Let Yourself Fall // sequel to My Ethan Karpathy

Chapter 40.

PAISLEYS POV:

I wake up to four faces looking down on me, or should I say 'us'. I realise Jai still has all of his limbs wrapped around me and we are half way down the mattress, as though we were hiding under the blankets. Well, we were.

"Guys, it's not what it looks like." Jai mumbles into my hair.

"I'm sure it's not." Grace says sarcastically.

"No, seriously. Paisley do you want to explain?" Jai asks.

"Oh, wait. There was a storm last night, wasn't there?" Chris asks. I forgot he knew, it's a little embarrassing.

"Yeah."

"Don't worry, Guys. It's not what it looks like." Chris announces as Jai sits up slowly. My mind finally clicks when I realise Brai and Cat are here. I wonder if Sarah, Grace or Chris have filled them in yet?

"So, um, are you going to tell us why you're hiding from Ethan?" Cat asks me. I guess not.

Suddenly I get tongue tied and my throat goes dry. I want to speak but the feeling of tears is choking my throat up. The words just can't work their way out. It's weird, last night I could talk without crying because I was all out of emotion, but it's like today it's all reset itself again.

"Um, well, Paisley saw some dirty texts on Ethan's phone, from another girl." Chris explains for me.

"He's cheating on you?" Brai asks, his voice laced with disbelief and surprise. I just nod and look down at the floor.

"Brai, Jai, can I please talk to you out there?" Chris asks, pointing to the door.

JAIS POV:

We all walk out into the hallway and shut the door behind us. Chris takes us down the hallway a bit and starts to talk in a hushed tone.

"Brai, Ethan didn't cheat on Paisley. I saw the messages and they were from his cousin. His cousin has a boyfriend called Ethan and she got mixed up." he explains.

"I still don't believe it." I pipe up.

"Sounds sketchy.. What if he set up the whole cousin thing and she was just playing along?" Brai asks. He's thinking exactly what I am.

"I read the messages from days, months and even years before. She's his cousin." I insist.

"I don't know.." Brai starts but hesitates.

"That's what I thought would happen. I'm going to take you two down to Ethan so you can see him and those texts for yourself. He didn't cheat on her, he would never do that." Chris says.

"What about Paisley? And the other girls." I quickly add the last bit.

"I'll get Grace to take them shopping or something."

"What if Ethan goes there and sees them or something?" Brai asks.

"I'll get her to take them to the shopping centre on this side of town then." Chris shrugs.

"Alright, I really need to see this." I say.

Chris walks over to the door, knocks quietly, opens it and leans on the door frame. He asks Grace to come out into the hall and he stands there for a few seconds, waiting for her. When she finally does come, she walks down the hall to us.

"Okay, Grace, I'm taking the guys to see Ethan today. They don't believe the whole cousin thing so I'm going to show them. We need to get Paisley and Ethan together again somehow or they will both end up down a road they can't turn back on." Chris announces.