Live in the Sunshine
"So, any ideas on how you're going to tell her?" Jared asked.
Paul sighed and glanced at his best friend as they walked down the road towards Sam's garage after getting off work for the day. Most of the packs would hang out there if they had nothing better to do. He figured he could stand a bit of "pack unity" before he settled in for a few hours of homework. Even though he was taking online courses, they somehow managed to have just as much work as being in an actual class.
And for the last three days, Jared had asked him the same question. And each time - this one included - Paul gave the same answer.
"I don't know," he said. "I mean, things are going okay. We've been texting non-stop. But… I definitely think it's too soon. I still barely know anything about her."
"Which is strange considering you can't put your damn phone down for two seconds," Jared replied with a laugh.
"Not like text conversations can get that deep," Paul said, frowning slightly.
The only truly personal information he knew about Roisin was that she moved here from LA with Mae and Sean. They moved around a lot, apparently, though she had yet to say why. She was a senior and actually liked school and studying. Spent a lot of time with her friends Tara, Megan and Trey when she wasn't with Mae - who was apparently getting on her nerves right now. And well, they were rich, though they never actually talked about that. It was just a given - they did buy and then renovate the McLaren house.
Outside of that, he knew her favorite season was summer (fitting, he thought); her favorite color was goldenrod (not yellow, goldenrod); she currently loved Fall Out Boy and OneRepublic (Paul made a mental note to expand her music horizons); and she was looking forward to their hiking date that weekend.
Hopefully a few hours alone out in the wilderness would give them a chance to go beyond surface level knowledge of each other. He found it odd that she never mentioned her or Mae's parents, even when he had mentioned his dad. Or any family, really. Just Mae or Sean. And well, Sean looked way too young to be her uncle, but maybe he was older than he appeared. Or there was a huge age gap between him and her parents.
It all only made Paul even more curious about what her story was and how the hell they had ended up in Forks to begin with. Who willingly chose to move to Forks from LA?
"I'm just going to stick with my plan. Get to know her better and then worry about when and how to tell her later," Paul said. "Maybe introduce her to the others first, get her familiar with everyone. I think she'll like Emily and Kim."
"And at least she already knows some of us. Or well, probably knows Embry the most," Jared quipped. Paul shot him a sharp look. "Relax. She's your imprint, not his. And for all his bragging, you know nothing really happened between them. They made out once."
"I still don't like thinking about that a whole lot," Paul replied, a small wave of anger spiking in him at the thought of Embry's hands on Roisin.
"Be glad we're no longer in the same packs then. Jacob had some complaints when they did patrol just after he met her," Jared replied with a chuckle. "Apparently, Embry wouldn't stop dreaming about her. And he's got a very active imagination."
"God, stop," Paul groaned. He seriously did not need images of Embry and Roisin making out in his head. Or doing anything else even if it was just Embry's imagination Jared laughed loudly.
"Seriously? After Sam and I were subjected to your little sex fantasy on patrol, you're going to complain about Embry?" he said.
"Christ, it wasn't even that much," Paul said. "I only let it slip because I got distracted by a scent that made me think of her…"
"Yea, and I'm going to give you shit about it to pay you back for the hard time you gave me about Kim. Though, come on, it's not like it was the first time any of us have been subjected to one of your sex dreams. Or anyone's, really," Jared said lightly. "We've all had 'em. Still have them. That's just human nature."
"Still doesn't mean I like you in all parts of my head," Paul replied.
Jared only gave Paul a mischievous grin.
"So, are you seriously thinking about taking her to the waterfall on your date?" he asked.
The waterfall was a notorious makeout spot just off the main trail near First Beach. And it had popped up in the aforementioned dream Paul had just after they had set their date to go hiking. And was unfortunately the only bit of said dream that Jared and Sam had seen.
Or maybe not, considering the rest of it had him acting like a sappy fool. He'd rather they see the R-rated version than that.
