A quiet knock startled me from my book a couple of nights later.
I jump a little, not expecting anyone to be knocking on my window at this time. I look up to see a large silhouette, and when my eyes adjust to the darkness a couple of seconds later I immediately recognize who it was.
I smile, getting up from my bed. I quietly lock my door and walk over to the window. He helps me slide the window up just as he starts to climb through.
"Hi," I say with a grin.
"Hi beautiful." He hugs me tightly. His warm bare chest instantly surrounds me like a blanket.
"What are you doing out so late?"
"Patrol," He explains, hopping into my room. "And I was thinking of you, so I thought I'd stop by. Is that okay?"
God he looks so pretty tonight.
"It's always okay," I say, my smile growing knowing he was thinking of me. I remember Paul not wanting to tell me what patrol was about before he told me his secret. I wonder if he would now. "Can you tell me what patrol is now?"
He nods, chuckling, "We take turns doing perimeters around town, running through and checking every inch of the forest," He closes the window behind him softly.
"What are you checking for?" I ask, looking into his soft brown eyes.
"Vampires," He says casually. "Usually we don't find anything. But, every once in a while there are some that pass through."
"How do you know they're vampires? Apart from the whole, fangs and stuff."
"They have a certain smell," He explains, "It's super sweet, almost intolerable. It gives us a headache that pretty much lasts for hours."
"So, how many have you ran into since you've phased?" I ask.
"I think only four so far," He says, looking like he was thinking about it. "At least with red eyes."
Red eyes means vampire, got it.
"Like the redhead," I say, remembering her chilling gaze. It sent goosebumps all over my body. "The woman that came after me."
"Yes," He says, "You'll have to come to Emily's with me one night. Sam is best out of all of us at explaining how things work in terms of them, and, us."
"What do you mean? Isn't it just, you guys hate each other?"
"Well, we have a bit of an, understanding with the Cullen's," He says, and looks up at me. He must've read my face, "They're vampires too."
What?
"Wait a second," I say, trying to wrap my head around what he just said. "The Cullen's are vampires?"
"Yeah. Did I forget to mention that part?" He asks, peering over my shoulder to my unmade bed.
"Yeah, yeah you did."
"Sorry," He chuckles. "Yeah they're vampires. They've known about us ever since our tribe started. With your great grandfather actually, he was the chief."
That's actually pretty cool. My great grandfather, was the one that started it all. He was once the chief of the pack my brother and, the boy I'm dating, is in.
"Really?" I ask. He nods. "I guess that explains the flawless look to all of them," I think out loud, turning around to the corner of my bed. "Does Bella know?"
"I'm assuming so," Paul says, "She doesn't know about us though. So don't tell her, okay?"
"We're not friends," I clarify. "And I wouldn't even if we were."
"I know you wouldn't," He smiles, sitting down on the bed next to me. He looks around my room, and eventually his eyes land on the red book on my bed. "What are you reading?"
"A book for school," I explain, pulling it toward us. "Not exactly the most interesting thing, but, I have to read it I guess."
"I never read the books they assign," He tells me, taking the book from my hand. "I don't do homework at all really."
"Do you not get cold called in your classes?" I ask, watching as his eyebrows scrunch together a couple of seconds later. "Where they randomly call on you asking for answers to the homework?"
He shakes his head, "No. They don't even really check." He puts the book on my nightstand. "Then again, I could be in some of the stupid classes."
"Hey, I'm in one of your classes," I tell him with a playful glare.
"That's not the one I was talking about," He says with a chuckle.
"You're not stupid Paul."
He hums, "But you're smarter." He tucks some hair behind my ear, his eyes studying every inch of my face. "You look pretty."
"Thanks," I say with a smile. "You always tell me that."
"And I always will." I try my hardest not to squeal, as he looks down at his lap like it was no big deal. God he's so good with his words. How does he always know how to make me feel special? "I was gonna call, but, it probably would've been late. And I was right by here so I thought I'd quickly stop by."
"That's okay," I tell him, "You can stop by whenever."
"I don't want to stay too long, I'm on your dad's good side for once. I don't wanna fuck it up," He explains with a chuckle.
"I locked the door," I explain. "He would never know you were here."
He nods, "I can also hear him, he's in his room. Talking to someone on the phone."
"Really?" I ask, trying to listen to what Paul was hearing. I couldn't. "I can't believe how good your hearing is."
"Yeah, I can hear practically everything," He explains. Just then he remembered something, and he looks around my room. He stands quickly, and walks over to my old radio. He switches it on, and then turns around to face me again. "That reminded me that you live with a wolf now."
Jacob. He could potentially hear us.
"Right," I say, and he returns back to his old spot. The light music held the place of the silence between us. It was nice, I haven't used that thing in years.
I could tell he was deep in thought. So in depth, that he looked like it was pretty serious.
"What are you thinking about?" I ask, causing him to blink a couple of times.
"Remember the other day? Right before Jake interrupted us?" He asks, glancing up at me.
He was talking about when I said I wanted to kiss him.
