Let Yourself Fall // sequel to My Ethan Karpathy

Chapter 8.

ETHANS POV:

I decide I should probably wake her up, so I slide my hand off of her back and her eyes instantly snap open. She looks scared, hurt and scarred. You can see it all in her eyes. They are watery, but no tears fall. I smile at her softly, but she doesn't smile back, she just looks at me. I sigh and lean forward to kiss her lips softly. She kisses back, but half halfheartedly. She has no energy to.

"Paisley, just please know I always love you." I tell her.

"I know," is all she says. My heart skips a beat when she doesn't say I love you back. This can't be happening, can it?

I sit up and I can see the guilt in her eyes, I think she does love me still, this is just a bad time. She's not herself at the moment. I walk over to her cupboard and pull out a pair of leggings and one of my hoodies she keeps in there, then carry them over to her and hold them out to her. She winces as she takes them and tries to pull them on because she was only wearing my shirt. It obviously really hurts so I walk over to where she's sitting on the end of the bed and sit down in front of her. I take the leggings off of her and side her foot carefully in, then do the same with the other and slide them up little by little. She's wearing bike shorts, so when I get to the top it doesn't really matter too much. Her arms are so weak and sore right now that she can't pull them up herself. I manage to get them up to her hips but she flinches when my fingers accidentally brush her across ass. The poor girl, she must be traumatised.

"Do you want me to go while you do your shirt?" I ask her.

"Thank you for respecting me." she whispers. I take that as a yes and walk out the room. I stay at the door however, something tells me she's going to need help. Fifteen minutes later she's still not done.

"Paisley?" I ask.

No answer.

I decide to risk it and walk in. My shirt is on the floor, but she's sitting on the bed in her bra, clutching her side, tears streaming down her face.

"Oh my god what happened?" I ask, rushing over to her.

"I don't know, it hurts." she manages through her tears.

"Let me help." I tell her. She just nods and hands me the hoodie slowly.

I slide it over her head, trying my best not to move her arms until I have to. I carefully lift her right arm and slide it through the hole. She winces in pain but slides it through. When I try to move her left arm, however, she lets out a small yelp.

"I'm so, so, so sorry." I rush out.

"It's okay, I'll do it myself."

I let go and she grits her teeth and slowly puts her arm through the hole. I don't know what I'm going to do.

"Should we go downstairs?" I ask.

She nods and tries to stand up but sits down instantly and starts bawling her eyes out even harder.

"Come on, come on, shhhh." I comfort her, putting my arm around her waist and stroking her hair.

"I can't do anything." she sobs.

"You can, but you don't need to." I assure her.

"I feel useless."

"You helped me, and now this time I'll help you."

She holds her arms out and I lift her up so she's standing. She then wraps her arms around me in a hug but I just grab her under her legs and scoop her up softly. She snuggles into me as I carry her to my room. I drop her on the bed while I find myself a shirt and when I turn around, she hasn't moved. I pick her up again and carry her down to the couch, lay her down and notice she still has those tears in her eyes.