Paul POV
I woke up to Jared giggling.
Yes, giggling. In a very unmanly-like manner, might I add.
I sat up from the Cameron's couch and ran a hand through my hair, watching Jared as he gushed into his phone, no doubt to Kim Conweller.
"This is embarrassing to watch," I finally whined at him, cringing at Jared's new mood and making my presence known.
He just glared at me and gave me the finger, purposely turning his back to me so he could continue his conversation.
I made a 'whip-pshh' noise, complete with the whole miming action, before falling back on the couch and laughing.
Jared briefly turned to glare at me again, but my thoughts have already drifted away to my favourite person.
I was pretty sure yesterday had been one of the best days of my life.
I had to admit, it didn't seem so good when it started. I'd just gotten back from patrol – tired as fuck – and I was all ready to go back to being depressed and shit by locking myself in my bedroom, when Jared rang saying he was going out and that I had to watch Aria.
My wolf literally went crazy with this new development - away and no contact with my imprint for over a week had been killing us both. I, however, was totally against it. I was obviously not safe to be around. At least when I was away from her, it was only me who was dying. If I accidently killed her as well, I didn't know what I'd do.
Jared, being the moron he was, wouldn't take no for an answer. He said he had a date with his imprint. At first I was annoyed because it felt like he was rubbing in my face, but then I realised that was the happiest that I'd ever heard him before. So, like a good friend, I agreed to come over.
When I'd finally gotten to the Cameron house, I just sat on the sofa, staring straight at the wall. I had strained my hearing and felt myself briefly smile when I heard Jared wake up Aria and her shriek at him for falsely setting the kitchen on fire.
Jared left, and I just sat there, waiting to see if Aria would ever come down the stairs. I was torn between whether I wanted her to or not.
Waiting.
Waiting.
Waiting.
She had finally come down from upstairs and we had talked. But just when we were getting somewhere, that idiot Lucas had shown up.
Long story short: I went wolf, came back, and both Aria and Lucas were gone. I panicked, and immediately jumped to conclusions on what they could be doing. So I had called Jared, thus ruining his date. Jared and Kim had come back. Jared had yelled at me. I'd yelled at him. Aria had shown up. Aria revealed tattoo. Jared freaked out. Kim freaked out. I was thinking about how sexy tattoos suddenly were.
Then we'd talked later and she said she'd forgiven me. And now I was over the moon.
Progress had finally been made. It could only get better from here, right? We'd soon become friends, and then I'd ask her out on a date, and then we'd get married, and have a family, and buy a three bedroom house with a picket fence, and a minivan to become soccer parents, and basically live the stereotypical happily ever after.
Aw, fuck. Now I sounded more whipped and girly than Jared.
Oh, well. At least no one could hear me.
But it wasn't like all that stuff would happen straight away, though. It had taken months to just get her to forgive me, so how long would it take to get to the happily ever after part?
I had to face reality: I was probably not going to get any until I was at least fifty.
"Earth to moron?" I blinked and turned to Jared, who had finally gotten off the phone and was smirking at me.
"What?" I snapped, annoyed that he'd interrupted my thoughts.
"Hey, hey, hey," Jared held up his hands in surrender. "I just wanted to know if you wanted go to the beach today? It's actually sunny out. I was going to go with Kim, but mom and dad are going out today in Port Angeles so Marley and Embry are coming, too."
"Is Aria going?" I asked immediately, sitting up straighter.
"Now who's whipped?" Jared smiled smugly, but stopped when I growled at him. "If she wants to go, then sure. Hey, Marley?" He called.
A few seconds later, Aria and Jared's accident-prone sister skipped into the room, with Embry at her heels. I snorted when I saw he was holding Barbies and a teddy that looked like it'd been run over by a bus.
"You wanna go wake up Aria and ask if she wants to come to the beach with us?" Jared asked her as she ran in circles, presumably from drinking red cordial.
