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P4 - Chapter Thirty-nine

March 3rd - 4th, 2021:

What helps more than spending time with the people you care about, right?

"*"

"Wow," I breathed.

"Right?" Kinkajou agreed as she rang the doorbell.

Things were a hundred times better than a couple of days ago. Kinkakou and Turtle had made up, Qibli and I had made up, and, apparently, Lynx and Winter were in the talking stage.

And speaking of Winter, he's whose house we were standing in front of.

"First time here, right?" Turtle asked me. "Try not to get lost."

"It's a literal palace," I said, astonished. "He's like—he's royalty, for God's sake."

"He isn't but it does feel like it," Qibli agreed, nodding. "So, you basically get to spend the night as a princess."

"Is that what it's going to feel like?" I asked, turning around, excited.

"Pretty much," Kinkajou and Qibli said at the same time.

Turtle held Daisy as she gently wagged her tail.

The door finally opened to Winter. To my surprise, he wasn't in a prince-y outfit. Contrary, he was wearing a hoodie and sweatpants. An everyday, normal attire.

"Such a magical house but such a lame outfit," I scoffed playfully, and he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, get in," he ordered, holding the door for us.

"The place never gets smaller no matter how much I visit," Qibli murmured as he gazed around Winter's house.

"That's 'cause you never grow," Winter said, shrugging, but I could see the mockery in his expression.

Qibli raised an eyebrow as Kinkajou snickered. He opened his mouth to say something, but I beat him to it.

"I always knew wealth made bitchy kids," I said, matching his playfulness.

"I'm not bitchy," Winter objected, frowning as he led us past his living room.

"You are if you can't realize we're the same height," Qibli pointed out. "And for the record, the only reason this place never gets smaller is because you live in a literal castle."

"I do not," Winter disagreed, causing the rest of us to cast skeptical looks at him. After walking a considerable amount of flights of stairs, we finally made it to what I assumed was Winter's room.

"You'd think a modern-day castle would have an elevator, but no," I gasped, letting out a breath of air.

"Oh, we do," Winter said, nodding. "We just agreed to walk."

"Who's 'we'?" Qibli demanded. "I would have preferred the elevator, thanks."

"I second that," Turtle mused, crossing his arms.

"Quit complaining," Winter snapped. "We're here anyway." He opened his door and left me speechless once again.

His room, naturally, was huge. He had a king-sized bed and a considerably large working space. A TV was plastered on the far end of his wall and there was a couch and a mini fridge on the other.

"I can bring you guys to the guest rooms later, but–" Winter started, but Kinkajou didn't let him finish.

"We should all sleep in one room," she blurted, which raised some eyebrows. "It would be so fun, would it not?"

"Absolutely not," Winter muttered, narrowing his eyes. "That would be unnecessarily chaotic."

"I like the idea," Turtle offered. "Your room is large enough, and someone could sleep on the couch."