14

PAIGE

"But what happened to him?!" Jo screams in the morning.

I slept terribly because I stayed all night curled up in the chair in his room, watching over him. Today he woke up sad, and I feel sorry for him. I can't stop hugging and cuddling him, not even during breakfast.

"He started climbing or opening drawers at Ashton's house and fell on one. It was weird," I explain.

Jo shrugs and starts preparing the coffee.

"It's the first time he's fallen like this, it's normal," she reassures me.

"No, it's Ashton. It was... very strange to see him like that," I admit.

"What do you mean?" Jo asks.

"I mean...," I pause to think. "He seems like a confident guy, as if nothing scares him or as if he has everything under control. Last night was the opposite."

"And?" Jo prompts.

That I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I saw the most human side of Ashton, and I liked it too much because he wasn't the stone-cold type that everyone sees; he let himself be touched like those needy animals.