Nicky followed Paul's directions as she drove. He lived a seven minute drive from the beach, in a more secluded area of LaPush. His house lay at the end of a long solitary dirt road surrounded by ferns and trees.
The house was two stories. It had a dark, navy blue, panelling. The paint near the bottom of the house was chipping slightly. The front door was white and led to a birch wood porch with a railing. And behind the house, was the lush, green forest.
Nicky parked on the dirt road, in front of the house. There was a black Chevy truck adjacent to her car as she parked her car. She turned around in her seat, grabbed her duffel bag and backpack in the back, and pulled them across her shoulders as she hopped out of her car.
By the time Nicky turned around, Paul was already out of the car and standing beside her, looking kind of out of place. Paul and Embry kept their house clean. But they'd never had a girl in it. Paul didn't know anything about his new little sister or how she'd fit into his life.
Bringing Nicky into his house, made it feel like they'd become family as soon as she passed the threshold. He was nervous about what she'd think of his place. He had to remind himself that this was only temporary.
"This is my place. I have a roommate who might come by later. His name is Embry." Paul said as he gestured to his house.
"I like it!" Smiled Nicky.
They walked together up the dirt driveway and up onto the porch.
"So I guess my dad cheated on my mom, huh." Said Paul as he unlocked his door.
"I guess so. I never met him. My Mom got pregnant in high school and then ran away to North Dakota. Got remarried. And then moved to Toronto. She said his name was Terry Lahote. And said he lived in LaPush. That's all I knew about him." Nicky said shrugging as she entered his house.
"Oh damn. Well I guess– I'll tell you about him someday." Responded Paul.
The interior of the house was all wood. It was gorgeous. It was cleaner than Nicky thought it'd be considering two men lived here. They entered into a foyer that led to the stairs to the second floor, and there was an archway on her left that seemed to lead to a living room, and on her right the ceiling arched to lead to a kitchen, she noticed.
Paul watched as Nicky assessed his house. She seemed impressed and curious. She was still smiling so she must be satisfied with his space. Finding out Paul's father cheated on his mother wasn't that big of a shock, but he was surprised Nicky had lived in so many different places, considering she was only sixteen.
"Here, our third bedroom is empty. I'll show you to it. It's upstairs. You can put your stuff there." He said as he glanced down at her duffel bag and backpack.
Nicky started to get nervous as she followed Paul upstairs. He seemed nice enough, but he seemed kind of apathetic to everything he learned about her this afternoon. Maybe he was just a nonchalant person. But she wanted to make sure he was really a Lahote and not just a random guy who wanted to murder her.
At the top of the stairs, Nicky nervously looked down at her feet as she thought about what to say.
"Hey, Paul, do you have a photo ID or driver's licence that I can see just to make sure you're not like a serial killer." She said nervously.
"No offence." She added in case she offended him.
To her surprise, Paul just started to guffaw. She looked back up. It was the first smile she'd caught from him all day.
"Yeah, of course, kid." he said while still chuckling.
Paul was glad Nicky had the sense of self-preservation to ask for proof. He didn't want this kid just walking into random men's houses. He didn't know where the girl's mom was but he was sure she'd want her daughter to be safe and ask questions. She was lucky that Paul was who he said he was because lesser men would've lied to get a young girl into their house.
"Here it is." Paul said as he pulled his driver's licence out of his pocket and handed it to Nicky.
Nicky took the small photo ID from his hands and inspected it. 'PAUL LAHOTE'. It read in big black letters, with a photo of a sixteen-year-old Paul adjacent to the name.
"Thanks." Nicky said as she handed it back to Paul.
Nicky followed Paul as he led her to the bedroom she would use. She got over her nervousness once she saw his identification. Now, Nicky was excited. She had been used to living in her car for the past couple of days. Now she'd be able to get a shower in and maybe Paul had some food or she could drive to the store.
Nicky was still slightly shivering from the cold ocean water she had just gone swimming in. She desperately wanted a shower. She'd have to ask where the bathroom was once she put her clothes away.
