Disclaimer: I don't own anything from any of 'The Twilight Saga'.
A/N: This story takes place during 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon'.
Chapter 7:
I sat outside, laying on the hammock on a beautiful Saturday.
It took less than five seconds for Paul to emerge from the woods, pull me out of the hammock and inside.
"Paul -"
Paul shut the door behind us. "There's a bloodsucker in town and it's not a Cullen."
"Oh, my god," I muttered under my breath, holding onto his arm tightly. "Did you see him?"
"Fought him."
"Paul!" I yanked him to face me, checking over him frantically. I looked for any part of him that was hurt, and found nothing.
"I'm fine, Nita. All the boys are out there, probably tearing him to shreds. Now we're looking for the other one, the redhead."
That didn't calm me. "Why are you here and not out there?"
"I had to come back and make sure you're inside."
That made me calm down a little, knowing that I was safe with Paul. "Oh."
"Yeah," Paul sighed. "That Bella girl was up there."
"Why would -" I started to ask, but didn't finish. I didn't care, I just cared if Paul was okay, if Jared was okay, if all the boys were okay. "I don't -" I couldn't say anything else, so I just hugged him, his warm body.
Paul's arm wrapped around me, like it was automatic. I loved his embrace, even if I never really thought about it, it was kind of like I needed it all the sudden.
I pulled away slightly, realizing that we were so close. Paul surprised me by spinning us around and pinning me against the wall, breathing heavily.
"Nita."
"Yeah?" I breathed out.
"What am I to you?"
It wasn't an easy question, but what came out was, "You're my friend, Paul."
Paul's eyes looked me over, and I could tell that he was leaning away. And even though I hated that he was getting further and further away, I let him.
"Okay," He said, his body starting to shake. "Go to your room," He said, then ran out the door. I turned in time to see him shift and run off into the woods again.
I leaned against the door, feeling uneasy.
Vampires, you asked? Sam told us to be careful in the woods, which apparently set off an alarm in Paul's mind. It was exactly what Paul was so worried about - a vampire, or multiple vampires who were making those hikers disappear. So I sat tight at home, Paul and Jared's orders.
"Can we go just a little ways?" I asked Paul.
"No."
"But Jared and all the boys are out there."
"No."
"Paul."
"Yeah?" He looked up from his deck of cards.
"The sun is shining." I smiled, wanting to take advantage of the day before it disappeared. "I want to go outside. You can stay by me every single step of the way, I promise."
Paul shook his head, seeming sure of himself.
I huffed, then pointed behind his head. "Oh, my god, what is that?" When Paul turned around, I booked it out the door, running into the forest. Paul caught up with me not even a second later, grabbing my arm and whipping me around.
"Hey! That wasn't funny."
I laughed. "Oh, c'mon, Paul." I smiled, "I want to be in the sun."
Paul looked down at me, opened his mouth to say something, then shut it tightly. He grabbed my arm, leading me deeper into the woods. "You can barely get any all the way down here."
"What?" I asked, very confused.
"Sun."
I smiled. "Where are you taking me?"
Paul let go of me, turning around to me and reaching for the button on his cut-offs. "You wanted to see me after I shift, right?"
I nodded, looking directly at his face. "Yeah." I held my hand up to my eyes just before Paul pulled his shorts down.
"Then hold these for me." Paul placed his pants in my hand.
The same sound as the first time Jared did it. Nothing, then snapping of branches and twigs, like something very heavy landed on the ground.
I opened my eyes, and before I could even get my thoughts together, I said, "Beautiful."
His fur was a dark silver, that glinted in the little bits of sunlight that shun through the trees. His size was massive, bigger than Jared's.
Paul came over to me, turning his back to me, and sitting down. I grabbed all of his shorts in my hand and crawled onto his large back. It was a different version of a piggy back he would give me, but I enjoyed it just as much - more maybe.
I squealed when he kicked off. I held onto his fur tightly, tucking his clothes in between us. I laughed loudly as the trees were blurs going by, and the wind swept through my long hair, surely tangling it.
It didn't take long at all for us to reach a high point on the mountain, and we stepped into a clearing. I got off of Paul's back walking through the flowers after throwing his clothes behind me.
The sun was shining, and my whole body felt warm, basking in the light. The shine brought out the colours in the beautiful flowers so well, I couldn't resist sitting down in them.
A minute later, Paul sat down beside me.
I smiled and looked at him. "It's beautiful."
Paul looked like he was trying not to smile, but he did anyway. "You better think it is. It wasn't easy getting up here."
