Chapter 24

It's a Date

Paul

I swing by Kelsey's house to return a book for Paige. As soon as I pull up, I can smell the leech. The stench is overwhelming. I almost wanna toss my cookies.

Charlie answers the door. He looks concerned; lines of tension on his brow. "Hello, Paul. Are you here for Kelsey?"

"Yeah. Is she here?"

"No. She's in the hospital again."

What? Why is Kelsey in the hospital? Is she sick? Hurt? My heart is pounding as I turn and run back to my car. If anything happened to her, I'm not sure what I'd do. Kelsey is my imprint; my world.

The drive to Forks General hospital takes seven minutes if I speed a little. I park and head up to the reception desk.

"I'm here for Kelsey Swan?"

"Great. Just sign the guest book. She's on the third floor in room 382."

The hospital elevator is one of the slowest moving elevators I've ever seen. I pound the button for the third floor about five fucking times before the doors close and we start up. I step off and look around for a sign that will show me where to go. After wondering around the floor for about fifteen minutes, I finally notice the sign for the pediatric unit.

She's sitting up in the hospital bed, reading one of the Harry Potter books. She smiles when she sees me, sticking a piece of paper into the book to mark her place.

"Hi, Paul." Her voice sounds hoarse.

"Kelsey? What happened? Are you okay?"

"I had an asthma attack. They're messing with my meds again. I'm okay... my chest hurts a bit, but other than that, I'm good."

She looks sick. Her face is pale and she has a cannula in her nose. The cannula goes to a massive oxygen tank on the wall. She has an IV in one hand.

But she's smiling at me. Her eyes are still sparkling. And she is as full of life as always.

I take a seat on the edge of the visitors' chair, trying to fight the urge to interrogate her about her disease. I refuse to lose her to some illness. Sometimes, I hate the imprint bond; I already feel like I'm in a relationship with her, even though we're not dating.

I want to tell her. I want to tell her everything: the imprint bond, my fear of losing control and hurting someone, the newborn army, the worry that my sister will one day faze too. But right now is not the time. Not when she is sick and in the hospital.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asks, concern in her eyes.

"Yeah." She's in the hospital and she's concerned about me? She's amazing.

"Liar. What's wrong?"

"Nothing." My heart is screaming at me to just tell her; my brain is screaming for me to protect her right now and tell her later.

"Paul, I'll tell you what my therapist tells me. Don't think; just talk."

And I find myself telling her everything. And I mean everything. She listens intently, occasionally nodding when I pause for breath.

When I finally run out of steam, she smiles slightly. "Okay, let me get this straight. Wolves have a thing called imprinting where the wolf chooses their other half. You've imprinted on me, but you don't want to push anything. You have suspicions of there being a newborn vampire army in Seattle, but you won't know for sure until one of the vamps confirms it. And you are terrified of both hurting someone and your sister fazing." She stops to cough hard into her elbow. I jump up and rub her back as she coughs. "Did I get it all?" she asks when she's done.

"Yeah. You did." I help her lay back against the pillows, my hands hovering over her slender frame.

"Cool. So what happens now?" She has a slight blush to her pale cheeks.

"That depends. What do you want to happen now?" I give her a searching glance.

"I don't know."

"You wanna go to the movies or something next week?"

"Yeah, sure! Sounds fun."

"Great."

She coughs again into her elbow and smiles at me. We continue to talk about nonsense, me rubbing her back through each coughing fit. I'm doing most of the talking still, with Kelsey occasionally throwing in one of her trademark comments. Damn, I love her.

"Hey, Paul?" Paige asks. I'm changing the kitchen lightbulb while she works on her history project.

"Hmmm?"

"Do you like Kelsey?" So damn near drop the lightbulb.

"Yeah. I do."

"Ha! I knew it!" Paige then proceeds to get out of her chair and dance around the kitchen, singing "I knew it! I knew it!" I swear, my sister has the maturity of a five-year-old sometimes.

"You know, I think she likes you, too." Paige turns from silly to serious in point five seconds.

