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T O B E T R U S T E D
( chapter thirty one )
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* . °•★| "Hey, Sleeping Beauty." Was the first thing Lyla heard as her eyes fluttered open, sun leaking into her bedroom and forcing her to wake. It was his voice, she'd recognise it anywhere, and a smile formed on her face before her eyes even found him.
"Hey." She replied hazily.
"How you feeling?" Paul asked gently, his fingers gently brushing a strand of hair from her face as he sat on the side of her bed.
"Good. How long have you been here?" Lyla asked guiltily.
Paul had taken to sneaking in through Lyla's window while she was in bed recovering, what with Brian refusing to let him in the front door even after encouragement from Sue, Billy and Old Quill.
"Not long, and I've got a few days off now." Paul smiled as he spoke — Sam had been going easy on the guys since they defeated the army, the main threat being long gone, but he gave Paul the most leeway so he could spend his time with Lyla — after all, all the wolves knew that an injured imprint was their worst nightmare come to life.
"Good." Lyla grinned, trying to sit up and smacking Paul's hands away as he tried to help her.
"You shouldn't push yourself." Paul scolded.
"I'm sitting up, Paul, not running a marathon, take it easy." Lyla rolled her eyes ( thoroughly sick of being treated like she was incapable of doing anything herself ).
"Come on, Lyla, Victoria did a lot of damage-"
"I know, but I'm healing, you don't need to baby me."
"Yes, I do, it's my fault." Paul argued.
"It's not." Lyla sighed.
"You're my imprint, Lyla, I'm supposed to protect you."
"I'm not some damsel in distress, Paul, so shut it and tell me how everyone's doing." Lyla demanded, leaving no room for argument.
There was no denying she was bored out of her mind. Laying in her room day in day out was driving her crazy, she couldn't even make it downstairs — getting her up there was hard enough — let alone leaving the house to see how everyone was doing.
"Everyone's fine, Emily's bummed that you can't help her plan the wedding — and every time one of the guys picks on Kim she just says 'just wait until Lyla's back!'" Paul mimicked in a high pitched voice. "The guys are all fine... apart from Jake, he's-"
"Heartbroken?" Lyla interrupted sadly.
"Yeah. Speaking of, have you heard from Bella?" Paul asked.
"Yeah, she came over yesterday after you left, wouldn't stop apologising, she says her and the Cullen's feel awful." Lyla rolled her eyes, she was truly sick of everyone apologising.
"Yeah and so they should, they're the ones who brought that shit storm to town." Paul growled.
"Paul." Lyla whacked him on the arm in annoyance.
"What? It's true." He pouted.
"Whatever. Has Jess been around?"
"Not much, Jared says she's struggling to deal with it all, feels guilty that she's been acting the way she has." Paul shrugged, getting himself comfortable and wrapping his arm around Lyla as he sat with his back against her headboard, next to her. "She apologised to me."
"She did?" Lyla perked you, raising a brow and looking at him curiously.
"Yep, came and said how sorry she was for being such a bitch about me and you. She said she wants to come see you, too, she's just a bit nervous I think."
"Nervous? Why?"
"I don't know if you've noticed, but you can be pretty intimidating." Paul teased.
"Shut up, no I'm not!" Lyla laughed, punching Paul in the arm and laughing even louder as he feigned injury.
"How can someone be so violent?" He asked, the teasing glint still lighting up his eyes.
"Says the werewolf with anger issues." Lyla quipped back.
"I'm not even a werewolf." Paul rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, you're a shapeshifter." Lyla mocked.
"Stop being mean, you're supposed to love me." Paul pouted.
"Remind me why that is again?" Lyla joked.
"Because I'm amazing in bed?" Paul suggested with a wink.
"Paul!" Lyla couldn't help but laugh at his antics.
She may have been restricted to her bed, but her heart had never felt so light. Spending her days with Paul, just talking with no threat looming over their head and no worries to distract them, it made Lyla happier than she cared to admit.
"I love you, Lyla Woodsen." Paul whispered as their laughter died down.
