Rain pattered against the window, the smell of homemade food drifted into my nostrils, along with the occasional clatter of pans or a wooden spoon hitting the side of a glass mixing bowl.
The muffin was a comforting gesture. No matter how I tried to deceive myself that it was poisoned, or filled with worms.
I even tried to close my eyes and tried to think of the crunchy sound that a worm would make once cooked. It didn't work at all.
I guess if Emily did actually cooked worms in this exact muffin, she did a pretty good job at it. If she happened to tell me she filled it with bleach or something to kill me. I would have complimented her on how good it tasted, and then would proceed to ask how she covered up whatever harmful substance that would most likely kill me.
No… those thoughts were too mean to come from me. I feel like I should set up a barrier in which the stuff I say will be processed to where I can't think such horrible things. But then I remember it's my brain, and no matter how much I try not to think about it, I'll always think about it.
Like death, now that's a tricky one to get out of your mind. I don't know how I've done that, but it's happened. One moment I'm afraid to fall asleep for the impending darkness is clouding my eyes filled with ghastly images of bodies and the smell of iron seemingly filling my nostrils.
And then I'm waking up to the sound of snores and the aching of my limbs.
"Say, Emily… How did you get the boys out of the house?"
"I threatened not to make them food for two days."
Her response was nonchalant, yet I choked on the bite of muffin in my mouth.
TWO DAYS?!
"They can't last two days without your food?!"
She clucked her tongue while putting a few boiled eggs in a carton marked specifically for them.
"No, sadly they cannot. I got sick once and everyone but Sam was begging for me to at least crack an egg or spread the shredded cheese over their food, it was really quite sad actually."
I stifled a giggle as I slowly chewed on the remains of the muffin in my mouth. Small thoughts floating through my mind, I felt as if I was being a detective, because something seemed needing to be connected. But I wasn't a super hero, I couldn't just find what seemed to be the point in all I wanted to know in whatever this wolf stuff I was involved in at the drop of a hat.
I couldn't find it huddled in a corner.
I stood up rather quickly, causing Emily to jump. Her expression was confused. She gripped a wooden spoon in her hand tightly. For no reason known to me.
"Is everything alright?" She asked quite fearfully.
I started to shrug on my jacket, pulling the collar up to make sure my cheeks and neck would stay warm in this weather.
"How much do they eat?"
"Uhh.. A lot."
"I'm going to the store, I'll be right back!"
I strutted out the door and then stopped, my cheeks flushing a bright red.
"Emily!"
"I'll drive you!"
My breath was let out in a big whoosh when I fell backwards from on top of the shelf. I tried to get deep gulps in, but it seemed absolutely worthless to try.
"Oh my god! Theo!"
Emily rushed over to my side. Gently touching my shoulder. I took another breath, finally feeling my lungs expand.
"Yeah…" I said with a heavy breath let out in a fast whoosh as I sat up, cradling the noodles to my chest. A smile grew on my face.
"I got the noodles!"
She shook her head, a smile going across her face.
"You should have gotten that ladder that I always see people use to set things on the top shelf."
I shrug and get up, still trying to get my breath into normal patterns. I took another deep breath and dumped one of the last boxes of noodles in the overstuffed cart. Apparently Emily dropped all of her stuff to take me over to her house to talk to me.
Which makes me happy and glad that she did that.
But also guilty.
We headed for the checkout quickly after my fall, then the long time in loading the groceries and jumping into the car.
Now… why did I fall off a shelf?
Well, I have made a plan, a scheme in other words.
The scheme was being a fast thought plan.
I explained it to Emily on the ride to the grocery store.
I was going to try and get on the boys good side, or as she said, the pack. I was going to cook them spaghetti. It was a simple plan, and I hoped my curly hair wouldn't be commented on being on a head and shoulders commercial again. Honestly I hoped that it would work. The comments they said before didn't help at all in my hope for this plan to work.
But maybe Paul would make sure they wouldn't say anything.
What? Why am I suddenly depending on Paul to help me? Isn't the plan to do this by myself, and try to get people to like me for stuff I do myself?
I was humming to the radio set up in Emily's kitchen.
I was having fun in her presence. Clapping to the music and singing small parts occasionally that I knew that came up.
