Please don't hate me for taking a while to update, I promise I'll try harder from now on.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Twilight!

Chapter 9

I was really glad, and still slightly in shock, when Paul didn't open my door for me, although it did kind of make me miss Jasper and his new non-chivalrous behaviour. But I put it aside and got in the car.

Paul started the car and began driving. It was silent and not the nice kind of comfortable silence, but the ice cold silence between strangers.

"Hey, I'm sorry about springing this on you, I promise we'll have fun." He had a sheepish little smile on his face and he wouldn't look at me.

"Why didn't you just ask me out on a real date?" I asked, finally getting over my initial shock of this not-real date and finally getting pissed.

"Because I was scared that you'd say no." I was surprised at how normal he sounded talking about one of his fears, usually men have a macho complex that means they can never express fear, or pain. But Paul said it as if it was the most normal thing in the world to him.

"Well at least you got that right." I spoke under my breath but I knew he'd heard me.

"Don't do that Bella."

"Do what?"

"Judge me before you get to know me." The way he spoke made me look at him, he sounded pained, as if I'd hit a nerve. And I felt bad.

"I wasn't." I tried to reassure him, but I knew myself that it was a lie, and apparently so did he.

"Yeah, right." He shook his head and that sly smile crept onto his face masking any and all other emotions. "I know what being judged by a girl looks like, I get it a lot. I know I don't exactly make a good first impression, but could you at least give me the benefit of the doubt, I mean, I did go to all the trouble of tricking you into a date." The sly smile disappeared and a cute, little, questioning smile replaced it.

"Okay. But still."

"But still nothing, you could have told me where to go when I got to your house then, but you didn't so it's entirely your own fault." He was grinning now and I found myself grinning back.

"Whatever. Where are we going on this non-date anyway?" I looked out the window, watched as the trees went by.

"Nowhere special, just this little place I know and love. I think you might like it to." He watched me instead of the road, like Edward used to. I turned so then my whole body was facing him.

"Why do you think that?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. And he answered without hesitation.

"Because it's quiet, it's calming and relaxing, it's classy but not snobbish or stuck-up and it plays really good music." I nodded, he was right, that did sound like my kind of place.

"Okay, where is it then?" I noticed that we weren't really going far from my house; actually we were going into La Push.

"There's a place like that in La Push?" I wasn't even sure there was a restaurant on the rez and it made me wonder what he was up to.

"Oh yeah, the rez has loads of great places, they're all just your kind of thing." He sounded completely serious but I wasn't sure if he was, actually, I was starting to worry this might be a big joke and I was gonna get dumped on the side of the road like an idiot.

"Paul, are you messing with me? Because I really won't appreciate being shown up." He started laughing and he kept laughing. "What's so funny?"

"You are. Bella do you really think I would do something like that?" His face still held the laughter it had a moment before but his tone was completely serious.

"I don't know Paul; I don't have a clue what's going on or why you're bringing me out here." I was no longer smiling, my voice was raising and felt myself getting angry even though I wasn't sure why.

"I'm bringing you here because I like you Bella, you're smart, you're funny and you're gorgeous. Is that such a problem?" He wasn't looking at me, but I saw his grip tighten on the steering wheel and he took in a deep breath through his teeth.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" I asked, I couldn't help getting more frustrated at his words. Why can't guys just tell people how they feel?

"Because I was scared. I've already told you this." He huffed then looked at me. "Bella, you have to understand-"As his eyes found mine her gasped. "What's happening to your eyes?" At his question I completely forgot why I was angry. I blinked.

"What do you mean?" Paul blinked.

"They were red, like, blood red."

"Were?"

"Yeah, once you blinked they were normal again. It was weird. It was like when you got angry they started to change." I noticed the word he used, change, it seemed a lot of things were changing for me.

"It's probably a part of the whole venom mess up thing." He nodded. We stayed in silence again and he kept driving. It was uncomfortable, the tension was almost unbearable. I waited for him to speak, to do anything but stare forward and drive. It was like that for ten minutes and I have to say that it was the longest ten minutes of my life.

Finally, he stopped the car and spoke.

