benefits ( paul lahote )

xii. he ran

-

It had been the first time that Paul had seen his soulmate in weeks. To say the least, when their eyes met, a raging sea storm turned into a peaceful tide within milliseconds. Mindlessly, Cayla pushed the door open, slightly stumbling back which allowed Paul to walk in through the doorway.

    Paul reached a hand out. Hesitantly, as if when he touched her, the image of her would wash away and he would be all alone again. He tucked a strand of her thick black hair behind her ear that had fallen out of her messy ponytail. Then, he rested his hand against her cheek, feeling how unusually warm she was.

    She leaned into his touch, wondering why she felt so much more peaceful, and that her worries somehow all fluttered away, and now the only thing that she was focused on was him, and the butterflies in her stomach.

  "Hi. . . . ." Cayla uttered. Her eyes roamed around Paul's face, taking in all of his features as if it was the first time that she had seen him. It was only then that she saw how much she had missed him, and that he had played such a large hole in her happiness.

    Cayla watched as the the shifters eyes took in her appearance, just like she was doing. Only his eyes were full of concern. His eyes flickered to her bloodshot eyes, her dry lips, her sweaty forehead, her unkept hair, and the fact that she looked so incredibly exhausted. But honestly, who could blame her?

    "Are you. . . . okay?" He asked, even thought the answer was quite clear. The young Korean nodded, even though her eyes conveyed the exact opposite. Her eyes watered, just seeing that, nearly broke the boy. He pulled her into his muscular frame, smothering Cayla with his woodsy scent. She wrapped her arms around his waist and quieted her soft cries into his chest. He pressed a small kiss on her forehead, which was quick, but filled with emotion.

   Behind the couple, Sam pressed the door open and worked around the pairs 'reunion'. And moved over to Florence. "I know it's dangerous, but the more you try to stop them from being together, the worse that it's gonna get. Cayla is going to need him to help her in order to get through this. And he definitely isn't going to stop trying to see her now that he knows something is wrong, no matter what you say."

    "I know. I just don't want my babies to get hurt. I guess that we'll have to tell her about you guys soon, huh?" Florence rubbed her head. The past 24 hours was not something that she was ready for in the slightest. And the mother of two had not even begun to think about how she was going to tell Conner.

    Sam nodded. "Yes, but I think that Paul should be the one to tell her. Considering. . . . y'know. . ."

    "Yeah."

-

    After their hug, Cayla had Paul help her up to her room, feeling overwhelmed from everything. He sat down on the edge of her bed. The two were silent for a moment, before she spoke up.

    "Aren't you going to ask me what's wrong?" Cayla asked. If any of her other friends were here, they would be pestering and prodding to find out what was going on.

    "No, of course I want to know. But I trust you Cayla. And I know that whatever is bothering you, you'll tell me whenever you're ready. But, just know that I'm always here for you, and that I think that you can get through whatever's going on." The russet-skinned boy told her genuinely. She smiled at him and licked her lips.

   "Thank you. . . . for everything. For being a great friend. And for coming to see me. And for, I don't know just, making me so happy." He opened his mouth to say something but was quickly interrupted.

"Paul. . . . what if I don't make it through this?"

    His mouth opened and then closed again. "Whatever this is, it can kill you?" A slight nod is what he received. "What? Are- are you sure there isn't a treatment? Are you serious? Cayla I-I-I don't know—" Paul started to panic once again. He started frantically pacing the room, running his hands through his cropped hair. "Is there anything I can do? Why isn't anyone doing anything?! Why is your mother just watching you die?!"

   "Paul, calm down! I-It's not— I don't even know how to start to explain what's going on."

   "Um, I don't know, the beginning?" He frustratedly said. He knew that getting mad would only make things even worse, but he couldn't help it.

Cayla scoffed even though she didn't mean to. "No shit, sherlock."

"Cayla!"

"I'm being serious! I just, can I tell you tomorrow? I just want to enjoy right now, with you." Paul desperately wanted to know, but decided to drop it, knowing that it would make her happy.

"Okay." He put gave her a slight grin. She patted the spot next to her, gesturing for him to lay down next to her.

"Am I gonna catch your disease, or sickness, or whatever this is?" He deadpanned. Cayla let out the first laugh she has had in days.

"Don't worry, it's not contagious." She said. If it was, it would be a hell of a sickness, with a side affect of turning into a fox.

Paul laid down next to Cayla as she scooted over. As he lifted his feet to place them in the bed, she scowled.

    "No way that you're putting your shoes on my bed, and my mom will be so mad that you didn't take them off before coming into the house."

-

    Conner woke up after a good 13 hours of sleep. He still did not know the truth, and Florence still didn't want to tell him.

    "Hey Mom. Oh? Sam?" He said as he went down the stairs.

"Hi, Conner."

"Hello, honey. There's something Sam and I would like to discuss with you."

-

And then he was gone. He couldn't handle it. He ran. Conner was petrified. His life was just starting. He had gotten multiple college offers for baseball. And now, he might die in a week? It made no sense. Wasn't this stuff only meant to be fictional tales kept in dusty old books? This couldn't be real. It couldn't be real. He needed to leave. He needed to breathe. So he ran.

Sam told Florence that he would tell Jared and Paul to help him look for the young boy, but that did not help Florence's mind at all. She started to pace the room, gnawing at her finger nails, which were coated with a lilac shade of paint. Sam watched, wondering if there was something he could do to help.

"Paul. . . we need to go. Say your goodbye and meet me at the car." Sam's deep voice echoed.

Sam sighed, wiping his face with his hand quickly. He knew that it was going to be a long night.

authors note
hi guys :( sorry it's been a minute things have been really bad lately and the corona virus isn't helping. . . and make sure to stay safe and be clean <3. hopefully know that we're on corona break i'll be able to update more. i'll see you guys later