Emily's scars pulled at her face when her smile would grow brighter and brighter. The sound of wooden spoons stirring the huge pot of noodles and spaghetti would accompany our light singing and clapping.
My footsteps were light on the floor while I moved about to help with molding the meat into balls to be put into the oven.
The rain was pelting against the window in heavy droplets, the torrents of wind making the wood of the house shudder and groan. And strangely, the groans didn't scare as the house did. Maybe it was the light situation I was in, the singing, cooking, and clapping most likely causing my fear to be pushed into the far reaches of my mind.
But there was still one thing at the top of mind that couldn't be answered by myself.
"How do you get them back into the house?"
Emily simply regarded my with confusion.
"Since, you know, I'm here and it's this… I don't know… rule to stay away from me?"
Her mouth dropped into an o. "Oh, usually one of the boys who stays at the house with me will yell outside the door for me to tell them foods ready."
"And are you just going to go out there and yell that its ready?" I raise a brow, my hands running under the water of the sink while she pulled the last tray of meatballs out of the oven.
I shook my hands out in the sink while she silently stood there.
"I guess I will."
I turned around to witness her open the back door in a loud gesture, leaning against it to make sure it didn't swing shut as she put both hands in her mouth and whistled loudly.
She shut it and scratched her head in a shy gesture.
"Do you think that'll work?"
I stood there for a moment, staring at the green foliage outside, seeing no movement at all.
"I don't know, but shouldn't we start to dish up?"
"Oh yes! The minute they see food, they'll eat it all without us!"
She grabbed a plate from the stacks set in the middle of the wooden table, handing me one then grabbing another for herself. From what I've heard from the pack, there are no seconds for those who don't move fast enough, so I made sure to heap my plate full with two meatballs. When I glanced at Emily, she seemed to be doing the same thing.
I had only sat down next to Emily when the door burst open. Loud voices filling the Uley house as I sat there rigid.
No comments about my toilet water cleaner eyes and head and shoulders commercial hair.
At least, not yet. I uneasily watched them sit down and eat without glancing up.
Well…
"Don't worry, they never notice anyone else after they eat they're first helping."
I looked at her quietly, and she smiled, the scars being pulled up in an atrocious way. But, they made Emily, Emily.
I smiled back and began eating with cutting up my meatballs and mixing them with my noodles and sauce, letting myself get the full experience of all the flavors. I'd been swallowing my second bite when a gasp emitted from the table, and I knew immediately who it was. I looked up to see Quils surprised eyes staring at me. His finger was pointing at me in a mocking way in my eyes, seemingly saying, what is...that?!
"Theo? Wha-"
I flicked my fork in a small wave like gesture, offering a tug of my lips upwards. Quil then began hitting the arm of… Seth? No… Jeez, Jean was right when she said that they all just looked like a whole bunch of clones, I couldn't really tell the difference. Although some of the facial structure was different along with a few traits, but I didn't know them well enough to place them. Besides Quil, Sam, Emily, and Paul.
The name Paul left a bad taste in my mouth now, I'd made him leave my room while he was trying to comfort me.
"Yo, Jared. Theo's here."
Jared! That's his name!
"Nah, I don't believe you."
Jared was staring at his plate and shoveling food in his mouth like most of those around us. But then he looked up and his eyes got huge.
"I thought… you were scared of us?"
I sat there silently until most of those around the table finally began to realize I was there.
"Oh, is that the Theo girl? I'm Jacob." And then he began shoving noodles into his mouth.'
"Uh… Theo." I slurped up some more noodles, sauce getting stuck on my face then I quickly wiped it with the back of my hand.
When I looked up from my plate again, I caught Paul staring with some sort of admiration. I flushed and twirled my fork around the noodles awkwardly, stabbing a cut of meat on the end of the fork. Then putting it in my mouth.
Yeah he was eating. But not as much as the rest of the boys… eh… pack.
He was actually eating like a normal human being. I was surprised he wasn't dabbing his mouth with a napkin.
"Stare any longer Paul and you'll turn her to stone."
His head snapped to Seth, a glare on his face, a slight growl came out of his mouth till Sam growled back at him from beside Emily. Really, the whole growl at someone and get growled back was strange, even if they were some kind of werewolf.
