©NataliaNicolette
Although I own nothing you may or may no recognize, aside from my own original content and characters. No copyright infringement intended.
AN : Written in the new universe. I'm switching things up. This is a Paul/OC. I didn't really want the original couple of Paul and Rachel because I'm trying to develop new characters, so this ones for fun. Enjoy : )
"And it was not your fault but mine.I really f *cked it up this time.
Didn't I, my dear?"
Little Lion Man / Mumford and Sons
I hope whichever one of my parents passed down this fucked up wolf jean gets kicked in the face.
It had been weeks since the first time I phased, and I was still hating life. I was tired, hungry and very, very irritable all the time. I swear to God, this is the worst hand of fate anyone could have been dealt, not to mention in said weeks, I haven't gotten one single piece of ass. Before I phased I'd spent my nights with girls willing to give what I needed. Now I'm stuck running stupid fucking patrol and sharing a pack mind with these other mindless assholes.
Hey, dewberry - I resent that. Jared retorted in his head as I wofily grunted.
Fuck off and get out of my head then, dick. I shot back as. I knew he couldn't. It was just another unfortunate thing about being in a pack. And I also knew that Jared was one of my best friends and I was being a douche. . .oh well. Fuck him, fuck everyone.
Like I said, I was irritable.
Aw, Pauly. Is it your time of the month? Jared teased. You've been all temperamental and PMS-like since you phased. It's been three weeks, asshole - it's time you got the fuck over it.
If it was possible, I would have flipped him off. But I chose to take the high road and besides, my shift was over and I was off the clock. I had to get back home and get some sleep before I went back to school tomorrow. I had a lot of catching up to do and my tutor, Evangeline, was going to have my ass. She and I had kind of been friends since pre-K, but in recent - she'd taken a turn for the worst. She had become even more sassy, sarcastic and never failed to irritate the shit out of me. I was just waiting to get back to her shitty disposition - not really. But since I'd phased, I haven't spoken to her. It's been three weeks and I haven't made any effort to call her and let her know that I'd be 'sick' for a while.
"Welcome back, Mr. Evans." my counselor said to me as I got accosted my surprised and somewhat frightened glances from the other people in the hallways. I'd grown some in the last few weeks. Okay - I'd grown a lot in the last few weeks. I was a normal, 5'8, 180 pounder and then phased and grown to be 6'1 and 210 pounds of pure muscle.
"Hey, Mr. G." I nodded back. Mr. G was the senior counselor and also on the tribal board, so he was fully in clue as to my absences over the past few weeks. "Have you seen Evangeline?" I asked him. He nodded.
"I think she just went into the library." I nodded a thanks, trying to get to Evangeline before the bell went. I had a lot of explaining to do and I knew she wasn't going to take to my ignoring her phone calls very well. I was mentally preparing myself.
Stay calm, Paul. Stay calm.
I had to try and keep myself especially calm because Evangeline had a way of pissing me off to no end even before I was given the temper of a psycho. I could just imagine the fun conversations were going to have now that I had and even harder time controlling my temper. Evangeline was a saucy little thing. She had always been that way, but something about her changed. A month before I phased and ditched her, we'd had a little bit of an incident and a local house party. I was shitfaced and looking for a good time. I was obviously delirious because I came onto Evangeline, something I'd never do sans alcohol, and she was into it until she realized I was piss drunk. She told me to back off, I called her a tease and every since then she's been a thorn in my ass. I'd given her a half assed apology afterwards explaining that I was drunk and didn't mean to be a dick.
She wrote me off and has been even bitchier than she was before. I would have said to hell with it, to hell with her if it wasn't for the fact that when it comes to school I'm a lost cause and she was assigned as my student tutor.
People kept staring at me like I was a lunatic as I was invaded the library, in search of the pointy little head that annoyed me like a common cold.
I looked down random aisles of books, searching for her tiny frame. When I didn't find her in any of her favorite sections, including history and English, I headed for the study tables. Ask me why I know what her favorite book categories are, I have no idea.
I found Evangeline hunched over a Literature textbook, iPod earbunds shoved in her head as she sat at the table, lightly singing along to her favorite song, Look After You by the Fray. The only reason I know this is because she put the god forsaken song on repeat when she was tutoring me for my math exam, at her house. I'll never study at her place again.
I know every word to the fucking song and knowing the words to a song by The freakin' Fray is something I'll deny and never own up to.
She was still occupied with her work as I just leaned against a bookcase and watched her quietly for a moment. I don't know what compelled me to do so, but I did.
"Oh oh, be my baby." she sang quietly. "I'll look after you." Evangeline was so innocent when she was like this. Not speaking or arguing with me, just being happy listening to her music.
I indulged in just seeing her in a tiny moment of vulnerability instead of her recent hostility.
After a few moment, she shifted, turning the page in her book. She must have caught me staring out of the corner of her eye and she looked up.
In an instant, I felt myself go slack jawed. My world tilted, not slightly, but dramatically. Nothing I'd done, nothing I'd been doing, nothing I would eventually do mattered. The only thing that mattered was the tiny girl, sitting in front of me, staring with the same shock at my physical changes.