I bumped his shoulder with mine. "Can't you just enjoy it?"
Paul looked away from me. "No."
I laughed, watching him in the light.
Growing up, the sun never really shined, and if it did, it was very short, or hard to get through all the trees on the reserve. That being said, I never really got to see how wonderfully brown Paul's eyes were. Or the way the shadows fell on his face. Or how beautiful he looked when he squinted his eyes, his mouth turned up. And when he turned to look at me, half of his face highlighted, the other half a shadow, he was the most beautiful I had ever seen him.
"Paul," I whispered.
Paul looked at me with intensity. "Yeah?"
I swallowed, my mouth suddenly feeling dry. "I -"
"Nita, there's something you need to know," Paul said, just as the sun hid behind a cloud, the wonderful shine gone.
"What?"
"It's about -" Paul stumbled through his words, like I'd never seen him do before. "About - it's about...imprinting."
My mouth fell open, and I guessed it right away. "Did you imprint?"
"Yes."
I couldn't explain the feeling, but I could say that it hurt. It hurt so bad that everything started to hurt; my head, my chest. I felt weak and uncomfortable. And when I asked him who it was, the words almost didn't come out. It felt like the word was scratching it's way up. "Who...who is it?"
Paul looked at me, in that way he always did, just so plainly. But something was different, something that didn't make me hurt as much. "You."
I leaned away, looking over his face to check for some sign that would tell me he was lying. "That's not funny."
Paul's eyes narrowed, the moment completely gone. "I wasn't trying to be."
I pulled my knees up to my chest, hiding my face in them. "Oh, my god, Paul."
"What?" He did not sound happy.
"Are you sure?" I lifted my head up to ask him. "A hundred percent sure?"
Paul shook his head, jaw locked tight. "You're unbelievable."
"What?" I said, starting to get angry.
"This is your reaction?" Paul stood, walking away, but turning back and pointing a finger. He almost said something, but didn't, turning and punching a tree, that broke in half and fell down onto the ground. He ran after that, away from me, I didn't know where.
And I was left to sit there and watch him go, sadness filling me as I realized how stupid I had just been.
On my way back home, I thought about it.
Imprinting. To me, it sounded like the people who made your soulmates - god, the spirits, whoever, was trying to make a person love another person. To me, it seemed like the imprinter was being forced to love someone that they probably didn't really love. To me, it was horrifying. To me, I didn't think I could understand, not being a werewolf and all.
But it was Paul. Paul, the boy I grew up with. The boy I always knew and hated, but in the loving way. The boy I loved to hate. Or maybe hated to love. The lines were blurred and I needed to clear my head. I just hoped it wouldn't take long.
But for two whole days Paul wouldn't talk to me, look at me, nothing. He avoided me in school, Jared went over to his, instead of Paul coming over to Jared's. When I was around Sam's place, Paul was conveniently never there.
I felt like he'd moved away. I didn't seem him anymore, it was as simple as that.
But one morning, Jared was waking me up.
"Hey."
"Hi," I mumbled, rubbing my eyes. "We're going to Billy's to get Jake before we head out. You want some company?"
"Billy Black as company?" I smiled. "Absolutely."
Jared laughed, and I got out of bed, quickly dressing and running out into the living room. I grabbed a snack bar, knowing that I could just have breakfast when I got to Billy's.
Then Jared, Paul and I started walking. I walked in between them and I thought that it'd be awkward with Paul, but he tugged me hair and told me that I looked adorable, to which I punched his shoulder and pretended to me mad about it.
It was oddly the same as before, and I wasn't sure how I felt about it that time. I had a lot of time to think about it, walking to the Black's, but I didn't really think at all.
Approaching the house, the boys started to call for him. The only person that came out was Bella, and she didn't look happy.
"Bella?" I said, surprised that she was there.
"What did you do?" She yelled at the boys. "What did you do?" She bodychecked Sam, who put on a grim face and stuck it out.
"Hey," Jared called, stepping close. "Watch it."
Sam pointed a finger at Jared, who was puffing up. "Easy."
"He didn't want this!" Bella yelled in their faces.
"What did we do?" Paul said, sounding the complete opposite of calm. "What did he do, huh? What'd he tell you?" Paul startled to snarl.
Sam pulled Paul back. "Both of you, calm down -"
"Nothing," Bella said quickly. "He tells me nothing because he's scared of you."
The boys started to laugh, Paul laughing the loudest. That didn't sit well with Bella, who slapped Paul across the face.
I gasped, stepping forward, Jared holding me back. "Too late now!"
