Nature's Kiss • Paul Lahote

Ch.3 La Push Beach

"My sister has scars too! She doesn't like showing them to people though. She is always covering them. You know I don't th-."
"Heidi!" I shout making her turn around and look at me like a deer caught in headlights. I start walking toward her in anger and light worry. Making her scream in fear and quickly turn back to the two to run away. Before she could however the guy stops her. She tries to push him out of the way, but he didn't budge. I quickly walk over and rip her away from him.

"Do you want to get kidnapped?" I ask her in seriousness.
"No!" She says and tries to pull her arm from my grip.
"Then why are you talking to strangers?" I ask. She refused to answer and continued to try and pull away. "What did mom say about strangers?" She looks at me with a glare causing me to glare back at her. We have a staring contest for a good couple of seconds. I was trying to figure if she was going to have one of her tantrums or not. She quickly relaxes before rolling her eyes.
"When it comes to people you don't know, act as if they're the Moke you don't want to know." She says monotonously.
"Exactly. Now say sorry to these people." I state. She turns and looks up at the two.
"I'm sorry for bothering you." She says before hiding behind me. I look up and stare at the two, they both seemed friendly enough. I noticed that the woman had three large scars that ran down the right side of her face. They looked like they were from some type of animal. Maybe a bear or wolf?
"I'm sorry about her. She wonders off often. I hope she didn't bother you too much." I apologize.
"Oh, it's fine. She's a knockout." The woman chuckles making me sheepishly laugh and look down at Heidi to see her playing with the string of her hoodie. I look back up at her with a small smile.
"She really is."
"She was no problem, if anything it was entertaining to talk to her." The guy says making me laugh.
"Are you new to the town? You don't look very familiar." The woman says.
"Oh, yeah. My family just moved here from Hawai'i." I tell them making them nod in understanding.
"Well, it was nice to meet you!" The woman says with a small smile.
"Hope you're liking the town." The guy adds.
"Nice to meet you both too," I say before we part ways. I bend down to pick up Heidi and rest her on my side.
"I swear, I can't let you leave for one second," I state before making my way back to Harper.

The rest of the week was the same. We never did much after school since we didn't have many close friends yet. Well, since I didn't have many. It seemed like Harper was doing just fine. She had a couple of her new close friends come over. They were nice and didn't seem like bad people, but they were obviously your "popular" click at the school.

It was currently Saturday and I found myself at home with Heidi and my parents. Harper went out to Port Angeles with her new friends to go shopping. I've made some friends within the past week. I of course became close to Bella's friends. I was closest to Eric, but I also considered Mike, Jessica, Angela, and Tyler good friends of mine too. However, I was probably closest to the four in my last period. Charlotte, Kenzie, Joseph, Mark, and I have become really close. It was odd though because none of them sat together at lunch. I didn't want to assume they were just "in-class" friends, but they had their own cliques. Charlotte sat with the cheerleaders and jocks, Kenzie would often jump from table to table, Joseph was with your typical nerds and Mark was with the punks, the ones where you be scared to get involved with. So, I often found myself with Bella at lunch.

"Are you not doing anything today?" Mom questions out from the kitchen and I shake my head while watching tv.
"E hele kāua i ke kahakai!" Heidi shouts from inside the bathroom making both my mom and I give each other looks before laughing.
"La Push Beach isn't even that great, Heidi! Besides, it's freezing out!" I shout trying to discourage her.
"It's a beach! That's all that matters! And we have wetsuits for a reason!" She yells back.
"The waves there aren't the same!"
"A wave's a wave!" She shouts and exits the bathroom, her arms crossed. I sigh and stare at my mom.
"It's a gloomy and cold Saturday morning, I'm sure not many people will be there. Just take her." Mom says making me sigh.
"Fine, but I'm not surfing with you," I state making her pout.
"When will you?" She asks.
"When I'm ready. Now go put your wetsuit on." I say making her smile and run off.
"I guess we will be back later." I sigh out and grab the Jeep keys. I walk into the garage and grab Heidi's board and open the back window of the Jeep so it could fit. I then threw in some other gear before walking back into the house. As I grab some towels from the laundry room I hear Heidi run down the stairs.