"Seriously, Jared?" Paul whined. Jared just laughed harder.
"Hey, it was your fantasy," he replied. "Though did give me some ideas for an upcoming date with Kim…"
"I don't want to hear this," Paul said immediately before Jared could continue. "Really, you don't have to share everything with me."
"Eh, you'll see it in my head next time we shift together anyway," Jared said, completely unphased and still smiling. "And come on, I'm your best friend. Pretty sure we've both seen it all. I mean, definitely seen a lot of crazy shit in your head."
Paul was silent a few moments, frowning slightly. Yet again the conversation had turned back to his past. While he knew Jared didn't mean anything by it, it still stung.
"Really hoping to not get into that anytime soon with Roisin," he replied, his voice tense.
While he was eager to learn more about her, the flip side of that was that she was going to learn more about him as well. Besides the packs and imprint, he wasn't sure how or even if he wanted to bring up his not-so-distant past. Though they had imprinted, she could still choose to reject it. To reject him. And his past seemed like a decent reason to that. At least in his opinion.
He was stuck in his small hometown with seemingly no future and Roisin was easily top of her class and came from a rich family. She could go anywhere, be anyone and certainly have anyone. Paul felt pretty sure that without the imprint, she wouldn't have given him a second glance.
"Nope, I am not going to let you have a pity party. You're a good guy, Paul. Always have been, even when you were running around with idiots. And you're a hard worker. Driven," Jared said, shoving Paul's shoulder slightly, the teasing completely gone from his voice. "You were just… misguided for a hile. You fucked up a bit. We all fuck up. Trust me, it could be worse. You could be some serial killer."
"What? Where did that even come from?" Paul asked after snorting, though overall appreciating his best friend's attempt to cheer him up. He wasn't completely sure he agreed with him, but it helped.
"Kim's on a true crime kick. Makes me watch Dateline and 48 Hours whenever we hang out now," Jared replied with a shrug.
"God, I seriously hope Ro's not into that," Paul said. Though he already knew that if she was, he would end up suffering through the damn shows if that was what she wanted.
Jared didn't reply as they walked into the garage, seeing Embry and Quil seated on an old couch up against the back wall and Jacob's legs peeking out from under a truck. Sam wasn't around, so Paul figured he must be in the office. He pulled out his phone again, seeing that Roisin had just messaged him.
"Thought you bozos had work," Quil said loudly.
"We did. Already finished," Jared replied, walking over to sit in an open lawn chair.
"And you couldn't find anything else to do?" Jacob's voice came from under the truck.
"What? And miss out on gracing you with our presence?" Jared said, grinning. "You should feel lucky."
Paul sat down in a chair next to him, already sending a reply as he smiled slightly and not paying much attention to the conversation. He and Roisin were in the midst of a friendly debate on the latest episode of "Heroes."
"The only person feeling lucky around here is probably Paul," Quil quipped in return. Paul looked up at the mention of his name. "Though what's this? Not even a week and she's already got you whipped?"
"Hey Quil, how's that non-existent girlfriend of yours?" Paul shot back, sliding his phone back into his pocket and grinning at him. The smile slid off the younger guy's face as Embry and Jared howled in laughter.
"Really should come up with a better insult, you know. Been using that one for too long. And for the record, I've been talking to Mae," he said, glaring at them.
"You mean you text her and she replies two days later with one word," Embry said, still barely containing his laughter. "And it's not like you care about her all that much thanks to the imprint…"
"Thanks for reminding me… And she's just busy," Quil grumbled. "And apparently there's no more parties. Thanks, Embry."
"Shouldn't be going to them anyway," Jacob said, sliding out from under the truck, sitting up and glaring at the two.
"God, give it up, Jake!" Embry exclaimed, his face pinched in annoyance. "Getting real sick and tired of your Debbie Downer attitude."
