Thanks for reading this far everyone! I really appreciate it! I'm going to have a couple more chapters and then the finale! But don't worry, tons of drama will unfold soon enough ;)
Sam
The call from Carlisle was unexpected and very surprising. Normally, with the exception of Jake, Leah, and Seth, we wolves try to stay away from the bloodsuckers. However, recent days have made that a little more challenging than it used to be. I'm just glad the scene today didn't end worse. Paul had almost lost it, but I'd been proud of his self-control. That girl. There was something about her that kept him steady. It was incredible to watch someone who's always been wild and unpredictable start to learn control and cool down. It made me proud and nervous at the same time.
The leeches sure aren't happy about this though. I don't want another potential war on our hands, but at the same time I don't see a happy resolution for all parties. As the leader of the pack I have to do something, but what? Most of the time it's all clear cut and easy to decide. But here and now? Different. I can't control Paul anymore than I can control that Jasper leech. Even if I assert my alpha commands. Paul would be miserable. And we can't let the leeches win… but are we even fighting the same battle? At one point we were on the same team, but now the whole Valerie situation could threaten that. It already has.
"Sam, what's wrong?" Emily gazes at me worriedly.
"Nothing," I lie, pushing away any ominous thoughts.
"I know something's wrong," she puts her hand over mine and adds, "You can either tell me now or I'll find out from Embry or Jake later." She grins triumphantly.
"Oh okay," I wrap my arms around her and kiss her on the cheek. "You always get it out of me sooner or later anyway," I concede, smiling at her laugh. "The head vampire, Carlisle, called today," I begin. She pulls away and raises an eyebrow in surprise. "And he wants to meet. Everyone. The whole pack and his 'family' sometime soon," I finish, pulling her back to me and resting my chin on her head. She sighs and leans against my shoulder.
"Do you know why?" She finally asks.
"No. It could be about that Valerie girl," I say, "But it sounded much more serious than just a light chat over reining Paul in," I fall into contemplative silence. She straightens up and kisses me lightly, running a hand through my short-cropped hair.
"Don't worry about it too much," she says with a forced smile.
"I won't." I feel guilty lying.
Valerie
His hand slides up my thigh and rests at my hip. Its fiery heat makes me gasp and yearn for more at the same time. I fight for breath as he breaks our kiss and trails light kisses along my jaw and down my neck once more. His hand moves to the small of my back, lifting up the bottom of my shirt and pressing his burning hand against my skin. It feels electrifying.
"Valerie," he whispers, nuzzling the base of my neck. I let my hand run from his neck down his chest and feel the hard muscle underneath his shirt. The touch intrigues me and I run my hand back up to his collar bone. He breathes in sharply and brings our lips back together. It's a passionate kiss, one I've never had before, and I fall into it, feeling the tenderness of his lips against mine. We're both breathing heavily as the kiss intensifies. I feel his hand move slowly farther up my back, pushing my shirt further up.
A loud, sharp ring makes me jump. The buzzing and ringing continue, making Paul stop and groan into my neck. I pull away, giving him an 'I know' look, and grope for the cellphone. The caller ID shows Trevor. Scolding myself over being responsible, I answer it.
"Valerie! Where are you? It's like 10 o'clock!" He sounds worried.
"Sorry Trev," I glance at Paul's exasperated face and stifle a laugh. "I lost track of time in the woods," I cringe at the lie. I'm supposed to be protecting him, not lying to him.
"Well, are you on your way home?" He asks tentatively, sounding like the scared little brother I've always loved.
"Yes, I'll be there soon, don't worry so much," I fake a lighthearted laugh and end the call.
"So," Paul says.
"So," I repeat, kind of shocked at how far I let that go. We sit for a while in silence, and then Paul lifts me the rest of the way into the passenger seat and maneuvers himself into the driver's seat. He starts the car and drives slowly to my house. The rain has lessened and I watch him out of the corner of my eye. He parks and cuts the engine, sitting very still. I feel myself wanting to be close to him, missing his touch. But the annoying part of me lectures on how irresponsible it was to have done all of that. No more, you've got to stop it.