My heart skips a beat when I hear that. She likes me? Even though she agreed to go on a date with me, it still makes me smile.

Kelsey and I agree to go see something next Friday at seven and get dinner beforehand. Kelsey must have told Paige, because my sister damn near kicks the door down.

"Oh my gosh! You asked her out! Oh my gosh!" From the sound of it, it would look like Paige is even more excited about this than me.

I decide to play dumb. "I asked who out?" I ask, pocketing my phone.

"Kelsey! You asked Kelsey out! Stop playing dumb, Paul!"

Kelsey looks extremely pretty tonight. Her dark hair is shiny and straight. She's wearing only hints of makeup, but she honestly doesn't need it. She's wearing a nice pair of skinny jeans and a shimmery purple shirt. Her insulin pump is clipped to her jeans pocket and she's transfered her supplies into a purse.

"Hey." She smiles as she climbs into my car.

"Hi. You look good."

"Thanks. You too." She gives me a warm smile. "Where to?"

"Olive Garden?" I suggest. We're going to Port Angeles to see the movie, so we're leaving a little after school. Hopefully that will give us enough time; goodness knows Olive Garden has giant waits on Friday nights.

"Fine by me."

Kelsey knows damn near every song on the radio. Her low syrupy alto fill the car. Her voice is one of those effortless voices; the kind where it sounds like the music is just pouring out of her. Beautiful.

She goes low in the restaurant. Apparently she dosed herself right after ordering, and there is a huge crowd tonight. She's pale, shaky, sweat beading up on her forehead. I frantically look around for a waiter, but don't see one.

"What do you need me to do?" I ask, working hard to keep my voice steady.

"Can I have your soda?" Kelsey asks, eying my Coke.

"It's not diet."

She laughs. "It's got sugar. My sugar's low."

I shrug and pass it over. She gives me a thankful smile before downing it. It takes a few minutes for the color to return to her face and for me to relax. She winds up buying me another Coke at the movies.

The movie was a piece of shit. Kelsey and I spend most of it whispering about how cliche all the characters are. It's the best trip to the movies I've ever had.

"Bye, Paul. I had fun tonight." Kelsey smiles at me. We're standing on her front porch. The leech has left, and it's just Bella and Charlie home.

"Me too." I smile and squeeze her hand.

"Text me tomorrow?"

"Course." I smile. Anything for her.

"Great. Night."

"Good night, Kelsey." She opens the door and steps through, pulling it shut behind her. "Best night of my life." I whisper once I'm positive she can't hear.

A/n: Aww! The FLUFF! How'd you like Paul being all protective and cute? I'm thinking of starting another imprint story, so let me know. It won't be connected to Defying Gravity, I don't think, so there's that. So here's the deal: if we get to 90 reviews, I'll update Saturday. If not, it'll be Monday. Oh, and since we only got one vote... who's your favorite character? Later!

Lauren.

Replies to reviews:

Twilightfanjm: You're probably right about that. The obsessive thoughts are so fucking annoying! I hope you were able to shake that particular broken record moment, and hopefully find some happier thoughts. I'm glad your car wasn't damaged, though. Charlie is mostly a good dad; this was just one of his shittier moments. When reading the books, that scene, along with many others, pissed me off. I had to address it. I hope you like this chapter, too; please review and let me know.

mkhdhdidhdhkjdse: This chapter has Kelsey out of the hospital, so I hope you like. Also, Paulsey fluff. And the triangle is so bad. I had to reread Eclipse to double check the timeline and I just cringed so hard it's not even funny. I hope you like this chapter too; please review and let me know.

Loves to read books: Thanks. I hope you like this chapter too; please review and let me know.

garbolaughs39: I'm glad you can relate to Kelsey. Jacob has a bit of a savior complex and he drives me fucking insane. I'll try to work that idea in somewhere. I hope you like this chapter too; please review and let me know.

genCos369: Thanks! I hope you like this chapter, too; please review and let me know.