A/N Well, this chapter took a little longer to get written, I mean, I'm on vacation, and it's so incredibly difficult to make myself sit down and write ;)

And once again, thank you very, very much for the great reviews, they always manage to make my day nicer! Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter Fourteen

I don't know how long we stayed like that. We were both on our knees, hugging. I was crying as well. If you see this kind of scene in a movie, it seems nice and sweet. The reality was that it was uncomfortable and became painful in a while, but I was afraid to move. I thought that if I moved, the comforting feeling I had would be lost. Paul never moved as well. I knew that his body probably didn't get uncomfortable like mine did, he was a werewolf after all.

I would kill to know what he was thinking right now. The fact that he never moved away was a good sign. He also never tried to get something more out of the hug; he never moved his hands, didn't press me against himself too hard. It was the perfect hug.

I felt completely confused. After a while my tears stopped and I was afraid he would let go. But he didn't. I didn't know what to think about the situation, I couldn't think straight when I was around Paul. And now that we were in this pretty intimate position, I couldn't think at all. Being masochistic, I tried thinking of Edward and the intimate moments we had shared. And almost nothing. As soon as I tried to remember his cold embrace, my mind took me back to this warm and soft hug I had with Paul. When I remembered Edward's snow-white features, my mind gave me an image of Paul, all dark and handsome. And I didn't struggle with it, for once I could actually say that I felt good.

I also didn't want to move because I was afraid to face him. How would I act, what would I say? I knew for sure that I would turn bright red under his gaze. Would he make me feel stupid? Not wanting to find that out, I kept hugging Paul.

I felt my knees grow numb and moved just a bit. I guess Paul caught that, as I felt him move away a bit. Unconsciously, I wrapped my arms around his neck even tighter, burying my head in the crook of his neck. He chuckled.

„I'm just trying to get you in a more comfortable position." He tried moving again as I clung to him even harder. „I'm not going anywhere."

I felt him lift us up lightly so that we were standing up now. I had to admit it was more comfortable, but my legs felt so numb and painful that it was hard to be standing. Then I felt Paul press me against him a bit harder, so that some weight from my body was lifted off my hurting legs.

As I kept my nose in the crook of his neck, I smelled the woodsy scent. It was different than Jake's, more masculine. I felt Paul rest his cheek on my head, it felt even better. We stayed like this for a while, when I suddenly felt him press his lips against my hair. That felt amazingly great, and even though I enjoyed the sensation, it managed to take me out of the trance.

Suddenly I realized that I was standing on the beach, hugging Paul and feeling good about it. I moved away and he let me go easily.

As we both stepped back, I tried to avoid looking in his eyes. I didn't know what to say, what to think. The confusion I had when we were hugging grew even bigger now that we were apart. With a corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of him – he was avoiding looking at me as well. The silence was killing me, so I decided to say something.

„I.. uhmm.. I don't know what I was thinking.. I mean, jumping on you like that, it's.. uhmm, I'm really sor.." I cut myself off by pressing my hand to my mouth and looking at him in horror.

To my huge surprise it got him laughing. I have never seen him laugh, but I guess the sight of me must have been very funny. After a while I got the stupidity of my actions and started laughing myself. I had expected this to feel weird and it didn't. It felt right.

„I can see you progress a bit. I bet the perspective I warned you about did leave an effect."

Remembering what kind of perspective he had in mind made me blush again. And my blush made him laugh.

„Stop laughing." It just made him laugh more. „Seriously, I don't get your mood swings. You're acting weird and I have no idea how to behave around you."

He stopped laughing and looked at me seriously.

„Haven't you thought that I'm the one who has no idea how to be around you?"

While I meant my statement as a joke, it seemed that he meant what he said seriously.

"Why?" I felt like a complete idiot after asking this. Of course, I knew why. I used to be just a stinky leech lover and now I was attractive to him. In a way, I guess I felt the same - I used to be afraid of him, and now I found his presence nice and warm. He looked at me with a smile.

"Did you know that every single thing you think is clearly written on your face?"

I blushed and shook my head. I couldn't get used to this new side of Paul I was beginning to get to know. It was so weird to see him without his mask of anger and annoyance, the guy who was standing in front of me was nice. And extremely attractive. Even though I kept staring at my feet, my mind was giving me images of Paul. And in my head I could ogle as much as I want. The thought made me blush even harder.

Trying to hide my embarrassment I turned and went to sit back on the log. Paul didn't follow. I felt his eyes one me, he kept staring for a while and then broke the silence.

"So, what brought you to La Push?"

I hesitated to answer. Did I even know what brought me here? I mean, I came to see Jake, but somewhere deep inside I was hoping to run into Paul. How would he react when I say that I didn't come here to see him?

"I, um, wanted to see if Jake is okay." He stiffened and I could swear I heard a growl.

"I see." Was he jealous? A part of me felt happy and grateful, but the other wanted to be left alone. Who the hell was he to get jealous over my friendship with Jake? Anyway, the happy part won, and it wanted to get that hurt expression off his face, so I said the thing I never meant to say out loud to Paul.