"I'm ready!" She yells. I emerge from the laundry room with the bag of towels and a few other things.
"Well, get in the car then," I state and she nods before running off. "We'll be back in a few hours." My mom nods before I make my way into the garage. I hop into the driver's side and start the car and before I knew it we were at La Push beach.

My mom was right. There weren't many people here. If anything none at all. We were more so toward the large cliff, but we were a good couple hundred feet away. I sat on one of the towels with a blanket wrapped around me while watching Heidi surf the decent waves. Although Heidi was only six she was good. She practically grew up in the water and when Harper and I went surfing we would always put her on our board with us. We taught her everything she knew almost. Although these waves were small and she was used to much bigger ones, she still did her thing.

It was extremely cold out from what we were used to and the sun wasn't out per usual. After a while of watching her, I decided to take out my book and read. "Harley! Did you see that?" Heidi yells making me look up from my book.
"Yep! That was great!" I yell then continue to read. I made sure to look up every now and then to make sure she was okay. At one point I found myself getting distracted when I heard the chatter of people. I looked up and to my right to see a group of four shirtless guys playing soccer. They were all in shape and had Jacob's similar russet skin. Two of them looked oddly familiar. As if I've seen them before. I couldn't pinpoint it though. I slowly looked away and toward the ocean to not look like a creep. I felt my anxiety kick in when I didn't spot Heidi. I quickly put my book down and stand up to skim the water in worry. The last thing I need was for something to happen to her.

I made my way to the water as quickly as I could. "Heidi?" I call out. There was no sign of her in the water. I quickly looked around only to find her quite a few feet away making her way slowly up the beach with a trail of red following behind. The four guys noticed her and automatically started making their way toward her causing me to freak out lightly. I quickly made my way over in worry. "Heidi, what happened?" I call out once I was close enough causing the boys to stop and look at me.
"I got cut by a sharp rock." She frowns. "And my board got dinged." I looked down at her right leg only to see blood running down her foot and onto the sand. I purse my lips and try to rip open the part of the wetsuit that was torn by the rock.
"Hey, is everything okay?" I hear a familiar voice question making me look up and spot the guy we saw at the store the other day.
"Uh, she got cut by a rock," I say before going back to trying to rip the material.
"Here." Another guy says, bending down next to me. I watched in slight awe as he ripped the material with no issue.
"Oh, that's bad." Another says.
"Should we call 911?" One of the guys' questions.
"No, it's not that bad. Emily can patch it up no problem." The guy from the store says.
"Emily?" I question out.
"My fiancée. You met her at the store." He states making it click.
"Oh! The pretty lady with the scars!" Heidi comments.
"Heidi," I warn making her purse her lips.
"Did you drive here?" He asks and I nod.
"We walked, Paul will ride with you to direct you back to Emily's. We will meet you there." He says and I nod before looking back at Heidi.
"Can you stand?" I question and she automatically shakes her head. I sigh out before leaning over to grab her, but I'm stopped by a strong arm. I automatically look up and freeze as I make eye contact with the guy. He was good-looking, no doubt. I couldn't look away. It was as if a connection was built between us. I felt bad for staring, but I legitimately couldn't look away. He was so handsome and I got completely lost in his dark brown eyes.
"I- uh. I can carry her if you want." He says in awe as we continue to stare at each other.
"Uh, okay," I mumble before staring back at my sister. "Are you okay with that?" She nods before the guy effortlessly picks her up, resting her against his left side. I quickly grab her board as we head to the Jeep. The guy, who I assumed was Paul, places her in her car seat as I threw her board in the back. I grabbed a towel and wrapped her leg with it before climbing into the driver's seat. It was silent other than Paul directing me every now and then.

"Stupid rock."

Yay an update! I'm sorry if this book is starting slow, but aye Paul and Harley met each other! Anywho I just want to say Happy Holidays! I know it's currently Hanukkah and Christmas is coming up, so I hope y'all are having a nice break! Also happy new year :)