Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone
Paul sighed and looked at his phone yet again and then tossed it onto the coffee table harder than he intended. He winced as it clattered across the wood surface, but knew he hadn't done serious damage to it. But it was better to throw his phone than to punch something. And at the moment he was starting to feel like he needed to punch something just to expel some of his pent-up anxiety.
He could handle being away from Roisin because they were talking to each other, but this? Being separated and not talking, it was starting to get to him.
"Seriously, dude. Chill out," Jared said, casting a strong side-eye at him before returning his attention to the video game. "She'll call."
"We don't know that," Paul said, pushing up from the couch and started to pace around the small living room, occasionally running his fingers through his hair, or looking towards the front door as though he might run out of it any second.
He thought the date had gone well. He felt like he knew Roisin a bit better. And it had certainly ended on a good note. A really good note, actually.
But then she had sped off, and he hadn't heard from her since. Not even a text to say she had fun. It wasn't so much he was worried that she didn't want to see him again - he was pretty sure that she was feeling the imprint - but he was worried about the emergency. It had to have been serious for her to run off so quickly. And well, just because they had imprinted didn't necessarily mean they would end up together.
"She could still reject the imprint," Paul said, still staring at the door.
"Holy shit, would you stop? It's been less than 24 hours since your date. Doesn't mean that she's rejecting anything," Jared said, rolling his eyes. "And you thought I was bad with Kim…"
Paul stopped pacing and glared at him. He then looked away and took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Right. Jared was right. He knew that he was being slightly irrational. This was all the imprint. It had to be. God, why was he flipping out so hard over this? He didn't remember any of the other guys being this bad. Granted, they had imprinted on people they already knew, who were in the tribe and had at least some cursory knowledge of the tribal legends.
Well, except Nessie. But that was a completely different mess that didn't relate to his situation either.
"So, the date went well, though. Right?" Jared said. Paul looked over at him, knowing he was trying to keep him focused on the positives.
"Yea, it did," he replied, moving to sit down again. Though he started shaking his leg.
"You take her to the waterfall?" Jared asked, his eyes still fixed on the game.
"Yea…" he said. Jared cracked a smile as he glanced at him. "Not because of that."
"Oh, you sure about that?" Jared asked, now chuckling. "I did see that dream, you know."
"I didn't intend… that wasn't the point of going there," Paul said, his cheeks turning slightly red as he stood up and began pacing again. He couldn't sit still. "I just wanted to talk…"
"Sure," Jared replied.
"I'm serious! There's still a lot I don't know about her," Paul shouted, stopping for a moment. He then took a deep breath, struggling to rein himself in. Right. Calm.
"Well, did you learn anything?" Jared asked.
"She likes being outdoors," Paul said, thinking back to the date. "Seems like some things aren't so hot with her and her best friend - Mae. And something happened with her parents, but she didn't want to talk about it. Seems like it was big."
"Wow, so much," Jared said dryly.
"She doesn't plan to go to college right away. Doesn't know what to study," Paul continued, ignoring the look Jared was giving him.
Okay, so perhaps he could have pushed to learn more about her before they started making out. But he didn't think they made out for that long. However, looking back, he realized that Roisin was still just as much a mystery to him as she was before the date. And now that he really thought about it, she had a knack for turning the conversation back to him.
She had learned a lot more about him yesterday than he had about her.
It was a bit disconcerting to feel so attached to someone that he barely knew anything about. But yet, Paul knew he would walk through fire for Roisin.
At that moment, his phone started buzzing and immediately, he strode across the room to pick it up, his heart leaping for joy when he saw Roisin's name.
"Hey," he said, trying to sound like he wasn't incredibly excited to hear her voice. Jared started laughing. After rolling his eyes, Paul flipped him off as he started towards his bedroom.
"Hey," Roisin replied. "Sorry I've been MIA. We had some out-of-town guests pop by unexpectedly and I was pretty busy taking care of them."
"Oh?" Paul said as he sat down on his bed. "Family?"
"Of sorts," Roisin said. "Anyway, I wanted to tell you that I had a lot of fun yesterday and again, I'm really sorry I had to run off like that."
"Hey, it's fine. I get it. Family emergencies and all. They happen," he replied, surprised at how casual he sounded.
"Well, hopefully our next date won't get interrupted," Roisin said, the smile clear in her voice. Paul's heart stuttered a bit.
Thank god. She wanted to see him again.