He'd been doing that a lot lately, just saying those words whenever he could. He loved telling her, and she loved hearing it, maybe because of all the life and death situations they'd found themselves in over the past few months, or maybe just because neither of them had heard the words enough growing up. Either way, Lyla knew they'd never get enough of it.
"And I love you, Paul Lahote." Lyla grinned back.
Their smiles soon dropped though, as a knock on her door broke their stare.
"Lyla?" Brian's voice sounded, making Paul jump up in a panic — usually he'd hear Brian long before he actually reached the door but he was distracted this time.
"One second, Brian!" Lyla called out, watching as Paul opened the window ready to jump out.
"I know Paul's in there." Brian said, but he didn't seem nearly as angry as the teens expected. "He can stay, I just need to talk to you."
The couple exchanged uncertain looks as Brian stepped into the room awkwardly.
"Close the window, Romeo, and don't look so scared, I'm not here for you... this time." Brian said gruffly.
"Wait, so you knew he was here the whole time?" Lyla asked in disbelief — not at Brian's knowledge but more at the fact the man didn't come busting in with his shotgun.
"I'm not stupid, Lyla. If you wanna see each other you'll find away." Brian grumbled, remembering Sue's words echoing in his head. "Right now though, I have to talk to you about someone who actually tries to use the front door."
Paul smiled sheepishly at that.
"Who?" Lyla asked.
"Your mother-" Lyla's scowl had formed before Brian even had a chance to say anymore.
"Well I hope you kicked her straight to the curb." She growled pointedly at her uncle.
He sighed. "Look, she's trying, Lyla."
"Yeah, a few years too late."
"I know what she did to you was wrong, but what you have to understand about your mother is that she only listens to her heart, and when your dad died, that heart was broken and she made some stupid decisions." Brian tried to explain, his eyes looking at Lyla, but seeing Elizabeth as she fell apart all those years ago. "But she never did anything because she didn't love you, she did it because she loved your dad too much."
Lyla has no idea what to say to that, her eyes glistening with tears. She never let herself grieve her father much, thoughts of his death always being clouded with so much anger — not just at Elizabeth for leaving, but him too.
"She was so young, and she lost the love of her life, and if I know anything about you Woodsen women, it's that you feel too deeply for your own good."
Lyla's heart ached at the very thought of losing Paul, but to actually lose him, the boy she loved more than anything... perhaps she'd slip down the same harsh slope as her mother had.
"Just give her a chance, kiddo." Was the last thing Brian said before exiting the room, leaving the teenagers alone again.
☆
"I'm so glad you're okay." Elizabeth spoke with a hesitant smile, breaking the silence her and Lyla sat in.
Brian and Paul were outside, Brian taking the opportunity to pull the boy to the side and set out some ground rules (or at least that's what Brian called it, though he was more likely trying to scare Paul away).
"I was so worried when Brian told me... I don't remember Forks being so dangerous back in the day, but—" Elizabeth was trying, really she was, but sitting talking so casually with her mother felt so wrong to Lyla. So foreign.
"Just stop." Lyla interrupted suddenly. "Please, no small talk."
Silence overtook them for a moment, Lyla taking the time to gather her thoughts, while Elizabeth desperately tried to think of something — anything — that she could say to make her daughter not look at her with such hurt and betrayal.
But she knew she deserved it. Of course she did, as a mother her one job on this Earth was to look after her daughter, to be there for her until she didn't need her anymore — and instead Elizabeth refused to acknowledge that her broken heart still had something to love after her husband's death.
"I'm so sorry, Lyla, for what I did to you. I was selfish and—" Elizabeth tried, her words failing to convey the regret eating her up inside.
"No, don't apologise. I'm so sick of apologies." Lyla scoffed. "They don't turn back time, or fix what you did."
"I know that, but that's why I'm here, Lyla, I want to start being the mother I failed to be before." Elizabeth pleaded.
"I don't need a mother, I haven't for a long time." Lyla spoke honestly, looking the woman dead in the eye and watching as her hope faded.