"He's right. You really shouldn't be going to parties. Should be focused on your senior year and graduating," Sam said sternly as he walked into the garage, his clothes covered in grease stains and a frown directed at Quil and Embry.
"They went too!" Quil said, pointing at Jared and Paul.
"Yea, and they're not in high school anymore," Sam said, walking over to his work bench and picking up a clipboard.
"But they're still underage too," Embry added. "And I know Paul was drinking."
Paul just rolled his eyes. God, they were such snitches.
"They're 18. I'm not about to order them how to live their lives," Sam said, looking down at the clipboard, though he glanced up at Jared and Paul. "So long as they don't go around making stupid decisions and getting into trouble."
"Nothing to worry about here. We're settled men now," Jared proclaimed, causing Paul to roll his eyes. "Our wild days are over."
"Yea… that's debatable," Sam muttered, looking back down at the clipboard, though there was a hint of a smile on his face as the others laughed and Jared frowned.
"Hey, Paul. Did you see the Forks sign this weekend?" Quil asked, abruptly changing the subject.
"What? That some juvenile idiot changed it to Sporks? Yea," Paul replied, pulling his phone back out after feeling it buzz.
"Still, pretty funny," Quil said.
Paul just shrugged. Not like it was the first time someone had graffitied the damn thing. Not sure why Quil found it so funny. Well, that wasn't true. Quil often found stupid things funny. At least in Paul's opinion.
"Yea, well a lot of shit like that has been going on," Jacob said, resting his elbows on his knees. "Lot of places in Forks are getting graffitied with weird signs."
"Do not start in on your stupid conspiracy theory again," Embry moaned, falling back on the couch. "It's bad enough you won't stop thinking about it on patrol. Are you going to subject us to this 24/7 now?"
"It's not a conspiracy theory," Jacob insisted, his frown deepening. His dark eyes then settled on Paul. "And you seriously haven't felt anything strange around Roisin?"
"I'm not sure how you think there's a connection between your weird mojo shit, Ro and the stupid pranks going on in Forks," Paul said, starting to frown in return.
"I've checked with Charlie and they are happening more often. And..." Jacob paused as he looked around the group, then settled his gaze on Paul again, "it all started right after your new girlfriend moved into town."
Paul narrowed his eyes at Jacob, starting to slowly stand from his chair. This was his imprint that Jacob was accusing, and he was for damn sure not going to let it stand. Even though the last few pranks she had told him about seemed pretty ingenious and he'd be proud of Roisin if it was her - filling the entrance to the high school with hundreds of balloons? Yea, he'd like to see that.
But Jacob's tone was pushing it. And Paul was pretty sure she would tell him if she was involved, but it didn't seem like her, seeing how focused she was on her grades, anyway.
"Hey, okay, let's all calm down," Jared said, jumping to his feet and pushing Paul back down in his chair, though he continued to glare at Jacob. "Look, I seriously doubt any of this is connected. You know how shit gets in high school. Probably just some bored seniors."
"Yea, aren't Mae and Roisin seniors?" Jacob shot back.
"It's not Ro," Paul growled, starting to shake from the effort to control his anger.
"Alright, enough!" Sam shouted, getting everyone's attention. Paul instantly cooled down as he looked over at the frowning alpha. "There's no evidence that Paul's imprint is connected to this. And I talked to Charlie, and he said they aren't taking any of it too seriously." He frowned at Jacob. "So just drop it."
"Sure," Jacob grumbled before laying back down and pulling himself under the truck. Sam looked over at Jared and Paul.
"I just remembered I've got something to do," Paul said, pushing up from the chair and walking out of the garage without another word, not caring to spend any more time there.
He was still angry. Seriously, how could Jacob think Roisin had anything to do with this? It didn't seem like her. But then again, there was still a lot Paul didn't know about her. He suddenly stopped, his eyes widening slightly.
Could she be involved? No, he was pretty sure she wasn't. She hadn't admitted any involvement and seemed pretty exasperated about them in her texts.
