"Willow" I hear Paul whisper my name, my eyes open from sleeping. I groan tiredly and turn over covering myself with the blanket.

"Willow..."

I pull the covers over my face and sigh through my nose. I feel Paul gently place his hand on my shoulder.

"Willow, I'm sorry but I think I broke your coffee machine..." My body groggily sits up and I rub my eyes and look at Paul who's wearing a sheepish expression, I crawl out of bed. My coffee machine can be difficult to work because of how old it is, I really should by a new one.

"It's really old, it's probably jammed. I'll fix it for you." I say giving Paul a reassuring look, I didn't want him to feel uncomfortable or like he had done something wrong.

He stood beside me as I carefully smacked the old coffee pot, after a few tries it finally turned on and began brewing. Paul sighed with relief.

"I was worried I broke your coffee machine." He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. A giggle escaped my lips at Paul's words.

"No I've had this coffee pot for as long as I can remember. It's pretty old but it works so that's why I've kept it so long." I say as I grab a yellow coffee mug, I am feeling pretty cheerful this morning and in a positive mood. Paul notices the colorful mugs again and he smirks at my strange habit of picking a colored mug with my mood. An embarrassed grin plays on my lips and I look downward. "I've never met anyone who does that before. I like that you pick a mug depending on your feelings, it's different and unique."

Paul's words make me feel happy inside and I turn to face him. "What color mug would you like? You can pick whichever color you want." I don't want him to feel obligated to choose a mug color by his mood, even if it is an odd habit of mine. Paul grins and reaches for a yellow mug.

"I'm happy, so I pick yellow."

The fact that Paul is going along with my mug color mood coordinated makes my heart feel warm and light. He was so sweet and genuine.

I pour our mugs with coffee and creamer as we sit down at the small dinning room table and begin to sip our drinks. Paul takes another sip of the warm liquid before speaking. "Do you have any eggs?"

"I do!"

Paul smirks and looks at me causing my heart to jump nervously. "Bacon?" He asks raising a brow.

I nod my head up and down to his question.

"What if I cook us breakfast? You made dinner last night." He says. I smile at his offer as I get up and grab the eggs and bacon from the fridge and set them down on the counter.

"Okay, you can make us breakfast." I say giving him a smile.

After Paul and I finish our eggs and bacon, we washed our mugs and plates. We take turns going to the bathroom to brush our teeth and I make sure to wash my face and comb my hair. I don't want to not wear any makeup today so I throw on some concealer and a bit of mascara to make myself look a bit more presentable.

I glance at the time on my phone that's sitting on the bathroom counter, I still have a while before I have to go into work.

Living in Forks was so different from living Colorado but I liked how different it was.

If I hadn't of decided to move back to Forks then I probably never would have met Paul, I'm grateful to have met him despite how much I missed my mom. I decide to look up flights that aren't overly expensive for her to fly here next week.

Paul and I sit down on the couch and I pull out my laptop from the small lamp stand table next to the couch.

"Whatcha doing?" Paul asks me as I go to Google and begin typing.

"I'm looking up cheap flights for my mom for when she decides to fly here to Forks next week." I continue typing until I find a fairly good priced flight. I copy the link and email it to my mom for her to look at.

Paul sits beside me and seems to be perfectly relaxed, it makes me happy that he feels so content when we are near each other.

After I finish looking up flights, I put my laptop away and back in its place. I look over at Paul who's already looking at me with adoration.

"What?" I smile, the warmth on my cheeks is already beginning to grow.

Paul brings his hand up by my cheek and gently tucks stray hair behind my ear causing my heart to thud quickly at the contact.

He sets his lips causing me to glance down at them. I bite down on my bottom lip nervously, his hand is still resting gently against my cheek and I lean into it.

"You really are beautiful." He says in almost a whisper, my heart jumps out of my chest and I feel a smile trying to grow on my lips.

I feel unbelievably nervous and yet comfortable with being this close with Paul.

There is something about him, I'm not afraid to be close to him in this way.

He makes me feel warm inside and I know he won't hurt me. I haven't even known him very long yet he makes me feel this way, it doesn't make sense.

I can feel our faces moving closer to one another and my heart begins to beat so loud that I am so sure he can hear it. Can he hear it? It must be able to.

My nerves get the best of me and I dodge whatever is about to happen between Paul and I by looking downward and burying my face in his chest.

Paul brings his arms up and wraps them around my frame carefully, he's so gentle with me like I'm glass. I like it. "I'm sorry." I mumbled against him in embarrassment. I feel stupid and annoyed at myself for missing this opportunity, he must think that I'm cowardly.

Paul brings my face up to his using his hand under my chin, our faces our so close it makes me feel faint.

"Don't be sorry," his voice is so soft and caring. "I can't stay away from you, Willow. You really are so special to me, and I know that doesn't make sense because we haven't known each other for long but you are special to me. But I'm never going to force anything on you that you don't want."

Our time alone together is cut short when there is a sudden knock at my door. Paul and I both turn our heads to the front door simultaneously, I stand up from the couch and walk to the front door and open it.

"Quil, hey what are you doing here?" I ask him in surprise. Quil gives me a smirk when he looks past my shoulder and sees Paul on my couch. My eyes dart down to the floor and I feel the temperature of my cheeks warm up sheepishly.

"I just came by to see how you've been, your mom asked me check on you." He says, I nod my head understandingly. "She called me today and asked me to see how you were so I promised her I would come and see you."

I step out of the way to invite Quil inside my apartment, he steps inside and closes the door behind him. Paul stays seated on the couch and I go sit beside him once more. Quil seems very relaxed that Paul is here with me and I have a feeling he knows we have been spending quite a bit of time together recently. My thoughts travel off for a moment about if Paul talks about me to Quil and his other friends when I am not around.