"Okay!" She giggled, skipping out the room, but not before almost colliding with a wall and giving Embry a heart attack. I shook my head at Embry as he tried (and failed) to calm himself from what could have been clear tragedy.
"Amateur." I grumbled, running my hand through my hair again, my thoughts drifting back to where they left off with Aria again.
. . .
Aria POV
"Arr-ee-aa?" I cracked open an eyelid to see a small, round face beaming at me.
"Hey." I smiled back, for once not annoyed at her for waking me. "Did you have fun at Aunty Marissa's yesterday?"
Fun? Marissa is the she-devil. Her idea of fun is probably terrorising children by stealing their candy.
"Yep, yep, yep." Marley nodded so fast she resembled a bobble head. "And guess what? Guess what? Guess what, guess what, guess what?" She bounced up and down on her toes, obviously high off some red and sugared substance.
Where can we get some? It's been a while since we were bobble head.
"What? Did Jared try to cook again? Did the house burn down?" I asked her, leaning my head on my hands.
"Nup, nup, nup." She sang, shaking her head. "Jarr-wed was on the tellyphone." She lowered her voice and leaned in close, as if she was suddenly telling a secret. "He was talking on the tellyphone for ages. And he keeps smiling like this" she pulled the corners of her mouth up with her hands into a scary grin "and laughing like this" she made a deep giggling noise "and mommy said that he is mittens." She gave one final nod at me, before randomly spinning around.
"Mittens?" I frowned, finding myself getting a little dizzy watching Marley twirl. "Do you mean smitten?"
Marley nodded again, before rattling off the rest of her morning memo. "And one of Jarr-wed's friends is here and mommy says his name is Paulie, and Embwy is here, too. And we're all going to go to the beach because it's sunny again, and are you going to come, too, Arr-ee-aa?" She stared at me intently, almost daring me to say no.
Well, we can't just leave her with that bunch of idiots, can we? And it'll be the perfect moment to show off that ree-dick-u-lus bikini body!
"Why not?" I smiled at her as she let out an ecstatic "whoop!"
Marley ran out of the door, and I cringed when she narrowly missed the wall.
"I swear that girl is going to be the death of everyone." I shook my head, before getting up and starting my search for something appropriate and not at all bikini-related to wear to the beach.
...
I didn't exactly have the best track record with First Beach, or just beaches in general.
When we were five, Jared had near-drowned me when he had repeatedly 'playfully' dunked me.
When I was nine, I had slipped on the edge of a rock pool and had not only fallen into freezing cold water, but had cut the bottom of my foot (which had required five stitches).
When Lexi and I were sophomores - and Lexi had been in the middle of her transformation from teacher's pet to A-grade bad girl - she had somehow convinced me to wear the skimpiest piece of cloth I had ever laid eyes on. I guess it wasn't that bad, until I was wiped out by a wave and I lost the top half of the stupid thing that Lexi called a bathing suit.
Ah, sweet memories.
First Beach also only came with one setting: freezing water, crashing waves and icy winds. On the rare sunny day it was slightly better, but usually First Beach resembled Antarctica (minus the actual ice).
Which is why I surprised myself when I actually agreed to go to the dreaded beach. I kept telling myself it was to protect Marley from the contagious disease of idiocy those boys carried, but that didn't feel like it was the only reason.
Aria Cameron: So sweetly oblivious.
I sighed in irritation, making Paul look over at me.
Paul and I were sitting on towels, watching Embry help Marley build a sandcastle, even though he was pretty useless at it. At first I didn't know why he was bothering to spend so much time with her, but after hard thinking I had come down to two possible options.
One: Embry, like Paul, lived alone with his mother and was an only child. Embry must be going through one of those phases where he desperately wanted to have a sibling, so he latched onto the first little kid he saw.
Two: Embry is still coping with Lexi's death. He's feeling guilty about how he treated her, so he's trying to make things right by doing one good deed at a time, like entertaining bored children.
Jared and Kim were also here, lying on towels and talking quietly to each other. At first I had been shocked to see her here waiting for us, but then I realised that Jared must have known that I'd get bored and invited Kim along.