"Yea, hopefully it won't," he said. "When are you free?"
"Maybe Wednesday night? We could meet up at this diner in Forks that I've fallen in love with," she said. "Is that okay with you?"
"Yea, perfect," Paul said, though he winced. Perfect? Ugh.
"Good. Okay. Meet you there around 7 pm?" Roisin said, getting straight to the point.
"Okay," he agreed.
"Great. I gotta go, but I'll talk to you later," she said.
"Okay, bye."
Paul stared at the phone a few moments, sure he was grinning like a fool. He then got himself composed and stood, going back into the living room.
"And?" Jared asked.
"Turns out some folks from out of town stopped by unexpectedly yesterday and she was busy looking out for them. But we're going out again on Wednesday," he said, sitting next to Jared on the couch.
"Told you," Jared replied, grinning. "You had nothing to worry about." Paul smiled as he nodded.
"Yea, I guess not…"
OOOO
Roisin felt like she was floating through her week. Yes, her date had gotten interrupted on Saturday, but she was determined that nothing would stop her from enjoying their second date on Wednesday. She had made Mae promise not to invite over any more fae without running it by her or Sean first and hoped that she would actually listen this time.
So far, Mae had been behaving (mostly… okay, so it was behaving by Mae standards), spending most of her time with Carly, Rosemary and Josh at school. At home, Roisin did her best to focus on hanging out with Mae when she wasn't doing homework or other chores. After admitting to Paul that she felt she and Mae were growing apart, the feeling only grew and Roisin assumed Mae must notice it too if she was acting out like this.
Despite everything, Mae was her best friend. And she had followed her when Roisin ran away from the Summer Court - no questions asked. Even if Roisin was annoyed with Mae's rather sudden difficult behavior of late, she didn't want to lose her friend.
"So did you hear about the post office?"
"Yea, someone spray painted it. What did it say?"
"Some weird sign. I don't know. I think it was the third or fourth place to get hit this week. And it's only Wednesday."
Roisin paused in front of her locker, listening in to the conversation as long as she could before the two students walked away. Sighing, she grabbed her history book and shut the locker door.
Apparently Mae was still getting up to trouble, despite telling Roisin that she would back off. Graffiti had been popping up all over town and for the most part, it seemed harmless. But if Mae had anything to do with it, it was likely just a precursor. The fae did love to build up the drama. Roisin, for one, didn't want to find out just what she had planned next, but she had class and wouldn't see Mae until lunch.
Sitting down at her desk, she opened her notebook and started going over her notes from class yesterday.
"Right, so I thought you said no more parties," Tara said as she sat down at the desk next to her. Roisin sat up and turned, her brow furrowed.
Yea, this had Mae written all over it.
"I did," she replied. Tara chuckled.
"Well, word is that there's another one this weekend at your place," she said, opening her book. Roisin groaned and rolled her eyes.
"Mae," she said.
"I mean, I have to give her props for dedication," Tara replied, chuckling.
"Do not encourage her," Roisin said. "I'm going to have to put a stop to it."
"Just what happened last time? I thought everything was going okay and then suddenly you guys are telling everyone to go home. You never said why," Tara asked.
"A kid from La Push got sick. Decided it was best to end things for the night before anything else happened," Roisin replied, seeing the teacher walk in. "And to make sure that nothing else like that happened again."
"Probably for the best," Tara said with a sigh.
"Mmhmm," Roisin agreed, going quiet as the teacher began speaking.
Class seemed to inch by slowly as she very nearly counted down the seconds to the bell, anxious to get to Mae before news about the party spread even more. While she knew there was still plenty of time to cancel it and get the word out, Roisin didn't want to change anything.
This was Mae. If left to her own devices for too long, there was no telling what mischief she'd get into. And while she would never intentionally hurt anyone, that didn't necessarily mean that someone wouldn't end up hurt by accident.
Mercifully, the bell finally rang and Roisin shot out of her chair, not even bothering to wait for Tara as she made her way to the cafeteria. Mae was already seated with her clique, the four of them laughing about something.
"Mae, a word," Roisin said, not even bothering to hide her annoyance. Carly and Rosemary shot her glares, though Mae just smiled as she stood and followed Roisin back out to the hallway. "I said no more parties."
Mae's eyes widened slightly, though her smirk didn't disappear.
"And I didn't plan it. I can't help it if others want one," she said lightly.