Everything I didn't like about Evangeline suddenly became everything that I loved about her. The way her hair was a shade of deep red brown, the way her hazel eye sparkled with contempt, her glare, which she was currently dealing me.
"Well what do you know?" she spoke first, yanking her headphones out and dropping them. The sound of her voice made my knees want to buckle. I felt like a girl for having such stupid thoughts, but the only thing on my mind was Evangeline and how badly I currently wanted to kiss her pouting lips. I knew what was going on, I'd imprinted. But as I said, none of the literal stuff mattered as I just goggled at her in newfound awe. She was stunning. Her hair was a dark shade of brown red, tumbling in waves. Her eyes were hazel, nose like a button and lips like heaven. "If it isn't the prodigal prick." she muttered, slamming her textbook shut.
This was just a mild example of Evangeline's sharp tongue - tongue that I wanted to taste. . .
Focus.
I just stood there like and idiot. Not able to find a word, she stared at me with a blank expression. "Well, do you have anything to say for yourself?" she snapped. I just stared some more. "Evans?" she waved a hand in the air, raising her voice only to be shushed by the librarian. "Look, I get that I'm not the best person to tutor you, I get that my personality isn't all ice creams and blowjobs, but you've bailed on me for three weeks." Evangeline muttered. "I tried to call you, and you just ignored me."
I instantly felt regret. I shouldn't have ignored her, I was the one that caused her distress. I was an idiot. "I. . " I paused, looking for anything to make her understand how sorry I was for ignoring her. "I'm sorry." I decided.
Nice, Paul. So eloquently put.
Evangeline's face turned from irritated to fully pissed in a matter of seconds. To say that I thought the little crinkle in her nose was cute would probably have been the absolute wrong thing to say at that moment. "That's it?" she asked me, not expecting and answer. "I'm sorry, that's all?" she asked. She shook her head in disgust and picked up her book and notes along with her iPod and began to storm away. A wave of terror ran through me. She was leaving because she was pissed off at me and I was terrified she would never speak to me again.
"Vange," I called her by her nickname, grabbing her arm as gently as possible as she tried to storm by me. A feeling of dread and warmth ran over me as my skin made contact with hers.
"Don't fucking touch me, Paul!" she said, voice loud and strong. I immediately dropped my hold because she said so.
"Hush!" the librarian said as Evangeline stormed by.
"Oh, you HUSH!" she hissed, angry at the woman as she stalked off.
Great, fucking great. So day one, back at school - I imprint, piss imprint off, and feel like an emotional little girl wanting to run after her and tell her I was sorry and she was the most important thing in the world to me.
Fuck a duck, it's just my unlucky luck.
"So you divide both sides by X to even out the equation." Evangeline murmured, pointing to the math scrawled across the paper. I had somehow managed to get her to forgive me after my first day back. It'd been two weeks of torture since then. Instead of being annoyed with Evangeline like I usually was when she would argue with me, I wanted to kiss her senseless, I wanted to run my hands through her hair, I wanted to just touch her, be close to her.
I was trying to give her space and I was still trying to get used to wanting the person I used to be annoyed with.
"Are you even listening to me, Paul?" she asked as I watched the breeze from the open window in her bedroom blow her bangs into her eyes. I wanted to push them back.
I hadn't heard a thing she was trying to teach me since we got there, three hours earlier. Trying but failing to resist the urge, my hand moved on it's own, tucking the stray hair behind her ear.
"I didn't catch that bit of the lesson." I lied. I hadn't got any of it. I was too distracted and when Evangeline was this close to me, her smell was enough to put me into cardiac arrest.
Evangeline's eyes widened as my fingers brushed her cheek and then dropped back to where they were. I stared at her crazily hazel orbs for a moment before she broke eye contact, looking down.
"You haven't been listening to a thing I've said, have you?" she murmured, closing the math book. "Why have you been so strange lately?" she asked softly. I was surprised by her concerned tone.
"What do you mean?" I asked as she turned toward me.
"You've not been such an asshole lately." she said straight out. I snorted. "You know what I mean." she smiled, taking my breath away a little. "You've been strange." she said, sounding gentle and vulnerable.
Again, my hands acted on their own, craving her contact, and touched her soft cheek. "I think I might be seeing things differently." I told her honestly. She was quiet for a moment before snapping back and pushing my hand away. And just as quickly as sweet Evangeline came about, pissed, bitter Evangeline made her way back. She stood, slightly pacing.
"Why are you acting like this?" she snapped at me suddenly. I sat up, watching her move back and forth.
"Like what?" I asked.
"Like you have any interest in me." she answered back instantly. My reaction was like fire, rapid and honest.
"Maybe I do." I said, quirking my eyebrows.
"Bullshit." she seethed. I rolled my eyes. This was typical Evangeline. Put up a wall when she felt threatened.
"Why are you so hostile?" I asked her. "Why have you been so hostile? Every since Miriam's party. ." I trailed off, something dawning on me. "You're not still mad about Miriam's party, are you?" I asked her. Vange's eyes smoldered with anger as she pinned me with a glare.
"Oh why the hell would I still be angry?" she asked me shrilly. "I have every right to be!" I got up, looming over her.
