Chapter 29

We're Tramping Through the Bush

Kelsey

Work seems to drag on forever. I must have checked the time about a zillion times. And of course, because I'm stressed, my sugars are running high. That means that I feel like shit while trying to get through the work day. Four o'clock can't come soon enough.

I meet Paul at my house so I can pick up my bags. And so I can take a shot using a syringe. Sometimes, if I'm consistently high, it'll go down faster if I take a shot.

"What's wrong with your pump?" Paul asks as I discard my syringe.

"Nothing. I'm just running high, so I'm taking a shot."

"Are you feeling okay? I know sometimes you don't feel well when you're high."

"No, not really. But there's not really that much I can do except chug water and wait for it to go down. I'll hopefully feel better in a little bit."

We take Paul's truck up to the end of the mountain road, then he fazes and lets me ride on his back. The campsite is a few miles off of the access road. It's almost seven o'clock by the time we get there.

Half of the wolves are here: Jacob, Brady, Seth and Leah. The others are at the Res.

"We hot a fire!" Brady yells from where he's messing around by a fire pit.

We all sit around the fire on some logs. By all of us, I mean everyone but Edward, who hangs back in the shadows, staring at Bella like a creeper. Which, actually, is exactly what he is.

I'm sitting between Paul and Leah, and we're playing a game of bullshit. Bella's picking at a baked potato, while Jake inhales his fifth or sixth hot dog. Brady and Seth are trying to see who can eat the most baked potatoes.

"Who's winning?" I lean around Leah to check in on the potato eating contest.

"I've eaten fifteen." Seth says.

"Eighteen." Brady calls.

"You two are gonna make yourself sick. And I'm gonna laugh." I roll my eyes and slap down my two kings.

After three rounds of Bullshit, Brady and Seth join us for Poker. The two of them look rather sick from their potato eating contest.

"S'mores!" Leah yells, brandishing a giant Hearshy bar.

"Yes!" I cheer, digging through my bag. I remove the sugarless marshmallows, and stab one on my skewer.

"Bet you I can eat more." Brady challenges Seth.

"How much?"

"Ten dollars."

I chuck a marshmallow at each of them. "You two are really gonna make yourself sick. That's probably not the best tactic for defeating vamps; puking all over them."

I'm changing my pump site when I hear the gagging. And then come the voices of the pack.

"Revealing your dinner."

"Blowing chunks."

"That flew three feet!"

"Technicolor yawn."

"Stomach reversal!"

I push the tent flap open to find Brady hunched over one of the bushes, puking his brains out. I sigh and rifle through my backpack for the antinausea pills I keep in the inside pocket at all times. I have a feeling I'll have to restock.

"Here." I pass Brady two pills. "Get some water and take these. They should help. Seth, do you need any?" Seth's hunched over, looking a little green himself. He quickly grabs the pills from my hands.

The promised storm does hit. The temperature drops drastically. I pull my hoodie on, tightening it as much as I can, and hunker down in my sleeping bag. I'm waiting on Paul to get done with his hour-long patrol shift. Something tells me it'll be awhile.

He climbs into the tent an hour and fifteen minutes later. Immediately, his body heat warms the entire tent. He once told me that his body temperature ran at about 108 degrees F. I believe it.

"You okay?" Paul asks. "You're shivering."

"It's freezing out here." I shiver, burying myself deeper into the sleeping bag.

Paul grabs his sleeping bag and drags it over to lay right next to mine. He wraps his arms around me, rubbing a hand up and down my arm to warm it up.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Try to get some sleep, okay?"

"Okay. Night, Paul."

"Night, Kelsey." He kisses my forehead.

The cold causes me to go low. The beeping of my dexcom wakes Paul before me, and he wakes me up with a juice box in hand. After I drink it, I watch my phone until the numbers go up and the trows turn from pointing straight down to pointing at an upward angle. Then I allow myself to drift off back to sleep.

I wake up around five AM. That's because the sun rises earlier up here. Paul's out cold, his face relaxed in sleep. I kiss his forehead and carefully extricate myself from his embrace.

Brady still looks a little pale, but he's inhaling a granola bar, so I'm assuming he's fine. He and I are the only ones up.

I sip a cup of sugar free hot cocoa, watching Brady plow through an entire box of granola bars. Damn! This dude can eat.

"We're meeting up with the others at eight." Brady informs me.

I wake Paul at around six thirty, to give him ample time to eat and get ready.

"Rise and shine." I tease, leaning into kiss him softly.

"Mm. Good morning, babe."

"Morning. I think there are so bagels left."

I lean into his side as he eats. I don't want to move because I know when I move, it'll be time for the guys to go down and fight. And that's freaking terrifying to me.

"I promise to do my best to get back to you." he whispers, kissing my hair.

"Promise you'll be careful." I whisper back, taking a shaky breath.

"I'll be careful. I promise." Paul leans down to kiss me.

I watch as he and the rest of the pack walk down the mountain. I stand there until they are completely out of sight. Then I take a shaky breath and head back to the tent. Where, hopefully, nobody can see me breaking down.

A/n: Hey, guys! So we reached 100 reviews! I am so freaking happy right now! So, as promised, here is chapter 29. I'll also be posting the first chapter of my new story, Chronic Love, today as well. On a different note, if you want a good song to listen to, try Pink Lips, by Shae Dale. It's great. If we get to 108 reviews by Tuesday, I'll post chapter 30 then. If not, it'll be on Thursday. Later!

Lauren.

PddS. I'm debating changing this title of this to Sun Comes Up Tomorrow. It's a line from the song Kelsey sang to Paul in chapter 22. The song is called Recession Song, and it's by Barry & Michelle Patterson. What do you guys think?

Replies to Reviews:

Sparkle15: I'm so glad you like reading from Paul's POV too. One of the hardest parts of writing a story with multiple POVs is making them each sound distinct. I hope I'm achieving this. I'd definitely break out the lighter and hairspray on his ass, that's for damn sure. LOL. I'm feeling so much better. Thanks! You're well wishes meant a lot. I hope you liked this chapter too; please review and let me know.

Plume Black: Thank you so much for your understanding. Your well wishes were much appreciated. I'm so glad you like my work. I hope you like this chapter, too; please review and let me know.

Twilightfanjm: Hi! I'm feeling so much better. Thank you; your well wishes were very appreciated. I'm sorry you had to get tested again, although I'm glad it was negative and you are feeling better. My plans for this story include Breaking Dawn. I like Renesmee too; although I do think she got the short end of the stick when it comes to her name. Yikes! Although, apparently, that name is now in the top 1,000 baby girl names from last year, so... I love writing Paul and Kelsey scenes. I hope you enjoy this chapter too; please review and let me know.

Guest: I'm glad you find this interesting. I'm also glad you love Kelsey's character. I hope you liked this chapter, too; please review and let me know.