Let Yourself Fall // sequel to My Ethan Karpathy

Chapter 90.

JAIS POV:

I'm sitting on the couch with Chris, waiting for Ethan to come home. Paisley hasn't, but Ethan is, and I don't know how that's going to go down. I don't want him to get mad, he's already got a reputation of that. We hear the doorbell ring as we exchange the same, worried stare. Chris gets up silently to open it. Holly went to bed. She's exhausted. She's been out looking all day, and tomorrow she's going to the police. I stay on the couch while Chris brings him through. He actually doesn't look that worried.. I don't know if he fully understands what's going on right now. He sits down on the couch and leans back, letting himself get comfy.

"Ethan, why aren't you worried?" Chris asks, sitting across from him next to me.

"Alright," he starts, sitting forward like he's about to tell a story. "I saw her at the airport."

"She went to the airport?" I ask quickly.

"Mhmm. She's going somewhere, and she says she will come back."

"Where is she going? Is she safe?" Chris asks. Ethan shrugs as though he doesn't really want to talk about it.

"Why are you guys still here? It's like 10:30." Ethan asks.

"We waited up for you. We thought you might want to talk." I explain.

"Well.. Do you want to stay over?" He asks, getting up to what I assume is to find Holly.

"Yeah, alright." Chris shrugs at the same time I nod.

BRAIS POV:

When the plane lands, I am shaken awake. I tilt my head back up and realise I was resting on Paisley's head on my shoulder. She's still asleep, so I gently try to wake her up.

"Hey, we're here." I say quietly as she slowly wakes up. She realises that she fell asleep on me and her cheeks turn pink.

"I'm- I'm sorry." she stutters, reaching down for her stuff.

It was more of a rhetorical statement, so I don't answer. As the plane comes to a stop, and the seatbelt sign is turned off. We both click them off and struggle to stand up. Since we were right at the back, we were one of the first people off. It's pitch black outside, so we had to find our way through lights. I really hope mum goes for it, because then I'd honestly feel so bad. I spot her, and she is smiling, but then she sees Paisley is walking right next to me and her expression turns confused. We reach the top of the ramp and she comes over to hug me. She then whispers that we need to talk in my ear. I nod for Paisley to stay there as we walk away.

"Brai? Who's that? Why is she with you?" Mum asks.

"Mum, can she please stay with us for a little bit? Not long, she can't go home." I plead.

"Braiden.. I don't even know he-" she starts but I cut her off.

"So you're going to let me fly an innocent girl half way across the country and then turn around and say she can't stay? She needs somewhere to stay. I was being a man, making decisions to help others. It's what you always taught me to do." I try, playing that card.

"Alright.. A little while." she sighs, giving in.

"And mum-" I start.

"Yeah?" She asks.

"She doesn't know." I tell her, hoping she'll catch on.

"Alright, but what's her name?" She asks.

"Paisley Arrons."

"She's pretty." mum observes.

"I know." I say before I even realise. Mum just smirks and walk back over towards Paisley.

"Hi, I'm Sarah." she says, holding out her hand. Paisley shakes it and smiles at her.

"I'm Paisley." she replies.

"Shall we go?" Mum asks, turning to me. I nod.

Mum leads the way through the airport. We get a few second glances, but not many. It's late, not many people would be here to recognise me. The car ride home doesn't take that long, but Paisley leans her head against the window. She's polite whenever mum asks questions, but she's obviously tired. I think mum realises that because she stops after a while.When we pull up out the front of the house, Paisley lifts her head up and looks around. We all slowly get out the car and grab our stuff from the boot. Mum holds the door open and let's us go through. Paisley trails behind me as we walk upstairs, not knowing what to do. I tell her to just drop her stuff and take her downstairs to get her a drink. She lets me make her lemon tea and sits on the bar stool, watching me make it.

"Thank you." she says when I hand it to her.

"All good. Are you tired?" I ask, walking around and sitting on the stool next to her.

"I guess. Thank you, Brai. You don't know how much this means to me." she says seriously, looking me right in the eyes, making it almost impossible to answer.

"It's fine, just make sure you let me know if you need anything." I manage. She's driving me crazy, Paisley Arrons is in my house. Mum comes downstairs and gives me a thumbs up, letting me know the mattress is ready.

"Well, I'm going to bed. See you guys tomorrow afternoon, I have to leave early." mum announces before coming over. She kisses me on the cheek and smiles at Paisley, leaving me embarrassed. Paisley smiles a bit at my embarrassment, which makes me remember. She doesn't have a mum anymore.

"Let's go to bed." I say, taking her empty mug from her hand.

I place them in the sink and help her down from the stool. She lets her fingertips linger around my hand as we walk through the living room and up the stairs. It drives me crazy, I just want to grab it to stop her. I itch my head as an excuse to stop me. We reach my room and I look inside to see a big mattress laid out on the floor. It had three fat pillows and two fluffy blankets laid out over it.

"Well, hop in." I say, probably way too cheerfully. Should I have offered her the bed?

Paisley slowly walks over and crouches down, getting into bed. I stop staring and climb into my own bed which was right next to the mattress. I switch the light off but the room was still dimly lit. Paisley is in my room, right next to me.

"Goodnight," she whispers.

"Goodnight, Paisley."

I lay there for fifteen minutes, waiting for her to fall asleep. I want to make sure she's okay before I fall asleep myself. She's staring straight at the ceiling, only blinking every once in a while. I continue to stare as her eyes well up with tears. They don't fall yet, they just sit there, leaving her blinking rapidly. When they begin to escape out her eyes, they fall slowly at first. It's painful watching someone cry when they're right in front of you.

"Come up here." I say, scaring myself. I have to think before I say.

She doesn't answer but moves right to the other side of the mattress, as far away as possible. There she turns over. I can hear her trying not to cry, but she sounds like she's actually in pain holding it all in. I do what my instincts tell me, I pull back the sheets and swing my legs over the edge of the bed. I crawl over behind her.

"You can cry. Please cry." I say, not knowing what to do.

"I'm okay," she says unconvincingly. "I'll be fine."

"What can I do?" I press on.

"I'm fine." she insists.

"No you're not." I sigh.

I slide under the first blanket, making sure to leave one in between us. I am unsure whether to put an arm around her or not. I put my hand on her arm, trying to be soothing. She suddenly grabs my wrist and pulls it over her. She pulls it down so it's over her waist. She lets go of my wrist and snuggles herself into her pillow. Her crying stops as she slowly falls asleep.