I don't own anything Twilight related. I just like to play with the characters.
BELLA'S POV
The birthday party turned out to be a lot of fun.
Paul walked me home, and I was a bit surprised when he asked me out. I was excited, but also a little nervous. There were still a lot of things he didn't know. Was it enough to hold me back though? Would I let it hold me back? I probably would have before. But not now. Now…. I'm just going to go with the flow, and see what happens.
After we said goodnight to each other I headed inside.
"Did you have a good time today?" Dad asked, standing in the entrance of the kitchen.
"I did." I said.
"It looks like you and Paul are getting along good." He commented.
"Yeah, he asked me out tomorrow night."
"That's good." he said.
"I'm sorry to cut this short dad, but I have to get up early tomorrow. The girls and I are going shopping tomorrow."
"Alright. Goodnight hunny." He said turning and heading back into the kitchen.
"Goodnight dad."
I went upstairs, and finished my nightly routine.
Making it back to my room I lied on my bed and drifted into a peaceful slumber.
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"Hey Bella!" Leah said climbing into the front seat of my truck.
"Hey Leah. How are you?
"Pretty good. Ready to get this show on the road." She said and I giggled.
Emily and Kim climbed into the back and we headed out of LaPush.
"How long have you and Jared been together Kim?" I asked, staring some sort of conversation.
"Umm. About 3 years now. We got together a few months after he started phasing." She said.
"How long has all the guys been wolfs." I asked out of curiosity.
"Sam was the first, about four years ago, then Jared followed about six months later. Paul was after Jared a little over three years ago." Emily said.
"What about everyone else?" I asked
"Embry phased about two and a half years ago. Four months later Jake phased. Then Quil about a year and a half ago. Seth and I started phasing about a year and a half ago, and last but not least Collin and Brady about six months ago." Leah finished.
"Wow!"
"I know Bella, it can be a lot to take in sometimes." Said Emily.
"Where are all the guys now?" I asked
"It's Sunday. They all usually gather at Paul's house on Saturday night, and don't come home until after four on Sunday." Kim said.
"Yeah when they know dinner is almost ready." Emily said, which caused a fit of laughter.
"So….Jared called me this morning and told me Paul asked you out last night." Kim stated from behind me.
"Yeah…He's a good guy." I said, not wanting to go into details.
"So….Spill! We want details." She said when I didn't start talking again. Ugh
"There really aren't any. We've been spending a lot of time together since I got home. He asked me out. I said yes."
"Well at least he asked you . Jared and I were spending a lot of time together and I finally got fed up with him not taking it further. One day I asked him if he was going to ask me out on a date and he said we already had our first date. When I asked him when, he asked if I remembered the hot dog vendor in Forks."
Everyone started laughing.
"Did he tell you where your going?" Leah asked.
"No. He said it wasn't going to be fancy or anything though."
"Okay. We'll all help you get ready tonight." She said pointing to the backseat.
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Everyone jumped out as soon as I pulled into the driveway. It was almost six and Paul said he would be here at seven.
"Come on Bella." Leah said pulling bags out of the back.
I got out and grabbed some of the bags Kim was holding.
When we got into the house, Leah grabbed the bags I had and pointed to the stairs.
"Shower…..Now!" She said.
"Okay…Okay." I said and walked upstairs and jumped into the shower.
Climbing out and drying off I went into my bedroom and saw the girls all sitting on the side of the bed waiting for me.
Leah handed me a pair of black lace boy shorts with a matching bra. Next to her Kim handed me a black tank and a pair of black skinny jeans.
"Go get dressed." Emily said.
I went back into the bathroom and started putting the clothes on. When it came to the shirt though I froze.
"Leah? Can you come here?" I said holding the shirt in front of myself.
"Yeah? What do you need?" She asked walking into the bathroom.
"I cant wear this shirt." I said pointing to the shirt I was clinging too.
"Why not? You'll look good in it."
"I have scars Leah." I said through my breaking voice.
"Let me see." She said. More like demanded.
"I don't know." I said uncomfortably.
"Come on Bella. We're sisters. Let me see." She said again.
I closed my eyes and let my hands fall to my sides. I heard her sharp intake of breathe and I immediately bent over and picked the shirt up, that I managed to drop, and covered myself.
"I knew it was a bad idea." I mumbled to myself trying to push my way past her. "I'm sorry Leah."
She grabbed my upper arms and turned me to look at her.
"It just caught me off guard Bella. Don't apologize. There's no reason to. Just wait here and I'll go get you another shirt." She said smiling, turning and walking out of the bathroom.
A few minutes later she came in with another black tank, that was a bit longer and covered me completely.
"There. See. Problem solved." She said when I stepped out of the bathroom.