Well, that or he knew that my genius wouldn't be enough to override the aura of idiocy radiating from a majority of the group, and decided to invite the smartest person he knew along to keep the balance.
Sometimes I think you're the real idiot.
Marley tottered over to where I was sitting, with Embry following close behind. "You gonna go in the water, Arr-ee-aa?" She asked me, looking at me with wide, brown eyes.
I glanced over at the water, and then back at Marley. I had lost most of my desire for water when Jared near-killed me twelve years ago, and then completely lost it after the bikini incident.
"Not today, Mar." I told her, trying hard to keep my resolve up when her bottom lip trembled. Embry glared at me whilst Marley sniffled slightly. He was taking this whole 'latching-onto-a-pretend-sibling' thing a bit far, wasn't he?
"Why not?" She demanded, more sad than annoyed. I sighed, trying to think up of a good excuse.
"Water and I are not compatible." I finally informed her, even though chances are she didn't know what that word meant.
"Not compatible, ay?" Embry said loudly, still glaring at me. My eyes snapped to him, wondering why he was getting so touchy about this. "So you wouldn't go in for, say, five dollars?"
I raised an eyebrow. What was the catch here? "I guess I would." I replied shortly. I couldn't usually be bought with money, but this was an exception. Any money that I could take from Embry that would leave him closer to being broke would be extremely satisfying.
Bullshit. You just want that money so you can hire a bounty hunter to track down Lucas and kick his ass for bolting on you.
I started to stand up when Embry held up a hand. "No, wait. Let's make this interesting. I'll give you fifteen dollars instead." I started nodding. I wasn't going to argue with that. "But only if you jump from up there -" Embry pointed to the top of the cliffs where some daring people did recreational cliff jumping "- to there." He then pointed to the unusually calm water at the foot of the cliffs.
I stopped nodding and froze. No. No. Nup. No way. I refuse. No comprendo. Not happening. Do not pass go and do not collect one hundred dollars. Close sesame. Thumbs down. No approval stamp is to be stamped.
But Aria, think about it! If good bounty hunters can be hired with five dollars, imagine what we could do with fifteen! We're can hire the untouchable! I'm talking the freaking Godfather, here. We could get him to take care of Embry, as well as Lucas.
Well, it's not like I could argue with that logic.
But, still. Absolutely not.
"Absolutely not." Paul growled from next to me, glaring at Embry. In my peripheral vision I could see Kim pull Marley closer to her, whilst Jared reached for pretzel and chewed on it slowly.
Well this is all a bit dramatic.
"Not even if I offered a twenty instead of fifteen?" Embry remarked innocently, as Paul started to shake and continued his protests. My inner voice, however, was rejoicing at Embry's new deal.
We've hit the jackpot! Take the deal, take the deal!
It was beginning to sound tempting. After all, I needed to save up money for my travel account, since my parents weren't too thrilled at the idea of forking over my college fund for a trip around the world. I had spent a chunk of my own savings on the tattoo, and was now seriously broke.
"Okay, let's do it." I heard myself say, all whilst Paul looked like he was torn between fainting and strangling someone.
"No." Paul growled again, folding his arms. "I refuse to let this happen."
"It's not exactly your decision," I replied, still slightly in shock at what I had just agreed to. I glared at him, daring him to stop me.
Paul ran his hands through his short hair and then down his face. "Fine!" He snapped. "But on one condition: I go with you."
Who gave him the authority to make conditions in the first place? I raised an eyebrow again, but nodded in agreement. I had to admit, I probably had less chance of dying or drowning if I had someone like Paul with me.
Which was how I ended up at the edge of the cliffs, and I wasn't going to lie, I was having a mild panic attack. Why did everything sound so much easier in theory?
"You okay?" Paul asked tentatively, taking notice of my suddenly pale face. "You don't have to do this."
"Yeah, you don't have to," Embry chipped in from behind us, reminding me of yet again why I had to jump off the cliff or forever face the smugness of Embry Call.