"Paul, this shoul-" I begin to explain how it was a mistake to have let him kiss me again, but instead he puts a finger to my lips.
"Let me take you on a real date," he smiles kindly and I am almost lost again in his deep eyes and warm embrace.
"I don't know…" I hesitate.
"Come on, it'll be fun. I won't take no for an answer," he puts on a puppy-dog face and my determination dissolves.
"Alright, sure," I laugh when he swoops down and kisses me on the nose, giving me a sly grin.
"Pick you up tomorrow at 8," he says and gets out of the car.
Paul
I wake up thinking about her. The way she smiles, the way she smells, even the way she will sometimes nervously twirl her hair; it's incredible. I stretch and get up from bed, padding lightly to the bathroom and scrutinize my appearance. Normally I don't care what the hell I look like, but today I want to impress Valerie. I hop in the shower and scrub furiously at any traces of dirt that I find. Being a werewolf doesn't grant you any awesome, supernatural hygiene points.
Once out of the shower, I towel myself dry and work on what I'm going to wear. Dear God I'm actually thinking about what I'm wearing. God how I've changed. I land on a dark gray t-shirt and jeans. Crap no. What will Valerie think? Do I look to sloppy? Maybe she would prefer something else. How the hell should I know? I glare angrily at myself in the mirror. Damn.
"Paul! You lazy mutt! Get out here!" A voice shouts up at my window. I throw it open roughly and splinters of wood rain down on me.
"Fuck! I just showered! This better be good," I glare down at Jared.
"Just wanted to see your smiling face," he grins crookedly.
"Well you've seen it," I growl and move to shut the window.
"No, come on man! Let's go do something," he sweeps his arms in the air, "Wolf style," he adds with a mischievous laugh.
"I'm busy," I reply flatly.
"Doing what?" He's pretty damn persistent. I curse internally, preparing for the oncoming teasing.
"Getting ready for a goddamn date okay? You got a problem with that?" I sneer, daring him to comment.
"Big bad Paul? On an honest date?" He holds his sides as he practically doubles over with laughter. "Aw man, can't believe how different you are. What a tame little puppy you've become," he eventually sobers up and nods up at me. "So, what's it gonna be like?" I roll my eyes, knowing he won't shut up until I tell him the details.
"What are you, a teenage girl?" I cushion the insult by adding, "Come on up."
Valerie
I spend the entire day worrying about the date. It seems so ridiculous, worrying about a date. It's such a simple and unimportant thing, but at the same time, I can't get it out of my head. What does it mean? I've barely known Paul for a month and yet, I feel as if I could spend forever with him. What was that that Carlisle had said? Imprinted? What does that mean? It's all so confusing, and worrisome. And really, I should be focusing on Trevor and school. I guess haven't been doing much of either lately.
A ring at the door jumpstarts my heart into panic mode. I give myself one last glance in the full length mirror in the hall and rush to the door. When I open it I have to stop myself from gasping in shock.
"Leah!" I finally manage to blurt out, still surprised.
"That's me," her voice is as hard as normal, but there's an edge of nervousness about it. Before I can think of something else to say I hear Trevor pounding down the stairs. He squeezes in beside me in the doorway and is clearly dismayed at me having opened the door.
"Leah," he turns to her and smiles. She smiles back, a rare thing, and clears her throat.
"Yes, that is my name. You people really like to say it huh?" Her attempt at a joke makes Trevor's eyes light up and I feel like I'm intruding on a private conversation.
"So… uh… what are you doing here?" I finally ask, feeling uncomfortable between the two.
"Trevor asked me to come over," she replies simply, looking me stonily in the eyes.
"Oh, um, alright then," I look at Trevor's sheepish face and feel like a parent who's just caught their kid sneaking out.