He then shook his head and continued walking towards his house. It didn't matter if she was or wasn't. Really, a few harmless pranks? Jacob was taking the alpha thing too far. They were here to protect the area from vampires - not high school pranksters.
OOOO
Roisin couldn't help the smile that came over her as she looked down at her cell phone during lunch and chuckled, then quickly responded to Paul's text. Even though she had promised Sean that she would wait a few days to see him again, she hadn't promised anything about not talking to him.
And really, Sean was being overcautious. She hadn't had any more weird side effects after their visit to the outdoors store other than wanting to talk to Paul non-stop, which she didn't think was weird at all. The only odd thing was that she was finding it slightly difficult to dodge certain comments or questions that came close to truths that she couldn't reveal to him. Roisin had 100 years of evading questions, telling partial truths and working her way around things. It was pretty much second nature at this point. Which is why it made no sense that she should feel so drawn to Paul and want to tell him everything.
She also didn't mention this to Sean, knowing he'd see it as some sort of sign of something.
"You've been grinning all week. Is it the guy again?" Tara asked, leaning towards her. Roisin looked up and blushed slightly, realizing the entire table was waiting on a response.
"Yes, and his name is Paul," she replied, putting her phone down and trying not to look at it. "We're going out this weekend. He's taking me hiking."
"That's so romantic," Megan crooned as Trey rolled his eyes.
"You think everything is romantic," he replied as he swung his arm on the back of her chair, earning him a half-hearted swat to the arm from Megan. Roisin had picked up fairly quickly that the two were smitten with each other, though for whatever reason refused to admit it.
"Ugh, boring," Carly replied, rolling her eyes.
"Oh, please. I'm sure it's just an excuse to take her to some makeout spot," Mae chimed in, her eyes lighting up.
Roisin just laughed nervously as she started to reach for her phone but stopped. It hadn't buzzed yet and she just checked it after all.
"Well, he helped me pick out some hiking boots this past weekend and then offered to show me some of the good spots since I haven't been hiking around here," she said nonchalantly.
"Please, I saw you two at the party," Rosemary said, grinning wickedly. "You guys were pretty hot and heavy. And managed to get him into your bedroom pretty quickly."
Roisin gulped slightly, not realizing anyone had noticed their sudden disappearance from the party on Friday night, though she could see Mae practically cackling in glee from next to her. The fae was seriously enjoying all the drama way too much. Though Roisin supposed it was better than playing tricks and pranks. Though only mildly so.
"We didn't get up to much," Roisin said calmly. They had been interrupted, though even if they hadn't been, she would have talked her way around the truth. She definitely didn't want her personal life on display for Carly and Rosemary. "We talked…"
She could see Rosemary and Carly's grins growing, though Josh was too busy staring at Mae. Her best friend was now checking her nails, though Roisin could clearly tell she was hanging on every word.
"I see. Just what did you talk about?" Carly asked.
"It's not any of your business," Tara retorted, frowning at the two gossipmongers and coming to Roisin's rescue. Of course, then Mae sat up in her chair slightly, narrowing her eyes at the other girl across the table for interrupting.
Roisin kicked her under the table, causing Mae to turn her glare to her. Roisin gave her a short shake of the head, silently warning her from doing anything to Tara. It was bad enough she was already Mae's favorite victim and Roisin had to intervene during homeroom twice that morning. Mae huffed and sat back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest as she rolled her eyes.
"I seriously don't understand why you want to date one of those La Push guys. It's not like they ever do anything with their lives," Carly said then with a sigh. "I haven't heard of any of them getting off the reservation."
Roisin frowned, immediately getting defensive. What the hell did Carly know about Paul or any of the guys from La Push? Okay, so maybe Roisin didn't really know Embry or Quil all that well, but they had seemed like nice guys. And she was getting to know Paul. And he was definitely intelligent. And kind. And handsome. And caring. And really sweet.
