It's Hard to Breathe

Exhaustion

After a few hours of dancing, laughing, eating, and partying, everyone trooped upstairs, tired but happy.

"Oh, man, I'm ready to hit the hay." Brant groaned.

"Same here." Alvar added.

The boys dragged their feet to the second, boy-designated bathroom on the second floor, while the girls used Gisela's bathroom.

After getting ready for bed, they all headed off to their separate bedrooms-Umber and Glimmer in a room next to Gisela with two queen beds, and Vespera took the room of the opposite side of Gisela at the end of the hall with one king bed. Gethen, Trix, and Ruy took the bedroom across the hall from Vespera, since none of the boys wanted to bunk with her. Their room only had two king beds, which caused quite the conundrum, as sounds of fighting echoed only seconds after the door was closed.

Apparently, they were fighting over who got one of the king beds to themselves, and who had to share with the other boy. Eventually Trix triumphed, meaning Gethen and Ruy got stuck in the same bed, which neither male was happy about. (A/N: I think Trix is the least offensive, so he gets the bed!) 

Finally, everyone zonked out and went to sleep. At approximately 2 in the morning, Gisela's door opened soundlessly, and Fintan sneaked in.

Gisela stirred, and opened her eyes to find Fintan sitting on the cushioned chest at the foot of her bed. 

Startling fully awake, she whisper-screamed his name, along with a "What the blue blazes is wrong with you?!"

Fintan grinned sheepishly, and sat down on her bed next to her.

She let him, grudgingly.

"So, why are you?" Gisela asked in a quiet tone.

"I was unable to sleep. So I came to the one person who makes me feel better." He admitted.

"Well, that's sweet of you, but GET OUT." Gisela responded, cranky from him waking her up so early, when they only went to bed two hours prior.

"But-but.." Fintan trailed off.

"But nothing. now leave me alone so I can at least have six hours of sleep." Gisela snapped, and pointed sternly at the door.

Fintan sighed and got up, with a defeated air about him. As he walked to the door, he kept his head down and his shoulders slumped. 

Gisela flopped back on her bed and buried herself in her covers. But a few seconds later, something made her sit up again, her gaze directed at the door.

Fintan was looking sadly at her, like some sort of magnetic force was making them look at each other. Then the male put on his puppy face.

Gisela let out a sigh that must have taken all her oxygen storage. "Fi-ine. Come over here." She said, patting the side of the bed next to her. "But no covers." She added cruelly as Fintan's face lit up.

He shrugged, and disappeared out of her door frame. A few seconds later, he returned with the coverlet that he yanked off the spare bed.

"You're putting that back in the morning." Gisela ordered tiredly, then fell back onto her pillow, and was asleep.

Fintan smiled, and slipped onto the bed next to her. he curled up on top of her coverlet, and covered himself.

Withing a few seconds, he was sleeping.

Hiya, everyone! 👋The reason this chapter was short is because I was focusing mainly on Meeting, the bonus, extra-long chapter for Come out on Top, which was supposed to be one of the sequels to this book. It is, but I published it along with this one because it was already far along-why not? I'm probably gonna tie it all together in the second (maybe) or third book-not sure if Come out on Top should be 2nd or 3rd! If it were 3rd, it would probably be about the Neverseen being created, Fintan and Gisela completely over their past-or so they thought 😈. This book would end with a preview of the 1st chapter in the 2nd book, where Gisela and Fintan come face-to-face for the first time in several years, with the group plans. Y'all know what? That's what I'm gonna do. Sorry for the "spoilers", but I think you should know at least something on the fate of the 2/3rds made KOTLC trilogy. Whoa, I got waaaaaaaaaay off topic, didn't I? So, yeah, as I was saying. I will put bonus chapters for Come out on Top, since it's that last book in the trilogy. I won't do it for the 1st two, since they aren't the big finale. Sound good? *Gets some glares from readers who want bonus chapters in every book, but some overall thumbs-up* Great! Well, I have Unlocked on preorder-hooray! 🎊🎊🎊🎉🎉🎉🎉🎶🎶🎶🥳🥳🥳🥳 *Throws confetti and parties, even though I still don't have the book yet* So, that's all for now! Thanks for reading!! ✨✨🌟🌟✌️✌️😁😁