A/N:

And here we have just the tiniest hint of Paul's 'possessive' streak, in a protective way of course. Enjoy this hopefully! I had so much fun writing this and I'm having even more fun the further I go with this. I might or might not even have a half-formed plan for something pertaining to Embry and Angel in the future.. Who knows? We'll see, I suppose.

Also, a heads up: This is most likely not really going to be too intense a slow burn. I don't feel like this is going to be that slow though so if you're looking for slow burn that's most likely not going to be found here. I'm sorry if that disappoints.

┇03┇

"You realize we're crashing this party..Right?" Olivia asked as Angel practically dragged her through an overgrown path through the trees. The orange glow of a bonfire came into view and Olivia stopped.

Angel stopped too, a brow raised as she tapped her foot impatiently against the grass. "Oh c'mon. Don't back out now, Livvie."

"I don't feel right about this. We weren't even invited. And anyway, what if Irene is here too? I really don't want to see her again, not after earlier today." Olivia tried to resist and bow out while she still had the chance to do so. Angel wasn't having it, grumbling about Olivia's comfort zone and the way it was going to kill her, probably from boredom than anything.

Olivia's hand raised, dragging through soft platinum waves and she shuffled her feet as she nodded her head in the direction they'd just come from, more towards her father's house. "And Bella's there by herself. What if she needs me?"

"Wake up, Livvie. Bella's a big girl. She can handle her own mental breakdown. It's time she did so. You've given up way too much already just to sit there with her and watch paint dry on the walls. Besides, I overheard Jessica mention earlier that the two of them were going out to Port Angeles."

"Yeah, but.. I heard my sister say she wasn't feeling up to it, earlier."

"But Jessica pretty much insisted that one way or another, your sister was going out with her tonight." Angel insisted, grumbling and laughing in irritation as Olivia stood there, glancing at the clearing that lie ahead where the party was being held and back, towards the direction of her father's house. Angel pouted a little. "Live a little.. Please?"

Olivia bit her bottom lip as she mulled it over. Then she sighed and nodded. "Okay, fine. But so help me god, if I feel like I'm the oddball, I'm leaving."

"Fine. If you feel like you're the oddball, you can gladly leave. Just try to have a little fun? If anyone deserves it, Livvie, it's you."

The two stepped into the clearing and the second Olivia saw the tapped keg a few feet away from the bonfire, she had serious thoughts on leaving and going home. But she thought about it.

What had being the most perfect person she could manage being actually gotten her up to this point?

Stress. Anxiety. A deep-seated fear of confrontation of any sort and the people pleaser complex in spades. To a point where she'd bend over backwards and twist herself inside out just to avoid anyone disliking her or being angry with her.

Everybody needed to relax every now and then, even her. And the past three months hadn't been easy on her at all.

"I'm not drinking."

"Fair enough. Pretty sure there's soda here or something." Angel's dark brown eyes darted around until she found the cooler sitting in the back of Mike's truck. "I bet it's there. Mike doesn't drink either, if memory serves. The last time he did, he wound up getting his ass kicked by Jesse and Dean."

"Yikes. He's that bad when he has a little too much?" Olivia gazed over at Mike Newton, who stood near the bonfire as he nursed a Pepsi. As Angel mingled with a few people from their own grade, Olivia wandered over to where Mike stood.

She cleared her throat quietly and Mike was drawn out of his daze, chuckling when he saw her. "Hey.. I didn't think you'd actually come out here."

Olivia nodded towards Angel. "She dragged me."

"Do you want anything to drink? I have Pepsi.." Mike muttered in haste, going silent. Olivia nodded and managed a polite smile. Mike wandered over to the back of his Jeep and grabbed a blue can from the cooler in the back of it and he walked back over, holding the Pepsi out to her. Olivia thanked him quietly and pulled the tab up, taking a few long sips.

"I heard about you telling Irene off earlier. I told her she needs to leave you alone because you're going through a lot."

Olivia tensed because suddenly, the fact that Irene's torment had tripled made absolutely perfect sense. She managed another smile, this one smaller and a bit more tight than the first one she'd given as she nodded and told him thank you.

"Everything okay?" Mike asked when he realized that she was so tense that she was practically folding into herself.

Olivia shrugged and muttered something about not being a huge fan of crowds.

"But you're in the school play. And you're on debate."

"I don't notice the crowds at either because I'm focused on a task." Olivia explained with a mild shrug. Mike must have spotted one of his buddies from the football team because he wandered away, leaving Olivia to sit in front of the fire as she sipped her soda and watched the way the flames jumped. Or that's what she was doing until Jesse drunkenly stumbled over and flopped carelessly into the grass next to her.

"S'up, g-gorgeous?"

Olivia's eyes settled on the sky as she muttered quietly, "The sky. The last time I checked, anyway." and she managed another tense little smile. Jesse moved closer and she backed away, leaning out of his reach when he raised a hand as if he were going to touch her.

