FIX ME - Paul Lahote Story

Chapter 2

Caitlyn's POV

That had been over a week ago.

Since Jacob had driven me to school that day, he also drove Paul and me back to my house. Paul didn't always come back to my house with me, he lived close by so he usually walked to and from school, but we'd made plans to spend the afternoon together that day. 

Our plans were rarely a specific schedule or activity, they were mostly just the acknowledgement of a desire to spend time together. Beyond that we usually figured everything out on our way home, our moods and the weather of the day contributing to our final decisions. Though, since we were both creatures of habit -as well as laziness- we mostly stuck to video game battles and takeout binges.

Quil and Embry were always dropped off by one of their parents and either walked home from school at the end of the day, or they got a ride from Jake or Jared. Their houses were further away from the school than Paul's but pretty close to each other's, so they occasionally walked home together.

There hadn't been enough space in Jacob's truck for all five of us, so Quil and Embry had opted to walk back to their houses while Paul and I got a ride back to my house. Jacob would've left right after, had he not noticed how eerily quiet the house was. 

Jared wasn't there. 

The three of us searched the entire house for any sign of him but it was exactly as it had been when I left for school, minus Jared of course. There wasn't a note in the house nor a message on my phone to tell me where he'd gone. He'd disappeared without a word to anyone.

To anyone else, Jared's absence wasn't a cause for concern. He was 18, not 8. If he decided to go out then he didn't need to inform someone, certainly not his little sister. He'd also only been gone for a few hours at most, so there wasn't any real reason to worry. 

However, to me it was an issue. Jared hadn't been well when I saw him in the morning. He'd been stumbling like a drunk man from just trying to make it across the kitchen, so there was no way he could've managed being outside of the house for the entire day. He shouldn't have even left the house at all because he was meant to be resting, and I was no doctor but loitering about the town all day didn't seem like a good idea for someone suffering from a deliriously high fever and dizziness.

There was also the fact that Jared usually told me if he wasn't going to be at home, both because I hated being alone in the house, and so I would know how long I had the place to myself. As for me, I made sure to tell him if I was meeting up with a friend and wouldn't be at home. Mostly so he wouldn't get food for me, thinking I was in my bedroom when in fact I was having lunch with my friend.

Jake -being the good cousin that he was- volunteered to stay with me until Jared returned.

Since Jake was staying, Paul also volunteered to sleep over at mine. "I don't mind keeping you company. It'll just be an impromptu sleepover," he's assured me.

When I told him he didn't have to and that his parents might not be so on board with that idea, he'd insisted on it, promising me that his parents wouldn't mind. "In fact, they'd insist upon it. Mr and Mrs Lahote raised a gentleman, I'll have you know," he'd said in a playful tone, with a cheeky smile on his face.

I'd snorted in response, rolling my eyes at his behaviour. 

If his parents knew half of the stuff he said and did, I knew they'd ground him until his 20th birthday. Or worse, his  mother would give him the eyebrows of disappointment and the pursed lips of silent exasperation. Those were a truly painful yet effective weapon. His father usually chose to curse under his breath and then call Paul a pain in his ass... lovingly of course.