Paul ran his hand through his messy hair. Jacob Black was a pain in his ass. Stupid little Jacob had to run away like a little baby when his precious leech-lover picked Count Dracula over him. To be honest, though, Paul didn't blame the girl for not wanting Jacob. He was such a whiny baby all the time. Now, he thought he would be celebrating with Jacob finally out of his hair. Unfortunately he was wrong. Chief Swan went and put up poster all over Forks. It seemed like Charlie cared more about Jacob than Bella ever did. Anyway, Paul had just come from talking with Charlie. For the past half hour, he had to feign interest in Jacob's disappearance. He had to pretend to care about his pain-in-the-ass pack mate. He had to pretend that he had no clue where the idiot was.
Charlie gave Paul a stack of fliers and a roll of masking tape. Charlie instructed him to put one up on every pole. "Make sure to tape it well, son. Wrap the tape about twice if you need to." Paul tried his best to nod without rolling his eyes. The urge to roll his eyes was strong, but he managed to hold off. "And put these up, too," said Charlie. Paul looked down at the new stack of papers in his hand. It was a message to Jacob, pleading for him to come home. "And here; take these," said Charlie, "give one it everyone you see. We're going to find him, son. Don't worry." Oh, believe me, I'm not worried. Charlie rested a hand on Paul's shoulder. "I'm going to make sure your friend gets home."
"Ah. Thanks Chief Swan. I'll get on this right away," said Paul. Paul figured he should probably put up a few posters to make it look like he was working hard. He finally made it down Whistle Crest Road and decided to hit the beach. The cool water would probably calm him down a bit. In the distance he spotted a female figure in an otherwise empty beach. He watched her intently as she knelt down to retrieve a flat stone. She drew her arm back and flicked her wrist, launching the stone out into the ocean to skip an impressive six times. Granted, Paul could skip a stone several dozen times, but he wasn't entirely human.
Paul was so mesmerized by her actions that he didn't realise that his feet carried him all the way to her. When he approached her, she turned slightly to face him. He noticed how much shorter she was and that she had to look up a bit to meet his eyes. She had the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. They were big and round and dark with hazel around the centre in a pattern like the spokes of a bicycle wheel. It was then that Paul felt his stomach churn like he was free-falling. It was then that he somehow stopped breathing. It was then that he felt an odd sense of completeness and euphoria with the girl in front of him.
Paul was disappointed when her eyes looked away from his. He realized she was looking at the posters in his hand. She frowned. Even when she frowned she was beautiful. "You're looking for my brother?" she asked Paul. Brother? Oh god. The fates sure loved to play around with Paul's life. "Um, yeah. Don't worry, we're going to find him, Rachel."
"Oh," said Rachel. "Wait, how do you know my name? Have we met before?"
"No, we haven't met before," I'm sure of it. I'd remember a beautiful creature like yourself. "I just remember Jake talking about his sisters."
"But how did you know I was Rachel and not Rebecca?" That was an excellent question. They were identical twins and Jake had mentioned how he could tell them apart. Or maybe he did say, and Paul just tuned him out like he always did. Either way, Paul wasn't sure how he knew. He just did. It was some sort of intuition.
Paul shrugged. "Lucky guess, I guess." Rachel nodded.
"So, you're friends with my brother?"
Were they friends? No. Definitely not. And the feeling was mutual; they hated each other. "Yeah, we're friends," said Paul. Rachel only nodded solemnly. "I came to give you one of these," Paul held up a flyer to show her, "but I'm guessing you don't need one." Rachel shook her head. She was clearly torn up about her brother's disappearance. Now Paul had two reasons to get Jake's sorry ass back to La Push: to put an end to all this pointless work, and to make his imprint happy again. "Well, I'm handing these out to everyone I see around here. Would you like to come with me?" Please say yes. Please say yes.
"Yeah, sure," said Rachel. "He's my brother anyway. I should be doing this, not you. I really appreciate you and everyone else trying to find Jake. So, thanks – ,"
"Paul," he supplied. "Paul Lahote."
"It's good to meet you, Paul." Rachel stretched out her hand which Paul gladly took into his. It was like silk under his fingers. He wished that society hadn't decided that a normal handshake only lasted a few seconds long. He wished it were longer so he could continue to hold her hand. She pulled back her hand and Paul relished in the feel of her hand sliding against his.
"Likewise, Rachel." Paul offered her a kind smile. He was pleased when she returned his smile with one of her own. He decided he quite liked her smile. She had straight shite teeth surrounded by full reddish-pink lips. He decided that was all he ever wanted to see; a smile on her lips. And if bringing her brother back was going to make her smile, then he'd have to go fetch her brother.
