Chapter 10: The Room Where It Happened

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC

"Man, I am beat." Grunt muttered under his breath as he pulled into the parking lot of the Mount Washington Hotel in New Hampshire. He had an excellent reason to be 'beat', given that they had driven to the Breakers in Rhode Island, the USS Constitution in Massachusetts, and the Acadia National Park in Maine.

"At least the last stop of the day is a hotel." Elsa pointed out, closing the atlas and shoving it into the glove compartment.

"She's got a point. That'll certainly save some time. And it certainly beats showering in the bus. No offense you guys, but I could kill for hot water right about now." Sibella told them, her fingers itching towards her bag, ready to leave at a moment's notice. The second the bus stopped Sibella jumped out.

"Wait a second, we still need to check in. The Colonel did reserve us rooms, right?" Lauren asked, turning to look at the cadets.

Tug scratched the back of his neck before replying "Yeah, he reserved rooms. Two rooms. I hope that'll be enough."

"Well, I brought my inflatable sarcophagus that I got for Christmas so I can sleep in that." Tanis offered.

"And I can sleep in my bat form." Sibella added.

Lauren nodded approvingly, saying "So as long as there's two beds per room, we can definitely manage. My question is: will you guys have enough room?"

"We'll be fine. We've managed worse." Tug replied.

Lauren frowned at the way he dismissed her comment. She would never forgive Colonel Calloway for treating the boys so poorly.

"Let's get going, guys. I call first shower!" Phantasma shouted, slinging her bags out from under her bunk bed and running towards the hotel.

"No fair, Phanty! Why do you get to go first?" Tanis wailed at the unfairness of it all as she chased after her friend.

"We're going to get banned before all of us even get a chance to go inside." Elsa muttered under her breath.

"I just hope there's some hot water left." Sibella added from by her side.

"Let's just go check in. After you." Lauren said, holding the door open for Tug.

They all grabbed their bags and departed from the bus. Tug checked them in under Colonel Calloway's name before going their separate ways towards their rooms.

When the ghouls arrived in their room, they promptly selected their beds and stowed their luggage away. Then the argument over who would get first shower began. In the end, Lauren went first. Feeling gracious, she quickly went through the motions of a basic shower, finishing in just under five minutes. Lauren stepped out of the shower and wrapped her hair up in a towel before slipping into a simple dress and leaving the room to check on the cadets. She strolled over to their door and knocked twice. It wasn't long before Tug opened the door. Lauren greeted him warmly as he stepped out into the hallway. As she shut the door behind him, Tug suddenly appeared behind her, grabbed her towel hat, and tugged at it.

She promptly let out a cry of pain as Tug snatched his hand back and looked horrified. "What's wrong?" he asked in alarm.

After gently massaging her head, Lauren said "As if you don't know."

He looked confused as she unwrapped the towel, revealing her hair being twisted up in it before readjusting her towel hat. "I didn't know your hair was in there!" Tug cried in alarm.

"Are. . . are you serious?" Lauren asked, half in surprise, half in adoration.

Tug smiled sheepishly. "Completely serious. I'm sorry, babe."

"It's alright, love." Lauren replied, pecking him on the lips. "Anyways, I just thought I'd stop by and say good night before hitting the sack. Sweet dreams."

"As long as they're of you they will be." Tug replied, leaning down to kiss her.

Lauren melted into the kiss, wrapping her arms around Tug's neck, knotting her fingers into his hair. After a moment, Tug was in desperate need of oxygen so the two split apart. Sparing one more loving look towards each other, they went into their perspective rooms, ready to move out early the next morning.