Chapter 27

Once the laundry finishes, Dawn changes back into her clothes. Her and Paul haven't talked since his outburst. They had lunch and are now just laying on their beds while scrolling through their phones. Dawn watched a weather channel and the blizzard shouldn't clear up until tomorrow. Then it'll take the small town at least 2 days to plow the roads.

Their quietness is interrupted by Paul's phone ringing. Groaning, he picks it up. "What?" Dawn doesn't hear the other person on the line, but she watches as Paul sighs a lot and groans. "It's not like that." He mutters. "If that's all you're calling for, then bye." The person seems to say something and he stays on the line, but then Dawn sees Paul scowl deeper. "Bye, Maylene." And he hangs up before Maylene can say anything else annoying.

Maylene. Dawn thinks. The pink haired woman and Paul are close enough to have phone calls and it seems like she can tease him too. Are they really just friends? "Paul?"

"Hm." he responds while looking at his phone.

"What are you and Maylene?"

She sees the man groan and sets his phone down. He looks into her eyes angrily. "Why do you keep asking about her?"

"You guys seem close."

"We're friends."

"You don't have friends."

"I guess I do now." They already went through this!

"Are you dating?"

Paul looks at her in shock and disgust. "Shut up, troublesome."

She glares at him now. "Why? Cuz it's true?"

"What will make you stop asking about Maylene?" he groans. Paul needs some peace and quiet, and Maylene and Dawn aren't giving him that. The older woman had called him to tease him about Dawn since he texted that she was over last night. Maylene knows about the blizzard and figured out that Dawn must've slept over. Now, she's teasing him about Dawn, and Dawn is asking questions about Maylene. This is why Paul likes to be alone.

"Tell me about her." Dawn answers.

"Ask her yourself."

"Then I'll just keep asking about her."

He takes a deep breath to calm down. "For the last time, she is a friend."

"How'd you meet?"

"My brother and I were going to her family's gym to learn how to box."

"How come I haven't heard about her 'til now?"

"Why do I need to answer your questions?" he annoyedly asks.

"Or else I'll just keep asking them, and you won't have peace." she shrugs and smirks at him.

"Fine." He narrows his eyes at her. "If I answer all of your questions, I don't pay rent this month."

"Fine." She extends her hand, which he sits up and shakes.

"She reported me to the police 7 years ago." Paul answers. Dawn gives him a shocked expression and he chooses to ignore it. "I cut her out of my life, but we just reconnected recently."

Dawn is silent as she takes in the information. She really didn't expect him to say that. "Sorry, Paul."

"If you're gonna get sad every time I tell you about my life, I'm going to stop."

She giggles. This is so like Paul. She jumps on the side of his mattress and shoves her phone in his face. "Look!" He sees it is The Piplup's social media account with 11,000 followers.

The man smirks at her. "What's the plan now?"

Dawn thinks. She doesn't really want to take The Piplup out of Twinleaf Town. She also wants to keep running it. She's pretty content with things now. "I'm happy with how things are going. This is all I ever wanted."

Paul raises an eyebrow at her. "You won't become a millionaire like this."

"That's not why I'm doing this, Paul." She smiles at him. "This cafe was my mom's life. She loved the relationships she formed with the customers and being that little bit of Twinleaf that people could remember. I'm happy to be doing that again. Thank, Paul."

He looks down at the ground and then back at her. It's true that the cafe has been very successful lately. He's already gotten his investment back from Dawn and she is giving him his percentage of the profits. "So what's your dream? The cafe is your mom's."

Dawn is shocked by his sudden question. She sighs and leans back on her hands. "I went to college to be an interior designer. But I never finished my degree because my mom got sick. I took classes online, but once she passed away, I couldn't bring myself to do it. And then I had the cafe to worry about."

"You turned the cafe into a nice looking place that can also work as a bar. It's appearance helps attract customers too. When you're sitting comfortably and have enough staff, you should go back to school." He nonchalantly suggests.

Dawn smiles at him. Paul always pushes her to be better and do more. Yes, he's an asshole and rude, but deep down, he's a caring guy. He just shows he cares in a roundabout grumpy way. The words are out of her mouth again before she can realize it: "I like you, Paul."