All credits to Stephanie Meyer for the mystical werewolves.
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since feeling is first who pays any attention to the syntax of things will never wholly kiss you…
"What do you guys do around here all day?" I asked my brothers. If they weren't really going to university, what are they doing to earn their living? I could accept Ryan bumming off and planning for the moment only, but Ian is different. He is the ever organized, planned one. There must be something he is doing here in La Push.
"Uncle Sam has a patrol company. We help out." Ian's answered vaguely. I did notice that they had a routine of leaving the house early in the morning and returning just before dinner.
"Patrol? Why would La Push need patrollers? I mean, the crime statistics isn't exceptionally high or anything. Wouldn't Uncle Sam earn more money opening a bakery store instead? With Aunt Emily's baking, they would be loaded!" I teased.
"La Push isn't as safe as it seems Kayley." Uncle Sam answered as he entered the living room where were we watching TV.
"How many patrollers do you have? I'm looking for a job, want to hire me?" I thought it was a brilliant idea. One, it would let me in on an inside view of what exactly is dangerous about La Push, and two, I could do with some cash.
"Ah, no, we are definitely not hiring you."
"Why, cause I'm a weak girl?" I provoked with a glare.
"No, we have a girl on the patrol team. Kayley, you don't qualify because, well because you're too…short." Uncle Sam's answer wasn't only lame to me, as I heard Ryan's snicker.
"You have height requirements? What, when you look at their resume your priority is height?"
"Yea pretty much. All the guys that are always hanging out here are all part of my patrol team."
How could I argue that? I mean as weird as it sounds, the guys were all tall. Freakishly tall. Maybe Uncle Sam wasn't joking about the height requirement after all.
"So what are you looking for when you patrol? Don't they have the police for that." I asked.
"We look for anything dangerous." Wow, way to make a full circle back to my first question. I rolled my eyes and was about to make a sarcastic comment when Ian interrupted me.
"Anyways, enough about our boring work. What do you want to do today?"
After a week of pouring rain, the sun graced us with its presence once again. It has also been a week since the night Paul slept in my bed with me. We truly had a weird "relationship", for lack of a better word. I mean, do we even have a relationship of any kind? Based on how much we know about each other, it would only make us acquaintances, but all the moments we have shared…well those made a completely different scenario.
Not talking to him individually for a week was hard, especially when I saw him continuously at the house. Either I'm being overly sensitive, but he seems to avoid me these days. It made distancing myself easier…I guess.
"Let's just hang out around the reserve. I don't want to watch TV today now that the sun is out." I could not stand another minute of baseball.
"Hey, it's almost lunchtime, let's go to the diner for lunch." Ryan enthusiastically suggested.
"Sure! Jared and Embry will be there." Ian responded with equal enthusiasm.
I honestly didn't care where we went, and so I followed them out the door to the car. The drive was short, and we parked in front of a slightly rundown building. Once inside however, I found the diner to be quite cozy, with random art pieces hanging here and there like the decorator had bursts of inspirations rather than careful planning.
We walked over to the high chairs against a counter where the orders were made. I would like to think they sat there so they could chat with Jared, but it's more probable that it is a strategy to get their hands on their food A-sap.
As I took the seat next to Jared, I noticed that he was dazedly staring at the waitress working behind the counter. She was busy cutting a club sandwich in triangles with a look of concentration. I said hi to Jared, and he barely glanced at me before going back to his blatant staring.
Finally, the girl finished the cutting and turned to face us fully. When she saw me, her face lit up warmly and came forward to introduce herself.
"Hi, I'm Kim." She said shyly, which I found sweet.
"I'm Kayley."
"It's nice to finally meet you. I heard so much about you from that I feel like I know you already!" She said jokingly.
I smiled widely at her, and she returned it. I saw Jared reach out to take her hand gently, and saw Kim's blush at the innocent contact.
Not wanting to disturb their moment, I opened the menu. I really wasn't that hungry, and was about to just settle for a salad. Jared however, seeing my eyes focused on the salad column, took my menu away and declared that I could not walk out of this diner without trying their burgers.
When the food arrived, I couldn't help but eye the burger with amazement. It had to be the size of half my head! I tried my best to eat it without having ketchup drip on me, but it was a hopeless cause.
As I struggled to take another bite, all the fillings of the burger, lettuce, patty, tomato, cheese and all, fell out and landed on my jeans so that I was only holding two buns. I heard laughter behind me and was about to turn around and glare. I couldn't bring myself to glare however, because I was met with the smiling face of Paul.
It was nice to see him smile at me for once, instead of those silent stares from across the room. Realizing how absurd I must look, and with everyone else joining in his laughter, I couldn't help but laugh along.
"Here let me get you some tissue." Kim offered kindly though she was laughing at my misfortune too.
"Darn it, that was only my third bite too!" I said good-naturedly.
I scooped up the greasy contents and plopped them on the plate dramatically. Paul was still laughing and looking at me like an endearing child. I made to stand so that I could clean up in the bathroom, and Paul gently grabbed my hand to help me down my high stool.
"Thanks." I said suddenly feeling shy and extremely conscious about my messy state.
"Let me show you where the bathroom is so you can clean up." Paul said. It's like he read my mind.
I followed his lead to the corner of the restaurant, and slipped in without glancing at him, still feeling slightly embarrassed. After cleaning up as much as I could, I opened the door and was surprised to see Paul leaning on the opposite wall with his hands in his pocket. He was wearing a navy blue shirt and faded jeans which made me feel shy once again.
I looked down, cursing my uncontrollable blush. I saw his feet walk towards me, but he stopped about a foot away.