"Mae, we both know that you're behind it, even if the words didn't come from your mouth," Roisin said. "You're going to cancel it."
"But why?" Mae asked, pouting. "Just because one person gets sick-"
"With fae wine that you were drinking," Roisin butt in.
"Yea, and then you and Sean got rid of all of it after everyone left this weekend," Mae grumbled.
"There are mortals over at the house all the time, Mae. Ones that you invite. It's too dangerous to have it lying around," Roisin said.
"I wouldn't intentionally give it to them," Mae scoffed.
"Yea, but you would leave it out for them to 'accidentally come across it' just because you got bored," Roisin returned. "I'm serious. We're not supposed to be getting attention from the fae world and you are not helping. Do you or do you not remember that we fucking ran away and my brother and parents are looking for me? No party."
Mae rolled her eyes and huffed.
"I'll tell them it's cancelled," she said, sounding incredibly unhappy with this.
"And please, lay off on the pranks around town? It's starting to get to be too much," Roisin said. Mae frowned.
"Wait… You aren't doing it?" she asked. Roisin's eyes widened.
"Me? Why would I do it?" she asked, finding the notion a bit ridiculous.
Okay, sure she could get into a bit of mischief here and there, but not lately. Her thoughts had been focused mostly on whatever was going on with Paul and keeping Mae in check.
"Well, I'm not doing it," Mae replied. "And if it's not you, and we both know it's not Sean - he's got no sense of humor - then… who is it?"
Roisin thought for a moment. They did have a large number of fae over this weekend. There was always a chance one or two had stuck around. But then why wouldn't they be at the house? Fae preferred to congregate together in groups more often than not, even solitaries.
"Hmm, maybe it's some students," Roisin said. Mae just shrugged.
"Whatever. It's not even creative," she said, rolling her eyes. "So, we done here?"
"Yea," Roisin said.
"Good," Mae replied as she spun on her toes and sauntered back into the cafeteria.
Roisin followed her, though a bit more slowly, her thoughts going to the graffiti popping up. It very well could be a mortal thing, she rationalized. But at the same time, if it was solitary, she probably should find out who and give them a warning. A few harmless pranks here and there were fine, but she worried without someone watching, they'd take something too far. And well, she really did not need any fae getting the attention of any of the courts. They had been lucky so far that Darraugh hadn't found them.
But like Mae said, whatever. Roisin could worry about it later. With her chat with Mae out of the way, now she could focus on her date with Paul tonight. A smile spread across her face.
This was a far more enjoyable thing to think about.
OOOO
"Hey," Roisin said as she trotted up to Paul, who was leaning against his truck just outside the diner. As soon as he saw her, he pushed off, his face lighting up instantly.
She was pretty sure she was grinning as well, though for the life of her, she still wasn't sure just what was happening. Part of her knew that she should be worried. She had this unexplainable pull towards a mortal that she couldn't shake. And being around him even just talking to him on the phone - she felt happier and content. While she hadn't had any more episodes like the one the day after the party, it made no sense that she would want to spend all her time around a mortal guy she barely knew.
But here she was, about to go on another date with him. And trying not to think too much on the hows and whys of the situation.
"How was your day?" he asked, glancing down at her as they walked in, his hands in his pockets.
"Eh, the usual. Had to put out another Mae-induced trash fire," she replied flippantly as they sat at a table and a server brought over menus. Paul chuckled.
"What did she do this time?" he asked.
"Tried to throw another party behind my back after I told her no more," Roisin replied. "She'll never learn…"
"But at least you stopped it, right?" he asked, though from the tone of his voice, it almost sounded like he wanted there to be another party.
Right, they had gotten pretty hot and heavy at the last one.
"Yep! She said that she would cancel it," Roisin said, burying her face in the menu so he couldn't see her blush as the memories assaulted her mind. She really did not need to get lost in reminiscing right now, though thankfully the moment was quickly passing. "So, what's good here?"
"Well, if you're not vegetarian, I recommend the burgers. Swiss mushroom is really good," Paul said.
Roisin glanced up at him, finding that he was watching her, but rather than look away, he held her gaze, which caused a flurry of butterflies in her stomach. By the goddesses, he had the most gorgeous eyes she had ever seen.
"Can I take your order?"
Roisin jumped slightly, not realizing the server had returned. Though the young woman hadn't acknowledged her presence, clearly making eyes at Paul. She was even standing on his side of the table. For a moment, anger began pulsing through Roisin - she was on a flippin' date with him and this woman had the gall to openly gape at him?
