MAGNOLIA ❀ P. LAHOTE

8. Cult of Giant Dogs

❀

"So, where is Jared?" Dior asks as the three girls grab their lunch, noticing she hadn't seen the boy who's usually trailing around her cousin.

"He had to go out of town, but hopefully he'll be back soon. I don't particularly wanna deal with Paul all on my own," Magnolia mutters, wincing at her words, trying hard not to facepalm, "why the fuck can I not keep my mouth shut?!"

"Hold on, you've been hanging around Paul? As in Paul Lahote, the one who almost frickin' killed you, Paul Lahote?" Sunshine looks at her wide-eyed before sharing a look with Dior, who just shakes her head.

"It's against my will! If it was up to me, I wouldn't be anywhere near his funky ass," Magnolia makes a stank face.

Sunshine looks at the angry-looking boy who sat next to Sam with crossed arms, "I dunno, Paul's always been kinda cute," she says and gets offended by the looks she's receiving, "what? I was just saying," she pouts, stabbing her fork into her salad before shoveling the leafy greens into her mouth.

"Sometimes you shouldn't be allowed to say things," Dior sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose, "actually, sometimes I wish the both of you would keep your mouths shut."

"I mean, yeah, Paul's attractive, but he's also kinda fuckin' psycho. Like, why else would you think it's funny to let someone fall almost fifteen feet off the ground," Magnolia says with furrowed eyebrows and if she thought about it too hard, she could almost feel the pain from her rib puncturing her lung all over again.

The Quileute girl glances back at him, their eyes meeting for a moment, and for a split second, it almost looks like his soften before he goes back to glaring at her and Magnolia rolls her eyes, looking back at her friends, "Anyways, he's been a real dick to me lately and he really doesn't like seeing, hearing, or even thinking about me and Jared."

Sunshine covers her mouth to hide her giggle, "Do you think he's jealous?"

"Bitch, of what?" Magnolia makes a face, "Of me and Jared? You're insane."

"Paul being jealous of you and Jared would mean he had any semblance of an attraction to you, and that, no offense, is insane," Dior says and Magnolia nods in agreement.

Was it really that crazy that maybe, just maybe, Paul Lahote had a crush on Magnolia Clearwater? The theory weighed on her mind viciously throughout the day, it would explain the way he acted towards her, but then again, the way he treated her at times, was more than teasing. It really was bullying, bordering on criminal behavior, but who was she to be the judge of that? It's not like she wasn't one of his victims.

Nevertheless, Magnolia would be lying if she said she'd never had a crush on Paul when they were younger. He was cute kid and when he wanted to be nice, he could be really nice. They were really in a toxic, narcissistic dynamic if you thought about it. He'd be a raging dick and then once in a while would love-bomb the shit out of the poor girl and the cycle would just repeat.

He kinda messed her up real bad and that's probably the reason she gravitated toward Nathan, because he reminded her of Paul if you took away the assault and battery. He was boisterous, he was popular, he was in sports, he had a group of douche-y friends, and he when love-bombed, he love-bombed hard.

"Thank God for ice-cream," Sunshine moans and Magnolia's finally snapped out of her thoughts.

She'd pretty much been running on auto pilot since lunch. Her brain took over and she couldn't stop thinking of all the reasons as to why her life turned out the way that it did and why she was in the position she was in right now.