And besides, the whole stare down that Paul was giving Seth was annoying, its as if that's the only way Paul communicated to his friends around me.
"Are mermaids real?"
Stupid blurting mouth, every time I get nervous that no one is talking I blurt something weird out. Jeez..
Everyone just stared at me, until Quil burst out laughing. Everyone had smiles on their faces and small chuckles coming out of their mouths. I blushed and hurriedly began shoving spaghetti in my mouth.
I hummed a little from a song on the radio that was right next to the sink as I helped Emily clean up. My hands were covered in suds as I listened to the pack talk in the living room and kitchen table.
Everyone but Paul was talking.
He was doing what he usually did in my presence. Staring.
I scrubbed harder on the white plate, hoping that I would get distracted from this never ending stare that just wouldn't stop.
Come on, stop staring.
I glanced over my shoulder, wiping the back of my hand against my face to get rid of a few strands of hair in my face. Then I turned my gaze around quickly.
Ok, he won't stop staring.
Plan B. Just ignore him.
"Theo, do you want me to braid your hair out of the way?" Emily asked quietly beside me while drying plates. I only jumped a little bit. I smiled shyly.
"That would help a lot. Thank you."
She wiped her hands on her pants and carefully tugged my hair out of my face, her fingers running through the tangled strands to make sure they wouldn't get in the way of the braiding.
It was a happy moment I must admit. It was calming to have her braiding my hair and my humming made the atmosphere even friendlier to me. I felt at home. It wasn't long till I felt the braid being tied off and Emily back to drying plates beside me. I was on the last few, and my hands felt wrinkly from the water I kept diving them into.
"Emily, I need to talk to her."
I froze up, and slowly moved my head to see Paul standing up from his chair. The rest of the pack was talking quite loud in the other room, and I doubt they heard Paul get up and start talking for once instead of staring.
"Paul, I don't think this is the right ti-"
I dried my hands on the towel next to me. "No… I need to get this over with."
That, and I wanted answers to my questions and theories.
I could tell Emily was wary at me going with him, but I offered a simple smile while I walked to the screen door. Paul quickly hurried and followed me out. His form towered over me, and I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.
"So… we'll talk I guess a little bit away from the house?"
He nodded and walked ahead of me towards the forest. I followed like an obedient dog, one who knows it's going to get shot, but continues to follow their owner since they were loyal for only their master. I heard the soft smashing of my shoes stepping on the soggy pine needles from Douglas Firs and the pinecones from Alder.
He stopped suddenly, allowing me to smash into his back from staring at my feet for so long. When I glanced behind me, I could spy the red paint on the Uley house. I breathed in deeply, moving backwards from hitting Pauls back; allowing the moisture in the air to expand my lungs.
He was staring at me again when he turned around, and honestly, it wasn't as scary when we were around people.
Suddenly he sighed and ran his hand through the native hair of La Push; small droplets from the sprinkles of rain that got through the trees hitting his bare shoulders and hair.
"How much do you know?"
I gnawed on the inside of my cheek, looking at my left foot that moved to create a small line in the dirt.
"Well I know that you can change into a werewolf, no idea how or why. I know you hunt vampires, not the Cullens though. And somehow Bella is still human with them, I don't even know that's possible, and I honestly don't think I want to know why, seeing as she's all cozy with Edward."
He snorted at my last comment, causing the ghost of a smile on my lips.
"Alright, I can change into a wolf. We shift because its this… genetic thing in our tribe that happens when there's vampires around, which would be the Cullens. We don't hunt them because of the treaty. And even I don't know how Bella got all cozy with him."
I laughed at him saying the word cozy.
"But… is that really all you know?"
I twiddled my thumbs and really regretted not bringing my jacket outside, although it's nice that not much of the rain was getting through the trees. But the wind from the ocean had other ideas.
"Just about it, Although Bella mentioned something about me being a wolf girl, don't really understand why though."
He sighed in what sounded like aggravation, and honestly I don't know why. Was it something that he wanted to tell me about, but he was just nervous?
"Okay, do you know what the word imprint means?"
"No, but I've hear it when I first found out."
