Down Goes Santa: The Sequel (!!DISCONTINUED!!)

Chapter 29

Mika immediately went back through the door.

Miles tapped Bose's back. "That was the right thing. I'm proud of you." He knew how much of himself Bose was fighting to not go in that room. And for him to overcome that, that made him proud.

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Chapa's hands were placed behind her back as she faced herself in her body view mirror.

"What's wrong?"

"Stupid zipper." Chapa said, almost in a whimper, breathing loudly in and out. "It's stuck." She dabbed her face with her fingers, stopping the water from leaking out any further.

Mika rushed towards her. "Okay, okay, let me help you."

Chapa let go and began to slide to the floor. "The stupid zipper is stuck." She wheezed then began breathing in and out rapidly as more tears streamed down her face.

Mika knelt infront of Chapa. This wasn't about a zipper anymore. "Chapa, what's going on?"

Chapa shook her hands as though she touched something hot, trying to take deep breaths but nothing was seeming to work. The container where she was bottling up all her emotions that day and maybe even days before had burst and it came like a wave crushing down and drowning her.

Mika took Chapa's hands in hers. "Take deep breaths, slowly." She began a breathing pattern that she expected Chapa to follow. Which she tried.

Chapa's sobs unmelodically mixed with her shortness of breath. Her whole body felt as though she were shaking. Like it was disorienting from the inside and her cells were suddenly disintegrating.

She could barely see anything. Eveything in view, was either blurry or distorted. With wide eyes, sweat drippled from her face pores. Panick spread across her body like a plague, making her struggle even more.

Mika held her hands tightly. "Chapa, close your eyes and listen to me."

Chapa closed them.

"Relax your breathing." She paused. "You need to calm down, chica." Mika tried her best not to sound distressed so as not to worry Chapa—no matter how worried she, Mika herself, was.

Chapa shut her eyes tighter.

"Slow your breathing." She demonstrated again, hoping miserably that Chapa would follow this time.

Chapa's head shook slowly as her eyes shut even tighter. Like she was battling something inside of her.

"You have to listen to me if you want this to stop." Mika whispered. She continued to do the breathing exercise that Chapa was supposed to copy.

Slowly, Chapa began to follow. And slowly, she started to relax.

"Great. You're doing great." She tried to encourage her.

Only sobs were playing now.

That, Mika could handle easily.

Chapa felt so stupid. But she knew if she continued to entertain that thought, she'd be back to square one. So she simply gave in and hugged Mika back just as tight as she hugged her, burying her face in her shoulder.

This made her largely regret on not calling Bose from the start.

She wouldn't have felt as though she needed to do everything in her power to make sure the party is the best.

She wouldn't have felt that queasy feeling in her stomach whenever something didn't go her way.

She wouldn't have worried about how she looked because she knew Bose liked her in whatever she wore. She really didn't know why she worried.

She wouldn't have.

Shortly after, Mika walked out to finally get Chapa's water.

The boys were in Chapa's living room. Telling jokes and stories to entertain Sage and boost their—as in Lucas'—egos, snacking on Mrs. Desilva's holiday goodies—mostly jelly cake.

As Mika got distracted, Bose offered to take the bottle of water to Chapa. He was already very anxious and needed to know what was going on. Mika complied to his offer as she laughed at Lucas' silly stories.

Bose immediately dashed to the stairs, skipping a few steps, deeming them a waste of time.

He knocked three soft times on her door and waited.

The door unlocked and her head popped out. "Oh shoot." Seeming frightened, she slammed the door and locked it again.

"Chapa, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah. I just don't want you to see the outfit until I'm fully ready."

"Oh...okay." Bose paused looking at the door with a worried face. "Are you– you've been– is everything alright?"

Muffled shuffles were heard behind the door. "Y-yeah, why?"

"You just sounded uneasy when you were calling Mika so I thought there was something wrong, I'm sorry."

Chapa's voice grew sincere. "No, I'm sorry. I was uneasy." She paused. "I uh I found it difficult to breath, I could barely see, my body was shaking and uh– something just came over me and–"

Bose shifted his position and had his back against the door, his head facing upwards. An exasperated sigh left his mouth, his eyebrows furrowing deep in concern. "It's me, right?"

"That's not–!"

"It's because of the dance, right?"

"...sort of."

Bose groaned quietly. "Chapa." He whined.

"It's stupid, I know."

"Your feelings aren't stupid. I told you, I–"

"Don't care about whether it's perfect or not, only that you're spending it with me; you don't care about whatever I'm dressed in because you think I look good in everything and I'm being stupid for stressing over practically nothing."

"...you took the words straight out of my mouth." He chuckled a little, causing a giggle from the girl on the other side. "Place a kiss on your fingers for me."

"Bose–" she laughed.

"Just do it." A little chuckle heard in his voice.

Chapa kissed her fingers, exaggerating the sound to prove to Bose that she did it.

A small smile plastered on Bose's face. "You're absolutely perfect and I don't care about all those stuff like how you look, or how the party is going to be or whose going to be there and all that nonsense– and you know that." He paused. "It's not stupid...but it's unnecessary stress."

A tint of pink painted itself across Chapa's cheeks. That was so sweet of him. And he was absolutely right. She was stressing for nothing. She just needs to let it go and just...relax.

"Don't beat yourself up. I just hope you are and will be fine now." He submerged from leaning on the door and faced it. "No rush but hurry up, will ya? I really want to take you out."

Her face flushed once more. "Whatever." She answered with a smile.

"Your water's outside, by the way." He placed it on the floor right infront of the door. "You can get it when I leave, since you don't want me to see your outfit or whatever." He started to walk away.

"Bose?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

He smiled. "Anything for you."