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Paulo’s jacket was pulled tighter over himself than ever. He usually wasn’t the type to bundle up, even in cold weather, but tonight was extra cold, far more cold than he could have expected. The air stung his face as he ran, his fingers, while wrapped in gloves, were already going numb. Despite all of these setbacks, the somali was grinning ear to ear; none of that mattered to him tonight, tonight he was on a mission.
Though he was smiling, a small stone of anxiety still sat in his stomach, that anxiety was what spurned him into this quest in the first place, and it would lead him to the end of it. He couldn’t believe that no one in his friend group seemed to be as concerned about Lucy as he was. Sure, Sue was concerned, but she gave this whole excuse about giving Lucy her space and clarifying that she would still be there for the Khao-manee if she needed it. Paulo thought that excuse was stupid, and if no one else was going to check on her, he sure as hell would. Lucy never missed school, or at least she missed it a fuck of a lot less than Paulo did, so in his mind she was always there. Her parents would never let her not go to school for this long, something must be wrong, very wrong, and Paulo was going to figure out what that something was if it was the last thing he did. At the very least, he was damn well going to try.
Her house was just a block away from him now, he had memorized its location at this point. Even at a time like this, he couldn’t help himself from having his heart beat a little faster when it came into view. The light from Lucy’s bedroom window glowed through her blinds, projecting out into the winter air. Paulo’s grin widened as he unconsciously prepared to jump her fence, she was awake! He could go knock on the door like a normal person, but there was no way that Sam or Jordan would let him in to see her. He couldn’t even remember what he did to get Jordan of all people pissed at him; but to him, it didn't matter all that much anyway, he didn't have to think about it if no one made him.
With a leap, he vaulted over the Rose family fence and into Lucy’s backyard. More accurately, it was a side yard, the small lot beside the house where they kept their dumpsters until it was time to bring them out for trash day. In Paulo’s opinion, it was the best side of the house, because Lucy was on it.
His eyes roved the lot for rocks. Choosing a good one was a careful task, and Paulo needed to make sure to pick one that was just the right size. Too big of a rock would break the window, which was far more trouble than the scruffy-haired Somali was willing to get up to tonight, and too small of a rock wouldn’t even be noticed. He rubbed his chin in thought, the rough textures of his glove caressing his fur, he needed one that was just right, one that would get Lucy’s attention in a single throw.
His eyes eventually landed on one that he reached down to grab. It fit perfectly in the palm of his hand, just the right size to throw at Lucy’s window. After a moment of preparation and a couple of deep breaths, he slung it upward. It generated a satisfying clack as it ricochetted off the window, falling back down to the ground where Paulo would pick it up to throw it again if Lucy didn’t answer.
However, that wasn’t necessary, as only a collection of seconds after he threw the rock the blinds were slowly pulled up. Lucy’s figure was highlighted by the light of her bedroom behind her, and Paulo couldn’t help but have a smile spread across his face. She looked far more tired than usual, the dark circles around her eyes so much darker than the last time he had seen her, which had been weeks ago. None of that mattered to Paulo though, he was just happy to see her, she was as beautiful as ever.
The Khao-manee’s eyes flicked around in confusion before they drifted downwards to see the boy in her yard looking up at her with a grin. Though Paulo couldn’t hear it, he could feel the sigh that left her lungs as Lucy slowly opened her window, poking her head out to get a better look at the Somali beneath her.
“Hey!” Paulo called up, the moon nearly right overhead and lighting up his face. He couldn’t think of any other way to begin the conversation, he would surely figure it out as he went.
Lucy’s ice-colored eyes searched his face for a moment before she spoke, her lips were a little more tense than usual. “Hey.” she eventually delivered back, her voice was flat, devoid of even the usual sass she kept in her tone. The expression on her face was similarly flat, her tired eyes settling her into an apathetic expression. “Why are you here?” The girl above asked with a tilt of her head, as if Paulo showing up at all made no sense.
Paulo had no idea what mood Lucy had gotten herself in, but she was pretty either way. “To check up on you! Duh!!” He shot back incredulously, throwing out his arms to accentuate his point. “You haven’t been to school in like… weeks or some shit!”
Each pause between Paulo’s words and Lucy’s responses felt a little longer than normal; her eyes dug into him, emotionless and distant. “And you thought the best time to,” she slipped her arms out of the window in order to do air quotes, “‘check up on me’, was the middle of the night on a Sunday?”
Paulo stared back at her, “But it’s Saturday…”
Lucy shook her head, “Not anymore. Listen, look at me, you see that I’m fine. Now go home before you get hypothermia or something.”
With that, the girl began to pull herself back into the glow of her house and out of Paulo’s sight, but he wasn’t having any of that. “No way in hell!” He shouted out, causing Lucy to stop her escape, “Something’s up, and I’m gonna figure out what it is because you’re gonna tell me!!”
Lucy only stared at him in return, slowly narrowing her eyes down at the boy. Her secrecy was digging under Paulo’s nerves, and he clenched his teeth, pointing a finger up at the Khao-manee. Her words felt practiced as if she was dully reading from a script. “What do you even want me to tell you, I’m alive, that’s what you wanted wasn’t it?”
