Chapter 26

Dawn jolts awake to a loud clatter. She looks around and notices Paul at the kitchen with a bunch of pots on the ground. Smiling to herself, she gets up and walks over to help him.

"I got it." He mutters.

She shakes her head. "You only have one arm, Paul." And Dawn quickly finishes putting the pots and pans away. The two then stand up and she looks at him. "What are you doing anyway?"

He awkwardly rubs the back of his head. "I wanted breakfast."

"I'll make it." She grins and pushes him away from the small kitchen.

Paul decides to workout while he waits. His shoulder isn't strong enough for push-ups yet, but he can do crunches and twists. He attempts one armed push ups and pull ups, but his chest isn't strong enough to do more than a few. As Paul lands from releasing the pull up bar, he curses to himself. He hates being weak. He feels so helpless when Cyrus is around. He needs his shoulder to heal up quicker. Although Paul doesn't need the sling anymore, he can't put too much pressure on the pained shoulder. Seeing as how Dawn is still cooking, he opts for a warm shower. After the shower, Paul walks out in grey sweatpants and a long sleeve black shirt. The smell from the kitchen hits his nose and he feels his stomach growl.

"Hey, Paul!" Greets the bluenette. "Your plate is on the counter." She smiles from her seat on his bed. He nods and grabs the plate before sitting down next to her. The air mattress is too flimsy, and Paul doesn't want to risk spilling his food. Once they finish their food, Dawn washes the dishes as Paul looks at his stocks. She then goes to the window and sighs.

Curious, Paul goes to the window too and doesn't know if he should be pissed or grateful. The snow is still blowing and you can make out the 2ft of snow below. This is definitely not good driving conditions. "You can stay until the roads are clear." He tells the bluenette beside him. Damn it, Ghost Reggie. What kind of sign is this?

"I'm sorry, Paul."

"You can't control the weather." He then goes back to his air mattress.

The bluenette hesitantly looks at him. "Do you have a toothbrush, towel, and some clothes I can wear?" He raises an eyebrow at her. "Well, I didn't exactly plan to sleep over when I came yesterday."

Groaning, Paul gets up and grabs a clean t-shirt. He's going to give him shorts or sweatpants when he realizes they'll be too big on him. Paul sighs as he tries to hide his blush. "Boxers fine?"

"Huh?" She can only see his back since he is facing his shelf.

"My shorts and pants are too big for you." Dawn finally understands what he's saying and she has a faint blush as she nods. "Yeah, that's fine. I'll wash my dirty clothes today and wear them when they're clean." She says referring to the clothes she is wearing right now.

Paul hands her the black t-shirt and black boxers. "Extra towel and toothbrush is in the bathroom closet." he tells her and goes back to his mattress.

Dawn finally emerges from the bathroom after a nice warm shower. She throws her clothes in his basket and asks, "Got anymore clothes for me to wash?"

"No." his gaze still remains on his phone.

She then heads down to the basement to wash the clothes. Soon, she is back and sits on the rug in front of Paul. He sighs and moves his phone so he can see her better and then blushes at the sigh of her in his clothes. The phone quickly returns to his face as he tries to hide the blush and he turns around on the mattress.

Pouting, Dawn says, "I want to talk, Paul!"

"Nothing to talk about."

"Are you and Maylene dating?"

Paul sits up quickly and looks at her with slight disgust. "What makes you think that?"

The bluenette awkwardly looks down at her lap. "Well, you did bring her here and she stayed with you for 2 weeks. And you two seem really close."

Paul sighs and rubs his forehead as he swings his feet around and faces her. "Maylene and I aren't dating."

Dawn looks up into his coal eyes and smiles warmly. "I was just curious since she talks about you a lot."

Paul groans. Of course Maylene would talk about him. "She's just a friend."

"I thought you didn't have friends?"

"Apparently, I do now." he stands up and opts to sit on his bed since it is firmer than the air mattress.

Dawn follows and sits next to him with a grin. "So we're friends now?"

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't not say it."

He looks at her and smirks. "You're troublesome."

"Actually, my name is Dawn." Paul chuckles and lays back with his feet dangling on the edge of the bed. "How's your shoulder?" she asks after a few minutes of silence.

"Better but weak as hell." he grumbles. He'll have to train with Maylene when it's stronger.

"Can I see it?" The bluenette quietly asks.

Surprised by her request, Paul sits up and takes off his shirt anyway. He faces his torso towards her and she brings a hand to the bullet wound. Paul watches her facial expressions. She is looking at his scar intensely with a straight face, but soon she frowns and her sad blue eyes meet his annoyed grey ones.

"Don't go alone next time." she manages to say.

Paul slips his shirt back on. "I didn't."

They sit in silence as Dawn realizes who he must've gone with. "Maylene." She quietly says. Paul just nods and puts his elbows on his knees as he leans forward. "Do you like her?"

He groans. Why does she keep asking about Maylene and him in that way? "I said she's a friend."

"Yeah, but you can like your friends." She blushes as she says this.

"I don't like anyone."

"Oh." She almost sounds disappointed. "Paul?"

"If it's about Maylene, forget it." he gruffly responds.

"No." She hesitates. "Can you take me with you next time?"

"No." he quickly snaps while keeping his gaze on the ground by his feet.

"But you brought me before!"

"And now it's too dangerous!" He's facing her with an angry glare. "This isn't some action movie where the good guys all come back alive!"

"Oh but Maylene can come?" Dawn angrily crosses her arms.

Paul rubs his temples in frustration. "I brought Maylene here to be the bouncer. Can't you see she can handle herself?"

"And I know jiu jitsu." she tells him matter-of-factly.

"She actually uses what she knows."

Dawn looks at him with mock amazement. "So that's what you like, Paul? A physical girl?"

"Why do you keep talking about Maylene? What's your problem?" he annoyedly asks.

"My problem is I feel like you replaced me, Paul!" Dawn's eyes gloss over, but she isn't crying.

"Again, this is dangerous. I shouldn't have even brought you that first time." he glares at her.

"Why won't you ever just accept someone's help, Paul?"

"Because you might get hurt!" He shouts back and she gives him a surprised look. Paul runs a hand through his hair. "I don't want anymore people getting hurt." He softly says.