"Come on we have to finish getting you ready."
I walked back into my bedroom and Kim grabbed my hand and pulled me to the chair that found its way to the middle of the room.
Twenty minutes later and the official 'done' from Leah I was ready.
When I turned to look in the mirror my mouth dropped. This couldn't be me.
My eyes had a smoked look to them from the liner, shadow, and mascara that Kim used, And my makeup was finished up with a coat of lip gloss that just highlighted the color of my own lips.
Emily did my hair. Curling it lightly and throwing it up into a high pony, with a few loose curls falling around my neck.
"Wow." I said.
"Thanks!" All three of them said together.
"Okay, well he should be here any time, so I'm going to be heading home." Emily said.
"Me too." Kim said.
"Thank you. I had a really good time today." I said walking up to them and pulling them into a group hug.
"We want details later." Kim said as I walked them all to the door. We all laughed.
"Got you…..Details. I'll see you later." And I practically pushed them out the door laughing.
Turing around again I came face to face with Leah. She wrapped me in her arms and whispered in my ear.
"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars."
She pulled away, wiped the tear that fell from my eye, turned and walked out the door.
I didn't notice when Paul walked in. I stood frozen gazing at the door. Replaying what Leah said over and over again.
"Is this a bad time?" Paul said walking up to me slowly.
"Huh…Ugh….no…sorry, I was just thinking." I said to him.
"You sure?"
"Positive." I turned my attention to him. He looked almost edible. He was wearing black jeans with a grey long sleeved button up shirt, the sleeves rolled to the elbows.
He leaned down and kissed me on my cheek.
"You ready?" He asked
"Yeah. Where are we going anyways?"
"It's a surprise. But you might need to bring a sweater. We're going to be outside.
"Okay, I'll be right back." I said turning and going up to my room to grab a sweater.
Coming back downstairs he offered me his hand, and I took it. We walked out to his car.
He opened the door for me, and when I was comfortably inside, he closed the door, came around and climbed in his side. He started the car, and we headed off.
After driving maybe five minutes he pulled off to the side of the road, and climbed out.
"Come on". He said holding the door open for me again.
"Where are we going?"
"For a walk."
"A walk? Its pitch black out here." I said.
"Wolf eyes." He said pointing to his face. " I wont let anything happen to you." He reached down and grabbed my hand.
After lifting me to my feet, he closed and locked the door and started leading me into the forest.
After a few minutes of walking I started to see little twinkling lights ahead of us.
"What's that?" I said, pointing in the direction of the lights.
"Impatient much?" He said smiling. "You'll see." And we kept on walking.
"Close your eyes Bella."
"What?"
"Close your eyes. Don't worry. I wont let anything happen." I believed he wouldn't. So I slowly closed my eyes.
He let go of my hand and I was momentarily nervous, until I felt him come up behind me. He placed his hands on my upper arms to help guide me, but I hesitated.
"Trust me." He said.
"I do." And I let him lead me.
In no time at all he stopped us and let go of my arms.
"Open your eyes Bella."
I slowly opened my eyes, and what I saw was astonishing. Nothing short of amazing.
It was our cliff.
The tree line around was covered in hundreds of little white lights, illuminating the entire cliff. Sitting in the middle of the rocks was a small table with two chairs, with a beautiful arrangement of lilies sitting in the middle of it.
The stars were out which added so much more to the peaceful setting.
"Do you like it?" He asked.
I turned to look at him.
"Its perfect. But how did you do all this?" I asked looking around again.
"Sam had a small generator, but the rest of the guys helped me but it together."
"Its breathtaking….really." I said turning to look at him again.
"Are you hungry?"
"Dinner under the stars." I whispered and he smiled. "I'm starved."
"Well allow me." He said walking to the table and holding out one of the chairs for me to sit in.
I walked over and sat, and watched him go around to sit on the other side.
"What's on the menu?" I asked when he got himself seated.
"Mushroom Chicken Tetrazzinni." He said pulling a basket from under the table.
He plated up the food and handed me mine.
"Who made this?" I asked after taking the first bite.
"I did. Why?"
"Its fantastic." I said taking another bite. And it was. I haven't have food this good in a long time.
We continued eating until the food was gone. I, myself put a nice dent in what he brought and I reminded myself to make him cook more often.
"Where'd you learn to cook like that?"
"Jared's mom. She cooks a lot. I just paid attention." He said picking up the plates and putting them back in the basket.
"Remind me to thank her later." I said chuckling.
He stood up, came around the table and held his hand out to me.
"Dance with me Bella?" He asked.
"There's no music."
He dropped my hand, and walked over into the trees coming back a couple of minutes later with a small radio in his hand.
He set it on the table, pressed play, and held his hand out again.
"Dance with me Bella?"
