I open my fridge and pull out spaghetti pasta and the beef I left in the fridge to thaw out before work. Paul sits in the dining room chair and watches me attentively.
Feeling his eyes on me while I'm preparing the food to cook makes me feel slightly self conscious and nervous but I bite down on my bottom lip and continue what I'm doing.
Paul being at my apartment once more makes me feel so safe and not so alone in this town. It's nice having someone aside from Quil who I can spend time with. Are Paul and I friends? We are, aren't we? This is what friends do, they help each other and invite one another over to have dinner.
I push away my invasive thoughts and I continue with what I'm doing. Paul's words cause me to jump slightly from my deep thought. "Would you like me to help you with anything?"
He already helped rescued me from a possible psychopath tonight, I don't want to take advantage of his kindness. I smile shyly and continue with dicing the tomatoes.
"It's okay. You already helped me so much tonight. Do you want anything to drink?" Paul smirks and looks down for a moment.
"Water is fine, but I don't mind helping. I like to cook, actually." He says, I turn around and grab a glass cup from the cupboard and fill it with a jug of water from the fridge I smile before handing it to him. Our hands brush casually as he reaches for the glass causing my heart to jump nervously.
"You can cook?" I ask him, changing the atmosphere of our hands brushing. I turn around and grab a onion and begin to dice it into small cubes as well.
"I'm not Betty Crocker," Paul chuckles causing me to grin. "But I can cook a few things for survival." He shrugs jokingly. His sense of humor makes me smile.
The onion begins to make my eyes watery and I mentally snap at myself for not remembering to boil the onion before chopping it to avoid this issue. I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand.
"Want me to do that?" I turn around to see Paul standing beside me, my heartbeat increases and I smile shyly passing him the knife.
Paul begins chopping the onion and I grab the ground beef, opening it and putting it in the pan to cook.
"I'm going to go change out of my work clothes, I'll be right back" I say and Paul gives me a reassuring smile before speaking. "Take your time"
I walk into my room and I change out of my work uniform before tossing it in the bin. I throw on a pair of soffee shorts and a old Blink 182 shirt leaving my hair down. I go back to the kitchen to see Paul finishing up with the onion and I smile to myself.
The spaghetti bolognese is finally finished cooking and I grab two plates and forks for Paul and myself before making our plates.
I make his plate fuller than my own since I figure we don't eat the same amount of food. I sit down at the table with Paul and we begin to eat.
"This is amazing." Paul says after he finishes his first bite and I grin happily that he likes the food.
"My mom always cooked it back home, I never forgot the recipe. She's coming to visit sometime next week, actually."
"How long has it been since you have seen your mom?" Paul asks. I try to think back to moving here and packing up all of my belongings from Colorado to Forks. Half of my boxes are still waiting on being delivered to Forks, I couldn't take much on the airplane and I didn't have a lot of money to pay for all of my boxes to be shipped at once.
"It's been about three months since I've seen her, this being the third month." Paul nods.
"I'm sure she will be beyond elated to see you." He gives me a smile that could make anyone's knees go weak. "You're really brave, moving back here by yourself I mean."
I glance down at my plate and take a sip of my water.
"It was really hard for me to move away like that, but I'm safer now and I'm somewhere I can remember having fond memories when I was little."
I hear what sounds like a buzzing sound and Paul reaches in his pocket and grabs his phone before pressing it to his ear.
"Hello?" He pauses and listens to the person on the other end before speaking again. "No, it's fine. I'm with her right now, I'll call you back."
The phone call ends and I can feel confusion getting the best of me.
"That was Quil. He was calling me to see if I was with you." Paul says and I smirk.
"I should probably text him and see what he wants."
Paul and I finish our food and we stand up from the table, I clean my plate off in the sink and Paul does the same before we leave our plates to dry on the dish rack. I grab my phone from my bag and I send Quil a text while Paul sits on the couch.
Hey, what's up?
Your mom told my mom she's coming to Forks next week, that's awesome! -Quil
I missed her so much. I know she will be happy to see you guys.
I join Paul on the couch and turn the tv on to a show about crime solving. Paul seems to be so content in my company, I can't help but feel the same way when I'm around him.
We sat beside one another and watch a few episodes together. A small sigh leaves my lips and I think about the way tonight began and how it ended with Paul staying over at my apartment.
"I'm going to take a shower really quickly, I was in that dumpster and I just feel kind of gross." I say.
"Okay, I'll be fine here." Paul gives me a wink and I feel my cheeks get warm as a small smile plays on on my lips. I walk to my room and grab some clean undergarments and a pair of comfortable sweats before making my way in the shower.
The scent of lavender shampoo and conditioner fill my hair, it was a soft smell and nothing too overbearing. Lavender always calmed me down anyway, I finished up with rinsing out what was left of the conditioner in my hair and I got out of the shower. A soft white towel wraps around my small frame and I look at my reflection in the mirror.
My skin had always had a very light Sunkissed appearance to it, though I'm sure I might become a bit more pale living in Forks now given that the sun isn't exactly consistent here.
My brown locks were to my elbows and currently still dripping with water, I grab my brush. With my teeth now brushed, I grab a the unopened new toothbrush in the pack that I bought but never opened so I can give it to Paul. My hazel eyes look tired and all I can thinking about is curling up in my duvet.
