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𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝚌𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝐛𝐲,
𝐏𝐀𝐔𝐋 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐒𝐋𝐄𝐄𝐏. earlier that day, he'd received the news of john's mother's passing, and now he was wide awake, thinking continuously. mostly about john, but also about his own mother, how much he missed her. so he sat up from his bed and stared melancholily at the floor, unable to hear the crazy tapping on his window.
"hello!" an unnecessarily loud voice called, drawing the muffled word out. realizing that ivy was outside, paul wiped quickly at his eyes and slid the window open. her grinning face was inches from his, and he was about to ask how on earth she could've managed to get up to the window when she noticed the plain sadness surrounding him and grabbed both sides of his face. "oh, paul, what's happened?"
paul pushed her hands away and wrapped his arms around her, dragging her through the small space. when she was safely inside, he asked, "do you have any idea what time it is?" he brought his arms back to his sides, but as usual, she wasn't listening.
she was wearing a deep blue and orange dress, long-sleeved, the material clinging to her arms and waist. he wondered how she constantly managed to look good, through all hours of the day and well into the night, how she didn't even have to try.
ivy sat lightly on his bed, curling up next to one of the pillows. "you can tell me, you know." her voice was soft, hands motioning for him to sit next to her. obviously reluctant, paul did, straightening his legs in front of him as he laid back. she could tell that he was flustered with their close proximity by the dark blush of his cheeks, and his nervousness only made her want to come nearer.
paul exhaled quietly, eyes turning to the ceiling. it definitely wasn't his business, but john was ivy's first friend from liverpool, and they were basically one in the same, so maybe it made sense for her to know. "john's mother was struck yesterday," he stared at her confused features, her twisted beauty, "she was just crossing the street. now she's gone."
ivy blinked. "what?" she stopped to let his words register, her heart pounding unexplainably faster. "oh.. oh god. how is he? have you talked to him?" she watched paul nod, watched him lose focus of her. his lost expression made her think there was something else bothering him, something deeper.
"he's not doing well, he's very upset.." paul trailed off. he cleared his throat, the topic was making him feel sick. an uncomfortable silence filled the room as neither of them spoke, their thoughts solely on john. paul cleared his throat again and jumped when he noticed ivy's staring. he frowned at her, "why are you looking at me like that?" because nothing good ever came from that familiar crooked half-smile.
ivy knew paul was feeling worse than he let on, and she wanted to try and make him feel better. "i think you need a hug," ivy mused, squinting her eyes.
paul didn't think he needed a hug, but her squinting face made him laugh weakly, almost uneasily. "ivy, no." but he might as well have said ivy, yes, because she was tackling him anyway, and with her excessive power, they both tumbled off the bed. ivy smacked her head painfully on his bony shoulder while his hit the carpeted floor.
for some strange reason, she was giggling. "fuck," paul muttered, helping her sit up, "that's got to be the worst hug i've ever -" he stopped mid-sentence when he saw the way she was pressing her hand on her head. their previous conversation topic started to fade from his mind as he became increasingly worried.
they bickered over letting him see her forehead until paul finally managed to pry her hand from her head. his eyes widened at the conspicuous injury- because in the time they'd been arguing, the area in question had swollen and turned an awkward, flaming red. in a word, it was frightening.
"take a picture, it'll last longer," ivy deadpanned, reaching her hand up to touch her swollen forehead again.
paul grabbed her wrist before she could, "hey, don't touch that. it already looks pretty bad, we've got to go to a doctor or something." ivy commented that it was one in the morning, and seeing that he was left with no other option, he decided to wake his father. paul was grounded for the second time that month.