"I understand." Elizabeth whispered, trying to keep her voice from cracking.
"But that doesn't mean I don't want answers, or-or to try and have some kind of relationship with you." Lyla admitted quietly, her mind forcing her to be afraid of possible rejection, even though Elizabeth was the one begging to be in Lyla's life.
"Really?" Elizabeth beamed, tears in her eyes.
"Yeah."
"Well, what do you want to know?" Elizabeth asked eagerly.
"Where did you go?" Was the first question that popped into the teen's mind, though she knew there was no shortage of them from her wondering over the years.
"Seattle at first, only for a month or two; then it was Portland; I ended up in San Francisco for a while, I've been mostly around California since then." Elizabeth explained.
"What were you doing?" Lyla asked, she knew it would hurt but she wanted — no, she needed — to know what her Mom chose over her.
"Drinking mostly, going from bar to bar. I just wanted to forget the pain, the guilt." Elizabeth told her quietly, shame coating every inch of her features.
"Did you ever think of coming back?" Lyla's voice was hesitant, yet stoney at the same time, like she was bracing herself.
"Everyday." Elizabeth nodded sadly. "But I couldn't, not the way I was. I was a mess, all I could think of was that I would never see your father again, and it was s-so painful."
She was crying. Just the thought of Lyla's father breaking the woman's barely mended heart.
"Coming back here... God, everywhere I look I see him. I wasn't strong enough to do it before, I can barely do it now." Elizabeth said through her tears.
"You never even called." Lyla reminded herself, trying to keep her sympathy at bay.
"I did. But every time someone answered, I couldn't bring myself to say anything... I remember the first time you answered it instead of Brian, it was your twelfth birthday." The woman smiled sadly. "Just hearing your voice made me pack everything up in my car to head back here."
"But you never actually made it here." Lyla chuckled bitterly.
"No. I was completely wasted, ended up in jail for drunk driving. When I finally got out, I wanted to change, get better for you." Elizabeth paused, looking hesitant. "That's when I met Graham."
Lyla narrowed her eyes. "Who the hell is Graham?"
"My fiancé." Her mother answered slowly, carefully gaging Lyla's reaction.
The teen let out a laugh, one void of humour. "You're engaged?"
"Yes, for over a year now. He helped me get back on my feet, he'd lost his wife a few years before we lost your dad." She explained.
"Well, good for you." Lyla quipped, her voice laced with sarcasm.
"Lyla..." Elizabeth sighed.
"Where's the ring?"
"I haven't been wearing it here... it felt wrong to, at least before speaking to you about it."
"How kind of you to consider my feelings in all of this." Lyla rolled her eyes.
"I know it's a lot to take it, but I've finally found myself again, the only thing missing from my life now is you." Elizabeth said earnestly, her eyes glistening with excitement for what could be.
"So, what? What do you want to happen? Me to say 'sure, fine' so you can come round for coffee when it's convenient for you and your new husband?" Lyla scoffed.
"Actually, I was hoping you would like to come visit us in California. We have a lovely house, right by the beach — and Graham's son is about your age, you'll get along great. You can get to know us all, and you can come to the wedding, and—" Lyla cut off her mother's excited rambling.
"Stop! No, that's too—that's too much." Lyla gasped out. "I haven't seen you for six years and suddenly you want me to just let you come and takeover my life?"
"No, no, Lyla that's not—"
"I'm still recovering, and then I'm starting my senior year, and I want to spend time with my friends here."
"I'm not taking you away from any of that, I'm just suggesting a week, maybe even a weekend every now and then. I know it won't be easy, and I know that I'm not going to be the mother I wish I could be to you, but I do want us to be apart of each other's lives, but only if you want it too." Elizabeth stated, calmer this time in an attempt not to scare Lyla away.
Lyla took a moment, examining her mother as the woman's eyes glistened with hope and excitement.
"Okay."
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sorry it's been so long! hope you enjoy and that everyone had a good christmas despite how odd things are this year!