curiously. "I fail to see how two small objects will help."

"Trust me," was all I said before I filled a glass with water and instructed him to take the pills if he wanted to feel better. He did and it took him a few tries but eventually, he managed to swallow down the paracetamol. 

"Yuck!" he gasped out afterwards. "That as dreadful!"

"Yeah, it's not the best," I agreed. "But they do help after a while."

"That is OK, I suppose," he said with a small shrug. I just cast him a warm smile and told him to eat his ready pancakes.

THAT AFTERNOON, AFTER MUCH PERSUASION, I finally managed to escape from my home and Loudrix's pleas to stay indoors with him. I had to leave and see Jason or else Louis was going to gain so much weight living off of those damned pancakes. Jason would know how to help me, and I'd already concocted the perfect and rather sly way of asking him.

His home was about a fifteen minute drive, his little cottage just a couple of miles outside Hoveton. He was like me in many ways. One of which being that he liked to enjoy his days off and had very little time for the small town we were in. We'd grown up craving adventure together.

His car was parked in the driveway and a single light was on in the downstairs. As I pulled up next to his vehicle, his face appeared at the window and he waved at me.

"Flo!" he called as soon as I'd locked my car and knocked on his door. "Good to see you!"

I was enveloped in his warm hug which I happily returned and soon I was ushered into his home. Inside was cosy and what you'd expect a cottage to be like; stone walls, a hearth in the living room, a small kitchen and a bathroom and bedroom upstairs. Several photos hung on the walls - some of us - and the china cabinet at the back held not ornaments but all his awards he'd scooped up since secondary school. 

"Jase, good to see you," I laughed before I headed straight to the kitchen and made us some coffee. It was just the same if he were at my place; we made ourselves at home. We were so close that it was comfortable to act like we lived in the same place. "How have you been?"

"Yeah, good," he said, pushing his glasses up his nose. By the look on his pale face and dark eyes, he wasn't telling the truth. He looked truly awful - like he needed rest, and a lot of it. 

"You sure? Because you look like crap," I said.

He just chuckled and sat down on the couch, his mug held between his hands. He reminded me of how Louis had been the night before.

"Things at the university are killing me," he admitted. "So many papers to do, scheduled days and such. I mean, it's not like I'm not used to the lifestyle but sometimes it's like an extra weight upon my shoulders, you know?"

I nodded, not truly understanding how it felt for him.

"Well, stuff at the shop has been alright," I muttered, sipping my drink. "Still have a line of customers in the morning that often resemble a group of zombies."

Jase laughed and I smiled at him, happy to be able to have lifted the weight of his uni work from his shoulder if even for a minute. He ran a hand through his messy hair and took a swig of his coffee as if it were an alcoholic beverage. I'd seen the way he downed beer.

"Honest to God, I need to take a break. I used to like video games. Why'd I ever stop playing those?" He was now speaking mostly to himself and I realised he would be of no help if I didn't get to the subject soon.

"OK, so I need your help with something," I said, capturing his attention.

"Oh?" He raised a brow. "What is it?"

"Well," I began. "You know how I used to write when we were in secondary school?"

Jason nodded, gesturing with his hand for me to continue.

"Well, I recently thought about doing it again and this idea struck me when I heard about the mysterious light over the town a few days ago. Did you hear about it?"

Jason's eyes lit up like a child in a sweet-shop and he was on his feet, pacing back and forth all of a sudden. "Scientists think it was a satellite malfunction. Perhaps a faulty scrap from the machinery had fallen through the atmosphere? Then again, there are some considering radioactive happenings up-"

"Jason, you know I suck at science things," I interrupted him. "It's like you're speaking a foreign language to me right now."

"Oh, sorry," he muttered, looking bashful. "I apologise - you were saying?"

"Yeah, so I was watching the news, you know - fascinated by this light thing and I happened to notice some guys who were deadly serious about it being alien activity. It gave me the idea to write again."

"So, you're writing about the theories of strangers?" he teased and I gently slapped his arm.

"No! I want to write a story about alien life landing on Earth," I casually said, smiling widely after proving my practising on the journey over had not been wasted. I sounded pretty convincing. "But, after starting my research on it, I realised I have a problem."