“Where were you? Why weren’t you at school??” The longer he got no answers the more upset the boy became, his eyes filled with worry.
Lucy raised an eyebrow as if that was a stupid question, and then gave a weak shrug. “I haven’t been at school because I’ve been here instead.” She replied simply, including as little actual explanation as physically possible. “Anything else you wanna know?”
“You didn’t even answer my second question!!” Paulo blurted out, becoming ever more emotional by the moment.
Lucy let a shallow huff leave her lungs, crossing her arms on the windowsill and raising her eyes to stare out into the distance. For a moment it fixated itself on a point far beyond the horizon, her mind clouded in a deep shroud of something Paulo couldn't see. “Health concern. It’s not really a big deal.”
Paulo’s brow wrinkled, that response barely gave him anything to work with, “T-That’s so vague!! And if it’s trapping you at home it’s totally a big deal!! Why are you avoiding telling me what’s actually going on?! Why won’t you just talk to me?”
“Why do you care?” Lucy shot back without missing a beat. The question, while delivered entirely emotionlessly, filled Paulo’s heart with fire and caused his eyes to water. He wanted to scream all of his feelings out right there; he cared because she was one of the most beautiful people he had ever met; he cared because he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her since they were little kids; he cared because he loved her. But he couldn’t just let all of that pour out, this wasn’t the time for that, no matter how much he wanted it to be.
“B-Because I care about you!!” Paulo choked out, a single tear rolling down his cheek in the ice-cold January air. “And I want you to be okay! And I’m not just gonna sit around and not give a fuck if you’re hurt or something!!”
Lucy’s eyes widened slightly from his outburst, the most emotional that she had been all night. Slowly, her eyes softened into an expression that Paulo couldn’t quite place; though he could tell that it was strong, considering its ability to pierce through whatever haze of apathy was currently settling over her. Was it empathy? Guilt? Shame? Remorse? Her gaze avoided him once again, though instead of that point in the distance her eyes focused on the rock that he threw to her window. “That’s…” She seemed as if she wanted to say something, before stopping herself. “Thank you, Paulo, you’re a sweet guy.”
Paulo waited for her to continue her sentence, but she didn't. They only melted into an uncomfortable silence, made all the more awkward by how warm Lucy calling him sweet made him feel. “W-Well…? Won’t you tell me at least a little more about how you’re doing…? What the health concern is?”
Lucy couldn't seem to find the strength to look at him again, and her words exited her mouth in slow bursts as if carefully constructed. “I really do appreciate how much you care about me, it’s nice, you’re nice. It was just a…” She paused, the slightest twitches of her face hiding a deeper emotion she was violently suppressing, “Issue with my medication. Once again, not really a big deal. They were gonna send me to a hospital for a while but… we can’t afford that. I’m just staying here until it gets figured out.”
This only made Paulo more worried, but at the same time, he was glad to at least have a little more information than he did before. “What… what happened with the meds? What was wrong with them?”
Lucy stared back at him for a few seconds, before a dry chuckle escaped her lips, as if his concern for her running so deep was silly. “Listen I can tell you some stuff but that’s none of your business, that being said, I dunno, I’m not a pharmacist.”
Paulo’s eyes searched hers for a few, long, seconds. He couldn’t tell if she was still hiding something from him or not, his mind was too scrambled and emotional to be sharp. “Man… that fuckin’ sucks. Hospitals should be free.”
Lucy snorted, “You’re tellin’ me.”
Eventually, the somali sighed, loosely wiping the tear from his eye. “Alright well… You better be back soon, alright…? I miss you.” The last part of his sentence left his mouth considerably quieter than everything else, so quiet he didn't know if the sound would even fully travel to reach Lucy’s ears.
Whether it did or not, however, Lucy let a tired little smile spread across her lips. She leaned a bit more actively onto the windowsill, letting her arm hang off of it and sway in the winter cold. “Yeah, sure.” She responded, about the least committal answer he could have gotten, but it was an answer, and he would take it.
“I mean it! And know that you can call me whenever! Dad doesn’t really answer the home phone so you can count on it to be me!”
“If I ever need to talk to the most emotional fruit basket I know, I’ll give you a call.” She chuckled, a small little spark of light coming out through her tired face.
Usually, Paulo would have a retort for an insult like that, however, this time all he could manage was a big, warm grin. Hearing Lucy sound like herself made it feel like summer in his heart. The subtle smile on Lucy’s face made him feel like he was on fire. “Great!” He called back, pointing up at her one last time, “You better!!”
Slowly, Lucy slipped back into the warmth of her house, though she kept her eyes on Paulo as she reached for the window. “Alright, now seriously, go back home so you don’t get sick, you’re gonna die out here I swear. And don’t worry about me too much, alright? I’ll be fine, I’m serious.”
Paulo nodded with a smile, but he knew he wouldn’t fully be able to stop thinking about her. Worry still clawed at the back of his ribcage, but he had gotten to see her, and she was alright. As far as he could tell that was more than enough for him, at least for now. Deep down, he knew Lucy hadn’t been fully truthful with him about what she was going through. All he could do now was hope, hope that she was going to be alright, hope that if she needed him, she would call, hope that if he needed, he would be able to save her from whatever plagued her mind.
Even if he couldn’t, he was damn well going to try.