This wasn't something I would ever normally do, but wasn't that why I should try it? I didn't want to be the old me. I wanted to keep old memories, but I also wanted a new start.
To new beginnings, my inner voice said solemnly, sounding the most serious I had ever heard it before.
"Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay." I looked down to the calm water again, taking a deep breath. "Okay. Let's do this."
I hesitantly held out an arm to Paul, but instead he smoothly swept me up into his arms, making me screech. Jared and Embry started laughing at my reaction from behind us, and I twisted my head around to glare at them.
I knew there was a reason I didn't like those two.
"Is this really necessary?" I questioned, motioning my hand between us. Paul ignored me.
How rude. I knew there was a reason I didn't like him.
"Ready?" Paul asked looking down at me, a worry line etched across his forehead. I shut my eyes closed and gave a tight nod, my thoughts spinning.
Mmm, did you notice how nice Paul smells?
No, inner voice, no, I did not. I am a bit preoccupied with the idea that I am about to go off a cliff.
Maybe if you took notice to these things, you'd be a bit more distracted and therefore there would be less chance of a panic attack from occurring.
With all this conversation happening in my head, I didn't even notice that Paul had counted to three and jumped until I felt the cold wind around me.
I turned my head into Paul's chest and locked my teeth together, determined not to scream and give Embry another reason to laugh at me. I vaguely noticed that my inner voice was indeed right when it told me Paul smelt good.
You should listen to me more often, ay?
Hitting the water was painful, as expected; I was winded and I'd probably have bruises for weeks.
But I sort of felt invincible in a way; like I could do anything. I opened my eyes briefly underwater to see Paul looking back at me, his cheeks puffed up from holding in air. I laughed at his face, which probably wasn't the best idea as I had started choking temporarily on sea water.
Yep, you are definitely no compatible with water.
...
I chewed slowly on a nacho, reading my history book in a desperate attempt to catch up with the work I'd missed.
I'd gone back to school today for the first time a few days ago, which, least to say, had been horrible. Paul and Jared had assured me that soon the whispers would die down, the stares would stop and soon enough everyone would be back to gossiping about the most recent scandal at Kylie James's last party.
I highly doubted this, because people were still gossiping about what was going on with him and Jared, and that happened ages ago. The fact that Jared and Paul had also assigned themselves as my personal bodyguards wasn't helping, either. The population of the school were amazed at how Paul could be friends with Aria Cameron after all he put her through.
"What is he doing with her? He could, like, do so much better. She's just damaged goods."
"How does she even trust him? If I were her, I'd be running in the other direction..."
"Has Lahote finally lost the rest of his mind? He's been weird ever since he joined Sam's meth-steroids cult."
I snapped out of my thoughts when mom came into the kitchen, looking tired, as usual.
"Hey, honey," she smiled at me, making her way to the fridge, no doubt to settle her weird cravings. "Where's Jared?"
"He said something about working." I reached for another nacho, but the plate was empty. "Since when did he even have a job?" I questioned, looking at her.
She just smiled. "For a while now," she said mysteriously, before turning back to the fridge. "I thought I told you? When he went to Sam's house for a few weeks for training?"
My eyes bulge. "I thought that was a coverup or a joke! What job requires a full two week training?" I demand, but mom just shrugs.
She is so hiding something.
"Where are dad and Marley?" I asked her, getting up and dumping the empty plate in the sink.
"Marley left one of her dolls at Marissa's house the other week, so they've gone to pick it up. I think your dad also said something about stopping at the diner with Marley for dinner. I was meant to go as well, but I didn't feel up for it today. I haven't been feeling good all day, actually." Mom told me frowning, pulling out pickles from the fridge and heading to the pantry.
I wrinkled my nose as she pulled out peanut butter. She turned and smiled at me. "So it's just you and me. We can do fun things like paint each other's nails and watch Friends and talk about everything that's been happening lately..."
My eyes literally bulged out of my head as she continued. "It'll be like a slumber party! Won't that be fun, honey?"
