Chapter 10: Surprise

I hadn't seen Paul since I left the hospital.

Two weeks ago.

He had decided that he was too much of a threat to me, so he cut off all contact with me. It was killing me.

Every single time I went into work, I hoped I would see him around somewhere. I hoped that he would pop up out of the blue and speak to me. I knew that it was wishful thinking, but I couldn't help but want it. I wanted so badly to speak with him again. Once in a while I'd see one of the guys roaming around near the restaurant, but other than that nothing. None of them would come speak to me, and I didn't approach any of them.

I knew my mom wanted so badly to ask me what had happened. I'm sure she could clearly see the change in my mood lately, but in all honesty, I couldn't bring myself to tell her and she never asked. Whenever I'd come home from work, she'd ask how my shift was, and I'd answer. From the look on her face I could tell she wanted me to tell her more, but what could I say? How could I explain what had happened between Paul and me? How could I explain that he, as a wolf, held himself responsible for what had happened to me from a vampire?

I knew that I couldn't tell anyone what the Cullens or what the guys in La Push were, so how could I tell my mom what had happened? As far as she was concerned, we had just broken up.

The thought of that stung me. Were we broken up? I mean, he hadn't said anything to me….he could at least have the decency to tell me it was over.

Anger shot through me as I carried a plate of food to a table with a family of four people. How could Paul be so ridiculous?! Didn't I at least deserve to be told that we were over?

I took my break with Mark and sat with him outside. Since Paul had stopped talking to me, I had started smoking more again. I took a few drags out of my cigarette and tried to ease the tension from my body.

"So, how's the boyfriend?" Mark asked after taking a drag from his cigarette.

I gave Mark a dark look. "Hasn't spoken to me since I got out of the hospital."

"What?" he asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise.

"He's blaming himself for what happened to me…at the Cullen house," I said.

"But why does he blame himself?" he asked. "He had nothing do with it."

"Boys!" I said in frustration.

He chuckled. "We're playing for the same team, honey; I know how it is too."

"It's just frustrating," I said. "I mean, he didn't have the decency to actually tell me that we were over. It's like we're still together but in some kind of fight. He hasn't called me, hasn't texted me, hasn't spoken to me at all. He just cut contact altogether."

"It's too bad that the best looking ones are always the worst ones," he said.

I sighed. "I know."

Mark looked over my shoulder. "Well, speak of the devil."

I turned to see Paul coming towards us.

"I guess you're in luck today, I'll give you two some privacy." He got up and went back inside.

"Thanks," I whispered. Why did I find it so hard to talk all of a sudden? Not even two minutes ago I had been absolutely pissed off at Paul. Shouldn't I still be?

By this point, Paul had reached the little picnic table that was behind the restaurant. He sat down where Mark had been sitting. I looked at him, waiting for him to say something.

"How are you?" he asked finally.

"I'm okay, how are you?" I asked.

"I'm alright."

We were both quiet. He had his eyes locked onto mine, so I couldn't look away from him if I wanted to.

"You came here for a reason," I said. "What was it?"

He took a deep breath. "I needed to see you."

"Well, you can see me right now," I said, I had my guard up. He hadn't spoken to me into weeks, now all of a sudden he came back to see me?

"I can feel that you're hostile," he said quietly, looking away from me. "I'm sorry." I didn't say anything. "You know that I blame myself for what happened…deep down I know it wasn't really my fault…it could've happened to anyone…but I know that I could have prevented it."

"Why haven't you spoken to me?" I asked.

"I hoped if I stopped speaking to you it would break the imprint." Ouch. That stung.

Through the pain of what he had said, I felt anger. "You could have told me you were breaking up with me."

"I figured it was easier this way," he said.

"No, it isn't easier this way," I said angrily. "Because every day I thought that you'd call me or text me, or something! If I had known that it was over I wouldn't have bothered waiting around. I wouldn't have bothered tricking myself into thinking that you would call me."

I looked away from him. A thought struck my mind that scared me a bit. Briefly, I considered moving in with my dad. Just leaving behind Forks and starting fresh.

But then I thought about my mom, how could I leave her behind? And was I really willing to leave Forks just because of one person? No.

