care for each other • paxton hall-yoshida

underlying effects

paxton and fallon had accompanied devi to the emergency room after she had an entirely too close encounter with a coyote at the party. it was good for the girl, who had been getting dangerously close to her ex-boyfriend. the divide was an unwelcome relief.

"hey, you're all over instagram right now." paxton told the injured girl, taking a seat on her hospital bed.

"what do you mean?" devi asked, half intrigued by the idea of going viral. of course, these were not the exact circumstances that she imagined, but all press was good press.

fallon let out a chuckle from her seat, finding the situation more than amusing, "everyone thinks you died."

the joke wouldn't be nearly as funny if devi were seriously hurt or even dead, but since she was sitting upright and paxton was in her close proximity, fallon knew she was safe to find this night hilarious.

paxton shrugged, having a simple solution to the problem, "let's take a pic. let them know you're good."

the boy leaned in close and snapped a pic with the girl who could've been drooling over him. fallon watched with a small smile, happy that her friend was living out one of her deepest fantasies. sure, the pair had apparently been intimate, but paxton was being genuinely sweet in that moment. fallon found that to be more important than most other physical attributes.

the girl was about to get up to get a water from the vending machine, but her phone received a text that made her glad she was sitting down.

joe: had a good time tonight

fallon's eyes grew wide and looked to devi and paxton, who hadn't even noticed the way her world had begun to change. this may very well have been the most torn she's felt in months. she wanted nothing more than to text him to pick her up and take her back to his house. however, being of a proper state of mind, she knew this was the last thing she could do and still want to look at herself tomorrow.

on the same token that devi and paxton hadn't realized what fallon was going through, fallon completely missed the moment where paxton had referred to devi as his friend. normally, this wouldn't be such a bad claim, but friend was a definitive term where devi would have preferred to keep things ambiguous. she had been officially friend-zoned by paxton hall-yoshida.

suddenly the curtains to devi's area were torn open, revealing her mother. the woman immediately began to tear into the attractive boy sitting vigil by her daughter's bedside, "who are you? what are you doing?"

"hi, dr. vishwakumar," paxton smiled sweetly, springing up out of devi's personal space, "devi got bit by a coyote, but she's in stable condition now."

dr. vishwakumar was hardly impressed with the boy who was just trying to be helpful. she would've rather had fallon diagnose the girl. at least she knew who that was.

"oh, is she in stable condition?" the woman asked facetiously, staring at the boy with annoyed eyes, "how are her vitals? tell me more, dr. walking HPV infection. get the hell out of here!"

paxton nodded, not wanting to be in the middle
of that conversation any longer. if that's what devi would be dealing with, fallon decided it was best to step out as well.

"good to see you, dr. vishwakumar." fallon smiled politely, but made sure to leave before she could be given an insulting nickname as well.

paxton and fallon walked through the hall, on their way to the exit.

"thanks for taking us to the ER, by the way," she told him as they walked, truly grateful for the boy's chivalry, "i've only got my permit, so-"

"anytime," paxton replied, truly meaning the words he was saying. there was something about the girl that made him want to go out of his way to do nice things, "need a ride home?"