This is for SMHHHFan and for the people on Twitter who were begging for two updates this week, enjoy :)
When she arrived home just after eight thirty Stephanie was surprised to see her parents were home, "Fuck." As she made her way towards the front door she made sure that she looked presentable before she let herself in, "I'm home."
Linda was concerned about her daughter and when she couldn't get her on the phone she was beginning to panic, "Where have you been?"
"At a friend's house, why? You said you wouldn't be back until nine and it's not that yet so why are you worried?"
She couldn't help but stare at her daughter like she had lost her mind, "Maybe because you weren't here, you didn't leave a note to say where you were and then you didn't answer your phone when I called."
When she was in such a good mood she didn't want her Mom to destroy it, "You said yourself you wouldn't be back until nine so why leave a note saying where I was when I was expecting to be back before you? As for my phone, I'm sorry but I just didn't hear it ring and haven't checked it for missed calls or texts yet. If it's all the same to you I am going to do my homework so if you'll excuse me."
She practically ran up the stairs desperate to get away from her Mom before she brought her mood down. All but slamming her door shut behind her she didn't care that she hadn't eaten dinner, she just needed to get away from playing twenty questions. Tossing her phone onto the bed she didn't have time to check it as after spending most of the evening with Paul it was late and she hadn't even started her homework yet.
It took an extra cup of coffee but when Stephanie walked into school on Tuesday morning she was awake having been up until nearly two doing homework.
The first person that she saw when she entered school was Hugh and as he looked at her she flipped him off, if he even attempted to flirt with her then she would rip into him as she was too tired to be polite and deal with him.
As she sat down in home room she stifled a yawn as Belle sat beside her, "Somebody forgot to sleep last night. By the way, I'm really proud of you for flipping Hugh off, he was talking shit about you but soon shut up."
"I was up until two am doing homework so have no time to deal with his bullshit, if I wouldn't get suspended for it I would totally punch him today."
Belle couldn't help but laugh, "Remind me not to get on your bad side when you haven't slept much. After this do you want to grab some coffee and run over to the gym to drop the forms off to Mr Levesque? I told the girls that I'd do it but you can tag along with yours if you want."
As soon as the form was mentioned she groaned, "Fuck, I completely forgot to get my parents to sign the form but that's mainly because I just avoided them to avoid an argument. I'll still tag along for the coffee if you don't mind please." She was hoping the offer to see Paul would be on offer too but didn't want to assume.
"You only get coffee if you accompany me aaaalllll the way to the gym."
She laughed and nudged her friend in the ribs with her elbow, "Yeah, because the gym is sooo far away." Rolling her eyes she stifled a yawn, "Maybe the fresh air will do me good so let's do this."
The conversation ended when the teacher appeared leaving Stephanie to think about how she was dressed as she was going to be face to face with her boyfriend.
After home room the two of them took everybody's completed form and made their way across to the gym.
When they entered the gym it was eerily quiet, "Do you think anybody is here?"
She felt like she shouldn't be here and could only whisper her response to Belle, "I don't know. We can always just leave the forms on his desk, if his office is open."
Belle grabbed hold of Stephanie's arm and held it tightly, "This place is giving me the creeps. People say this is haunted and I don't want to stay to find out." She practically dragged her friend to the door and quickly knocked on it.
Absorbed in planning out the finer details for Friday with regards to where he should sit and other minor details he was surprised by a knock at his door, "Come in." He sat back in his chair and almost smiled when he saw his girlfriend but stopped himself when he saw that she wasn't alone, "Good morning you two. What can I do for you today?"
Both girls were relieved to know that he was in his office so upon entering Belle stepped forward with the forms, "I have collected all of the forms that have been completed so far and brought them as one so that you're not interrupted all day."
He smiled politely as he took them off her, "Thank you. Am I to assume that both of your forms are in here?"
Stephanie couldn't help but blush and look down, "No, I forgot to get my parents to fill mine in as I was busy last night."
The mention of her being busy last night immediately brought the images to his mind, "Well I hope that you had fun whatever you were doing."
Lifting her gaze her eyes connected with his, "Oh I did, I really did thank you. I promise that I'll have my form completed by the end of the week."
"Thanks girls." He spun around in his chair to place the completed forms in on the filing cabinet on the back wall before he spun back to face them, "Is there anything else I can help you with?"