Paul came up to the third bedroom on the second floor. He gestured to Nicky.
"This one's empty. You can use it. There's a bed, desk, lamp and closet. It's all yours to use as you like. And the washrooms down the hall." He pointed down the hall as he spoke.
"I'll be downstairs. Come down, when you're done. I'll make food for us." Paul said as he walked away, leaving Nicky to her new room.
"Thank you!" Nicky yelled back as she entered the room.
Nicky opened the door and walked in. The room looked better than Paul had described. All of the furniture was a dark ashy brown, walnut wood. There was a bed in the centre of the room, a desk on the top right and a wardrobe on the back left wall. On the desk sat a lamp.
The bed had a standard white sheet, duvet and two white pillows. Nicky placed her duffel bag and backpack on the end of the bed. She grabbed some hangers from inside the closet and started putting away my tops. Nicky proceeded to open the drawers and put away her pants.
Then she placed her empty duffel bag at the bottom of the closet. Nicky pulled out new clothes from where she had just placed them and headed to the washroom with her towel. She showered quickly and then headed downstairs for lunch.
As Nicky headed down the stairs, the delicious scent of pancakes wafted through the house. She started running, tripping on the last step and she grabbed onto the railing before her head hit the ground. She quickly recovered, registered her near-death experience and then got over it, and kept running towards the smell of pancakes in the kitchen
Nicky arrived in the kitchen, sliding her socks along the wood as she skated towards the plate of pancakes on the table.
"Woah there little runner. I've made lots." Said Paul, chuckling as he flipped another pancake with a spatula onto the plate. The stack of pancakes were overflowing. It looked like there were at least twenty of them.
"Is your roommate eating too? There are like twenty." Nicky squealed, floored by the amount.
"Nah, I just eat a lot. I don't know when he'll be back home yet," He said with a small frown.
"You can eat as many as you want though, take your pick." He said gesturing to the stack.
Nicky grabbed some tongs that were placed beside the pancakes and picked three pieces and placed them onto an empty plate that Paul had set beside the stack. She carried the plate over to a place on the table in front of a chair and sat down.
Nicky ate in a hurry, absolutely starving. Paul sat in another chair and gobbled his down even more hastily than Nicky did. They ate in silence and then they heard the door open and rapidly shut.
Nicky looked up curious about meeting Embry, Paul's roommate. But Paul was walking towards the door, quicker than she could expect someone in that short a time span to have gotten up and been able to walk in front of her towards the door.
Nicky was perplexed by what was going on as Paul walked swiftly and so abruptly to meet Embry.
.
.
.
Embry was on his way home from the worst lunch he had ever experienced at Emily's, He vowed to never go back again. Colin and Seth's new imprints were there, Eva and Diana. Every guy in the pack was kissing on someone every two minutes.
Seth had never felt more alone. He only went so Emily could cater to him, so he could feel cared for, for just a moment. He revelled in the little moments when Emily asked if he'd had enough, or asked how he was feeling.
It felt like he really had a mom, who cared about him for just a few minutes. But watching the rest of the guys eat with their girl on their lap, or kissing their cheek between plates of food was nauseating.
It was hell. Embry had even arrived late after cliff jumping but he still caught most of the guys there with their imprints, and Sam had ripped him a new one for showing up late to Emily's lunch. He had said either show up on time or don't show up at all, quietly away from Emily.
Although Emily was just happy that he had shown up at all. But, Sam wasn't having any disrespect to his imprint.
After the meal, he stayed late with Emily and Kim, to help clean the dishes. Just getting a small amount of praise from the women made him feel better for a bit. He knew he was a simp and a masochist for sticking around late just for a little bit of female attention, but it was either stick around and help clean up or go back to an empty house, where two irascible men lived.
Paul and Embry both shared a black Chevrolet truck. They'd left it at the house today so Embry either had to phase and run home, and then delve into the imprinted mind or jog home in human form. Embry settled on the latter.
Embry jogged the whole five miles home. It took him, just under twenty minutes, but he was jogging by people, if he jogged any faster he'd look otherworldly, supernatural, so he'd had to go slow.
