Needless to say, there was a lot of Paul's mind. It was a jumble of dirty, smelly laundry there in his head and he didn't even know where to begin to sort through it to separate the dark colors from the light. He couldn't fathom exactly what happened the night that they all spoke to Vince's mother, but something certainly did. An earthquake, a terrible thunderstorm, and electrical problems all in one night? Did that even happen? Must have been the worst coincidence in the world.
He needed to get out of this building. The beach seemed like the perfect place to do that, so he threw on his swim trunks, a t-shirt, and his sunglasses with full intent to drown himself in the ocean sit on the beach and read a book. Cassie's voice sent him into an internal frenzy, however, and he had to work to remain calm and not spontaneously tumble down the stairs like an uncoordinated idiot.
"Cassie! Hey," he greeted her with a winning smile - nope, things were totally cool here. "Yeah, I just needed some beach time," he explained. "It's been a weird couple of days. You're headed there too?"