Dusk till Dawn | Paul Lahote ✔️

Chapter 9

Bella had invited me to her movie night... thing.

She had asked a whole group to go, but apparently all her friends bailed except for Mike Newton, and she definitely did not want to go on a date with the poor boy. From the stories she told me, Mike was definitely smitten with our Bella, but it sounded like when she came to the school all the boys saw her as fresh meat. Which, to be fair for them, when they're in a small school with girls they've probably grew up with, I could see it from there point of view.

Though it didn't make that any less awkward, or gross.

Jacob Black was coming, which made things a little easier, and I had decided to invite Paul - as a sort of date kind of situation. He took that invitation quickly. Plus, he didn't make me seem like some sort of babysitter for the teenagers when we got there.

"Why Crosshairs?" I asked, scrunching my nose as we sat at the dinner table. We were eating the spaghetti she had made earlier, before dad had been called into work for some sort of break-in. For a small town there was a lot of mis-demeanors. "There are so many better movies to watch." I had heard Crosshairs only got three stars on yelp, and scrolling through the reviews... it seemed like an interesting movie.

Bella shrugged as she twirled some noodles onto her fork. "I don't know. It looked interesting, and I thought I'd give it a go. Try something new, you know?" She shrugs again, though she doesn't seem to be that excited.

Although that was just Bella. Bella didn't show emotions as well as everyone else did, something she had gotten from our father. I had more moms personality, which seemed to balance the family out.

"Yeah, but there's so many movies playing. You could have chosen Penelope, or High School Musical. But you chose Crosshairs?" I scrunched my nose again in distaste at the choice. This usually wasn't her style, but she had said she wanted to try something new.

Laughing, she gives me an amused look. "You don't have to come, you know," she teases, though the look on her face told me something different. She didn't want to be there with just Jacob and Mike, though I could understand. Both boys had crushes on her, and I had a feeling Jacob would try to square up with Mike.

Though I wasn't sure if Bella knew that, being oblivious to anything romantic.

"You want me to come though," I nodded, and she sighed in defeat. "Don't worry, I asked Paul to come with us. He eagerly agreed," I laughed at the memory.

"Paul, huh?" She grins at me. "Sounds like it's going well." Though I saw the dullness in her eyes. She still missed Edward, which I could understand. You don't get over someone like that quickly.

Flushing, I shoot her a look. "It's going well. I like him a lot, and he treats me good. I enjoy being around him. He even let me hang out with Riley the other day, without complaining... much..." He had complained a little bit, but when I told him it was just as friends and I'd be coming over to La Push right after he immediately said it was alright. We had hung out the rest of the day after Riley dropped me off at the house.

"Riley, right." Bella nodded her head, narrowing her eyes at me. "I thought you weren't going to do anything about him?" She counters and I roll my eyes.

"It was just a hang out. He needed a friend, besides he has a crush on someone else anyway. He's nice, and I enjoyed hanging out with him." He's cute as well, and if I didn't already have Paul I might have thought about it.

Bella's mouth fell open at that. "Well then, I guess it worked out." She chuckles in disbelief. "Whose the girl?" She was curious, making me smirk. Bella was definitely coming back, and I was relieved. This was the Bella I knew before she dated Edward.