Chapter 3: Visit
"How's Jared's mom?" I asked into the phone.
"She's stable." Paul said. "This is really hard on him…his mom is really the only person he has, ya know?"
"Yeah, is there anything I can do?" I asked. I was sitting out behind the restaurant on break. I had called Paul as soon as I had gone on break to see how Jared and his mom were doing. I actually was pretty worried for Jared. Like Paul said, his mom was the only family he really had. His dad had walked out on them, he had a sister but she had run away from home, and he wasn't really in contact with his aunts, uncles or grandparents.
"I really don't know, Katie." Paul said. "He's a mess."
"What hospital is she in?" I asked.
"The only one in La Push." Paul said. "Sam's giving me the day off today, so I'm going by later, do you want to go together when you get off work?"
"Sure." I said. "Have you…have you been to visit yet?"
"Not yet, but Sam went and he told me that Jared's really upset, but that his mom looks pretty healthy. It was just a minor heart attack. She should be going home any day now." He said.
"So, pretty much, it's just Jared who we really need to visit to get him to calm down?" I asked.
"Pretty much, yeah." Paul said, slight laughter in his voice. "His mom is tired of being there actually."
"I don't blame her." I said. "Hey, I have to get back to work, but I get off at four. Want me to come get you?"
"Nah, I'll meet you there." He said. "See you later, Katie."
"Bye Paul." I said before hanging up and going back into work. It seemed to take hours for my shift to finish; I was excited to see Paul again.
Was that selfish of me? To be excited to see Paul, when I was going to visit Jared's mom? While I was working, I thought about it. I mean, I wasn't sure if I should feel guilty for saying that I wanted to see Paul, but on the other hand, I was really starting to have feelings for him. I had a feeling that he had imprinted on me…did imprints work both ways? If they didn't, why then had I always been drawn to Paul, even while I was with Edward? I had always felt an inexplicable pull towards him, and I had had no idea why.
Maybe that was it. Maybe since he was imprinted on me, I felt a pull to him too? It was weird, but I didn't know what to do about it. I had always felt weird talking to my mom about this kind of thing…I was never really sure how to approach her about it. Like, if I had ever liked a guy, I wouldn't tell her…I hadn't even told her when Edward and I were going out, she had found out from the gossipers in town. She hadn't wanted to ask me about it, I could tell, but she had, just to see if it was true or not, and she wasn't upset with me for not telling her.
I would definitely need a smoke after this, but I wasn't sure when I would do that. Paul would probably get annoyed with me for smoking in front of him, but work was stressing me out. There were so man kids in the restaurant today, it was driving me insane.
Only half an hour longer. I found myself chanting that in my head as my shift was ending. Only twenty more minutes…only fifteen more minutes…only ten more minutes…only five more minutes…
Finally, finally I was allowed to leave for the day. I went to my remaining tables and told them that my shift was over, and showed them who their new waitress was going to be, before going to the back room and gathered my jacket and my purse.
As I was about to leave, Mark came into the back room.
"Hey gorgeous." He said. "Leaving so soon?"
"Yeah, thank god my shift is over." I said. "If I had to work any longer, I might murder someone."
He laughed. "You going out for a smoke?"
"Yeah, I think so." I said.
"I'll join ya." He said. "I can't wait until I get my own restaurant. This place is slowly driving me insane."
"I know how you feel." I said as we walked out the back door of the restaurant. "You'll hire me when you get your own restaurant, right?"
"Of course! You're the best waitress in this place. You're probably the only person who I actually would hire from here."
"Aw, thanks Mark." I grinned. He pulled two cigarettes out of the box in his pocket and handed me one. I stick it in my mouth and used his lighter to light it. I handed him back his lighter, so he could light his, before I took a long drag from it. It made me feel so much better, and I felt the stress leaving my body.
"That your boyfriend?" Mark asked, motioning behind me.
I turned to see Paul walking towards us. He was still pretty far away, but I knew that it was him.
"No, he's not my boyfriend…but he might be soon, I guess…I'm not sure." I said. "Yeah, I know that doesn't make any sense, but whatever."
Mark laughed. "Good luck."
I turned to Paul, as he was closer, and smiled at him. Mark polished off his cigarette, and turned to go inside.
"See you later, Katie." He said, going back into the restaurant.
"Bye Mark!" I called after him before turning back to Paul.