"Yes, I know she has been worried about me living so far away from her. On my own in a new state, it's been hard for her. She is supposed to fly here sometime during next week." I say. Quil gives me a small smile.

"Just tell her to be careful and not to post on social media where she's going when she plans to come here next week. I just don't want..." Quil searches for the words to say, "Anything to happen or for him to find out anything of your whereabouts."

I feel Paul tense up beside me and Quil glances over at him, they share a look of both knowing what the other one is speaking about.

As if Quil knows that I told Paul about my stalker from high school and why I moved out of Colorado, I have a feeling they both have shared a conversation about this with each other.

My stomach begins to hurt from the growing anxiety from the thought of him finding me again, I shudder internally at the thought of it. Paul stays tense and I look over to him. He looks frustrated and like he is in deep thought but I can't tell what about.

"Paul, is everything okay?" I ask him softly. He looks at me for a moment before licking his lips to wet them and sighing.

"Everything is fine." He says. But it doesn't feel fine, I feel a strange tension in the room and I don't understand it. Paul looks like he's trying to calm himself and it worries me that he's thinking too much about my situation. I don't want him to worry about my problems, they are mine and not for anyone else to worry about.

"Paul?" My voice comes out soft and gentle. Paul turns to look at me and I glance over to Quil who has his brow slightly raised, he looks as if he's waiting for something to happen.

I turn my attention back to Paul who gives me a small look of reassurance. His brown eyes are beginning to calm down and relax, this makes me feel much better.

"I know both of you seem a bit worried about this situation. It's not a secret anymore about what happened to me when I lived in Colorado and it's not a secret why I left and moved here. But this is my problem and I don't want either of you to stress about this or feel like it's your problem." I try to make my voice sound gentle but solid to get my point across, Quil nods his head and Paul just listens.

"You matter to me, Willow. I'm sorry, but I know I can't just stand by if you were to go through something like that again. I want to be there for you." Paul says but it sounds almost like he's demanding to be there for me if I were to ever be in such a situation. My teeth bite down on my bottom lip as I try to figure out how to respond to his words.

"You are family. We just want to make sure you're safe, we care about your well being. All of us." Quil states and he gives me a kind expression. Paul nods in agreement and I feel a smile trying to creep it's way to my lips.

"Thank you guys." My voice is soft but I do mean it. I suddenly feel bad for not keeping the best contact with Quil like I should have over the years. We were close when we were younger, when my mom and I lived in Forks. When we moved away to Colorado, Quil and I lost contact.

My guilt feels enormous and I want to reconnect with him, he helped me find this apartment and he truly does care. I know I need to visit his mother within my next day off, it has been far too long since I have seen her.

"Would it be okay if I stopped by your moms sometime, Quil?" I ask him, Quil nods his head and gives me a happy smile.

"Of course you can. I'll write down her address before I leave, she's going to be elated to see you. How has everything been though?"

I raise my brows when I realize that I haven't told Quil about what happened the other night when I walked home from work.

"It's been really great here in Forks, except for the night you had driven me to work. That night after I got off from my shift, I decided to just walk home again since it would be easier on saving money.

This car started following me and the man driving was shouting at me, I ran as far as I could until I managed to turn on a dark alley." I say,

"There was a dumpster I found that I hid inside of for a bit. Paul ended up calling me while all of this was happening. I told him what was going on and he was on his way to come get me, then when I heard the sound of the man's car turn into the alley it terrified me. But get this, out of no where there was a animal which I'm presuming was a bear since it sounded like a bear. It somehow managed to come to the alley at the right time and I guess it tried to attack the man that was after me. That's what it sounded like was happening from the inside of the dumpster anyway. The man ended up driving away in his car and Paul got to me after."

Quil has widened eyes and a very shocked expression on his face. He glances at Paul and returns his eyes back to me before speaking.

"You got so lucky, Willow. That's insane. I'm really glad you're alright. But aren't you glad that bear showed up?" He says and I'm a little surprised he too knows that here in Forks wild animals just come into the town at night. It makes me feel anxious and not want to be out in the town at night much anymore now.

I would hate to have a run in with a grizzly bear digging through the garbage or trying to follow after me.

"Honestly it's a bit frightening that the animals here are brazen enough to just come into the town like that at night. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad the man was scared away but I would hate to bump into a large bear like that." I say and Quil laughs, I'm confused by what he finds to be so funny.

"Willow, didn't you ever have a run in with a bear in Colorado? You had to of. They have bears there as well." Quil asks me curiously. I shake my head side to side. "No, I can honestly say I've never seen or heard a bear in Colorado. I've seen moose near my house and a couple foxes a few times." I reply to Quil who looks like he's trying to hold in a chuckle which only makes me even more confused.

"What's so funny?" I ask him feeling slightly defensive like I'm the butt of the joke.

"Nothing, just a inside joke I'm thinking of. Welcome back to Forks, we have bears that come out into the town at night." Quil laughs as he finishes his sentence and shakes his head from side to side.

Quil eventually calms down from his laughter and I notice Paul is staying really quite.

I turn to see Paul who looks like he's deep in thought about something serious. He doesn't appear angry, he just looks very deep in thought.

I want to ask him what he's thinking about or if he is okay but I don't want to be nosey. He seems to notice my eyes that are on him and he glances up at me making my heart skip.

"Are you okay?" My voice is soft.

"I'm sorry, I'm okay. Just trying to figure out tonight, I have to help my friend move his furniture into his house."

I don't buy his response. Part of me feels stupid to think that Paul might be lying to me about something but the other half of me says to just drop it. Maybe I'm just over thinking about things like I usually tend to do. But Paul looks way too deep in thought to be just pondering about helping his friend move furniture into a house.