Not on her watch.
"Yea, I'll have the double bacon cheeseburger set with a Dr. Pepper. Oh, and an extra side of onion rings and tator tots," Paul said, getting Roisin's attention. His eyes were still fixed on her as a playful smile filled his face. He held the menu to the server. "What are you having, babe?"
Roisin blushed slightly at the pet name, though knew why he said it. He had seen her frown at the server and was clearly entertained by her obvious jealousy. And well, Roisin couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed she had been caught.
What was wrong with her? She had been about to snap at a perfect stranger.
"I'll have the mushroom swiss burger set - extra pickles and tomato. Um, sweet tea, if you have it," she said, looking at the server.
"We only have unsweetened," she replied dryly, her smile gone.
"Dr. Pepper is fine, then," Roisin said, trying to remain polite as she handed the menu over.
She then felt a sudden warmth and looked over, seeing that Paul had slid his hand across the table, now holding hers as he continued smiling at her. The server walked off, leaving them alone again.
"You know… it's pretty hot when you get jealous," he said.
"What makes you think I was jealous?" Roisin asked, though she couldn't help but smile. And she knew that she was caught. She never could hide her emotions all that well.
She was Summer fae - they wore their hearts on their sleeves and took every emotion to the nth degree.
"The way you were clearly glaring daggers at the server," he said with a chuckle. "I mean, if looks could kill…"
"I didn't realize it was that bad," she said, finding she liked how he was now caressing her palm with his thumb. And thankfully that was the truth - she hadn't realized she was glaring at the poor woman so strongly until Paul got her attention.
"Definitely know not to get on your bad side. I remember how you reacted the night Embry got sick," Paul said.
"Well, that was justified," Roisin replied with a shrug. "I wouldn't get angry with you unless it was justified." Paul stared at her a moment and then chuckled.
"I'm curious as to just what your definition of justified is," he said. Roisin just gave him an amused look. "Let's see… if I… cancel a date at the last minute?"
"Not if you have a good reason. Like a family emergency. Homework disaster. Natural disaster. Injury. Death. That sort of thing," she replied lightly.
"Forget your birthday?"
"I forget it half the time."
"When is your birthday?" Paul asked suddenly. Roisin smiled slyly.
"Smooth one, Lahote. June 21. Yours?" she replied.
"January 5," he said. "What if I dissed your favorite band?"
"We would just learn to agree to disagree," she said.
"I see," Paul replied slowly, still smiling at her.
Roisin chuckled and glanced out the window, seeing a large truck drive by with an elaborate, loopy sign in vivid orange spray paint. She frowned, immediately thrown out of the conversation.
There was no way a mortal should know that sign. But Mae had said it wasn't her. Meaning whoever was behind the graffiti was most definitely fae. Shit.
"What's wro- oh. Yea, been hearing about that," he said. Riosin looked over at him. "Seems like it's been popping up all over town."
"Yea, everyone's talking about it at school," she said, trying to push her concern aside.
"The police can't seem to figure out who's doing it, from what I hear," Paul replied. "Even the places that have security cameras, they glitch out or something."
"Probably just someone… that's bored," Roisin said in return. She couldn't tell him the full truth - that she believed it was fae.
"Probably. It's a small town - people are always getting up to stupid shit," Paul said. "Though, it's probably nothing to you. Coming from LA and all." Roisin shrugged.
"I guess so. I mean, there's always something going on, but I wasn't all that fond of it. Mae loved it though," she said. "Sean and I, we prefer Forks."
"You guys are really close. You and Sean," Paul said. Roisin nodded.
"Like I said, he took us in a long time ago. When Mae and I didn't have anyone else," she said, frowning slightly.
"Must have been hard," Paul replied softly. Roisin looked up and noticed the gentle look in his eyes.
"Like I said, I'm good now. In a much better place," she said, hoping he wouldn't ask her anymore.
She really wasn't sure how to get into all of that without telling him what she was. And she really didn't want to tell him all the details about why she had left. Those secrets she kept to herself. Well, her and Sean. But that was a two-way street. He kept her secrets while she kept his.
OOOO
Paul could tell she was keeping something from him. And while part of him wanted to demand that she tell him what happened and who was responsible, the rational side of his brain urged him to calm down. She wasn't going to tell him anything if he lost it in the middle of the diner.