"Why?" I asked. "It was one stupid night, it didn't mean anything. And I said I was sorry." I explained almost pleadingly. Evangeline gave me a patronizing glance.
"We both know you didn't mean it when you said sorry." she pointed out. "But it doesn't even matter." she had decided to forgo the conversation. I wasn't ready to drop the subject quite yet.
"Yes, it does." I snapped. "What's your problem? Why can't you just forget the stupid party?" I asked. Evangeline groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose like she often did. "Why, huh?" I asked again.
"Because!" she finally hollered back at me, "Oh, I don't know, maybe because I'd been stupidly fawning over you since junior high!" she was in angry hysterics and the news of her crush on me hit me like a sack of bricks. "And that night you came onto me and here I was thinking like a moron that you'd finally realized that you and I would be great together, but you were just in search of a nightly conquest!" she ramble on, "I was into it, until I realized that you had no interest in me other than sex that particular night, I said you need to back off and you called me a tease, so forgive me if I was a little humiliated and hurt on your behalf!" she shook her head, "God you're such an insolent prick sometimes, do you know that!"
The silence hung between us. Evangeline had crossed her arms and slightly crumpled into herself. I wanted to throw myself at her mercy. I was the cause of her embarrassment and anger.
I tried to reach for her but she cowered back. "I made the mistake of being naive with you once, I won't do it again." she muttered.
"Can't we just forget that night ever happened?" I asked, keeping my distance. "I was a tool, I'm sorry, but right now, I really do wish you'd give me a chance because. ." I paused, "I'm into you." it was my turn to be vulnerable even though what I'd said was the understatement of the year. I wasn't just into Evangeline, I was falling for her. I think I had been even before I'd imprinted. She was just as volatile as me at times and there was no other girl that could keep me on my toes like she could.
"Why, what's even the point?" she asked, shrugging. "You're used to the female population falling at your feet anyway, what's it to you that I say I don't want to give you your chance?" she asked. I only stared at her. Was she really challenging me to answer her?
"I want you to give me a chance to make up for that one night of stupidity and show you I'm not the asshole you're convinced I am." I tried. Evangeline only bobbed her head in repulsion. The simple action made me want to gravel on my knees because in that moment it showed how much she wanted me to just be gone.
"You don't always get what you want, Evans." she said quietly. "I think you should leave." she jabbed her finger at her bedroom door.
No, I refused to leave things where they had fallen. I didn't want things to be this way.
My mind searched for something, anything to make this better.
Kiss her, Paul.
I must say, it was an narcissistic thought on my part just thinking that one kiss could make her like putty in my hands but I really had nothing left to lose, nothing but my chance with her, my chance to make things right.
So I put it all on the line. My dignity, my chance, my luck and went for gold.
Evangeline was shocked solid at first. She was stiff and didn't move as both my hands tipped her head back, trying to gain some leverage. My fingers twisted in her silky hair as I tried to show her just how much she had meant to me in one kiss.
Just when I thought I had made a huge mistake by kissing her, she sighed, her tiny hands cinching onto my wrists. I stepped a little closer, her hips pressed delicately against mine and I melted. This was what was right. She fit against me like a puzzle piece.
Evangeline's lips parted and I reveled in the sweet taste of her tongue, her lips. She sucked on my lips making me want to groan. One of my hands made a journey downwards, landing on the gentle swell of her waist. She was perfect.
I loved that she was such a rough around the edges person, a person that wouldn't budge or give in, but when it came to kissing me, she let me do as I pleased without protest.
I kissed her until I heard her heart begin to slow from lack of breath before I pulled back, making sure to keep an arm around her, keep her against me for as long as she'd allow me.
I was surprised when she didn't immediately pull away. Her eyes fluttered open and hazel made my heart soften. She surprised me further when she squeezed her eyes shut and leaned forward to rest her lips gently on mine before pulling away. I smiled at the genuine sweetness of the gesture. "I'm sorry." I whispered onto her lips making her heart speed and goosebumps rise on her beautifully russet skin. I loved that even though she hated me for it, I had such an effect on her. "I never meant to make you feel humiliated or anything." I told her honestly and she peered at me through honest eyes. "I honestly didn't know you had a thing for me."
Evangeline did the last thing I imagined.
She smiled. A true bright, smile.
"I know." she sighed. "Boys are epically fucking stupid, so you can't fully be blamed." she shrugged, draping her arms around my neck. I smiled, loving the coolness of her skin. "But just so you know, if anything like that ever happens again, I'll have your ass." she clarified.
"You can have my ass, if you want it." I teased her. She blushed a little bit and I laughed, wrapping my arms around her and lifting her off her feet. I hugged her tight, loving that her reaction was instant. She hugged me back, dropping a kiss on my neck.
"So - " she paused when she leaned back to stare at me, "Why exactly were you gone from school for three weeks?"
. . . .
Oh, just fucking great.
How in the hell as I gonna explain this one?
My luck never lasts.
"Well, you see . . " Evangeline's eyebrows raised, "I had a very bad common cold and. . ."
AN: So it was just a trial and error thing. I didn't want to drag on and on so I skipped some time. Hope it was alright.