"That'll be great, mom." I smiled weakly back, not really wanting to upset a heavily pregnant, hormonal woman.
"Great!" Mom actually sounded genuinely excited. I felt genuinely sick. "How about you make some popcorn and I'll turn on the TV?"
"Oh... um..." This is really awkward. "Sure, I guess." I blinked, chewing on my lip.
My mom was never the type to sit and have deep, meaningful talks. She was the fun - but still caring - mother without a single worry. She was that kind of mom. Not that mother who acts like your therapist. Not that mother who desperately tries to be your best friend. Not that mother who picks and pries into your social life.
And now she's suddenly becoming all three of those types of mom's? Weird.
I sighed and went to the pantry, rummaging around for popcorn. After a few minutes when I finally found a packet shoved behind the cornflakes, I straightened up to see mom frozen in the same place that she was before.
"Mom?" I asked slowly. She turned to look at me, her face pale. "Is everything ok?"
She just kept looking at me with wide eyes. "My water just broke."
I blinked twice. "Sorry?" I asked, wondering if this was a joke.
"Aria, my water just broke." She repeated slowly, her face still pale.
Water... just... broke?
She's having the kid, dumb-wit.
Having... the... kid?
Oh my God.
It finally soaked in and I literally flew across the room toward my mobile, sliding through my contacts. Mom just stood there the whole time, watching.
I stopped at my dad's name and desperately pressed the call button. I attempted to ring him multiple times and left five urgent voice messages, before it fully registered in my mind that he wasn't going to pick up.
Of course this would happen when everyone is out! It's like a dramatic movie!
Why the hell isn't dad picking up? Shouldn't he have suspected something like this would happen? How was I supposed to get a lift now? Who would I call?
Maybe you should make a flyer or an ad for the newspaper, my inner voice suggested. I can picture it now: 'Wanted. One driver/chauffeur - preferably sane and non psychotic - that has no problem with the slight possibility of a woman giving birth in their car. Non alcoholic, non smoker, non ugly'.
I skimmed through my contacts, chewing on my lip until it was raw. Kim? She couldn't drive. Jared? He's God knows where and left his phone on the kitchen counter, anyway. Marissa? I was one hundred percent sure that this was a false number that she'd given me, so I wouldn't ever be able to bother her. Not that I want to, anyway.
I paused when I saw Paul's name. He had given me his number a few days ago. "Just in case of an emergency," he had told me.
Just in case of an emergency...
Deserted pregnant women were classified as an emergency, right?
Yep. I'm sure he's going to be just thrilled when you ring him and start freaking out about how your mom is having her kid now.
I pressed the call button, still looking in disbelief at mom who seemed to be totally calm about the whole situation, opposed to me. She didn't even look in pain, for God's sake!
Must come with having 3 previous children, my inner voice whispered wisely.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
We're going to kill Paul if he doesn't pick up.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
Yep... that bitch is gonna die.
"Hello?" I stood up straighter when I heard Paul's voice.
"Hey." I said, determined to keep calm about the situation. "Um... are you busy?"
"Nah, what's up?" He asked, sounding slightly eager about something.
"Um... y-you have your, uh, truck with you, right?" I asked him, just to make sure.
"Yeah... Aria, is something wrong?" He questioned, sounding alert and concerned.
"Um... uh, this is going to be, uh, slightly awkward, but can you come over my house? Like, now? As fast as you can? And, uh, don't forget to bring the truck, otherwise, um... just bring the truck... please?" I hung up quickly, not allowing him the chance to say no.
I immediately started texting another message to dad about taking mom to the hospital, hoping he'd check his phone soon. I pocketed it and sighed in relief.
"It's okay, it's all good, we-" I stopped abruptly when I heard the unmistakeable sound of screeching tires outside, the sound of running footsteps, and a frantic knock on the door. A second later, the sound of the doorbell being frantically pressed echoed in the house.
Was that...? No, it couldn't be. I only finished calling him literally 30 seconds ago. Unless he was some kind of stalker and was parked down the street, but who would do that...?
