Edited 05/30/21
Meadow was sitting in her room, avoiding her dad. He was a lot more interested in her life now that she had shifted. It was a given. She knew he would change simply because his whole life revolved around the legends. Maybe Rebecca and Rachel had the right idea in leaving so soon.
There was a knock at her door, causing her head to spring up. She removed her earbuds from her ears and tuned in to her surroundings. There was another knock, this time a little unsure. With a roll of her eyes, she stood up from her bed and opened the door.
"Hey," Paul said with a smile. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt black and a pair of jeans. Meadow raised an eyebrow and appraised his figure.
"You wanna hang out today?" he asked.
"I'm trying to catch up on my work," she said while pointing to the textbook laying open on her bed.
"C'mon. Just for today. Then you can go back and do whatever it is you were doing," he said. She sighed and was about to reject his offer again when she remembered she promised she would try.
"Alright," she said. "Let me get dressed first."
Paul blushed a little when he realized she was wearing shorts and a tank top. She pushed him out of her room and closed the door in his face. Since Paul had decided to dress up, she sifted through her closet to find something suitable, as well. Most of her clothing was black, which she didn't want to wear because Paul was wearing black.
She found a navy blue short-sleeved shirt V-neck and threw it on, as well as a pair of skinny jeans. She grabbed one of her only pairs of sneakers and threw them in the hallway before closing her bedroom door and going into the bathroom to freshen up.
When she was done, she approached Paul, who was sitting on the couch with her father and gave him a bored expression. He leaped up from his seat and said his goodbyes to Billy before leading her out of the house.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"We're going to go to Sue's diner for dinner," he said. "I don't have enough money to do anything better than that but....."
"It's fine," Meadow said. "I like eating."
She only said anything because she didn't want him to feel bad for not doing more. She really didn't care whether he spent money on her. She wasn't that type of person. She appreciated more so the fact that someone wanted to spend time with her. He led her to the diner, and they sat in one of the corner booths. Sue walked over to them and handed them a menu each and left them to decide what they wanted to eat with a wink of her eye.
"I know that last time we went out on a date was crap, but I promise it won't turn out that way this time," Paul said after they ordered. He sipped on a cold glass of Coke.
"Let's hope not," Meadow said as she glanced around the room. She was nervous. Now that she'd accepted Paul's offer to open up, she didn't know what to do with herself. She was scared to do so. She figured that if she didn't make eye contact with him, he'd cease all conversation. She should have known better.
"I'm gonna talk to you regardless of if you're looking at me or not," he said. Meadow made eye contact with him before looking down at the table. She watched her fingers dance with one another and silently wished she was better at conversing with people. Paul reached across the table and grabbed one of her hands in his. He squeezed it and looked at her with an expression of reassurance.
"I'm not asking for a paragraph. Just give me a few sentences."
She hesitated before she said, "I don't know what to talk about. No one's ever, well, no one's ever asked me to talk with them about stuff."
"Then, I'll start. Can you help me with my math homework?" he asked cheekily. She immediately scowled and shook his hand away from hers.
"Did you take me on this date just to get math help?" she asked.
"Maybe?" he said jokingly.
She shook her head and gulped. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go down this route, but she needed to. There were things she needed to work on for the goals she had in mind. If she couldn't do this, then she couldn't achieve any of her wanted future.
"I'll help under one condition," she said.
"Name it," Paul said quickly.
"Ask me how I'm doing every day and never take 'I'm fine' as an answer. Ask me what I like to do and what I'd like to see. Ask me any- and everything," she said. She felt very vulnerable, but it had to be done. She couldn't stay in her shell anymore.
Paul's eyes softened and he said, "What do you think I'm trying to do, Flower?"
She held his gaze for a while before she let a small laugh escape her mouth.
"Flower?" she questioned.
"Well, your name is Meadow, and meadows are filled with flowers," he reasoned as he scratched the back of his neck.
"Not Grass?" she asked comically.
He deadpanned before he said, "Do you want me to call you Weed?"
"Definitely not."
"Flower it is, then."
She hummed, then she hesitated. She twiddled her thumbs before saying, "Flowers remind me of love."
"Because you give them to people you love?" Paul asked.
"No. I was thinking that flowers need nurtured and so does love, and without that nurture, flowers shrivel and die. So does love."
"So....love is flower-like?"
"Yeah, I guess so," Meadow said quietly.
"Where'd that come from?" he asked a little bewildered.
"I don't know," she said shyly. She shrugged her shoulders and a blush rushed across her face. "It just came to my mind when you mentioned flowers."
"I guess it's fitting, then," Paul said with a smile. Their food arrived at their table, so they began eating.
"So, how are you adjusting?" he asked her. "I know it's not easy."
"It's fine," she said automatically. She froze and sheepishly looked at her date. He raised an eyebrow at her and motioned with his hand to elaborate.
"Uh, I mean, it's a bit difficult," she confessed.
"Is it the patrols? I told Sam he shouldn't start you on those so soon."
"Not that. I just miss going to school," she said.
"Are you planning on going to college?" Paul asked nervously.
"I won't run away like my sisters did. I just like learning and being at school," she told him. He let out a breath of relief and his whole form seemed to deflate. "I might walk away from my problems, but I don't run away from them," she said confidently.
