Now most of the stories I've read focus a lot on Edward and Bella's relationship, and I get why they have included it in their stories, but I don't want to reference a lot to Edward. I want the focus to be on Paul, as I feel like he doesn't get the attention he deserves and the credibility. But, please review and let me know if you have any ideas to make the story better!
Chapter 2:
The first week of school had flown by and now it was saturday. I didn't have much homework, so I spent the morning cleaning the kitchen and living room whilst Charlie was fishing with Harry Clearwater. He insisted I came with him, feeling bad for leaving me alone but I'd rather rip my own eyes out than go fishing. I did know what I wanted to do in the afternoon. It had been bothering me all week and I couldn't stop thinking about how desperately I needed to go there. I grabbed the phone and rang the number on the notebook pinned to the wall.
"Hi Billy, it's Bella, I was wondering if Jacob was home?" I said.
"Oh hello Bella, yes he is, shall I pass the phone to him?" Billy replied, he seemed eager.
"Um, yes please" I simply said. I heard the phone go quiet for a moment and then a familiar voice appeared.
"Bella!" Jacob.
"Hi Jake! Listen, would it be okay if I came by today?" I said, with maybe a bit too much eagerness in my voice.
"Of course Bells, come by whenever you want, I do have to pop out for a couple of hours this afternoon, but I'm sure Quil and Embry will keep you entertained" he said with a laugh.
"Yes that's no problem, can I come over now? It'll take me about 20 minutes to get there" I said, already looking around for my shoes.
"No worries Bells, see you soon" Jacob said, and the line went dead. I spotted my shoes, throwing them on a bit too quickly, grabbed my car keys and practically ran to the car. After driving for 10 minutes, I passed the reservation borderline, and I felt calmer. Home. I pulled up in front of the little red house where Jake was already waiting for me on the front steps. He ran over and pulled me into his signature bear hug and span me around.
"Man Bella it's been ages since you were last here!" He said, setting me down, but his hands still rested on my waist.
"It's only been a week Jake, not 10 years this time" I said with a small laugh.
"So, what do you want to do today? Or for the first hour before I leave for a while" he said with a frown. It was clear he didn't want to leave me, but it must have been important business if he really had to leave me.
"Can we go down to First Beach? I haven't been there forever!" I said with excitement, and he grabbed me hand as we began the descent down to the beach. Once there, it was just as I had remembered it. Man, why did I ever leave this place? It was so peaceful, so calm, life felt easy here. We walked down to the water edge, and I bent down to test the water with my hand.
"Oh my god! It's freezing!" I practically screamed. Jacob laughed.
"Well, it's not exactly sunny here a lot, so there isn't a lot to heat the water. It's not Phoenix Bells" he laughed. He was right of course, it wasn't Phoenix, but for the first time since moving back to Washington, I didn't miss Phoenix. Not one bit. Jake pulled me towards a piece of driftwood on the beach and we sat down next to each other. There was a lot of heat radiating off of him, and I was very cold, so I scooted over so our arms were touching.
"Cold?" he said.
"A bit, I only have a Phoenix wardrobe you know" I said, with a small smile. Jake wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer to him. I didn't know if I was imagining it, but I thought I felt him place a small kiss on the top of my head.
"So where are you off too?" I asked, genuinely curious.
"Oh, I have to meet with some people in the town, it's nothing important, but if I don't go, Billy will be hurt" he said with a small frown.
"Why will Billy be hurt?" I asked tentatively, I wasn't sure if I stepped the mark with being nosy. He turned to me with a smile on his face, as if he had heard my thought.
"Oh he's just a stubborn old man, if I don't meet people he wants me to meet, he'll think it's because I'm ashamed of him or something. It's been like that ever since my mom died" he said, turning his head to look out to the ocean. Fuck, I knew I shouldn't have been nosy.
"I'm sorry for being nosy" I simply said. He didn't reply, just held me tighter. We sat like that for a while.
"Oh shit, Bells, I'm going to have to go now, I'll walk you back to Emily's place, she's Sam's fiance" he said, as he helped me up and quickly walked back. Once at Emily's, Jacob told me to go on in, and to not bother knocking, gave me a swift hug and took off into the tree line. I had to knock, I thought to myself, it was rude to barge into someone you don't know's house. I walked up to the front door and gave a tentative knock. There was a shuffling sound and then the silhouette of a native american woman was visible through the glass door.
"Ah, you must be Bella. Jacob told me you were stopping by, please, come in" she said, in a very friendly tone. I gave a smile and thanked her, and couldn't help my wondering eyes as they subtly travelled to Emily's face. It was marked by 3 huge pink scars. I dropped my eyes immediately, not wanting to be caught staring. I stepped into the small house and immediately into the cosy kitchen. It smells heavily of freshly cooked food and there was a tray of muffins in the centre of the kitchen table.
"Bella, don't look so nervous, I'm not going to bite" she said with a small laugh.
"So Emily, Jake told me you're Sam's fiance?" I asked politely, trying to make conversation. At the mention of Sam's name, her face lit up, and she immediately told me everything about Sam and it was clear to me straight away that Emily was so in love with Sam. We were sat at the kitchen table, nibbling on blueberry muffins when there was a loud bang, it was the front door flying open.