"Sorry I didn't tell you Val. I actually thought you and Paul would be out by now," he runs his hand nervously through his hair and looks at me apologetically.
"Its… okay," I finally say, though I'm still not sure how I feel about Trevor and Leah spending a lot of alone time together.
"So… can I come in?" Leah asks gruffly.
"Yes, sorry… Please come in," I stutter and move aside so she can step through the doorway. Trevor looks at her adoringly and I see a hint of a smile playing across her lips. My nervousness over their being together still nags at the back of my mind, but the rest of me breathes a sigh of relief over Trevor having a friend. Well, she's probably more than a friend. No, don't think about it. He's still my innocent baby brother. Who's only a year younger than me. Okay, not the point.
The sound of a car pulling up in front of the house startles me out of my sisterly worry. I hear a door slam and quick steps to my front door. Leah looks wide-eyed and then thoughtful. She quickly grabs Trevor's hand and races to the kitchen, out of view of Paul. Curious. Is she embarrassed? I wonder if-
"Valerie?" Paul knocks lightly on the door.
"It's open," I call back from the small living room.
"Hey," he smiles widely as he strides into the room.
"Hey back," I respond grinning.
"So," he takes my hand, "Ready to go?" I nod and he leads me out the door to an old, silver truck.
We drive into the center of Forks and park next to a small, Italian restaurant. I think guiltily of the waitressing job I had before I quit without warning. The manager hadn't even replied to my letter. Oh well.
We enter the restaurant and settle at a wooden table with a crisp, white table cloth. Candles flicker romantically around the room, and the scent of garlic and baking bread permeate the space. I let my eyes wander slowly around the room, taking in the atmosphere. Eventually, they land on Paul. His eyes are glowing warmly in the dim light and I drink in his appearance. He has on a light blue button down shirt with the sleeves rolled halfway up his arms. His tanned skin shows strong, toned muscles even through the shirt. I have to catch myself from blushing when he meets my eyes. He looks nervous for once, which is a new side to him. I give him a small, encouraging smile and turn to the waiter who's just showed up.
Paul
At first I couldn't control my anxiety; it was just too nerve-racking. If I messed this date up I could lose Valerie. And not only lose her, but lose her to that annoying and crazy bloodsucker. Jasper.
I try to calm the rage that rises at the thought of him, but after the rage disperses I'm left with nervousness. Luckily the waiter had come when he did, and I wait patiently as Valerie orders and then order for myself. I press down on my knees to make my legs stop jittering.
I look at Valerie again. And I'm still speechless. I've never actually been on a proper date, and I don't know how the hell I can survive one. Any conversation gets stuck in my throat as the anxiety increases.
"So, tell me more about you," Valerie, also clearly nervous, blurts out a conversation starter. I grimace internally, praying I won't mess this up, and begin chatting, hoping I look confident on the outside. After that we fall into easy talking and laughing. A weight lifts off my shoulders and I embrace the fluid rambling of our conversation.
The food finally arrives and I am about to dig in when a buzz echoes from my pocket. Throwing an apologetic look to Valerie, I look at the cellphone to see that its Sam. Damn. I have to take it. It must be important. Stupid goddamn cellphone. I don't even carry one normally, but I wasn't expecting wolf-mode tonight.
"Sam?" I say, hoping I can just brush him off.
"Paul, you need to come meet with the pack, it's important," Sam informs bluntly.
"Why?" I feel disappointment and exasperation swell within me.
"We need to meet the vampires," he responds with a slight growl.
"Now? I'm busy," I whisper into the phone.
"Now," Sam uses his command voice and I know I have to obey.
"Okay," I reply sullenly, ready to hang up the phone.
"Oh, and bring the girl. They want her there too," he adds before hanging up.
"What's that about?" Valerie asks once I've shoved the phone back in my pocket.
"Date's over," I say grimly, "We have a meeting to attend."
Paul's got a sweet side now... I think it suits him. Please let me know how I'm doing, thanks!