As he arrived on their long driveway leading up to the house, he caught the scent of a female on their property. That was rare. Paul and Embry rarely had guests anymore, let alone a girl.
He ran up the porch steps and opened the door, slamming it behind him. He was vexed. Paul and Embry had a rule to not bring girls home from the club. And Embry didn't recognize this girl's scent.
But her scent smelled so good. The female in his house smelled of butterscotch. It was a sweet, homey smell. It was weird for a girl to smell so good but he was still vexed.
As he turned to walk into the kitchen, Paul stepped in front of him and stopped him in his path. Embry was about to fight this dipshit. Embry wouldn't be blocked from his own home. He cocked his fist back and plunged his face into Paul's face.
"We have to bring it outside." Paul growled as he adjusted his broken nose back into the right position.
That was fine with Embry. He'd gladly take it outside. As long as he'd get to beat the crap out of Paul. He needed to let some anger out, and Paul usually obliged to a good fight.
Paul pushed Embry back until they were both out the door and near the forest treeline. Paul cocked his fist back and ripped a punch straight into Embry's jaw.
"Not today man. Let's pick this up another day." Paul growled as he threw another punch into Embry's ribs.
"Not today? You brought a girl home. That what? You met at the club? We have rules!" Yelled Embry as he let a punch fly into Paul's temple.
Paul and Embry kept fighting and yelling until Paul had Embry pinned down.
"Man, not today. Keep attacking me and I'll phase and rip you apart." Growled Paul.
Embry took in the way he was pinned down. His ribs hurt, his head ached, and his jaw was most likely broken. He cocked his neck in submission and raised his hands in defeat.
"Good." Scowled Paul.
"The girl inside is my sister." Paul said gruffly as he got off of Embry and righted his broken fingers.
Embry stayed on the ground for a moment longer, placing his broken jaw back in place and righting his other broken bones. Then he got up, confused as fuck.
"Your sister?" Embry asked bewildered.
"Yeah man, the young teenage girl who was on the rez yesterday swimming at the beach, was her. When I went up to her to ask her what she was doing on the rez, running away from home, she said she was looking for her dad. And she said her dad that she was looking for was named Terry Lahote." Paul said, exhausted.
"She staying with us for a while. In the spare bedroom. She says she has nowhere else to go." Paul said, rubbing his jaw as he spoke.
"So clean yourself up, behave yourself, and come inside and meet her. She's just sixteen, so be nice." Growled Paul as he began to walk back to the house.
Paul walked extra slow back to his house, giving his bones time to heal before he walked in. He took off his shirt that was covered in blood, grabbed an extra shirt that he left on his porch railing, and put it on, throwing his bloody shirt over the railing.
Paul looked back and Embry and whispered, take off your shirt before coming in, knowing he'd hear him. He walked into the kitchen and saw Nicky eating her last pancake. The silence was awkward.
"How were they?" Paul asked, trying to get the mood in the house back to normal.
"Good." Squirmed Nicky in her chair, looking up at him with a puzzled expression.
"Where's your roommate? I thought he came in." Asked Nicky.
"He's just outside, getting some air." Lied Paul.
Then the front door gently opened and closed, and a tall Quilleute man with no shirt entered the kitchen, slowly and cautiously. It was Embry.
Embry saw a young girl, sitting at the table his dining room table, eating the last of what seemed to be her pancakes. She was pretty. She had ivory skin, with freckles littering her face. She had a small button nose, full lips and ears covered in piercings. The young girl had dark brown eyes and her jet-black hair.
As Embry looked into her eyes, he felt his whole world shift. Gravity didn't hold him to place anymore, this young girl did. A million strings felt as if they tethered him to her. He'd do anything for her, be anything for her. Embry realized he had imprinted.
Words Of The Day:
Irascible: having or showing a tendency to be easily angered.
Simp: is an internet slang term describing someone who shows excessive sympathy and attention toward another person, typically to someone who does not reciprocate the same feelings, in pursuit of affection or a sexual relationship.