As he spun away and then back to face them she noticed the mark on his shoulder, "What did you do to your shoulder Mr Levesque?"
"My shoulder?" He quickly felt each shoulder to see if he could feel what was wrong with his shoulder.
Her boyfriend may have been oblivious to what Belle had noticed but she knew exactly what she had seen and she was embarrassed, she couldn't believe that she had actually bitten him so hard that he was still marked and he hadn't noticed it.
"Your right shoulder, it looks like a bite mark. Did your girlfriend do that to you?"
His eyes widened and he immediately put his hand on his shoulder, "I think that it is time that the two of you left as I have things that I need to do before my next class."
"Sorry to take up your time." Stephanie grabbed hold of Belle's arm and dragged her towards the door, "Come on you."
As soon as the two of them had left Paul was on his feet and in search of the nearest mirror that he could find to see what the damage was. When he found a mirror and saw the mark he groaned, as hot as it was that she had done it he couldn't keep it on show. He made his way back to his office and swapped his tank top for a t-shirt to hide the mark before he went back to what he had been doing.
After dragging the other girl out of the gym Stephanie let go of her arm, "I can't believe you actually noticed and asked him about that."
Belle shrugged, she didn't know what the big deal was, "Why not? He had it on show so it was fair game to mention it. It was so his girlfriend that gave it to him, that or he kidnaps people in his spare time and somebody he kidnapped fought back."
Snorting she stopped dead, she wasn't sure if that was the most hilarious thing that she had ever heard or the most insulting to him, "Don't say that around him, he might actually put you in detention. Let's get this coffee though, I need one for History and one for my eye exam at lunchtime."
Once Belle was distracted she pulled her phone from her pocket to text her boyfriend:
I'm sorry for hurting you, really really sorry. Belle thinks either your gf did it or you kidnap people in your spare time.
She sent the text and then put her phone away so that she didn't have to answer awkward questions.
Paul hadn't had chance to check his phone since he locked it away upon his arrival at school so when he had lunch free he unlocked his desk and removed it. The first text he saw was one from Diana with a picture of Leila in a little onesie with the slogan 'Uncle's Little Princess' emblazoned across the chest:
I saw this and thought of you. How cute does she look?
The cutest. I was hoping to come to see you on Sunday if you're free and will have me.
After sending the text he moved on to the next one which happened to be the one from Stephanie and he didn't know how to reply, they were both in the same position worrying about hurting the other and really needed to talk it over:
Don't worry u didn't hurt me, it was all pleasure ;-) We need to discuss this though. Maybe I should start kidnapping people, I have my first victim in mind :D
With the two important texts replied to he skimmed over what was left as he began to eat his lunch.
She was sat in the office waiting for her eye exam as they were running behind when she got his text. She wanted to reply to him but the idea of talking about it scared her as he had bitten her in a different scenario to when she had bitten him. Luckily her name was called so she quickly slid her phone into her pocket and followed them into the room.
After her eye exam she returned to school for afternoon classes and then headed home, she could go over to Paul's but she could also go and workout and avoid the conversation. Stood in the middle of her bedroom she thought over both options and soon was picking out some gym clothes from her drawers.
When she pulled up outside of the gym she was hit by a wave of guilt and as much as she tried to ignore it she just couldn't:
I'll not be over today, I've gone to the gym for a workout.
He had waited all afternoon for Stephanie to reply to his text but when he didn't receive anything by the time he got home Paul was concerned that he had said the wrong thing. As soon as his phone beeped he lunged for his bag quickly finding it and removing it to read the text.
When he read that she wasn't coming over and was instead going to the gym it inspired him to go to the gym too, he wasn't stalking her, just using his free time wisely.
She had just finished warming up and was contemplating what machine to begin with when she saw him walk in, she didn't know why he was here right now but she wasn't going to focus on him but on her own workout. Deciding to start her workout off with a short run she jumped on a treadmill and began to get her sweat on.
Paul walked through the front door of the gym and tried so hard not to look around to see if he could see her, he knew that she was here as he had seen her car outside but he wanted it to seem like a coincidence that he saw her. Playfully flashing his membership card and then pretending to put it away he smirked at Zoe as she glared at him before he passed his card to her, "Okay okay. Jeez, no need to send me those death glares woman."