Well, if I found out where Channing Tatum lived, you could bet that I spend the rest of my life waiting down his street like a stalker.
Deciding that there was not time to dwell on the details in this current situation, I sprinted down the hallway and skidded to a stop at the front door, before ripping it open.
"Paul!" I yelled, never happier to see the six-foot-something giant at my doorstep. I reached forward and grabbed his warm wrist, attempting to tug him through the door of my house. "We have to hurry! Do you have the truck?" I demanded, still trying to tug his body through the doorway.
"Yeah, I have the truck, but what's wrong?" His head was rapidly whipping from side to side, scanning the hallway.
"Well, my mother wanted to spend some quality time with me, which freaked me out a little, to be perfectly honest, but then her water broke, and no one else was here, and I can't drive and I don't have a car anyway, and no one would pick up, so can you take us to the hospital?" I explained quickly, taking a deep breath of air when I finished.
Paul blinked at me, his forehead crinkled. "You...called me... and scared the absolute shit out of me... to say that you need a lift?" He said slowly, looking a little more than just annoyed.
"A lift to the hospital." I said back slowly. "Because my mom is having her baby." I sounded out the syllables and spoke louder, like I was talking to a small child or elderly person.
Paul stared at me, unblinking, still looking irritated. I cleared my throat awkwardly. "So..." I began quietly. "Is that ok?" I looked up into his hard eyes, not wanting to dwell on the possibility that he would refuse.
His face seemed to soften and he ran a hand through his hair, something I noticed he seemed to do a lot. "Get your mom. I'll be in the truck."
"Thank you, Paul!" Before I could control myself, I hugged him tightly, overjoyed that I wasn't going to be stranded again. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" My inner voice was definitely right; Paul did smell nice. Like cologne, mint, and how it smelt after the rain.
It smelt a lot better than it sounded.
I quickly pulled away when I realised what I was doing and who I was hugging, feeling embarrassed, but Paul just looked a mixture of shocked and happy.
"So..." I began, smiling sheepishly, not sure what to say after the awkward hug I had just initiated. "You start the truck, I get mom?"
I turned around and started racing back to the kitchen, all while Paul just let out a dazed "uh-huh".
What was with him?
Aria Cameron: Sweetly oblivious and definitely an idiot, too.
...
"Paul!" I shouted from the backseat, all thoughts of how good Paul smelt gone. "Can you drive any faster?
We were all crammed in Paul's truck on the way to Forks hospital (I was stuck in the tiny space called a backseat), but in this short amount of time my mother had gone from being ultra-calm to more... well, how you'd expect a woman in childbirth to be.
"Aria, calm down! Your freaking out more than your mom is!" Paul yelled back, a brief flash of irritation appearing on his face.
You sort of are. Anyone would think you're the hormonal, pregnant one...
"Well, I'm sorry." I said sarcastically. "It's not like my mom is having a baby or anything."
"I am aware what is going on and this is hard enough without y-"
"If you two don't stop shouting than I'll make sure you'll both be grounded for the rest of high school!" Mom yelled, interrupting whatever Paul was about to say.
"It's not like I have much of a social life anyway, and since when were you allowed to ground Paul? He's not your kid. Or is he? Is there something you're not telling us?" I blurted out, the stress getting to me. Paul turned to me, looking horrified at the idea of us being related.
It's not like it's a totally implausible theory. Him, Jared, Embry and even Sam Uley look like they are all from the same gene pool.
Mom just looked like she was going to kill me, an expression that I had gotten very used to over the last few months from multiple people. She opened her mouth to no doubt ground me for eternity, when she bent over in pain. I went into panic mode again as she gripped the side of her seat, her fingers curling into fists .
"Oh my God, Paul! What do we do? What do we do?" My voice had risen again and I began to pull at my hair in panic.
"I don't know!" Paul sounded like he was starting to worry a bit now, too. "Aren't you the one with all the brothers and sisters? Haven't you seen this before?"