They walked in comfortable silence before Rachel's melodic voice said, "My brother didn't tell you anything about him leaving, did he?"
"Uh, not really, no."
"Oh god." Rachel buried her face in her hands. Paul's hand ghosted her upper back. He wasn't sure if he was allowed to touch her.
"Rachel, what's wrong?"
Rachel took a moment to take a ragged breath before answering. "What if something bad happened to him? Why else would he disappear with no word?" How could Paul ease her soul without giving away any confidential information?
"Well, actually, I think it's more like a vacation. Just to get away from La Push and all the drama."
Paul's attempt to sooth her failed. This time she took two ragged breaths before she was able to speak. "I'm a horrible older sister and daughter. I don't know what's going on in my family's lives… Jake ran away… Oh god." Paul wasn't sure what to say. He wasn't very good at comforting and he didn't want to say the wrong thing. Luckily he didn't have to say anything because Rachel spoke again. Unluckily Rachel said, "Why are you putting up these posters if you think he willingly took a vacation?"
"Oh, you know… just… in case, I guess." Paul didn't want to brag, but normally he was pretty good at lying. Lying to your imprint is another story though. It's much harder.
"So you do think he might be in danger or something?"
"Uh, no, no. He's definitely not in danger… We all just want him to come home. Hopefully he'll see a poster and realize how much this tribe wants him to come home." Smooth. Rachel just nodded and dropped the subject, which was more than fine with Paul.
Rachel held the flyer against the pole while Paul unravelled the clear masking tape and wrapped it around the flyer and pole. "So Rachel, why haven't I seen you around before?" If he was stuck putting up missing posters for a guy who wasn't actually missing and a guy who he didn't even like, then he might as well use it to his advantage and get to know Rachel.
"I was away in Washington for school for the past three years."
"Oh, that's cool. So are you going back in the fall to finish then?" Paul wasn't sure how this was going to work. Washington University was nine hours away. How could they stand to be so far apart? "No, I'm finished my degree, actually." What a huge relief.
"So what did you study?"
"Majored in neuroscience with a double minor in genetics and psychology."
"Wow. That's impressive. Beauty and brains; are you sure you're related to Jake?" Rachel laughed her pretty laugh. It was music to Paul's ears. He would spend the rest of his life trying to get her to make that beautiful sound again. Rachel looked away shyly after that. "So what are you going to do with your fancy degree?"
"I'm not sure yet. La Push doesn't offer too many options. I'll probably have to go back to Washington and find some work there once my brother come back home." Great. Now Paul was going to have to keep Jake away so he could have more time with Rachel. On one hand, having Jake back would make her happy, on the other hand having Jake back would in turn send Rachel away. There was no winning for Paul. Why were the fates being so unfair to him.
This time Paul was silent, unsure of what to say. Rachel asked a question this time. "You go to school with my brother?"
"Yeah," said Paul, hesitantly. He knew there was a bit of an age gap between them. He didn't care though. In fact he kind of liked it that she was an older woman but he wasn't sure of what Rachel would think. Four years wasn't a lot in the long run, but when one party is seventeen while the other party is twenty one, that might be a turn off. He decided to keep it short and sweet with anything to do with his age.
"And he was passing his classes, right?"
"Uh, yeah, I think so," said Paul. Paul wasn't sure if he was even passing his own classes. He'd already missed so much class due to patrol and Jake's leech-lover crisis.
"So what made him leave?" asked Rachel. Paul stopped taping posters and looked at Rachel. Truth be told, he was looking at her the entire time, but only inconspicuously from the corner of his eyes. This time he looked straight into her eyes. He could see that her eyes were glistening, and not glistening like there was a sparkle, but glistening with tears. He decided to go with the truth. "Your brother fell in love with a girl named Bella. You might remember her from when you were kids. She used him and tossed him aside when she was done with him. He's heartbroken."
Rachel sighed and averted her gaze to the cement. "Oh, Jake," she whispered. Then much louder to Paul she said, "I should have been there for him. Maybe then he wouldn't have run away." Paul finger reached out under Rachel's chin to bring her eyes back up to his. "Trust me, Rach, there was nothing that you could have done to stop him. There was nothing anybody could have done. He's stubborn but I know he'll be back eventually. So please don't worry yourself over it."