"Uh-oh, the boys are back, and they sound hungry" Emily said, rolling her eyes and laughing. I looked to see Quil, Embry, Sam and Seth come through the door and take a seat at the table, wearing only denim cut offs. They all greeted Bella brightly and immediately got involved in conversations about food and how hungry they were. I smiled as I watched the boys, all happy.
"Where's Paul? If he's going to be late, I can save him some of the food" Emily said to Sam, who was looking deeply into her eyes. God, it was beautiful to watch them. They were so in love.
"He'll be here any minute now, he just had to finish up picking up the trail" Sam whispered, but it was loud enough for me to hear. I didn't look over, in case they knew I had been listening. Soon enough, there was another loud bang of the front door and a tall, tanned and muscular native american boy walked through into the kitchen. His hair was exactly the same as the others, short and black, and he to had a tattoo on his arm. He was only wearing denim cut offs and I couldn't help my gaze as it drifted over his muscular chest. I looked up at his face as he looked me dead in the eye. Fuck, he caught me checking him out. I looked away in horror, but luckily no one else had noticed my awkward situation. They were still chatting and eating. The only person that was watching Paul was Sam, and Sam had a look in his eyes that made me scared. I turned back to look at Paul and his eyes were still fixed on me. It seemed almost threatening, and I immediately got up from the table, making his eyes snap off of me.
"Oh Bella, where are you going?" Emily asked kindly. Shit what should I say? Sorry Emily, I just feel a bit uncomfortable with the hot guy at the door staring at me. No, couldn't say that.
"I'm just going to get some air outside, I'm just getting a bit hot is all" I said, and walked towards the door. Paul was still stood in the same place, and I had to squeeze past him, my arm having to brush his as I squeezed out. I didn't turn around as I went to sit on the porch steps. That was so weird. Paul was staring at me and there was this crazy energy. It was so overwhelming that I had to escape it. I had never felt anything like that before. The front door banged open again and the boys came running out and straight into the tree line. Sam followed, with Emily grasping his hand as he gave her a swift kiss on the lips.
"Paul I need you to stay here to guard to rez, there shouldn't be any problems, but it's just in case. Plus you need to rest, you've been on patrol all night" Sam said to Paul, who had made him way onto the porch and stood directly behind where I was sat. Paul didn't reply, but he must have nodded his head as Sam nodded his back. And then Sam was gone. Emily invited me back into the house but I told her I'd be in in a few minutes. She let herself back into the house, leaving just me and Paul on the porch. I didn't say anything and continued to stare out into the tree line. I heard Paul move to sit next to me, but not close enough that we were touching. I kept my head straight, but I could see in my peripheral that he was looking at me. This was super awkward but at the same time it felt so right. I dared lift my head to look at him, and we were locked in each others gazes. He had brown eyes, and they glistened in the sunlight. He sat with his back resting against the side of the steps as he continued to stare at me.
"Any reason you're staring at me?" I asked nicely, I hoped. He gave me a small smile, and turned his head to look out into the tree line. I tried again.
"I'm going to go back in" I simply said, and got up from where I was sitting. Before I could stand fully upright, my hand was being pulled back, causing me to fall back down to the steps.
"Just sit here for a bit longer" he said, as his gaze poured into mine. I nodded and sat next to him, his hand was still holding mine. I looked at our hands entwined together, too polite to pull mine away and I didn't want to hurt his feelings. But at the same time I was thinking what the hell was he doing? He didn't know me, only of me, and from what I had heard, he didn't like me that much. Apparently I was just a spoiled child who took everything for granted. He was completely right of course, I was a spoiled child who took everything for granted, but now I had realised that I would never do that again. We sat together for what seemed like 10 minutes.
"Do you mind if I go in now? I'm just getting a bit cold" I said, not looking at his face, but keeping my eyes down at our hands. He gave a small laugh and let go of my hand. He stood up and walked into the house, holding the door open for me.
"Tea Bella?" Emily offered, as she was boiling the stove top kettle.
"Please Emily, that would be lovely" I said with a smile. I offered to help, not wanting to be alone with Paul again, but she just shooed me away and told me to make myself comfortable. I sat myself down on the cosy looking couch in the living room and crossed one leg over the other. Paul was sat at the kitchen table behind me but I could feel his eyes piercing the back of my head. Emily came over and handed me a mug of tea.
"Thank you Emily" I smiled, and she made herself scarce once again.
"Paul why don't you give Bella some company, I have to pop over to Billy's and Jacob isn't due back for another hour yet" Emily said politely. Oh great, now Emily was leaving too. This was going to be awkward and amazing at the same time. Paul didn't say anything but walked over to the couch opposite me and sat down. Emily was gone, and it was just Paul and myself left.
"Bella right?" Paul asked me, which immediately brought my attention back to him. I nodded, but didn't reply. He has heard so many people say my name, and I didn't really believe he didn't know it by now. He moved to sit on the same couch as me, but gave me space. He rested his arm on the back of the couch, and his hand was so close to my hair, I could feel the heat coming from it. I looked anywhere but at him, my hands fiddling with the mug I was holding. After an awkward 5 minutes, I placed the undrank mug of tea on the coffee table in front of me and turned so that my position was facing Paul. I let my head rest on the back of the couch and smiled at him. The energy that I had felt in the kitchen was not gone, if anything it was stronger, now that we were alone.
"It's strange" I whispered.
"Strange? I don't find it strange, well, I find it strange that it's you" he said as his hand gently caressed the top of my head.