"Maybe I don't want it to be over, Katie," he said. "I just can't hurt you anymore."

"The only thing you've done to hurt me is ignore me," I said. "I have to get back to work. Goodbye, Paul."

I stood up and went to go back into the restaurant, but before I could go back inside he grabbed my arm and pulled me back to him. He didn't say anything as he grasped my face and kissed me. Hard. I had never felt such passion in a kiss before in my life. I could feel his love for me in that kiss, it was still there, deep down. He still loved me. Somewhere, deep inside of him, he still loved me; he just didn't want to admit it to me.

But I was still mad at him.

Or was I?

He let go of me. "I really am sorry, Katie."

I was confused. That kiss had shaken me up. I was flustered and suddenly nervous all over.

"I…I have to get back to work," I said, pushing past him and going back into the restaurant. I went to my section and looked to see if there were any customers sitting in it. There wasn't any, so I went to the kitchen.

"How did it go?" Mark asked, flipping a burger.

I didn't answer him, I looked away. I didn't know what to say. That kiss had left me shaky and confused. I still wasn't sure what to do with myself.

"That bad?" Mark asked.

"I don't even…I don't know what…" I trailed off; my mind was a jumbled mess.

He turned to look at me, concern clouding his face. "What happened?"

"He and I were just talking, and then I went to come back in here and he kissed me," I said quietly. "It just confused me…I still don't really know what to do with myself."

He looked at me sympathetically. "Why don't you go home sick? It's a slow day, I'm sure no one will mind."

I took a deep breath. "I don't really want to."

"Honey, don't worry. If I could take the day off too, I would, but I'm the only cook in today," he said. "I'm sure the boss won't mind. He isn't even in today. Just ask Diana to cover for you."

"I feel bad asking. She covered for me while I was in the hospital. I owe her big time."

Mark sighed. "Just chill back here for a bit, until you have your thoughts together and until you have a table to tend to."

"Thanks Mark, I think I'll do that."

"I cannot wait to get my own restaurant," he said, seeming to sense that I didn't want to talk about Paul anymore. "It'll actually have a nice kitchen-that's well working…with good stovetops and a fridge that actually opens and closes without getting stuck."

I smiled. I could picture it; I knew that it would make Mark so happy to have his own restaurant.

"How close are you to getting your own restaurant?"

"Five-thousand dollars away," he said. At the look on my face he started talking again. "I know it seems like a lot-I have fifteen thousand saved up."

"Just from working here?" I asked in surprise.

He nodded. "I've got two cooking jobs, every penny earned from this one goes to my restaurant fund, and every penny from the other job goes to everything else I need or want, and even some money from my other job goes to this."

"Wow, how long did it take you to get that much?"

"Three years." He said. "The way I see it, I can get the new restaurant up and running within two years. It'll take me another year to save everything up, then there's just the task of buying all the appliances, renting the place, et cetera."

"I can't wait," I said. "I'll be glad to get out of this restaurant."

"Trust me, you aren't the only one."

I smiled at him, but really my mind was in other places. I couldn't get Paul out of my mind. That kiss earlier…it had messed me up completely. The way he had held my face…the way he kissed me…I couldn't get it out of my mind. I couldn't get him out of my mind. No matter what I did, I couldn't get him out of my head. I even helped Mark cook, but even that couldn't get Paul out of my head.

I spent the rest of my shift in the kitchen with Mark. Barely anyone came into the restaurant, if anyone had come in at all. Mark had been right; it was a slow day today.

When my shift was over I half expected to see Paul waiting out by my car.

Paul wasn't there- Sam was.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Go talk to him," he said gruffly.

"He doesn't want to talk to me."

"Trust me, he does," he said.

"I can't take another half conversation like the one we had earlier," I said. "We barely spoke. I can't go through that again."

"He won't be the first one to speak. You're going to have to get it out of him. He doesn't like sharing his feelings much, but he can't hide his thoughts from us."

I sighed. "Where is he?"

"His apartment," he said. "Try to be nice to him." Sam walked away and I got into my car.

To be honest, I didn't really want to go see Paul. After what had happened today with him, I just didn't feel up to it.

I deliberated in my car for a while, then made my decision.