Destiny Rose Young || A Paul Lahote Love Story

Chapter 8

It's been a few weeks since Paul asked me out. It's been perfect. Sam and Emily are pretty chill, so that's kind of helping it. There is however one thing. It feels like they're keeping something from me and I don't like it.

“Hey, beautiful,” Paul said, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind me. I jumped slightly not expecting the contact.

“Hey, Paul,” I said, placing my hand on his.

“There's a bonfire tonight,” he said.

“Sounds like fun,” I said. He made his way to the table and sat down with Jared and Quil.

“Wanna be my date?” He asked.

“You doofus. We're dating,” I said, walking over and kissing his cheek.

“I know, but I still figured I'd ask,” he said. I rolled my eyes at him, but smiled anyways.

He pulled me into his lap, causing my prosthetic to almost fall off. “Paul!” I squealed slightly.

“God, I'm sorry,” he said. “I never remember about the thing.”

“It's okay,” I said, settling into his lap.

“You two are disgusting,” Quil said.

“Someday, I will get to call you and your girlfriend disgusting,” Paul retaliated. I grabbed a muffin and started to pull it apart to eat it.

“Seriously, I cannot wait for the day lil Quilly gets a girlfriend,” Jared said.

“Me either,” Paul agreed.

“Boys, be nice to Quil,” I said.

“You sound just like your sister,” Sam said as he made his way into the house.

“Where is she?” I asked.

“Picking up food for the bonfire,” he said. I nodded and curled closer to Paul as the boys talked about random stuff.

“You okay?” Paul whispered in my ear. I nodded in response. He didn't seem to believe me, but he didn't push it any further than that.

A few hours later, I started to get ready for the bonfire. I got dressed in a pair of white shorts and a maroon pullover. I quickly French braided my own hair and slid some earrings in. I applied some mascara and eyeliner but nothing more.

“Destiny, we're getting ready to leave,” Emily called from downstairs. I headed downstairs and was met at the bottom of the stairs by Paul.

“You look great, babe,” he said.

“Awe, thanks,” I said.

“We can walk if you want to,” he said.

“I'd love to,” I said, sliding on some flip flops since I couldn't go barefoot.

As we walked, Paul and I talked about the most random things. I told him the good parts of my childhood, and he shared the story of his mother. She left them when he was pretty young, so he doesn't remember much about her.

“Welcome,” a man said as we walked down behind the Black's house.

“Hey, Billy. How're you?” Paul asked, hugging the wheelchair bound man.

“I'm doing well. Who's this?” he asked.

“Destiny Young,” Paul said as if my name explained everything.

“It's nice to finally put a face with the name. I'm Billy Black, Jake's father,” he said.

“It's nice to meet you,” I said, nodding politely. Paul dragged me over to where my sister and Kim were talking.

“Hey,” both of the women said as we walked up.

“Hey,” I said.

“I'm going to go play soccer with the guys. I'll see you in a few,” Paul said, kissing my cheek.

“You must be the one,” Kim said.

“What?” I asked.

“Oh, Paul's always sort of been a player. I've never seen him so affectionate before,” she said.

“I see,” I said. “He's been nothing but sweet to me.”

“You're definitely the one,” Emily said, attempting to reassure me. I talked to the two for a few minutes until the boys split off from the game. Paul ran up to me, wrapping me in his arms and almost knocking me off my feet.

“Come on, babe,” Paul said. “Billy’s about to start, and we need to get some food.”

“Sure,” I said, following him over to the food table.

“Wait, aren’t you going to eat?” he asked, stacking food onto his plate.  

“I’m waiting for you to give me some space,” I said, shoving him lightly. I stacked a couple burgers on my plate and Paul grabbed an entire bag of chips before leading me to a log by the fire.

“Hey, Destiny,” Leah said, sitting on my right while Paul was on my left. Since I moved here, we’ve been growing closer.

“Hey, Lee,” I said before starting to eat. We talked for a few minutes before I noticed Alex was here too.

“Lee, what’s he doing here?” I asked.

“Probably something to do with Embry,” she said. Ever since he met Embry we haven’t spent as much time together.

I stood up, causing Paul to whine. I handed him the plate that still contained a burger and told him to eat it. He happily obliged.

“Hey, Xander,” I said, using his childhood nickname.

“Dest, what are you doing here?” I asked.

“I'm here with Paul,” I said. “What're you doing here?”

“I- I- uh-” he stuttered.

“Are you here with Embry?” I asked, looking at the boy who was talking to Jake. I noticed the pale skin of Bella Swan next to Jake and wondered why she was here.

“Yeah,” he said.

“You can be yourself here,” I said, looking into my twins eyes.

“I know,” he said. “I'm just not used to being so accepted.”

“Twins,” Aunt Sue yelled for us. We headed over to the fire and took our seats next to the boys.