|1| Broken Glass {Paul Lahote}

IV

"Dad, I'm home!" Paul called out loudly, as Juliana followed him into the Lahote house.

Paul reached out for the light switch and the room lit up with bright lights and Juliana winced at the surge of the brilliant brightness.

"Right, sorry." Paul mumbled and jogged upstairs, until a cough came from the living room.

"Hey, Mr. Lahote." Juliana said and reached out to shake his hand, and a chuckle came from the older man.

"That one has manners on her, keep her around. Maybe you can learn a bit of somethin' from her." He said with a chuckle, as Paul snorted sarcastically.

"Yeah, sure thing, Dad." He mumbled and motioned to Juliana, who jogs up the stairs to follow him quickly.

"Here." Paul said, tossing a bundle of clothes at Juliana, who was now only just realizin' that she was soaking wet from the pouring rain outside.

"Thanks." Juliana said and he points quickly down the hallway toward the bathroom, and Juliana grinned at him with surprise.

Neither of them really had to speak for communication anymore. They'd known each other for so long, that the silent communication, came naturally to them now.

Juliana sighed quietly, locking the bathroom door behind her. She was freezing cold, now that she was made aware of it. She quickly changed into the borrowed clothes, a too big hoodie a black sleeveless t-shirt, and a pair of sweatpants.

She shivered quickly, tossing her clothes into a towel and tying it up quickly to stop water from leaking out of it, as she tosses it into the bathroom corner, as a silent reminder to bring it home tomorrow.

She walked back into Paul's room without thinking and backpedaling at once, when she saw that he wasn't finished changing yet.

She averted her eyes and stood outside the door, her arms crossed and wincing slightly.

"I'm decent." Paul called out jokingly as he had heard her, walking into the room by mistake.

"Oh, shut up." Juliana complained jokingly, as he smirked, gesturing to the air mattress set up on the ground and he raised his eyebrows.

"I got it!"
"I got it!"

They both said and dove for the mattress and collided with a couple of loud grunts, as they were a bunch of limbs.

"Get your heavy ass off me, would you?" Juliana asked with a grunt, as somehow they were stuck.

"You're on top of me, weirdo." Paul muttered and Juliana winced at the name, rolling over a bit.

"Sorry." Juliana said and Paul shakes his head quickly at her, as he sat up as it was, cracking his neck.

"I'm on the air mattress." He says quietly with a triumphant smirk and she hit him on the shoulder gently.

"You jackass." She said, but still, she was smiling despite her attempts on the matter, and he looked at the clock on the wall.

"We should both get some sleep. It may be Saturday tomorrow, but we still need sleep." He said and Juliana looked over at the clock, and she lets a bit of a snort escape.

"It is already Saturday, Paul." She pointed out to him, as now she was just being a pain in the ass.

"Go to sleep." Paul retorted and Juliana sighed quietly, grinning in the darkness at her small victory in a way and he shut off the lights.

Juliana woke up the next morning to hear Paul's father talkin' on the phone and to see Paul's upset face, looking at her with worry and grief on his face.

"What happened?" Juliana asked at once of him, as Paul moved himself to the bed to sit next to her, as she sat up and he looks at the bed and picking at the comforter. "Paul, what happened? Why are you so quiet?" She asked and he sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"Last night, your dad tried to get the party under control. He managed that part of it, but Brad got into a car, with one of his drunk buddies at the wheel, and..." Juliana was already shaking, as his words trailed off.

She felt her eyes beginning to prickle with tears, and to her now, they felt a lot like a bunch of red-hot irons, were being pressed into them.

Hot tears of grief had begun to run and overflow out of her brown eyes and down her face, as Paul reached around and hugged her against him.

She leaned against him, her tears continuing to spill down her cheeks and he held her, not knowing what else to do.

"I'm sorry." He murmured and she leaned into his hug as she shakes her head at him.

"I wish I had been there. Maybe, maybe I could have stopped him, or at least kept the car from leaving." She whispered and Paul looked at her, as if she was insane.

"Hey, hey." He murmured as she continued to list all of the ways that she thought she could have helped in the situation more. "Look at me." He said and she looked at him as she fell silent, as tears were still streaming all down her face.

"What?" Juliana whispered as she began to wipe tears away from her face, and he shakes his head quickly at her.

"It was definitely not your fault, what happened to your brother. He made a choice, and he chose wrong." Paul's head tilted to the side slightly, as he looked at her. "Your dad wanted you away from all of that." He said as she whimpered quietly, and then, throws her arms around him in another hug.

"Thanks." She whispered and he sighed quietly, as he wrapped his arms around her again.

"For what?" He asked and she shakes her head, with a humorless chuckle at his words.

"For being there for every single stupid, dumb, dim, sad, good and bad thing that has ever happened." She mumbled and he smiled slightly, and he looked at her.

"What are the good things?" He asks and she narrowed her eyes and she'd be scrunching up her nose as she was thinking hard.

"Nothing that I can think of right now." She said and unintentionally caused them both to laugh, at her not so ironic at the moment, statement.

"Come on, I'll make breakfast." Paul said quietly, the mood suddenly a lot more somber again, and, they would both walk downstairs.