He glared at her in frustration. "So u-uptight."

Olivia let the statement roll off her back and went back to staring into the fire. But when Jesse moved close all over again and tried to slip an arm around her shoulders, she stood abruptly and started to walk away, irritated at herself for being so awkward, not being a fan of parties and noisy drunk people.

Apparently, she was going to stand in her own way of actually fitting in here, too.

She'd wandered over to a more quiet area of the woods. About half a mile from the party if that far, because she could still hear the noises and laughter and the music. She found a stump to sit down on and she sat there, looking up at the moon and the starry night sky as she sipped her drink. She'd just finished it and decided to go get herself another one and check in with Angel when she collided with Jesse who was now officially too drunk to function and nearly falling into her. He pulled her against him and she shoved at him so he'd back off, scowling at him as she shook her head no. "Get lost, Beck."

"Ice queen." Jesse drawled drunkenly.

Olivia froze in place as soon as she heard the dark and husky chuckle from behind her and a throat cleared. And then a very familiar voice spoke up, the calmness in his tone almost too much. Almost deadly.

"She told you to leave her alone, man." Paul spoke up as his entire body tensed and his fists clenched and unclenched at his sides.

He'd been out patrolling the forest on his usual route and lucky, he had been. He remembered her telling him earlier that Angel was dragging her to some lame bonfire in the woods about a mile and a half behind her father's place tonight and he'd been more than a little tense about it, truth be told.

Jesse gazed up at the stockier built and taller male and gulped, stammering as he backed away. "I-I didn't mean n-nothing, man."

"Get fucking bent, kid. If a girl tells you to leave her alone, maybe fucking do it next time? Huh?" Paul mused with a voice that was more growl than anything, "because you just never know.. Their boyfriend might be the kind who actually protects his girl."

"He's.. That's your boyfriend?" Jesse gaped.

Olivia nodded slowly, swallowing hard. Her face burning hot as she turned to face Paul and smile up at him gratefully for the intervention just now. "Boyfriend, huh?" she asked in that soft voice. Paul chuckled and shrugged. "It was the first thing that came to mind, kitten." he answered as he held out his arm to her. "Do you wanna go for a walk?"

"Yeah. Do you want a soda? Mike has Sprites and Pepsi." Olivia offered. Paul shook his head and nodded towards the direction she'd just come from. "It's quieter over there." he remarked as they walked over to a cooler in the back of someone's vehicle. Olivia threw away her empty can of soda and grabbed herself two more and shoved the second one down into the pocket of that oversized black jacket. Paul chuckled and Olivia admitted with a shrug, "It's better than having to walk back over and risking another run in with Jesse."

"Yeah. I get it." Paul answered, tension filling his body at the mere thought of Olivia having another run in with the drunk little asshole. Or anyone else who wasn't sober enough to think clearly, for that matter. They wandered off in the direction of the heavily wooded area that Olivia had just come from and as soon as they were all by themselves, Paul asked quietly, "Couldn't talk her down, huh?"

"Nope. I guess I thought maybe if I came along, she'd at least be a little safer. Safety in numbers." Olivia shrugged as she said it and sighed. "I think she spotted this guy she's into and vanished though. I'm gonna text her in a little bit to make sure she's okay."

Paul nodded and smiled a little.

It hit him just how little he actually bothered smiling when he realized how foreign it felt to do so. She shivered a little and he stepped closer. She gasped and raised a hand, resting the back of it against his forehead as she stared at him in concern.

"You shouldn't even be out right now?" Olivia stated quietly, in a tone filled with worry. "You feel like you're running a really high fever, Paul. I mean it. You need to be home, sleeping this off."

"I'm fine. I promise." Paul reassured her, though he didn't bother lowering her hand and when she went to do so on her own, his hand settled over it, holding it against the side of his face where she'd lowered it to a second or so before. They were staring at each other intently and migrating closer.

Paul tensed a little as her scent seemed to amplify and get even sweeter somehow. Arousal hit him so hard it nearly had him falling into her. His hand lowered and so did her hand, settling palm down against his bare chest. His hand drifted down, settling at her waist as he cleared his throat and tried like hell not to think about everything her scent and her body language at present was revealing to him. Because if she had one tenth of a clue what was going through his mind right now, he was pretty sure she'd be backing away and not stepping even closer to him.

He realized her jacket wasn't fully zipped and mostly to give himself something to do with his hands before they did entirely too much and too fast on their own, he reached out and tugged the zip on her jacket up with a quiet laugh. "No wonder you were cold, kitten." his tone came out huskier, foreign to his own ears.

She swallowed hard and nodded quietly. Stepping even closer because the heat that rolled off his body wasn't just hot, it was inviting somehow. She'd have normally been intimidated by a guy like him but somehow, he didn't intimidate her that badly.