"What is it?"

"I have no idea what aliens would eat on this planet. I mean, I can't go based on some of the alien films I've seen or what ridiculous ideas someone on the internet has come up with. So, I thought I'd come to the smartest guy I knew - you, by the way - and see if you could point me in the right direction."

"Are you seriously asking me what extra-terrestrial life would eat if they landed on Earth?" he chuckled, leaning back in his seat with a cheeky grin. "I sure as hell never imagined you asking me a question like this."

"Well, I was stuck so I thought I'd come pick that smart brain of yours," I told him with a shrug. "Like, if you were to guess, going by things they would eat on their home planets and such, what would they be on Earth?"

"Flo, it's not like currency where you can guess the equivalent to a couple quid in dollars," Jason told me. "Like, that's impossible to guess - especially since aliens may not even exist and we have never received any clue as to what beings like such would eat."

I felt deflated. He was right - asking him was stupid, especially the way I had worded it. How the hell would we know what they'd like to eat?

"Yeah, you're right," I muttered. "I'll just have to make something  up I suppose. An alien food."

"Ha, good plan," he chuckled. "I'm sorry I can't be of help with this."

"It's alright," I told him, finishing the rest of my drink with a big gulp. "I just realised how stupid this all sounded."

"It does sound a little silly," he admitted. "Though, having said that; if an alien were stranded here on Earth, they would have to become used to our foods - depending on how long they stayed, of course."

I just nodded, desperate to tell him the truth. I knew I couldn't though - he would just get too worked up about the whole thing and try to do some tests on the poor alien.

"Yeah, true," I said. "So, basically you're saying you'd force an alien to eat human food, even if they didn't like it?"

"It's like children. They may hate a certain food as a child and then grow to love it as a teenager. It's all about time and dedication I guess."

I nodded, thanking him again before I forced myself to ask him more about his time at uni.

LOUDRIX WAS GETTING BETTER AT learning the most common of things, like flushing the toilet and switching on the TV. It was like Jason had said - like a child, introduce new things and hope he would learn to like or do things better as time went on. Thankfully, I didn't have to keep such a close watch on him and I was thankful for that. He was doing exceptionally well for only having been on the planet for a couple of days.

"Flora?" he asked me suddenly.

"Mm?"

"When do we begin to look for my ship?"

I sighed, unsure how to answer. Truthfully, I'd not given it much thought - it's not as if the mission to find an alien vessel was something on a weekly to-do-list.

I shrugged. "We could do it in a week? A few days? The only thing I'm confused about is how exactly you're going to knew we're close to it, or if we're going in the right direction. Like, it could be miles away - maybe at the other end of the country. We have no idea what we're looking for here."

He listened intently to my words and remained silent as he thought of how to reply.

He sighed too. "It is difficult to explain, especially to an inferior being such as yourself."

I just glared at him.

He cleared his throat. "However, I shall try to tell you best I can."

My glare changed to a wide smile.

"Do you get the feeling you are being watched here?" he asked me and I nodded. "Yes, well it's like that. It's like the ship is the thing that is watching you - you can feel the tug in its direction. It is very difficult to explain."

"No, no, no, I get it," I told him. "It's like your eyes are pulled to the very thing."

"Yes," he said with a nod, "exactly. "

We continued to watch the television in silence, the alien munching away at his pancakes while I flicked through the channel, completely bored. Nothing was on and it seemed that Louis wasn't too interested in watching the screen either - he had resorted to wiggling his toes this way and that, his brow furrowed as he looked at his human feet in curiosity. It made me wonder what his alien feet had been like.

I swivelled round in my seat and looked at him. His eyes looked up at me and he smiled. 

"Do you want to play a question game?" I asked him.

He looked lost. "A question game? Is it as self-explanatory as it seems?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I'll ask you a question, you answer it truthfully and then you'll ask me one and I will answer it truthfully too."

"Seems pretty straight-forward," he muttered as he turned, pulling at his blanket as he did. "Would you like to start?"

I nodded. "Sure."

Thank you for reading! x
Alien joke: What do aliens like to read? Comet books!
Cazza