"You almost ready?" he asked. The look on his face told me he wasn't exactly pleased with the fact that Mark and I had been smoking out here.
"Yeah, I'm ready." I said, finishing off my cigarette. We got into my car and I started driving to the hospital.
"Don't you know how bad smoking is for you?" he asked quietly.
I sighed. We had been over this numerous times. "Yeah, I know how bad it is for me."
"So then why don't you stop?" he asked. "I'm worried about you, Katie. I really am. I don't want to see anything happen to you."
I took a deep breath. I didn't want to have this fight with Paul, especially not now. I didn't really know what to say to him. I did know how bad it was for me, but I didn't want to stop, but he was being really sweet when he had said that he didn't want to see anything happen to me.
"I'll stop when I'm ready." I said. "Please, understand that I have to be ready to stop before I actually can. Smoking for four years is a long time. You can't just quit cold turkey for something like that, something that you've been doing for that long."
He sighed. "I don't like it, but I'm always here for you."
I smiled at him. "Thanks."
I pulled into the hospital parking lot, and found a place to park. Paul and I walked into the hospital together, and got into the elevator to go up to where her room was. Suddenly I got nervous. I had never been to visit anyone in the hospital before…and I had never really met Jared's mom before. Sure, I had seen her a couple times, but we had never really gotten into deep conversation with one another. We went to her room, and poked our heads in. she was asleep on the bed, and Jared was sitting in a chair.
Paul cleared his throat quietly, but loud enough that Jared would hear. Jared's head snapped up, and I got a good look at his face. I could see the lines of exhaustion and worry in his face. He got up off the chair, and walked over to us. We went out in the hall, and I pulled him into a hug.
"How is she?" I asked.
"She's good." He said. "She should be going home soon. Sooner than I thought she would…sooner than any of us thought she would. No one's been able to find my sister…god, I haven't seen her in years. I didn't even try and get a hold of my dad; I know he wouldn't come anyway."
Neither Paul nor I said anything at that point. Jared seemed to be lost off in his own little world, thinking about his family. It was always a tricky situation when one of us started talking about one of our family members who had left us…we were never really sure what to say or do in those situations. It was easier for me to talk to Paul about this sort of thing, but I didn't know Jared as well as I knew Paul. I didn't know how to comfort Jared like I knew how to comfort Paul. With Paul I knew exactly what to say to make him feel better, but with Jared it felt slightly awkward.
After a while, Paul and I left. We got into my car and I drove him home. I pulled into his driveway, and he turned to me.
"Katie, I have to talk to you about something." He said softly.
I felt my stomach lurch. Normally when people said that type of thing to me, it meant that something was wrong, or I had done something wrong. I thought back, and I couldn't think of anything that I had done wrong…besides the usual. "Do you remember a while back, Sam and Jared were talking about imprinting?" I nodded. "Do you remember what it's about?" I nodded again, getting nervous. I wasn't exactly sure why I was nervous, I had been anticipating this. "Well…Katie, I think Jared's imprinted on you."
"J-Jared?" I asked, blinking in confusion. It took me a moment to realize what he had said. This was completely the opposite of what I had been expecting.
"Yeah…Jared," Paul said. "He's been asking a lot about you lately, and just the way he acts around you…it just looks that way." I turned to Paul, to see that he looked really nervous.
We sat in silence, looking at each other.
Finally, he broke the silence. "It isn't Jared." He whispered. "I don't know why I said it was him…it isn't him…I…Katie…I've imprinted on you…and I don't want anything from you if you aren't comfortable with it, I just need to know that you're safe…or else it will drive me crazy. I'm not expecting a relationship or anything with you, and don't feel obligated to start one with me…unless you're comfortable with it."
"Paul, shut up for a second." I said. "You're rambling on, can I talk?" he nodded, so I continued. "Paul, over the past couple days I sort of noticed you looking at me, not in a creepy way or anything, and I noticed that you were more worried about my well-being. After you guys had told me about imprinting, I hadn't thought much of it, but over the past couple days I kinda figured out that you had imprinted on me…I guess I hadn't really noticed it before because of Edward. Lately, I've been thinking that I've started to develop feelings for you…real feelings…and no, you aren't forcing me into anything by telling me about the imprint, but maybe we could try out a relationship? See what happens."
"Really?" he asked. I nodded and he smiled. He pressed his lips softly against mine. "I'll see you tomorrow, Katie." And with that, he got out of my car and left me with my own thoughts for the night.