"So, what do you want to do then?" he asked.
"Do I even have a choice in the matter?" she asked. "Will Sam let me keep a job other than the whole wolf thing?"
"He can't ban you from keeping another job as long as it doesn't get in the way."
"And that's the problem," Meadow whispered under her breath.
"Is something wrong, Meadow?"
"No," she denied. "I'm just getting used to everything, is all."
"It gets better. I hated it, too, at first. I still hate it sometimes, but it's brought a lot of good to my life."
"I'm glad to hear that," she said. And she was. She was happy being a wolf brought positive things to other people's lives and didn't hinder their lives like it did hers, but that didn't mean she couldn't still complain about it. Until there were changes, none of it would make her happy.
After they ate, Paul led her out of the diner. He grabbed her hand and walked beside her. His hand felt foreign in her grasp, but it was hot and felt like home. He led them to the beach, where they walked alongside the waves. Meadow stopped and picked up a broken seashell. She glanced through the hole and saw a brown eye staring back at her. She tsked and threw the shell on the sand while Paul chuckled.
He caught her in an embrace and stared down at her. His smiling face grew serious as he focused on her. She stared back at him. Her eyes enlarged when he slowly leaned in. He was centimeters away from kissing her when she used her hand to stop him. He looked at her confused and a little embarrassed.
"Uh, sorry," he said.
"Don't be," Meadow said quietly. "You're just gonna have to do more than this to prove I should stay."
He looked shocked for a moment before he grinned ferociously. He placed one hand under her knees and pulled her up into a bridal carry. Meadow shrieked uncharacteristically and threw her arms around his neck to keep her from falling.
"What was that for?" she questioned loudly.
"To show you what you're in for," he replied with a smirk.
"Paul put me down," she said sternly. When he complied, she walked off as quickly as she could.
"I like a good chase," he said before he ran after her.
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A few weeks later, Meadow was running patrol when she caught the scent of a vampire. She alerted her pack member, Embry, who was on patrol with her, and he immediately headed in her direction. He let out a howl to warn the others of her discovery. She mentally noted that next time she should howl. She followed the trail and was led to a clearing. In the clearing was a dark-skinned vampire with ruby red eyes and a familiar face. Bella Swan. He was holding her by her neck and looked like he was about to bite her. Meadow snarled at the vampire, her hackles rising in response to his presence. She bared her teeth and took a warning step towards him.
"I don't believe it," he said. He took small, slow steps away from Bella and held his hands in the air as if he were surrendering. Meadow's ear twitched as she heard her pack members nearing her.
Don't engage until we're there, Sam told her. So, she waited until they flanked her. Eventually, she was surrounded by her pack members; they were in a formation that gave her the most protection. The silver one on her left discreetly nudged her to check on her. Seeing the disadvantage he had, the vampire turned and ran away.
Follow him, Sam ordered. He ran forward first and was followed by Jared, Paul, and Embry. Meadow hesitated when she sensed her brother's lack of motion. He was staring at Bella, ignoring the order he was given. Based on his thoughts, he desperately wanted to imprint on her, but nothing was happening.
Jake! Meadow! Sam shouted. Jake turned away from Bella and shot forward. Meadow did the same. When she caught up to them, she cringed at what she saw. She wasn't prepared to see anything, human or not, get torn to pieces. She watched as Jared ripped the vampire's arm off, swishing his head back and forth. A tooth-gritting sound entered the area when the arm detached from the body. Meadow expected blood to spurt everywhere, but nothing came out. The end of the arm was a much paler color of his skin color and it looked more like it was made from stone than flesh. When they finished ripping apart the body, Sam ordered Paul to burn the body. And that was that. She didn't know how to feel about what she witnessed. Honestly, it was scary to watch.
It's a part of what we are, Sam said. His black wolf form stared her down as he followed the path her thoughts went down.
That doesn't mean I'm comfortable with it, Meadow replied.
You'll get used to it, he said.
Yeah, it's not as bad as it seems, Jared said. It's not like its human anyway.
Is that how you see the Cullens, too? she asked. She wondered how they viewed their vampire 'allies'.
Paul sneered in his head and said, They're nothing but a bunch of bloodsuckers. Why see them as anything else?
For some reason, she felt uneasy about what they said. She didn't know why, but she felt it was unfair of them to judge the Cullens so harshly. She didn't know the vampires, but she knew they were 'vegetarians'; that they only fed from animals. That had to count for something, right?
Any vampire is a bad one, Paul told her.
Right. They can't ignore their instincts all the time, Jared pointed out.
Aren't we the same? Meadow asked hesitantly. She was alluding to the fact that there were times where they couldn't control their urge to shift no matter how hard they tried.
Naw. They're too far gone, Embry said.
Jake followed up by saying, There's nothing human about them anymore.
You've talked to them before? she asked.
Don't need to, Jared said.
Meadow thought over their reasons and still felt dissatisfied. She guessed it was just one more thing to add to her list of changes.
A.N.
We are finally getting into some New Moon events. Since Bella was included in this chapter, you can guess what's coming up. Bella won't be featured as much as you might think, though. I'm trying to steer clear of copying and pasting the book contents into this story.
Don't forget to ✩ the chapter and comment what you think!
♡ Stay Awesome ^u^ ♡