After getting dressed, I go back to the living room where Paul sits comfortably on the couch.
His eyes light up when he sees me and I smile back before sitting on the couch beside him again. I decide to lay my head against his shoulder, I feel so content like this. Paul's hand reaches over and taps the toothbrush packet. "Did you get me a present?" He teases. I hand him the packet and he smirks.
"Happy birthday, Paul." I say jokingly, my head stays rested against his shoulder as the tv continues to play crime solving shows. "It's just want I wanted! How did you know?" He places his hand on his heart and I giggle at his silliness.
"I'll be right back." He says before standing up and going to the bathroom. I yawn tiredly before curling up on the couch, I can feel my eyes growing more tired by the minute. The sound of the bathroom door opening can be heard and I looked up to see Paul looking down smiling at me with a gentle expression. He looks so mesmerized by me and I don't know how to react to someone looking at me so sweetly.
Paul and I are friends, but he makes me nervous. He makes my heart beat quickly, he's got a silly sense of humor and he's so down to Earth.
Maybe bumping into Paul at the diner that night and courageously deciding to call his number due to wine was supposed to happen. Whatever the reason was for meeting him, I am happy that I have.
"Are you tired?" I ask him softly.
"I am a little now that you mention it." He replies, "Do you want to go to bed? You had a pretty long day."
I nod my head in agreement and we stand up from the couch as I shut off the tv. Paul stands by the couch and I turn to him.
"Well come on," I giggle referring to him following me to my room.
"You don't want me to sleep on the couch?" He asks me. Paul didn't want to assume that he was sleeping in the bed with me, he was going to offer to sleep on the couch. My heart jumped at his innocent thinking and I smiled at him, he really was polite.
"You're sweet for that. We already slept in the bed at your place, I feel comfortable around you and you didn't try anything at all. You can sleep in my bed." I take his hand before Paul can say anything more and we walk to my room.
I turn on my lamp on my nightstand and pull back the covers, I crawling in bed and Paul joins me on the other side.
"You really trust me, don't you?" Paul asks me, I turn to look at him. "Yes, I do trust you."
He smiles comfortingly after hearing my words and I turn around as I turn off the lamp. We lay in the dark for a moment before speaking again.
"I like you, Willow." My heart jumps quickly at Paul's words and I feel a smile spreading across my face.
"I like you too."
I wanted to ask Paul how deep those words ran, did he like he as a friend or were his feelings developing into something more than 'just friends' ? Laying there and pondering things next to Paul, I sigh softly as I try to figure my own feelings out.
Paul is so relaxing to be around, he's helpful, he's funny, and I do like him. He's easy to talk to. Will Paul and I ever be something more than just friends however?
The silence breaks with Paul, "What are you thinking about?" He asks me softly.
"When you say you like me, how do you mean?"
He probably means he likes me just as a friend. Paul and I haven't known each other for a long amount of time, but we do tend to spend quite a bit of time together which I don't mind at all.
Paul smirks. "Willow, I think that you are gorgeous. You are someone I love spending time with, I like you. In the short time I've known you, I like you. But I don't want to push anything with you, I want to go at your pace and what you're comfortable with. I would never force you to do anything that you weren't comfortable with. I like just being near you and I don't want to ruin that."
His words make me smile and I sigh to myself through my nose feeling content and happy.
My mind goes back to remembering my conversation with Jared at the store earlier today about kissing Paul. I'm thankful Jared was just joking around and wasn't actually going to tell Paul our conversation, I would be so embarrassed if he did. But my mind goes back and wonders what it would be like to kiss Paul.
My heart beats nervously as I think about this and Paul lays next to me, I'm thankful he can't hear my heartbeat. Paul smirks causing me to look over at him.
"What is it?" I ask him the feeling of self conscious floods through me. Paul reaches his hand over to my own and gives it a gentle squeeze.
"Are you okay? I feel like you're nervous right now."
"Is it that obvious?" I ask him curiously.
"Sometimes I can just," He pauses for a second ad if he's trying to find the words to say. "Sense the emotions of others, I guess you could say."
I nod my head trying to understand.
"Are you an empath?"
"In a way I suppose I am." I nod my head and continue holding his hand.
"Well you aren't wrong, I am a little nervous. But I'm fine."
"What are you nervous about?" Paul's words cause me to giggle nervously and bite down on my bottom lip.
"I don't think we should talk about it." I say, I'm about to change the subject but Paul begins.
"Why not? I'm great to talk to."
He turns on his side to face me causing our hands to disconnect and props his head up against his hand using his arm as a rest causing me to giggle.
"Paul, I can't tell you. Let's just talk about something else." Paul turns over on his back again and reaches to hold my hand once more. I smile to myself at his gesture.
"You don't ever have to be nervous around me, Willow. I won't ever do anything unless you ask me to do so." Paul says and he softly rubs my hand with his thumb.
I scoot closer to his body resting my head against his chest. The warmth radiating off of him makes me feel ever more relaxed and tired. I find my eyes drooping closed as I listen to the sound of Paul's heartbeat.