"We're close now." And then he got out. He didn't sound angry, or upset, he was totally monotone. I followed him out the car and watched as he picked some things up out the boot. It looked like a picnic basket and blanket which made me smile; I hadn't had a real picnic in a long time.

"So this place you're talking about, does it include bringing your own food?" I asked smiling slightly at the thought.

"Yes it does." Paul smiled back at me and things felt a little better. "Come on, I'll show the spot." He held the basket and passed me the blankets. He took my hand and began leading the way. I didn't pay attention to the way we were going because I was intrigued by his warmth. He was as hot as a fire, burning hot and totally opposite to vampires, I liked it, it felt so different to Edward, it was nice.

"You're so hot." I whispered touching the back of his hand. He grinned down at me.

"I know I am." And then he winked. I rolled my eyes.

"I mean your temperature." He chuckled then smiled down at me.

"I know, but you could at least let me think you meant something else."

"Nah, I couldn't." He jokingly glared at me so I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Oh how mature."

"Please, like you're the most mature out of us."

"Well, I like me a girl who knows how to act like a kid sometimes, it makes things easy to have a laugh." We walked through the last clump of trees and came to a patch of grass that was covered in wild flowers. I looked to our right and there was an old wooden cottage. About forty feet in front of the cottage was the edge of a cliff and over the cliff was the ocean.

"This place, it's so beautiful." I bent down to touch the flowers and the smell hit me. The two most distinct smells were lavender and vanilla. It was intoxicating, and it reminded me a lot of the way Paul smelled.

"I know, amazing isn't it? It's my most favourite place in the world." He walked ahead of me and placed the blanket down on a patch of normal grass so we wouldn't disrupt the flowers.

"I can see why." I joined him on the blanket. "How did you find this place?" I couldn't stop myself from looking around at everything over and over.

"That cottage belonged to my Grandparents before they died." As much as his face stayed calm his voice portrayed his sadness.

"When did they die?" He was staring at the house when I spoke and I followed the direction of his eyes.

"Just over a month ago. They were in a car accident on the way back from Port Angeles, their truck had broken down so they had no other way of getting to and from places and they hated asking family or friends so they took a cab. They had been to the theatre that night so it was late, apparently some drunk kids were driving on the wrong side of the road and both cars went round a corner at the same time. They collided head on and there was no way of stopping it." I had my hand over my mouth when he'd finished speaking, I'd never lost someone I was really close to so I couldn't really understand completely but the way he spoke about it and the way his expressions changed it was clear that he was in a lot of pain just talking about it.

"I'm so sorry. Were you close to them?"

"They were like parents to me. I still can't believe they're gone." He closed his eyes for a second then took a deep breath, when he opened his eyes he was normal. "So you don't mind having a picnic at night?" I could tell how much it hurt him to talk about his Grandparents so I went with his conversation change.

"Not really, I've never done it before but I think it's nice, very calming." I smiled as I breathed in the strong scent of lavender and vanilla along with the other scents I couldn't place.

"I told you it would be calming."

"Yes you did." I looked around the garden and at the old wooden cottage and decided. "You were right Paul, this is my kind of place." The smile that lit up his face was beautiful, it was good and pure.

"I'm glad. You know I've never met a person who doesn't like it here, everyone says it has a good energy about it."

"They're right."

"I know." We sat in another silence for a while but this time it was a nice silence, comfortable and appreciating as we absorbed the beauty of the moonlit scene we watched before us. "Anyway, let's eat." He put the basket between us and began to get things out of it.

"What did you bring?"

The rest of the night was great, we ate, we chatted and we had a laugh. Paul wasn't as bad as he seemed, when he was in the right place, in his element, he was actually really sweet and genuine. We had a few things in common like our disregard for sports, and we had our differences like his dislike of books and my love for them.

Overall, even though the date wasn't really a date, it was a good non-date, I had a lot more fun than I thought and when he drove me home at ten o'clock I wasn't entirely happy to leave.

"I had a great time, B. Thanks for joining me." We pulled up in front of my dad's house and he had insisted on walking me to my door.

"Strangely, so did I. Thanks for randomly turning up at my door."