"Seeing as your burger decided to bail out on you, want to get something else to eat?" Paul asked, also sounding rather shy.
I contemplated the situation at hand rationally. The past week of ignoring each other or avoiding any chance of conversing was the beginning of what I thought was my chance to distance myself. Fat load of good that did however, because he was a riddle that I wanted to understand. Going with him now however, would render the past week's attempt to nothing. Be rational Kayley…
"Sure. Let's go, but no more burgers please."
"I know just the place." He smiled jubilantly as he gestured for me to walk first.
I walked over to where everyone else was still sitting, though the food has been long gone.
"I'm going to get something else to eat. See you at home?" I said to my brothers, hoping that their protective brotherly instincts will not come into gear, with Paul as the target.
Before they could say anything, I grabbed Paul's hand and dragged him out the door. His hands were so big I was literally just holding on to three of his fingers. It was also very warm, and very soft. Reluctantly, I let go.
He looked like a mixture delight and disappointment, but made no stop and led me to his silver car.
"Where are you bringing me?" I asked to make conversation.
"To this place I always go to. It's small, but the scenery is great and it's usually quiet, unlike the diner."
"I like quiet places." I mumbled.
I saw him turn his head and smile at me, looking like he agreed with my preference.
"Kayley, I don't know how to say this but…" He looked rather distressed, and I think I know exactly why.
"I know Paul." I murmured softly. "Let's just not think about the past week and see where today brings us."
Obviously, the irrational Kayley has ruled over the rational. It was in this state of my mind that I decided, screw it, I will be friends with Paul. I mean, friendship never hurt anyone right? I want to get to know him, and he seems to want to spend time with me. Life is really too short to keep beating around the bush.
"That…that sounds great." I heard Paul sigh with what I took as relief.
"So…what do you like doing best?" Paul asked suddenly.
"Well, I like reading a lot. And painting."
He nodded his head severely like what I said mattered a lot.
"How about you?"
"Hm, I like working with cars at the garage with the guys. But my favorite is probably wood carving."
"Wow, that sounds so interesting!" I was truly intrigued that he is an artist.
"It's not a big deal really." He answered bashfully.
We finally arrived at what I assume to be the restaurant. The scenery was truly beautiful. It stood next to the waters, and I can already imagine the peacefulness of eating with the calming sound of the waves accompanying each bite.
"This is Second beach. Less popular because it's smaller. In my opinion though, it's the better beach." He said with a twinkle in his eyes.
I nodded in agreement and followed him into the restaurant. He held the door open for me, but just to be difficult, I waved for him to go through first. He refused to budge, and I likewise didn't move. We stared at each other for a moment before both laughing loudly, causing the waiter to come to the door to see what the problem was. Finally, Paul slipped through the door before me, but kept his hand on the door from inside. I walked in, dramatically shaking my head with a smile plastered on my face.
"Welcome, how can I help you?" The waiter asked me. He looked me up and down with a slight smirk, a suggestive look in his eyes. I was about to give him a piece of my mind when I felt a warm arm drape around my shoulder.
"You can help by getting us two seats, two menus, and then getting the hell out of here." Paul stated tensely.
The waiter looked intimidated by Paul's glare, and led us to our table quickly, dropping the menus off before walking speedily away. I looked at Paul, and noticed that his jaw was still tensed, glaring at the direction the waiter took off in.
I wasn't going to let some lusty waiter ruin our first time out together. As friends, I mentally added.
"If you tell the waiter to get the hell out of here, who's going take our order and bring our food?" I said, trying to bring him out of his anger.
He looked at me and sighed, finally letting the strain slip off his shoulder and jaw.
"I could always get it myself I guess."
"Who is going to cook the meal?"
"Me."
"You cook?"
"Yea, of course! Don't you?" He actually sound offended that I thought he was not a kitchen-man.
"Yea I do too. So I guess we are ok even if the waiter is crossing over the border to Canada by now. Do you remember his face?" I laughed, recalling the alarmed expression.
"I rather not remember it actually."
The waiter returned, much to my surprise. He was still sporting the anxious look, which I could understand since Paul started glaring at him again once he came near the table. If I didn't think Paul's reaction to the waiter checking me out slightly endearing, I would've spared some sympathy for him.
After ordering food and much glaring later, we settled again in our seats. From where I was sitting, I could hear the waves crashing against the shore. So peaceful.
"So what made you decide to leave Makah?" Paul asked, pulling me out of my reverie.
"It was getting boring there, without Ian and Ryan. Don't tell them, but they really liven the place up. After they left, and with my Grandpa always off to his tribal council meetings, I was getting a little bit lonely I guess." I left out some parts, but Paul didn't really need to know all the details.
"Right. I'm really glad you came to La Push." Paul said sincerely.
Maybe he felt the same about me as I felt about him…the evil side of my mind suggested. No! Focus on the friendship. Friends. No more than that.
We continued our light chatter, which was marked by comfortable jokes and personal stories. It was so much fun exploring the previously riddle-like Paul that I didn't realize the sun was setting until the lights in the restaurant started turning on.
"Wow, it's getting late. Want to head home?" Paul asked me, though he looked like he wanted me to say no.
"Yea, we probably should." As reluctant as I was, we couldn't stay here forever. There must be an ending…to everything.
We walked out the door after Paul insisted on paying, using the excuse of how I deserved being treated after the burger ran out on me.
In order to "repay" him I ran to open the door for him. Understanding my stubbornness, he walked through the door without protesting with a knowing smile on his face, but made way to open the passenger door for me. I decided not to protest and accepted his small act of chivalry with grace.