It was a perfect moment for Paul to go in for a sweet kiss. He slowly leaned inwards, giving her plenty of time to back out if she wanted to. She didn't. Just inches away, he could smell the sugar from her breath. Things were progressing well, in Paul's opinion… until an all too familiar male voice shouted out, "Rachel Black is back in town?!" Rachel Black sounded wrong, like nails on a chalkboard. It should be Rachel Lahote. Yes, that sounded so much nicer.
Rachel jumped back away from Paul. Both turned to the direction of the voice. The figure jogged forward and closed the distance in no time. "Look at you, Miss Black, our favourite college grad! Have you shrunk?" teased Embry.
This brought a smile to Rachel's face. Paul immediately felt jealously. How dare this idiot come over and make his imprint smile. Embry picked Rachel up off the ground in a tight embrace. He spun her around, making her laugh. Paul noticed his lips were dangerously close to her neck. Paul let out a barely audible growl. Embry set her back down. "Embry, you're a giant!" exclaimed Rachel and she took in his physique. Paul wished that Rachel would notice his body like that. "I remember when you used to be a scrawny little kid playing Barbie with Becky and I." Paul chucked at that.
"If I remember correctly, we were playing with super manly G.I. Joe action figures," retorted Embry. Rachel scoffed. "Get real. That was just Ken in a green suit and you know it."
"Alright, alright," Embry conceded with his hands raised in surrender. "So what's going on, Rach? Is Paul bothering you? Want me to take care of him?" said Embry, with a mischievous smile. Rachel shook her head. "I'm," Rachel took a shaky breath, "helping Paul put up these posters for my brother." Her voice trailed off towards the end. Embry's smile disappeared.
"Rachel, he's not missing. Or lost. I think he wants to be a yoga master and figured he would start in a nice cave in Canada," Embry told Rachel, giving her the partial truth and a partial lie. Paul wanted to punch Embry's lights out. A yoga master, really?
"Canada?!" Rachel exclaimed. "But Paul told me he left because he's heartbroken over some girl." Rachel's brows scrunched together. Embry quickly glanced to Paul whose eyes were narrowed and shook his head. "Oh, well, yeah. Meditation is good for the soul and stuff I think. You know, good for getting over girls and all," amended Embry.
"But Canada? Couldn't he just do his soul mending stuff here in La Push?" Embry shook his head. "Well… Let's go to Canada then. We'll find him and bring him home!" said Rachel in desperation. Paul had enough of Embry. He wasn't going to let Embry do anymore talking. Feeling brave, Paul lightly took Rachel's hand in his and turned her to face him.
"Canada is a huge place. We'll never find him. But what if we go to Seattle and Vancouver and we can put up posters there? Maybe he'll see them and come home," offered Paul.
"Okay." Rachel seemed to immediately calm down at the sound of Paul's soothing voice and comforting words. Paul gave her a loving smile, which Embry duly noted. Another smile crept on Embry's face.
"So when do we leave, guys?" asked Embry, breaking their moment. Paul shot Embry another murderous look, trying to tell him that he was not invited. He wanted to have Rachel all to himself without Embry meddling in the way.
"You know what Embry, we'll probably go when you're busy with work. So don't worry we'll take care of the posters in Seattle and Vancouver."
"Nah, that's nonsense," said Embry with a dismissive wave of the hand. "Jake's my best buddy. Of course I'll come. I don't see why you're going though. You hate the guy," said Embry.
"What? No. You're not coming, and Jake's my buddy."
"Really? I didn't know that buddies broke each other's noses," retorted Embry. Damn Embry for being an ass.
"That never happened. You must be thinking of Leah. She probably broke his nose. I would never to that to a good buddy of mine." Paul tried to keep his voice level, but his patience with Embry was wearing thin.
"Ah, yes you're right," nodded Embry. "I know I'm right," ground out Paul through clenched teeth. "So maybe you should go and get ready for work, don't you think?"
"Nah, Sam's given me the day off. We're having a bonfire soon," said Embry as he turned to Rachel. "Sam heard you were back in town and wanted to invite you to join us."
"Oh, I don't know, Embry. We've got a lot of posters to put up and," Embry cut her off. "Hey Paul can finish that stuff. Come on with me, the others are dying to see you." Embry took her wrist in his large hand and dragged her away. Rachel looked to Paul with an apologetic smile. She mouthed the word sorry to him as she was pulled away by Embry. If Rachel wasn't watching Paul, he probably would have phase on the spot. First Embry comes to screw with him, then he drags her away. If he slipped his hand into hers, he would have lost it. Luckily Embry was smart enough not to take her hand.