He said something in a different language under his breath, pulling his hand through his hair again and then running his hand down his face. I waited expectantly, the word imprint interested me very much, and I feel like all my questions are about to be interested.
"So… and imprint is a.. special thing to a shifter in my tribe."
This kind of sounds like a sex talk. Just a little bit.
"It's love at first site for a shifter… no, that's not what I want to say." He let out a frustrated growl. "In Sam's mind, it's always the imprint that you see, and its like nothing is there tying you down to anything else, Its just you holding me down to earth."
I choked slightly and finally looked at Paul, and he seemed proud at saying his words. "You… We're.." I pointed back and forth, and he nodded. "Is this why you've been stalking me?" He nodded again, a smile on his lips.
Oh god, everything just clicked.
I didn't know what to say then, so I just blurted out the things that bothered me the most.
"You know, people who are shy around groups of people they don't know never get talked to, it's because we never say anything and we just feel bad because its seems like we're being standoffish to them." I paused and looked at Paul, seeing he was slightly surprised at me blurting nothing that was related to the imprint problem I was currently facing.
"I feel that way around the pack most of the time. I feel like I'm purposely ignoring them when I'm not, and I feel so bad! I feel like that when I ignore you at the store when you're looking at me over the aisle on the other side. And when I told you to get out after you helped me so much, I just feel horrible."
Paul was staring at me silently and it gave me no hope in acceptance to my speech I blurted out, so I continued even further.
"And then they made these comments, and they just made me think, I really am coming off standoffish aren't I?" I took a shuddering breath inside my lungs. "And when I think that, I just know that I'm driving a wedge in-between myself and everyone. Even though Emily takes care of me and lets me cook with her, I just think that my confusion and fear over the whole werewolf thing just pushed me further away from you all, and then I just know everyone's trying to push me even further and I'l-"
Paul grabbed my upper arms tightly.
"Your my imprint, and no matter what, you'll never push me away."
I flinched when he touched me, a shudder running through my body as I felt the heat that came off his body.
"But… being an imprint, what happens?"
He stood still quietly, and I looked up at him expectantly, waiting for the small question that suddenly was pulled into my many filing cabinets within my brain.
"I can be anything you want me to be, a protector, a friend…" He paused. "A lover."
I started at the world lover. Jumping out of his grasp.
"A lover?!" It jumped out of my mouth fast, and he looked disappointed at my reaction, almost as if he was hoping for me to jump into his arms and have a romance with him. I crossed my arms while turning around and carefully examined the ground.
"Do you want to be lovers?" I quietly asked, my voice growing timid. I secretly wished for the braid to fall out and for my hair to hide my blush.
"Whatever you want."
Was actually listening to Barry Louis Polisar - All I Want Is You most of this chapter, along with Moonriver by The Honey Trees cover.
I couldn't just stop writing this chapter
I'm really hoping that everyone who's reading this likes Theo (Which might I add, thank you guest review for telling me she was a nice change from those fiery temper girls that change Paul around.) When I first had the idea for a Paul/OC story, I wanted a girl who was shy and didn't jump headfirst onto Paul. One who wasn't some weird vampire/werewolf hybrid or a female werewolf or the other way around. I just wanted a normal person who had problems with social interaction along with a weird Mom, and the problems of her Dad being away most of the time for work and the fear of conversation and money problems.
That and I wanted to make fun of Moms who are obsessed with pintrest.
I'm also sadly going to inform whoever reads this story that I will be starting school on the fourth of next month, and before the few days before it, I will be camping. The only reason I got down to write this is because I'm sore from riding my horse all day yesterday in the rain. And because of the rain; I feel like I'm getting sick.
Oh… and Leah Clearwater… I know she's kind of being left out… I just don't want to write her and then suddenly there will be this friendship and it'll just turn to shit. So I'm afraid to write her in actually… Even though I plan to get more book/movie plot involved soon in this story.
Sorry for the mini-cliff hanger too, just thought it would do well to leave off right there.
But while I'm camping, I'll bring my laptop and write another chapter. (In-between intervals of swimming and playing guitar that is.)
I hope you had fun reading this chapter! Have a good rest of the summer!
P.S
Behind every great man, there is a woman rolling her eyes
-Jim Carrey (Bruce Almighty)
