Destiny Rose Young || A Paul Lahote Love Story

Chapter 4

“Hey, Destiny, can I maybe talk to you?” Paul asked after dinner. I looked at Emily to make sure she didn’t need anymore help.

“If you don’t go, I’ll kick you out,” she said in response.

“Yeah, sure,” I said, following Paul out of the house and down to the beach where the sun was starting to set.

“God, it’s so pretty here,” I said. “Views like this just don’t exist on the Makah rez.”

“Welcome to my world,” he said smoothly. “I’ve never actually sat and watched a sunset before.”

I turned to look at him in shock. He scratched the back of his neck nervously as he looked at the ground. When he finally moved his eyes up to meet mine I was reminded of how beautiful they are. They were the typical brown eyes of the Quileute tribe, but they looked so much more stunning on him. The way his eyes looked like the sunset and the earth rolled into one was awe inspiring. I had a hard time looking directly into them without getting lost in the colors. There were small almost golden flecks scattered within the brown. In that moment I wanted nothing more than to lean in and kiss his lips.

“Has anyone ever told you how gorgeous your eyes are?” he asked softly while maintaining eye contact.

“A few people, but none that mattered,” I said, getting lost in his eyes again. “Although I’m sure they’re nothing compared to yours.”

“Stop,” he said playfully. “My eyes are just plain gross brown. Your eyes are beautiful brown and so many different shade it’s hard to narrow it down to one.”

“No, my eyes are the plain ones. Yours seem to have these beautiful gold specks in them that make them so different from anyone elses,” I said. I could’ve sworn I heard him growl quietly when I said my eyes were plain, but I pushed the thoughts away.

“You know, Destiny,” he started after a few moments of just looking at each other. “I brought you out here for a reason.”

“As long as you don’t plan on killing me,” I said jokingly.

“God no. You’re way too pretty to kill,” he said, smirking at me.

“So then why’d you bring me out here, Paul?” I asked.

“I wanted to ask you if you would like to go on a date with me sometime?” he asked.

“How old are you again?” I responded.

“18,” he answered.

“Then I’d love to go on a date with you,” I said, smiling at him.

“How does tomorrow night sound?” he asked.

“Great,” I said. “What are we going to do? I gotta know what to dress for.”

“Well, we could go see some movie if you want,” he said.

“That sounds like a very cliche first date,” I said.

“Do you have a better idea?” he asked.

“No, and I happen to love cliches,” I said.

“Well, I’m full of them,” he said. I rolled my eyes at him lovingly before glancing at the sunset.

“Look at how pretty it is,” I said, completely in awe of the beauty of nature. I guess that’s why I love being a Native American. We respect everything about nature and try to preserve the beauty of it all. It’s amazing what just one small group can accomplish by simply preserving nature.

“It’s not nearly as pretty as you,” he said smoothly flirting with me.

“Stop,” I said. “I’m not that pretty.”

“You’re the most beautiful girl on this planet, and I never want to hear you say anything bad about yourself,” he said. “Sorry. I probably sound like I’m rushing into this, but I seriously do think you’re beautiful.”

“Well, thank you Paul, but I’ve never believed that I’m all that pretty. I do, however, want you to know that you don’t sound like you’re rushing into anything. You just sound like, well, I don’t know, but I really appreciate that you want me to believe that I’m beautiful,” I said, looking at the ground out of nervousness.

“You don’t have to be nervous,” he said.

“How on Earth did you know I was nervous?” I asked.

“I’m very good at reading body language,” he said. His response was almost too quick for me to trust, but I shrugged it off.

“Why don’t we just sit down and watch the sunset,” he suggested. “Em and Sam trust me.”

“Well, I like to think they trust me too, so let’s,” I said, taking a seat on the sand. It isn’t very warm, but I didn’t mind it. I actually kind of enjoy the cool weather here. Paul was shirtless as always.

“How are you not freezing?” I asked.

“My body temperature runs higher than normal,” he said. I nodded, and shivers ran down my spine. I didn’t feel that cold, but apparently my body did not like sitting out here in my jeans and hoodie in the cooler evening air.

“Come here,” he said, opening his arm to me. I scooted closer to him and could feel his body heat radiating off of him.

“You’re so warm,” I said, curling into his side a little.

“And you’re freezing,” he said. “Are you sure you don’t need to go back and warm up?”

“I’m good now,” I said, absentmindedly grabbing his hand that was resting on my upper arm. The skin on skin contact felt like touching an open flame, but at the same time it was comforting in a weird way.

“Sorry,” I muttered, pulling my hand away as I realized I wasn’t his girlfriend so I probably shouldn’t be holding his hand.

“No, you’re fine,” he said. “You can hold my hand if you want.” I replaced my hand on his and cuddled closer to his high body heat.

“Destiny,” Paul said, breaking the almost hour long silence as the sun was almost completely set.

“Paul,” I said quietly.

“Will you be my girl?” he asked. I turned my head to look at him. “I mean if you don’t want to I understand.” He started rambling.

“I’d love to Paul,” I said.