I looked at him for a moment, then put my hand in his while he pulled me up.
When the music started, he pulled me close to hi, and wrapped his arms around my waist. I closed what distance was left, by wrapping my arms around his neck. I laid my head on his chest, and he started singing with the radio.
Ooh Ooh…..
When the visions around you,
Bring tears to your eyes.
And all that surrounds you,
Are secrets and lies.
I'll be your strength
I'll give you hope
Keeping your faith when its gone.
The one you should call
Was standing here all along
And I will take
You in my arms
And hold you right where you belong
Till the day my life is through
This I promise you
I've loved you forever
In lifetimes before
And I promise you never
Will you hurt anymore
I give you my word
I give you my heart
This is a battle we've won
And with this vow
Forever had now begun
Just close your eyes
Each loving day
I know these feeling wont go away
Till the day my life is through
This I promise you
This I promise you
Over and over I fall
When I hear you call
Without you in my life baby
I just wouldn't be living at all.
And I will take
You in my arms
And hold you right where you belong
Till the day my life through
This I promise you
This I promise you
Just close your eyes
Each loving day
I know this feeling wont go away
Every word I say is true
This I promise you
Every word I say is true
This I promise you
This I promise you.
When he finished singing I pulled away from him. He leaned down and kissed a stray tear that was falling from my eye.
"Bella I need to tell you something." He whispered almost to low for me to hear.
"Do you want to go sit on the edge?" I asked
He nodded and unwrapped his arms from around my waist. He grabbed my hand again and led me to the edge where we sat.
He was fidgeting a bit and I could sense that he was extremely nervous, which was making me nervous.
"Just spit it out already. Whatever it is, its okay."
"I just don't want you to freak out."
"I promise I wont freak." I said to him.
He glanced up to me, opening and closing his mouth a few times, kind of imitating a fish out of water.
"Paul?….its okay." I said
"Alright….umm… where do I start…. Ok, well there's this thing wolfs do called imprinting." He stopped and glanced at me again.
"Okay…..what's imprinting?" I tried coaxing him.
"Its when a shifter finds their soul mate. Your pulled to that person, heat fills you. Every connection you have to anything is severed and reattached to your imprint. Nothing else matters. Its involuntary, and happens when you look into your imprints eyes." He said.
"Okay…and?" I asked when he stopped talking.
"Bella did you feel anything different when you met me?"
I started thinking back the last few night and then it clicked.
"You imprinted on me, didn't you?" I asked already knowing the answer.
"Yeah. But I could be anything you need. A friend. A boyfriend. A brother, although I really don't think I'd like you to think of me as your bro.."
"Paul…Paul shut up will you." I said when she started rambling.
"I don't think I'd like to be your sister." I said laughing
"So your accepting the imprint?" He asked.
I sat thinking for a second trying to decide on how I would say this.
"If fate decided it was you I'm supposed to be with, then so be it. Who am I to mess with fate?" I said smiling.
Internally I was jumping up and down. This man, this god sitting next me, was meant for me, was chosen by something bigger for me. Yay. But then it hit me.
"Paul? Are you sure you want to be with me? I carry a lot of baggage" I said looking away from him.
"Bella, will you look at me?" I looked up and met his eyes. "I carry a lot of baggage too, but I also know that I can't be away from you. It hurts. I want to make you happy. I want to be there for you."
"Thank you." I said looking into his eyes. "I want to be there for you too."
"I'll be right back." He said standing up and going over to a bag he had sitting off to the side.
When he walked back over he had a couple of blankets in his hands.
"I thought we'd do some star gazing." he said holding out his hand to help me up.
He laid one of the blankets down and we both sat down on them side by side, and then he laid the other one across our laps.
I let my eyes wander over the water where the moons reflection was dancing with the waves.
"You know… its beautiful out here right now."
"You're beautiful." He said and I turned to look at him.
He started leaning towards me, our faces inches apart.
"Can I kiss you Bella."
I nodded.
He reached his hand up and lightly brushed the few tendrils of hair away from my neck, and brought his hand to wrap around the back of my head. His eyes lowered to my lips as he pulled me in.
Fire coursed the my body when his lips made contact with mine. I ran my hand up his chest and around the back of his neck. I needed him closer.
Deepening the kiss, he moaned and began to slowly pull away. I opened my eyes, and slowly traveled back up the length of him to his eyes.
"I don't want to get to carried away up here." He said out of breath.
"Yeah. I think your right."
We laid down on the blanket side by side, facing each other, our hands entwined.
"Bella?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm falling." He whispered.
"Me too Paul….me too." And I closed my eyes.
The song was This I promise you, by Nsync. I just thought it fit.
The quote Leah used was by: Kahlil Gibran
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