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AN OLIVE BRANCH
AUGUSTINE DECIDED TO SWALLOW HER PRIDE.
It was a couple more weeks until senior graduation and Augustine was practically thrumming with excitement. Although it wasn't her own, the last graduation she had attended was her older brother's, but that felt like a lifetime ago.
And, similarly to how a few of her siblings were graduating (for what felt like the millionth time to them, she's sure), she also knew one other person who was also graduating this year: Paul Lahote.
She'd been reflecting on the Dilaurentis boy's advice for weeks, always in a constant battle of whether to take it or whether to discard it. Even during Paul and her's study sessions, which were happening way more frequently, she'd catch herself staring at him as she thought of what Will said.
Augustine knew their study sessions would come to an end soon, and there was a part of her that wished Paul got held back or something just so they could keep doing their work together. They worked in mostly silence, but it was comfortable and familiar; two of the things she'd grown up without.
It was a rainy day when the Lahote boy walked into the diner, backpack in hand before sliding into the seat across from her. She wordlessly slid over her plate of french fries, daring to give him a small smile, before turning back to her assignment.
Yeah, they'd established a routine.
Only, Augustine was rarely the first one to spark conversation —Paul was usually the one asking her about her day, asking if she needed anymore biology help after the frog dissection was completed— but on that day, her voice was the one to ring out first.
"I don't know when your birthday is," she stated, pencil in her hand going slack as she addressed the boy in front of her.
Paul visibly startled at that. "What?"
"You know when my birthday is," she explained, pointedly avoiding the mention of just why he knew. "It's only fair I know yours."
He mulled it over with a nod. "January 10th."
Augustine's face shuttered, her body instinctually leaning forward. "But that's—
"Your birthday? Yeah, I know."
The ravenette watched on as he resumed his math homework, mouth downturned in disbelief. They say that they'd met was the first time it had all went to shit. "Guess we both had a shitty birthday last year, huh?"
The boy's eyes snapped back to hers at that, a ghost of a smile on his face. "I was a dick back then, but I apologized, didn't I?"
"Back then? You're still a dick." She laughed at the unamused look he shot her way.
"Ha-ha, so funny, I'm aware," he responded, nudging her foot with his underneath the table. "I still get, y'know. But I've been a lot calmer lately... Sam's noticed too, so has my dad."
Augustine hummed, as this was something she noticed firsthand. The Paul sitting before her was different from the one she'd first met; that Paul was quick to anger, the vampire often using that to her advantage, but this Paul was collected. He could be a hothead when he wanted to be (you couldn't shake that trait from him even if you tried), but very rarely did he raise his voice around her— even when she tried to rile him up. "What helps?" she questioned, wanting to know more about his evident anger management strategies.
"To be honest," he started nonchalantly, "doing homework with you makes me feel, lighter. Probably cause we're—"
His words fizzled out on his tongue, both teens knowing exactly what he was about to say. But, rather than be a coward about it, the ravenette took a page from Will's book. She'd confront the fear head on. "Me?" she mimed, a joking edge to her tone to keep the conversation light. "I thought you hated my guts."
"I never hated you," he was quick to reassure her, though the narrowed look she tossed in his direction made him reiterate, "I hated the situation."
"The situation, meaning, stuck with me?" she asked, almost timidly. The Augustine from before would've already clawed her way out of this conversation five minutes ago; the power of Will Dilaurentis' word was mighty, she thought.
"It's not like that," he sighed while putting his pencil down altogether, homework temporarily abandoned. "I grew up listening to stories of how the cold ones were the tribe's most vicious enemy, so when I phased and got the real version of the stories—"
"You had no reason to doubt them," she supplied for him, watching as he nodded. Though she'd been hurt the day of their birthday, she could understand her turmoil. If she was told the wolves were the enemy as a child, only to find her soulmate in one of them years later, perhaps she'd have a similar reaction. But she'd never know, so she dared to question him further. "What changed your mind?"
"You being gone for so long put things into perspective," he told her, his fingers drumming softly against the table. "Especially after the night by the creek, I— it's like my soul was aching for you to come back."
Augustine's eyes were blown wide at the revelation. Okay, that's new. Feeling anxious all of the sudden, his attention solely on her, she blurt out the first thing that came to mind in a hushed tone. "Edward says we don't have souls."
Paul's head tilted comically. "Again, what?"
Careful of the patrons around them, she continued with a whisper. "He says we don't have souls anymore, now that we're all 'rah, I want to suck your blood' and shit."
The boy chuckled at her piss poor Dracula impersonation, and the sound rang in her ears for a few seconds. "I think that's a load of shit," he said, his tone staying just above a whisper of his own. "I don't like the others, but you have a soul. You're too... you, to not have one."
Augustine's back straightened, a smug smile on her face. "You don't like the others, but you like me?"
Paul's lips were pressed into a firm line before he rolled his eyes. "You wish," came his cooled reply, eyes drawn back to his homework that was scattered on the table in front of him. Picking up his calculator, he muttered, "you're not so bad, Auggie. Is that so hard to believe?"
"Yeah." She immediately recoiled at her own response, turning to look down at her history assignment at her fingers— though out of her peripheral, she saw him staring at her. She tried to save face, nudging his foot with hers beneath the table. "Kidding, obviously."
The Lahote boy merely looked at her with a different type of skepticism, as if he was trying to peel back the layers of survival instincts that Augustine had built up over the years. "Well, it's true," he said, eyes returning to his homework to jot down something he'd got from his calculator. "And it's not just 'cause I'm biased, by the way."
Augustine nodded, more to herself than to the boy across from her. Though this was substantial progress in the vampire's book, she'd rather eat her own words than tell her blond friend how his advice was actually better than she initially thought. Oh, she could practically see the gloating rant she would have to endure.
"We can upgrade our truce to mild acquaintanceship," she offered, biting her bottom lip to hold back a laugh at the way Paul's grin had grown. "But it's not 'cause I'm biased, either. Take it or leave it."
"No take backs?" he asked, sticking his pinky finger out expectedly.
She grasped it in her own, squeezing once for good measure. "Promise."
They resumed studying, only this time around, there was lighthearted chatter amidst the series of questions Augustine would throw his way.
"Favourite colour?"
"Blue, definitely."
And it was normal— aside from their circumstances, and aside from the unopened envelope sitting at the bottom of the girl's bag.
But that last part didn't really matter, because Augustine was actually getting along with Paul, and the now daunting crimson seal was the least of her concerns.
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[ wyn's note ]
triple update cause i really am in my KILLER brainrot phase rn.
this is pure growth: paul getting his head out of his ass and augustine willing to let him closer. they grow up so fast!!
till next time xx!