Between the Perennial Blooms || Paul Lahote

Fourteen | Petunia

"Lie five: I am not afraid.
Except I am. I am terrified of all the things I feel when I'm around you. I try to stay cold and distant because the reality of everything else is too much to bear. I am frightened that you might be the poison for my system and I breath you in like the dawn of fresh air and I choke on the feelings and I burn from the inside out until nothing remains than ashes of yesterday and I would do it all again in a heartbeat if you'd just ask me."
—r.m. | Aegolius

• • •

She wished she could say that she had returned to Forks of her own volition. That she had not been influenced by the many voicemails she had received. That she had not been swayed by the unveiled sadness and soft pleas carried down through the line of the phone. She wished she could say that she had returned to Forks because she missed Charlie and she missed Bella; and she wished she could say that she had returned to Forks because the same boy who broke her heart had not bothered to try and mend it just as quickly. But he had.

So the only reason she could say that she had returned to Forks was because of that very boy named Paul Lahote.

The Seattle airport was hectic by the time Bailey finally departed from her plane. It seemed everyone had simultaneously decided to either leave the Washington area or return to it all on the same Friday. People brushed by shoulder-to-shoulder through the jam-packed space and the wait for the baggage claim spanned all but a mile long down the terminals. Bailey considered herself lucky having been able to locate her blue suitcase with the leather luggage tag after only an hour of waiting, because as she peered left and right at some of the faces she recognized from her flight, it was obvious that they would be waiting even longer. However, now with her brown crossbody strapped lazily over one shoulder and her wheeled suitcase following along behind her, she attempted to navigate her way through the sea of patrons to the main lobby where she would hopefully be able to reach Charlie. He had told her he would pick her up from the airport if he was able to leave work early, but on the off-chance that he couldn't, he would send Bella in his stead. Bailey and Bella hadn't spoken in some time though -more specifically since Bailey had told Bella that she was leaving to visit Acoma- and though Bailey felt bad for even thinking it, she secretly hoped Charlie would be the one to fetch her from the airport. Ever since that disastrous night Jacob's secret had been unveiled, Bailey felt as if Bella had been avoiding her in turn. Whether the cause stemmed from guilt that she had neglected to tell Bailey she was in league with vampires in the first place or simply because she was avoiding a well-deserved explanation she knew not how to put into words, Bailey had no clue. Either way, it didn't much matter. Bella would speak to her when she was ready.

Bailey just didn't know when that would be.

"I told you already, Riley. You have to-"

A force akin to what Bailey imagined being hit by a car felt like plowed into her right shoulder, knocking the breath right out of her lungs and plummeting her knees to the floor as the contents of her shoulder bag spilt all over the ground. Bailey gasped, clenching a fist around the fabric of her t-shirt that covered her heart and pressing her hand against it in an attempt to steady the rapid beating that she imagined would burst straight out of her ribcage if allowed to continue. A shocked "Oh no!" came from above her, then just as quickly as Bailey had hit the floor, she was being pulled back up again.

"I'm so, so sorry!" A sweet, bubbly voice apologized as two cold hands grasped Bailey's small ones between their own. "I was just speaking with my boyfriend over the phone and wasn't paying attention to my surroundings at all, and I just completely mowed over you!" Big brown eyes full of concern met Bailey's as the woman's head ducked down to make contact. "Are you alright?"