The bonfire was already lit and roaring to life when Paul arrived. He looked around to find his imprint encircled in a crowd of friends. It seemed like she had already reconciled with old friends and met the new additions to the group. "Sup, Paul?" Quil called over in a singsong voice, as Paul approached. Paul just gave a head nod. He heard a few snickers and giggles coming from the group. No doubt, word had already spread that he imprinted on Rachel Black.
Intentionally, there was no space for Paul to sit beside Rachel. Quil and Embry sandwiched her, left and right. Paul settled for sitting on the other side of the bonfire, directly in front of her. At least he would be able to watch her from a good angle. She was laughing at something Quil said. Then her head turned and caught Paul's gaze from across the fire. She gave him a shy smile, which he returned with his own and a complementary hand wave.
Paul noticed how she was wearing her hair differently than earlier. It was down and slightly wavy. She was wearing dark jeans and a red tank top. Unfortunately for Paul, he noticed a sweater sitting by her side. It's too bad she thought ahead and brought an extra layer. Now he wouldn't have an excuse to have her wear his sweater, or to keep her warm with his arms. Paul prayed for an extreme gust of cold weather to come in the next hour or so.
Finally the food came out. This was Paul's chance. He knew Embry and Quil would never pass up food just to mess with him. As Paul expected, the boys left Rachel's side for food. Normally Paul himself would be at the front of the line for food, but he wanted to be with Rachel. He joined her at the back of the line. "Are you having a good time?" Paul asked her.
She nodded. "Yeah, it's great to be back. I haven't been to a bonfire in years. I almost forgot how much fun they were."
When it was their turn to get food, Paul made a mental note of what she put on her plate. He wanted to know everything about her, from her likes to her dislikes. She had one hot dog with just ketchup on it, a small scoop of fries, and some raw carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli. Paul's plate was a mountain of food with a little bit of everything. He almost laughed at how much more food he had than her. Then again, she was pretty small. If he had to guess, she was probably 5'2", while he stood over a foot taller than her.
He almost fainted when he discovered that she was left handed, like him. So much in common! He hoped nobody ever found out about that thought. If any of his pack mates had thought that, he probably would have beaten them up for being so lame.
He wanted a chance to talk to Rachel alone and learn more about her, but Quil, Claire, Embry, Jared, and Kim returned to sit with them. Paul had a hard time focusing on the conversation around their circle. He was too engrossed with watching Rachel to be listening to Quil spout about whatever new video game he was playing.
At least he was sitting beside Rachel this time. He wanted to shift infinitesimally closer to her body, but his stupid werewolf pack mates with their stupid werewolf senses would be able to pick up on his lame attempt to be closer to his imprint. Jared made it a point to put his arm around Kim's waist and pull her close. Paul inwardly cursed his friend for rubbing it in his face that he wasn't allowed to touch his imprint yet.
Paul noted that he finished his dinner much faster than Rachel did, even though she must have had about a fifth of the amount of his food. When she was done, he offered to get her some desert. "Oh, that's okay. I'll go with you."
"You can get me some dessert, Paul," said Quil in a singsong voice. "Me, too," added Embry with a smug smile. Paul had no choice but to take their plates with him back to the dessert table. At the table, he watched as Rachel picked mostly fruits: grapes, cantaloupe, watermelon, and strawberries. She passed on the oranges, pineapple, and grapefruit. So she liked sweet fruits. Paul, on the other hand, loaded up on the baked goods: cake, pie, cookies, and tartes. He got the boys some good old wafer cookies and fruit cake. They get what they deserve. He felt bad and stuck a few good desserts onto Quil's plate for Clair. She shouldn't have to suffer because her imprinter was being a jerk.
As they headed back to their seats, they passed Sam. "Sammy," said Paul good-naturedly, "how's about some Hannah Montana?" Paul cocked his head towards his group of friends. Sam understood and gave a nod and a wink. Rachel was confused about their little exchange, but didn't question it.
"Really Paul?" said Embry, with annoyance.
Paul gave an innocent shrug. "What? I thought you boys liked your wafers. Oh, and the cookies are for Claire." Kim and Jared snickered from their seat. The familiar opening melody of the Hannah Montana Hoedown Throw Down began to play on the speakers. Claire squealed and hopped off Quil's lap and tugged on his hand. She wanted to dance and she wanted Quil to accompany her. The little squirt couldn't resist a good Hannah Montana song. Rachel laughed as she watched the two dance. Quil was a pretty uncoordinated dancer, for a werewolf with exceptional coordination.