"Bella, get back," Sam ordered, holding Paul. "Paul, calm down."
But nothing helped, and Paul immediately lost control, shifting in front of Bella's wide eyes. Paul snarled and snapped, walking toward Bella, who made a terrified run the other way.
"Bella!" Jake came running out.
"Jake, run!" She ducked when she got close to him, but Jake didn't.
Jake shifted mid-air, and landed in front of Paul, both of them growling. They jumped on each other, snapping their jaws. And when they stepped away, circling each other, I pushed Jared away from me while he was distracted and ran to the both of them, sliding between them easily and putting my hands out. "Stop!" They both stopped. I glanced at Jake before looking at Paul, searching his eyes to see how much anger he had left in him. "Paul," I said, breathing heavily. "Stop, please."
Jake ran out in a direction - I wasn't looking. And Paul started to walk away, back to Sam's.
"Take Bella back to Emily's place," Sam ordered Jared, Embry and I.
"Guess the wolf's out of the bag," Embry said as we passed me.
I grabbed Sam's arm before he could go. I just couldn't keep it off my mind, or out of my mouth. "Paul told me he imprinted on me."
Sam looked down at me, nodding. Of course he already knew. "How did that go?"
"Not good." I laughed, despite not finding it funny. "I don't buy it."
Sam shook his head. "It's hard to believe, but it's the universe telling you that it's your soulmate. It's the universe telling Paul that you're his soulmate."
I started to stutter, feeling the pressure. "I don't even know if I love him, let alone being his soulmate."
Sam looked at me with that wise look he usually had. "I think you do." Sam turned away and walked into the forest, and I walked back to Embry, Jared and Bella.
Embry and Jared stood in front of Bella, ready to help her up. I walked up to her and stared at her, not meaning to glare, but I guess I was.
"Whoa, Nita," Embry said, laughing. "I'm sure Bella's sorry."
I kept my eyes locked on hers, feeling like she needed something in return, but I couldn't. It was Bella. So I just tried to give her some advice. "Don't ever touch Paul again." I realized how that sounded, so I tried to soften it up. "I mean, really, Bella, don't slap a werewolf. Especially not ones with anger issues."
I walked to the truck, climbing into the back of it.
We arrive at Emily's in not time. I was the first one inside, just wanting to be away from Bella. Also to see if Paul was there.
"Hey, Emily," I greeted, sitting down. "The boys are coming in soon. Embry and Jared are already here."
Emily smiled. "I've already got the food ready."
The boys walked in just then, and Emily started to prepare. "Are you guys hungry? Like I have to ask," She laughed, turning and seeing Bella. Emily looked down at me. "Who's this?"
"Bella Swan," Jared answered for me. "Who else?"
"Hm, so." Emily smiled. "You're the vampire-girl."
"So you're the wolf-girl?" Bella asked, stepping further inside.
Emily laughed lightly. "I guess so. Well, I'm engaged to one." She set the huge plate of muffins down on the table.
Jared reached for two and Emily caught his hand.
"Save some for your brothers," Emily said. "And ladies first."
I laughed, grabbing a muffin and taking a big bite. "Mm," I rubbed it in the boys faces. Then I turned to Bella, my anger toward her fading. "Muffin?"
"Sure," She said, grabbing a muffin and standing behind me. "Thanks."
Emily sighed. "Leave it to Jacob to find a way around Sam's gag order."
"Um, he didn't say anything to me," Bella said.
"That's a wolf thing." Embry smirked. "Alpha's orders get obeyed, whether we want 'em to or not. Oh and check it out - we can hear each other's thoughts."
"Would you shut up?" Jared said. "These are trade secrets. Damnit, this chick runs with vampires."
I kicked Jared under the table. "You're stupid."
Jared made a face at me and I made one back.
Bella laughed quietly. "You can't really run with vampires. 'Cause they're fast."
"Yeah?" Jared leaned forward. "Well, we're faster. Freaked out, yet?"
"You're not the first monsters I've met."
Sam came in, breathing out. "Jake's alright - if you're good with weird," Sam said, walking over to Emily and giving her a big kiss, kissing her all over the face, making her laugh.
A second later, Paul and Jake came into view, shoving each other, seeming good again. Paul pulled out a chair and sat down beside me, looking up at Bella. "Sorry." He smiled, grabbing a muffin.
I laughed. "Real sincere, Paul."
"Shut it, Nita."
I stuck my tongue out, and he did the same. Then I smiled, letting my feet finds his. Paul smiled at nothing in particular, pretending that he didn't notice, and he went back to eating his muffin.