"But I guess subconsciously I wanted to see you." The look he gave me was searching for any proof that I was lying. If he said that my face was like an open book, he must have seen that I meant it. Few seconds later the searching look disappeared, and another one took it's place. His brown eyes were filled with such warmth, I could swear I saw love. That look made me lose my mind completely, I melted in his chocolate eyes. Butterflies filled my stomach, I knew I have never felt like this before. Not even with Edward. But it wasn't the time to be thinking of him. Not now.

Instinctively I stood up and saw him move closer. I didn't see anything around me, at the moment Paul was my everything. I didn't see the beach, trees, ocean – everything was in a blur. When there was just a feet between us, I could feel heat radiating off his body, his scent was intoxicating and moved closer to fill the gap. He did the same thing and just as I was about to close my eyes I heard a familiar voice call my name.

"Bella?" Once again I was taken out of the trance, this time it was Jacob's voice that did it. As both Paul and I stepped back, we never broke the eye contact. And I could swear I saw tension between us, the air was filled with electricity. Slowly my mind came to realize that I was about to kiss Paul, but I was still too dizzy to understand it completely.

As we just stood there, I heard Jacob call my name again. And then to my own surprise, I heard my voice answer.

„I'm here."

„Bella, I saw your truck and decided that you.." His voice trailed off as he saw Paul. „Oh.."

Finally I was able to take my eyes off Paul and looked ad Jacob. I couldn't actually understand the look on his face, but it wasn't happy for sure.

„Am I interrupting?" He said with such irony in his voice that it physically hurt. I couldn't pull myself together to answer, Paul did it.

„As a matter of fact – yes, you are." That got a snarl out of Jake. Paul growled.

„Bella, am I disturbing you?" He turned to me. I simply shook my head, and that made Paul growl even louder. Jake looked back at him, and it felt like they were ready to attack each other. And I definitely didn't want that to happen again.

„Actually, Jake, I needed to talk to you." As I heard Paul growl again, I turned to him. „And you know that as well as I do." That came out a little more harsh than I had intended.

„Fine." Paul said simply and with a quick motion he was gone in the woods. I felt confused since I didn't want to insult him or something. So I just stood there not knowing what to do. I wanted to run after Paul, and just a small part of me realized that I should stay here with Jacob.

„He'll be fine." I shot a non-believing look at Jacob. He just rolled his eyes. „Believe me. After running around for a while he'll come back with his tail between his legs."

I chuckled and hoped that he was right.

„And while he's gone I'll get some time to spend with you." Jacob said that with a smile, but I could feel the sadness behind it. „So, do you want to take a walk?"

I nodded and we started pacing along the beach. There was silence for a while, I guess we both didn't quite know what to say. I must have hated the silence more than he did, because I was the one to talk.

„So, now what?"

He stopped and looked at me.

„What do you mean?"

„Well, this stuff changes something for you. I mean, in the way you see me?"

He took some time to answer. While thinking, Jacob kept looking at me and I couldn't quite understand the emotion in his eyes. After few painfully long minutes, he finally answered.

„You already know how I feel about you." It was too painful to look in his eyes. „And as much as I can say for myself, it's not going to change. Unless..." He didn't finish, but I knew what he meant. Unless he imprinted himself.

„Does that mean that our relationship won't change?" I was amazed by the amount of hope in my voice.

„I wish I could say so. But you see, he.." Jake motioned to the forest. „He won't be that tolerant. I mean, he has been in my head for all this time, he knows exactly how I fell about you. And naturally – he won't like that you want to spend time with me."

„But it's about what I want, isn't it? And if I want to spend time with you, I can and will do that." I don't know when that had happened, but now I was kind of thinking of me and Paul as a couple. Which felt weird, but I had no time to analyze that right now.

„Oh really?" Again, the sarcasm in his voice. „Now tell me honestly, what did you want to do when Paul ran away. At that moment, who was more important?"

And I knew that he was right, I had nothing to say. Again, I felt my eyes fill with tears.

„I'm so sorry, Jake, I don't want to feel that way. I hate hurting you all the time, first with Edward and now this. I mean, if there was something.." But he never let me finish the sentence.

„Hey, I'm not blaming you. Hell, I'm not even blaming Paul, no matter how hard I try. He is my brother, and you are my.. friend. His soul mate."

„Do you really believe that?"

„What? That you are destined to be with him? I don't know. I mean, it's hard to do that, he's an asshole, and you're too good for him." He sighed. „But maybe that's how it's supposed to be - an asshole gets a sweet girl, and a nice guy like me will probably end up with some girl who swears like a sailor and doesn't know how to cook." I was happy to see that his mood was getting lighter.

„So, you don't hate me?"

„No, you silly girl. In a way, I'm actually happy."

After I shot him a confused look, he chuckled and continued.

„I mean, now I'm sure that you'll never choose leeches over us."

„Jake, I.. I mean, I don't know how I feel about this stuff, and.." Once again he didn't let me finish.

„Sure, sure. Just remember my words, in a few years you'll be a happy mother of few nice warm puppies."

I felt myself blush. Jacob laughed and I was insanely happy that everything was alright.

We spent the next hour walking around and talking like we have done many, many times before. The only difference was that now Jake wasn't the only thing that pulled me to La Push. I remembered that previously, whenever I was around Jake on the beach, it had felt enough. Now I felt that something was missing.

And to my big relief soon enough I saw this something coming towards us, looking as handsome as always, with a determined look on his face.