Two down, three to go. Paul looked around and scouted out his resources. Ah ha! Leah! "Hey, Leah! Did you ever find your shirt?" The last time they phased, Embry thought it would be a hilarious prank to snatch Leah's shirt. She had her sports bra still, but she wasn't pleased. She had almost let it go, or rather she just buried the grudge to save for later.
"No," she said, raising one eyebrow. Embry looked nervous. "Oh, that's too bad. What did it look like again? Was it red with a little pocket?" asked Paul.
"Yeah…" said Leah slowly. "Oh, hey, Embry! You have a shirt just like that in your drawers. What a funny coincidence."
Embry was sweating bullets now. Leah barred her teeth and let out a growl. "Call, your ass is mine." Embry sprinted away. Paul chuckled, knowing that Embry didn't stand a chance to outrun her. Paul turned to Jared and Kim. No words were exchanged until Jared said, "Uh, I think we're going to go see what Emily's doing."
Finally at last he had Rachel all to himself. He turned to face her. "You know what, I'd better get going. I've got to check up on my dad…" Paul wanted to groan. It sounded like she was trying to avoid him. But didn't she feel the imprint, too? Didn't she want to be near him as much as he wanted to be near her? Earlier she seemed to like him. "I'll walk you home," offered Paul.
"Oh, that's not necessary. You should stay and enjoy the rest of the bonfire." But I won't enjoy it without you he wanted to say. Instead he said, "Really, it's-"
"Paul, come here. We need help!" interrupted one of the younger boys. He was going to strangle them later. Paul ignored their demand. "As I was saying, it's-"
"PAUL!" a different boy shouted this time. "I think you'd better go help them," Rachel offered sweetly. "I'll see you around, Paul."
Paul sighed in defeat. "Yeah, I'll see you around, Rachel." Maybe she had a boyfriend already. That, Paul might be able to live with… for now, that is. If she had a current boyfriend then he could always win her over. Or beat the crap out of her boyfriend. But if she just didn't like him, then Paul's entire existence would crumble.
Paul got back home late that night. He was tired and just wanted to go to bed, but he had more important matters on hand at the moment. He booted up his computer and typed her name into the search bar. She was the first result that popped up. He clicked on her profile picture. It was a beautiful candid shot of her laughing. Suddenly he wanted to know what exactly it was that made her smile so beautifully.
She was wearing a black dress that was fitted at the top and flared out at her waist, ending a little above her knees. He checked the date of the post. December 20th, 2006. It was taken this past winter, likely during a holiday party. He wanted to know more about her picture but there was no caption. He scrolled through the comments. Standard comments like you're gorgeous, or what a babe were left by her friends. It didn't give him any information. He already knew she was gorgeous.
He wanted to view more photos but it looked like she had privacy setting on the rest. He clicked on her information tab, hoping to find something. Nothing. No likes, or interests, or hobbies were listed. Not even information like her birthday or gender appeared visible. Most importantly, no relationship status was visible. Ah ha! Her tagged photos were public. He flipped through them, skimming over the ones that she wasn't even present in. There was one with her standing beside a guy who had his arm around her shoulders. They could be just friends. The next photo was Rachel and the same guy at the gym. Another photo of Rachel and the guy. These were recent photos. They were posted just a few weeks ago. He'd have to do more investigating later. He really hoped that she didn't already have a boyfriend… Or if she did, he hoped that she would dump him soon.
He wanted to shoot her a friend request, but he wasn't sure if there was some sort of social rule about waiting an appropriate time to send a friend request after meeting someone. He didn't want to seem too eager or anything, but he really did want to see the rest of her photos and information. He also wanted to send her a message so they could start chatting. He really wanted to get to know her. Soon enough he wouldn't need FaceBook to contact her. He'd get her phone number soon. Then he would be able to text her messages first thing in the morning and last thing before bed so she'd always wake up thinking about him and go to sleep thinking about him.
Paul stripped off his t-shirt and jeans and threw himself face first onto his bed. He hoped that someday he'd have Rachel beside him to snuggle close to. He'd keep her warm and safe throughout the night. Paul fell asleep immediately, being carried off to sweet dreams of his perfect imprint, Rachel Black. Today was the first day of the rest of his life.
Author's note:
I hope you enjoyed this! There is plenty more to come, so stay tuned! Please give me a review! It'll help me write the next chapter faster!
(P.S. I'm sorry for the small time discrepancies. I don't know the exact timeline from the books so that Hannah Montana song may not have existed during the setting of the story. Oh well, who doesn't love to time travel?)