"Everything okay?" he asked and she nodded. Her mouth opened and closed as if she were going to say something and then her hand raised and wordlessly, she plucked a leaf out of his close-cropped black hair. "You,uh.. You had a leaf in your hair?"

Paul gave her an amused look and muttered a quiet Thank you. The oversized hood to her jacket was trying to fall into her face again and he reached out, brushing it back just enough as he teased, "That jacket's always trying to hide your face from me."

"It was my sister's. She didn't like it, so we traded."

"Makes sense, I guess." Paul muttered, stepping even closer to her and completely closing any space left between their bodies. "Sorry I didn't get to call you earlier. The coach was being a dick this afternoon so guess who got extra laps."

Olivia cringed and shook her head. "If you were running a fever as bad as you are now earlier, your coach is an actual dick. You shouldn't have even been at practice if you were…" she trailed off with his chuckling as he shook his head. "It's fine. I'm fine, okay? Guys just run hotter than girls."

"I know that, but you feel like someone stuck you in a furnace, sir." Olivia insisted.

"I'm fine. I promise." Paul once again reassured her. He spotted her friend Angel and nodded in her direction with an amused smirk. "Your friend, on the other hand.. I think I need to get you two back to your dad's now. Before something happens out here with all these fucking drunk idiots."

Olivia agreed to it happily and they set off to find Angel. Olivia managed to coax her to give it a rest for the night and got an arm around her as the three of them set off in the direction of her father's house. "P-paul? When did you get here, b-buddy?" Angel drawled, making Paul snicker quietly as he shook his head and shrugged, giving the vague answer that he happened to be passing through and saw the party, decided to check it out.

Olivia's brow raised and she glanced up at him as he gave the explanation, but she kept quiet. Too grateful he had happened to be there when he'd shown up. A glimmer of hope refusing to be silenced within that when she mentioned the party earlier, that might have been his entire reason for showing up to begin with while simultaneously not allowing that sliver of hope to grow any farther than it had already.

The back of her father's house came into view and Olivia found herself staring up at Paul. Stepping closer. And then she did something that really shocked herself. She rose to the tips of her toes and she clumsily pressed her lips against the corner of his mouth. When she did it, his fingers dug into her lower back and he pulled her even closer so that she was nearly leaning against him and he did the same, brushing his lips against hers all over again. "You might wanna get your friend inside before she pukes in that big flower pot."

"Shit. I swear, this is the last time I let her talk me into this shit." Olivia muttered with the softest laugh as she gazed up at him for a few seconds that seemed to stretch infinite. She gave him a little hug and then she hurried over, grabbing Angel's hair to keep it out of her face as she doubled over to puke while apologizing profusely. Olivia laughed off the apology and muttered in a quiet tone, "It's fine. Let's just get you inside and laying down, okay?"

Angel nodded and happily, she complied, leaning heavily against Olivia as Olivia pulled open the door that lead into the house and stepped inside, letting Angel sink down into a chair.

"C-connor was only p-pretending to like me. T-trying to get me drunk." she admitted quietly after a few seconds and Olivia nodded and sat down across the table from her. "Yeah, I kind of got that feeling about him but you looked so happy, Ang.."

Angel shrugged and muttered something to herself before shooting Olivia a teasing and gentle smile as she pointed out, "I saw you and P-paul g-getting all cozy."

"I'm telling you, he'll realize how boring and 'childish' I'm thought to be and he'll lose interest."

"Oh, t-that's n-not what h-he told J-jared." Angel blurted.

"Oh yeah?" Olivia gave a soft laugh and gazed at her friend, mostly to humor her. Waiting on an answer.

"He likes you. L-like a lot." Angel drawled in a knowing tone as she nodded her head.

Olivia's brow raised and she giggled quietly as she shrugged it off. "Maybe, or maybe he's bored. I'm just gonna see where it goes, okay?"

"G-good i-idea." Angel answered.

"Are you hungry? I want an omelet for some reason."

"You g-go ahead. I-I don't e-even think I-I wanna t-try right now. I am n-never drinking again. Ever." Angel vowed as Olivia snickered and nodded while smiling. "That's a good idea."

"T-the b-best. Because I-I s-swear, I s-saw a huge freakin w-wolf when I-I was comin to look for you to l-leave. It was dark g-gray with black s-spots o-on i-it's n-nose and g-guess what?" Angel went quiet and Olivia asked, "Hmm?"

"I b-booped i-it's nose. I-it came u-up to me and l-lemme p-pet it. K-kept me warm."

Olivia put most of what Angel said down to drunken rambling and she smiled and laughed softly at the story her friend told her.

But something about it did make a little sense.. After all, she'd seen the large dark silver wolf and it didn't seem to run away, either. She would've gotten close enough to touch it had Bella not come outside and set it running off.

She wanted to laugh at herself for even entertaining the idea she was currently entertaining, but there was something slightly more human than animal about the wolf she'd seen on her own…

But that couldn't be possible.. Could it?