"Slow down, killer," she silently chided herself, wondering how she got down that mental rabbithole.
"Oh please, like I didn't see you making out with someone from La Push at the party," Megan said, scoffing. Carly narrowed her eyes slightly.
"So? About the only thing they're good-"
"Enough," Roisin said firmly, stopping the conversation. If Carly or Rosemary got her anymore worked up, she just might start a small fire. "Look, if you actually got to know anyone from La Push, you might find that they're good people. A hell of a lot better than you."
She glared at the two in such a way that had their eyes going wide as they cowered back in their chairs slightly. She then quickly looked away, seeing the two shaking their heads and glancing at each other as though they weren't sure what had just happened. Okay, so maybe Roisin shouldn't have done that, but they were getting on her last nerve and they had insulted Paul.
"I need to go over my Physics homework before class," she said curtly as she stood and pulled her bag over her shoulder, then reached down to pick up her tray.
"Really, Ro. We're just having a bit of fun," Mae whined. Roisin sent her a withering glare before turning and striding off to dump her tray.
She really didn't understand why Mae was being so difficult. Okay, yes, maybe Roisin had been spending less time with her than usual. But Mae had seemed happy hanging out with Carly, Rosemary and Josh. Being more independent was good for her. And true, Mae was always a bit difficult. But she usually didn't get this problematic so quickly. Roisin also thought they were on good terms after she had devoted the rest of the weekend solely to Mae.
Looked like they were going to need another heart-to-heart.
Sighing, Roisin stopped at her locker and opened it, pulling out her Physics book and then shutting it. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move and immediately, she was on guard. Turning her head, she saw a flutter of light blue fabric as something disappeared around a corner.
For a moment, Roisin froze in fear. It couldn't be. Surely not. Royal fae rarely if ever left the Fae world. And even then, they had done everything they could to stay hidden from them. But then again, she had been gone 100 years. She should have expected at some point they would send someone after her if they haven't already done so.
Quickly recovering, Roisin made her way over and looked around another corner just in time to see the figure disappear again. Glancing around, she made sure no one was around before rendering herself invisible and then taking off. She'd rather not do this in the school, but she needed to either incapacitate or kill whoever it was before word got back to the courts.
About a half-second later, she had the fae pinned up against a locker by the neck, its legs kicking wildly in the air. Roisin couldn't help as relief filled her. It wasn't a court fae. Just another random solitary who happened to like running around in blue scarves.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.
"Apologies, didn't know anyone had claimed this place. It's full and ripe with fresh meat," the fae replied, grinning and showing off razor-sharp teeth. Roisin squeezed harder, causing the fae to gasp and struggle to breath.
"No one claims this place, but I protect it," she said, flames dancing in her eyes as the temperature spiked. "I hear you've harmed anyone here, or in Forks or La Push in general, you will answer to me. Got it?"
The fae tried speaking, but only managed a few gurgles before finally nodding quickly. Roisin finally relaxed her grip and let go as the fae fell to the ground and then shot back up to its feet.
"Spread the word. This place is protected," Roisin warned. The fae nodded again and then shot off.
Just as it disappeared, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Roisin quickly made herself visible and started down the hallway at a normal, human pace before it filled with students, moving in the direction of the physics classroom. She looked around, searching faces and people, trying to find any sign that the solitary had done anything.
Thankfully, she didn't see anything, but she couldn't help as her heart began pounding. A solitary fae had been in the school. Why? Why was it even in Forks to begin with? The others had only come because Mae had invited them and then they all left. Was word spreading that there was a group of fae settled here?
While she knew none of the solitary fae would willingly help a court fae even if one should come over in search of her, she couldn't help but feel a bit tense. Regardless of whether anyone knew who she truly was, just having a large group of fae in one spot would draw attention. But that wasn't something to think about right now. She needed to get to class.
Sighing, she picked up her pace, not wanting to be late to class. She'd have to discuss this with Sean later.