But damn, his protective side was fighting back pretty strong.
Thankfully, their food came and he had something to focus on other than Roisin and whatever darkness was in her past. And wondering if she would ever feel comfortable enough to tell him.
"How's your dad?" she asked, looking over at him.
"Good," he said, a bit touched she would ask about him. "Work is work and all. Though he's been pushing to go on a fishing trip before the weather turns too cold. Told him with the way it's been, he's got at least another month to fit it in."
"Right, been hearing that it's been unnaturally warm this year," Roisin said, as she reached across the table and snatched one of his onion rings.
"Excuse you," Paul said lightly, though he wasn't all that angry by it as she smirked at him. In fact, he liked the idea of sharing with her for some reason.
Wow, the imprint really was changing him. The last time someone had attempted to steal food from his plate, they had ended up with a black eye. Granted, it was Seth and Paul would never punch a girl, but he definitely would have had his feathers ruffled.
"What? Not like you don't have enough over there. Where do you even put all that food?" she commented before taking a bite out of the ring.
"High metabolism," he replied, the excuse coming out automatically at this point. Roisin shrugged. "Anyway, yea, the weather is kind of weird, but not the weirdest thing to happen around here."
"What sort of weird stuff?" Roisin asked, her voice casual but her eyes clearly reading that she was far more interested in his answer than she was outwardly letting on.
Shit, right. She couldn't know the truth about all of that yet. That most of the weird stuff that had happened in and around Forks over the last couple of years were because of vampires.
"Not lately, no. But in the past… bunch of hikers went missing a couple years ago. It was a bear, I think. They found and killed it," he said quickly. Roisin appeared a bit letdown.
"Oh. Animal attacks," she said.
"What? Expecting alien invasions?" Paul asked, a bit entertained.
"No," she scoffed. "Just when you said weird, well… animal attacks don't seem that weird. Not for a town in the forest."
"I guess not," Paul said with a sigh.
Riosin then jumped slightly and frowned, reaching into her pocket for her phone. Her frown deepened as she put the phone aside.
"Just Mae," she said.
Paul nodded and returned to his food, but her phone buzzed several more times. He sat up and raised his eyebrows as Roisin huffed and opened it, reading through the text messages.
"For the love of…" she muttered under breath as she sent a reply and then put the phone back down. "Really sorry about that."
"No worries," Paul replied, smiling.
The phone went off again. And again. Roisin didn't even look at it, as they continued to talk, but it was starting to get incredibly distracting. Finally she gave in, opening up the phone rather aggressively, glaring down at it.
Damn, Roisin was hot when she had an attitude.
Her cheeks then turned slightly pink as she narrowed her eyes, put in a response and then slid the phone back into her pocket.
"I'm sorry… it's… another family emergency," she said, her annoyance at the texts very clear, but at the same time, there was an undercurrent of worry.
"It's fine. Like I said, I get it," he replied, though he couldn't help but feel disappointed that yet another date was being cut short by her family. Crap, what if they really didn't like him? Was this their way of trying to keep him and Roisin apart? Surely not... "Let me get some to-go boxes and I'll walk you out."
"Thanks," Riosin said, an apologetic smile on her face.
He quickly got the boxes and while Roisin was busy boxing up hers, he paid the bill and then took care of his own. She seemed a bit surprised when he told her he had paid already, but thanked him. They then stood and walked outside.
"Again, I'm really-"
He cut her off by pressing a firm kiss to her lips. He had been dying to kiss her - or even just touch her - all night. Holding her hand earlier hadn't been enough. When he pulled back, her eyes were wide, but she was smiling.
"Stop apologizing. I told you it's okay," he said, returning the smile. Roisin nodded and turned to her car, but stopped, facing him again.
"Try again this weekend?" she asked hopefully.
"How about a movie in Port Angeles? Friday night?" he asked. Roisin nodded and grinned. "I'll pick you up around 6."
"Okay," she said before climbing into the driver's seat. He waited until she had driven off before turning and getting into his truck.
Sighing, he pulled out and started towards La Push, knowing exactly where he was going to go next.
OOOO
So, posting a few chapters tonight. Just because the story is starting to pick up and I'm excited to get into it. And well, gah, Paul and Roisin… so fun to work out that dynamic. And get into all the secrets… Paul's are obvious, but Ro's… oh man… And I spread it all out.
Thanks for reading and following!
