The Luck of the Irish {Sequel to Kiss Me, I'm Irish}

Chapter 3: A Stroll

Diana awoke the next morning to find herself lying in Artemis' arms. He was still sleeping soundly, seemingly undisturbed by her sudden awareness. She slowly sat up, trying her hardest to not wake him. As soon as Diana began to lift herself off of the bed, Artemis' light snoring ceased as he grabbed hold of her wrist. Diana squealed, startled by Artemis' reaction. Artemis looked into Diana's fear stricken eyes and realized where he was. He immediately released her and sat up quickly, attempting to regain his composure by smoothing back his raven hair and straightening his wrinkled white dress shirt.

"Please explain to me what that just was?" Diana said quietly. In the two years they had been together, that was the first time Artemis had ever done that.

"It was just a reflex," Artemis tried to explain, and then cleared his throat. "Fowls are notorious for being paranoid. I didn't mean to frighten you."

    "You simply startled me," Diana relaxed back beside him for a moment. "I've seen scarier things. Speaking of, " Diana stood, straightening out her borrowed clothing, "Alex is probably freaking out right about now because I didn't come back."

"I know you were supposed to be back last night but you just looked so peaceful, I didn't want to disturb you" Artemis defended. "I'm sorry."

Diana laughed as she made her way to the bathroom. "Honestly, I'm glad you didn't wake me." Then she shut the door behind her.  Diana came out of the bathroom a few minutes later, dressed in her clothes from the night before, carrying her heels in hand. She had pulled her hair back neatly to help hide how desperately it needed a wash. She still looked as beautiful as the previous evening and it snapped Artemis from of his thoughts.

"I guess I should be getting you back," Artemis said, a small smile on his face.

"That's the plan," Diana replied.

Artemis stood, brushing out some creases in his button-up shirt. "Shall we then?" He held his hand out to escort her. Diana took the outstretched hand smiling and they left the room together.

Artemis and Diana slowly walked down the hallway hand-in-hand, in a comfortable silence. The sun shone brightly outside and came pouring in through the floor to ceiling medieval windows that lined the old stone brick hallway. It was rare that the sun was seen in Ireland; it would be a wonderful day to spend outside, and even Artemis was thinking it. He turned to open his mouth to speak to Diana when a very angry woman's voice interrupted him.

    "Diana Marie Foxwell!" the voice screamed. "Where have you been?"

Both Artemis and Diana turned around slowly to find Alex storming down the hallway looking incredibly irritated.

    "Oh, uh, hey Alex." Diana stammered over herself, trying to get over the initial shock of seeing her friend. Alex caught up to them and shot Artemis a nasty glare that actually scared him.

    "Answer the question young lady!" Alex crossed her arms and stared at her friend.

    "I spent the night at Artemis' dorm," Diana shrugged, preparing for the hellfire that was about to come. "It's really no big deal."

"And what exactly happened?" Alex continued. Artemis opened his mouth to interject but Alex cut him off instantly. "You don't get to speak. I'll deal with you later."

"Nothing happened," Diana shot back, frustrated with her friend.

"You spent the night with him! What do you mean nothing happened?" Alex argued.

"I mean just that, nothing happened. We fell asleep while we were watching a movie," Diana insisted, crossing her arms.

    Alex lost her bravado as she realized her friend was telling the truth. She turned and looked up at Artemis. "You had her in your room and you didn't do anything? Anything at all?"