"Well somebody is awfully happy these days. If I didn't know any better I would say that you have a girlfriend."
It was his turn to glare at her, "Why do I get the feeling that you and Kelly have been gossiping about me?"
Quickly scanning the card she passed it back to him, "Because we have? She told me that you came by on Sunday morning and were joking around about me having been kidnapped and she mentioned that you were happy as you have a girlfriend."
"Ugh, women. You can't say one innocent thing without them telling all of their friends. Yes I have a girlfriend, yes I am happy and yes, she is absolutely fucking gorgeous."
She couldn't help but giggle as the phone began to ring, "You are so whipped and I like it. Have a good workout and I'll catch you later."
"Yeah, later." Walking off he needed to dump his bag and then start his workout.
Stephanie was just slowing the treadmill down to a walking speed when he appeared in front of the machine, "Are you stalking me?"
He had tried to resist going over but just being around her and knowing that he could actually approach her without being so afraid gave him confidence. Standing in front of the treadmill he couldn't help but smile, "Do you want me to stalk you?"
She stopped the treadmill unsure of how to answer because stalking was always bad but being around him more wouldn't be so bad, even if she was trying to avoid a specific conversation, "Maybe?"
Paul laughed, "I'll remember that. So are you deliberately avoiding me or is it just a coincidence?"
"Coincidence?" Taking her towel from on top of the treadmill she climbed off and made her way to the next machine she was going to use.
Discreetly following behind her he was confused, "Why are you avoiding me? What did I do wrong?"
They were in the middle of the gym with a couple of strangers around them so she had to be careful to keep things quiet. Slowly turning around to face him she sighed heavily as she looked at the concern and sadness on his face, "I'm ashamed. I can't say it here but you can join the dots and figure it out for yourself."
Immediately his brain started whirring and he tried to figure out exactly what she could be ashamed of that she wanted to avoid him over and then it hit him, he wanted to discuss the biting and ever since she had gone to great lengths to keep a distance between them, "The b word?"
With eyes darting around the room so fast that she couldn't focus on a thing she closed her eyes tightly and nodded before she opened her eyes again to look at him, "Not here, not now."
His hands clenched at his side as he resisted his natural urge to pull her into his arms to make everything better, "What if I said that we won't have the conversation until you're ready to hear what I have to say on the matter? Would that make you want to stay over on Friday still?"
"Do you want me to stay over still?"
There was no hesitation before he nodded his head, "Yes, absolutely yes."
The way that he was so quick to do whatever she needed to be happy made her want to hug him so much, "Would it be too awkward to hug you?"
What he did in his own time was his own business so if someone was to see then he could get out of it, "Not at all, we just can't kiss."
A smile graced her lips as she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him hugging him tightly. With her face almost buried in his chest she could say this freely as it would be hard for anybody but him to hear, "Thank you for being the best boyfriend. When I am ready I will bring it up, until then thank you."
Returning the hug he rubbed her back gently, "It's my pleasure. I look forward to the conversation but until then we're cool."
She pulled back from the hug and smiled, "Sorry for being kind of sweaty."
Paul couldn't help but laugh, "Yeah because I'm not going to get sweaty now am I? Enjoy the rest of your workout and if you need any help I'm around."
"Thanks."
Stephanie twisted the towel in her hands as she went off in search of her next method of torturing her body today. With the air having been cleared with her boyfriend she was happier knowing that she could be with him and he wouldn't push her to talk about it. She knew that they needed to have the discussion but it didn't need to be today, she had a date night to think about and she would rather look forward to that than worry about saying the wrong thing and him thinking badly of her.
Sat at the reception desk during a lull between clients she turned to look to make sure that everything was going okay when she spotted Paul and the new girl, she had teased him about that girl when she had first joined saying they made a cute couple and she stood by that. She sat watching them obviously deep in conversation which concerned her slightly as it was unusual for the gym but as they soon hugged and parted she thought nothing more of it, beyond thinking that they still made a cute couple anyway. There may be an age gap between them but she knew a couple that were made for each other when she saw them and that was definitely them, "Shame he has a girlfriend or I'd be matchmaking." Her attention was drawn away from them and back to her job when the phone rang again.