"Never thought I'd hear that but your welcome." I went to put my keys in the door when he stopped me. "B, considering you had a great night tonight, do you think you might want to go out with me again sometime soon?" I liked the fact that this time he had just come out and asked me, I wouldn't have been happy if he had just turned up at my door again, but no matter how much fun I'd had I still didn't want to date him, so I made a compromise.

"Paul, I'd love to hang out again, I think it would be great for me to have some real friends on La Push other than Jake, but erm, just friends, no more dates."

"Alright, just friends."

"Right. Goodnight Paul, thanks for a lovely time." He flashed me his big grin once more.

"Same. Goodnight B." And he went back to his car.

I walked into the house with a smile on my face. I called to Charlie and he turned the volume down on the TV.

"Hey Bells did you have a good night?" His smile was bright and hopeful; he clearly wants me to get in with the Quileutes.

"It was great, we decided to be friends." His face dropped a little when I said 'friends' but it brightened again.

"Does that mean you'll be coming down to the rez more?"

"Yeah, I guess it does." I smiled and walked towards the stairs.

"That's great."

"Night dad."

"Night Bells." I was almost all the way up the stairs by the time he yelled back and it struck me at how loud his yell was to me, I was hearing a lot better than I used to. I walked into my room to get some pyjama's to take into the bathroom (after the day I'd had all I wanted was a shower). I looked up and my eyes instantly locked with a pair of golden ones. Golden ones that looked furious.

"Hi Jasper, what's up?" My voice was weak under his furious golden stare.

"Where on God's green Earth have you been?" His voice sounded quite calm but his stare stayed the same.

"One of the Quileute's, Paul, turned up talking about a date and he took me for a picnic." I walked past him to my dresser and picked out a tank top and some boy shorts, nice and comfy.

"And why did you go on this 'date' Bella? I thought you had no interest with this boy?" I turned and glared at him for a moment. His tone had taken on a hint of sarcasm and I didn't like the way he was talking to me.

"One, it wasn't a real date we were just hanging out. Two, I'm not interested in him we're just going to be friends. And three, none of this is any of your business so why don't you get rid of that tone and butt out." I wasn't being harsh, I wasn't even speaking any differently, I was just being honest.

"I'm just looking out for you Bella, those people are dangerous and you need to watch out." His voice had lost any cruel or sarcastic tone and had taken on a light caring note.

"Jasper, when it comes to things like dating I'm not your responsibility. I already have a dad and I really don't want another. But thank you for your concern." I smiled at him to show him that everything was alright. But he wasn't having any of it.

"Bella, I stayed here because I knew you would need protecting, I knew you would need guidance and help, I'm just trying to fulfil that." He had walked towards me and we were stood close to each other now.

"Jasper," I put my hand on his arm hoping contact would make him feel better. "I promise you that if something ever happens that will come into those protecting and guiding things then I will tell you but until then I really need some independence and friends outside of you and your family." He looked concerned still and it bugged me, I didn't want Jasper worrying about me. "Jasper I'll be alright, I promise if I ever think I'm in danger I will call you. But you have to put some faith in me Jasper that I can look after myself. I'm not just some weak, dumb, human that you have to protect all the time because she's such a klutz. I'm not human anymore Jasper, if you teach me I'll be able to look after myself." My hand stayed where it was and without me even knowing it I started stroking up and down his arm.

He sighed and his face softened.

"I will teach you to protect yourself Bella and I will give you your freedom from my family, Lord knows I know what it's like to have your freedom taken away, but I will still be protecting you and taking care of you." He put his hand on my face and his thumb started to rub softly across my cheeks, unconsciously I leaned into his hand. "Bella, I can't stop myself protecting you. I've always been there when you've needed help and I always will be…For you." Jaspers thumb continued its caress of my cheek. I stared up into his eyes and there was a tenderness there that I'd never seen before, something that if I was stupid I could have mistaken for love. And for a minute I let myself think it was love as his face bent down, his eyes never leaving mine, I lifted myself onto my tiptoes and our lips touched.

I'm sorry that it took me ages to get this out. Sorry if you don't like the chapter.

Thanks for reading. Leave your thoughts.

KV =D