'All the brothers and sisters'? He makes it sounds like your one of those kids living in a giant freaking shoe with an unlimited number of siblings.
"What? No!" It was true, actually. I obviously hadn't been there for Jared's birth because he was my twin, and Jared and I had been stuck at Marissa's house when Marley had been born.
"Did they teach any of this stuff in Sex Ed?" Paul asked me desperately, looking over at mom, who was still in pain.
"Shouldn't you know? Weren't you in that class, too?" I demanded, not wanting to admit that I never really listened during that lesson, because I spent most of it perfecting the art of folding paper planes.
And if there's ever an emergency that involves needing a paper plane, you'll be prepared.
"Both of you. Shut up. Now." Mom told us, between pained grunts.
"Okay, okay, okay. Okay. Okay, okay. Okay. We're here." Paul sounded relieved as he pulled into the hospital car park.
"No time to park!" I shouted, opening the door of the still-moving truck just when it was in front of the hospital's entrance.
"Aria, what the hell are you doing?" Paul shouted as he stopped the truck in the middle of the road, looking the most panicked I'd ever seen him.
I jumped out of the truck and opened the passenger seat, and led my mother straight toward the hospital doors. I looked over my shoulder to see Paul still sitting in his truck in the middle of the road, looking confused at what just happened.
I know I ain't no master of the art of lip reading... but I am pretty sure he just said 'what the bubblegum-fruitcake just happened?'.
I took a deep breath stepping into the hospital. The last time I'd been here, I had received the worst news of my life. Somewhere in this building, my best friend had died.
Shaking my head, I stormed over to the front desk. This was not the time to get choked up. I had to help my mom. "I have a pregnant woman right here," I told the nurse at the counter loudly, gesturing to mom, who was waddling up to the desk.
The nurse looked bored as she pressed a button behind the counter. "Do you know what time her water broke?" She asked in a monotone, handing over a stack of papers to me.
"Does it matter?" I asked, frowning. The nurse stared at me and sighed, before turning to my mother.
"Do you know what time your water broke, miss?" She asked her, sounding a lot politer than she did when she was talking to me, as some nurses appeared with a wheelchair.
"No idea," mom grunted, sitting down in the wheelchair before even bothering to ask if it was for her. "Maybe 20 or so minutes ago?"
"Okay," the nurse smiled at her, before glaring at me. "Take a seat, please."
"Okay..." I mumbled, looking over at the paperwork I'd been given as the nurses started to wheel my mother to God knows where, all while asking her questions. I sighed, and pulled out my phone, seeing a multiple missed calls and text messages from my dad saying he was on his way to the hospital.
Where was he twenty minutes ago when you were freaking out?
"You know," someone said casually behind me, causing me to jump. I spun around to see Paul looking around the hospital. "When you rang and asked if I was busy, I really did not expect to end up in a car with a pregnant woman and a hysterical teenager."
"Oh, shut up. I was not hysterical." I snapped, crossing my arms.
You keep telling yourself that, honey.
"So," Paul said, a huge, mischievous smile taking over his face, "if they didn't teach you, you know, the whole labour-pregnancy thing in Sex Ed, what did they teach you?" My jaw locked into place and I gritted my teeth.
And guess who else just officially made the hit list.
. . .
Sup, guys. *casual nod* I suppose most of you want to kill me with my lack of updates? Um... I can't say much except that I've been dealing with some pretty bad stuff in real life lately. I know it may not be much of an excuse, but, yeah... I'm really sorry. Does this chapter make up for it? It's longer than usual; almost 6000 words. Anyway:
Thanks to all reviews/favourites/alerts. I love you all *hugs and hands out cookies* Sorry I didn't do review replies this time (I'll do them next time, promise!), but do the cookies make up for it? c:
Question of the chapter: Who is your favourite character in this story? Aria, Paul, Jared, Kim, Embry, Marley, Lucas, Lexi, etc? And who's POV do you want to hear more from? :)
Your reviews make my day!