"Y-Yeah," I say shyly.
"It was on my mind for, the next day and a half," He explains, playing with his fingers. "Remind me, have you kissed anyone before?"
"Just Embry," I tell him again, "But it was for like three seconds tops. And it was only a peck."
He hums, "Do you think Embry counts that as his first kiss?"
"Probably not," I laugh. "It was so quick and pathetic. I don't think anyone would count that honestly." I turn to face him, resting my leg in between us on the bed. "Who was your first kiss?"
"Jamie Diaz, in sixth grade," He says with a chuckle. "But, if you're talking about kisses that count, I would say Lexi Adam's in ninth grade."
I don't even know who either of those girls are. And I don't think I want to know either. Maybe that was the jealousy trying to claw its way out of me. Or maybe it was just the part of me that wanted to focus on Paul and I's relationship. Who knows, cause I certainly don't.
I suddenly start to think about my experience, well, lack thereof. Paul has to know that I'm a virgin. My first and only kiss was with my best friend for Christ sakes. But, I wonder if it would bother him, my lack of experience. I wouldn't want that.
"What are you thinking about?" He asks, putting his hand on my knee.
"Just how we're on two different levels of, you know," I say, trying to find the right words without offending him. There's not really a nice word of describing someone who has slept with a lot of people. "...experience."
"What about it?"
"Does it, bother you, that I don't really have any experience?" I ask, feeling my own insecurities escaping from deep inside of me.
"Not at all," He says, grabbing ahold of my hands. "There's no comparison, or, competition of who did it best in my book. It's you, Josie. It's only you that I see and care about. So, I don't mind teaching you things that, you haven't exactly learned about yet."
"It won't, annoy you?"
"Not at all," He reassures me. "I promise Jos."
I nod, linking our fingers together. I look down at our hands, and he gives mine a squeeze.
"We'll go at whatever pace you want, there's no rush," He tells me, tilting my chin up to look him in the eyes. "Cause we have forever."
I smile at that, if it were anybody else I'd feel like it would be super cheesy and cliché. But because Paul said it, someone who I'm finding myself really starting to grow attached to, it made my heart melt.
"...Paul?"
"Yeah?"
I look between his eyes, "Can I kiss you?"
"You beat me to it," He chuckles, "I was just about to ask you."
I smile, slowly leaning into press my lips against his. They were soft, and warm. The kiss itself was sweet, and not at all like I thought Paul would kiss.
"Just follow my lead," He whispers, and slowly but surely parts his lips.
I had no idea what to do, and almost felt embarrassed for a second. But then my brain decided to work, and I realized that he meant to move our lips in sync.
Once I got the hang into things, I wrap my arms around his neck tightly. His arms slide around my waist, pulling me even closer to him. It felt good, we both had been craving this kiss for what seems like quite some time.
All I could feel between the two of us were sparks. And not like the cheesy kind you hear everyone talk about. But it was almost like little bursts of electricity running through my body. It felt right, like all this time of not finding the right person, it felt like it finally happened.
For once, something in my life felt so damn right.
He was a really good kisser. Like really good. It made me almost dizzy to think about how he was making me feel right now. I felt so flustered, and, so, needy. Like I wanted to do this for the rest of the night with him.
I draped my leg over his lap, attempting to sit on top of him but he stops me.
"—Josie," He whispers, and quickly pulls away. He rests his head against mine, both of us completely out of breath. "We should stop."
My cheeks flush, hard.
"Did I do something?" I ask, pulling my head away from his.
"No, not at all," He explains, running a hand through his hair. "It's just, I don't want to go too fast too soon."
"R-Right," I say, even though I felt quite the opposite. I wanted to kiss him again.
"Your dad's in the other room, and, I know myself," He says, "I've had relationships before where all I do is rush them, and you see where that got me."
"Yeah," I say, awkwardly. "No rush."
His phone goes off, and he reaches into his pocket to grab it. It must've been a text.
"Sam's asking where I went," He explains, standing from the bed. "I should go."
"Okay," I say, feeling a little disappointed our time had to end like this. We both walk to the window, and he slides it open, careful not to make too much noise.
"I don't wanna leave like this," He says, turning around to face me again. "I'm sorry if I made things weird."
"You didn't," I tell him. Even though, things were a bit weird.
"You seem upset," He says, looking all over my face. "I didn't mean to pull away so fast. My feelings and emotions are heightened, and I know if I didn't pull away soon it would've gone too far for our first kiss."
"Paul it's okay," I tell him. "It's not your fault. Besides, I wanted that mini makeout sesh just as bad as you did."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah," I tell him with a giggle. "And I hope we do it again. Soon." I smile shyly, motioning for him to go out the window. "Go, before Sam shows up here."
"Wait," He says, turning back and kissing me quickly. "I've been waiting for our goodbye's to turn to that."
I smile, "You're an idiot."
"Yeah but I'm your idiot." He smiles back at me as he hops out the window. "Goodnight Josie."
Your idiot.
What's he doing to me?
//