The Southern Imprint (Paul Lahote x oc)

Chapter 17: Stitches

After a few minutes of silence, I remembered something.

"When are you getting your stitches out?" I asked.

"Sue said to come over after lunch. And it's..." He checked his phone, "...9:17 so we have time."

"Ok." I sighed and leaned back into him. He moved around so he was now against my head board and wrapped his arms around me. I think we fell asleep because I was shaken awake by my mom.

"Lunch is ready." She said and walked out of the room.

"Paul." I mumbled, nudging him. He groaned and yawned. "Lunch is ready."

"Ok." He said sleepily. He closed his eyes and started nodding off.

"Come on. Get up." I said as I got off his lap and pulled him with me. He groaned but got up anyway. We made our way down stairs and washed up for lunch. After lunch I got into Paul's car and we headed to Sue's.

Paul was gripping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles were white. "Nervous?" I asked.

"A little." He admitted.

"I'll be there the whole time." I said, placing my hand on his arm. "You have nothing to worry about." He signed and nodded. We pulled into Sue's driveway and got ready to get out.

We walked up to the front porch and knocked on the door. A few seconds later it opened and Sue ushered us in.

"Do you want to do this on the bed or couch?" She asked.

"Couch." Paul said squeezing my hand. I squeezed back. She led us to the couch and Paul took off his shirt laid down on his stomach. I kneeled by his head and brushed some of the hair out of his face. I gave him a small smile which he returned. Sue came up next to us with her suture kit and got to work, taking out his stitches.

Every so often Paul would wince but over all he was fine. Until we got to the spot right along his spine.

"This is going to hurt more than the rest." Sue warned. "But make sure you stay as relaxed as possible or it will make it harder to get them out."

Paul nodded and furrowed his brow. His breathing was heavy and every now and then his breath would hitch but he was able to keep his back relaxed. Until the last stitch.

"This one is a little buried." She mumbled as she tried to get to it without hurting him.

Paul squeezed my hand hard as Sue dug into his wound a little to cut it. There would definitely be a bruise. She finally got it and re-wrapped his wound. I brushed his hair off his sweaty face. I stood up and helped him up as well. He leaned on me a little, the only sign that he was in pain.

"My house or yours?" I asked softly as we made our way to the car.

"Mine is closer." He mumbled.

"Yours it is." I got into the driver's seat and drove us to his house.

I helped him inside and to the couch. "Do you want anything to eat?" I asked as I started to make my way to his kitchen. Instead of answering he grabbed my arm and pulled me back to him.

"Stay." He mumbled into my neck.

"Ok." I said just as softly. He pulled me into his lap and grabbed the remote.

"What movie do you want to watch?" He asked.

"I should be asking you that." I said with a giggle.

"Just pick a movie." He said with a chuckle.

"Ummm.... Can we watch The Princess and the Frog?"

He gave me a look.

"You asked. We can watch something else if you want."

He signed and opened Disney. We were about 5 minutes into the movie when the comments started.

"Why did they follow the voodoo guy. He is obviously evil."

"If they knew he was evil there wouldn't be a movie."

"How did he get the horn. We need more context."

"It's Disney. He just has it."

"That firefly talks weird."

"Just watch the movie."

"Mama Odie is a weird name."

"Just watch the movie. Please."

"That's cute, he's trying to propose."

"Yeah it is."

"She gave up her childhood dream for a frog?"

"That is incorrectly correct."

"They got married that's cute."

"Yeah they did."

"That wasn't actually a bad movie." He mumbled into my neck as the credits rolled.

"No it wasn't." I yawned. It had been a long day.

"Are you tired already? It's only 5." He chuckled.

"It's been a long day." I mumbled back.

"You'll feel better after some food." He scooped me into his arms and made his way to the kitchen.

"Put me down you'll hurt you back." I said trying to get out of his grip.

"You moving around is worse than me just carrying you, you know." He said, I huffed but stopped moving.

We made it to the kitchen and he set me down on the counter and walked over to the fridge, He pulled out what looked like left overs and started to warm them up in the microwave.

"I hope you like pasta." He said once it was done. He separated it into two different bowls, one with significantly more than the other, and grabbed two forks.

He made his way over to me and handed me mine. He leaned against the counter next to me and started eating.

"Can you stay the night?" He asked before he shoved a fork full of pasta into his mouth.

"Tomorrow is Saturday so I should be able to." I looked around for my phone but realized it was still in the living room. "Let me go grab my phone real quick and I'll ask my parents." When I got to the living room and checked my phone I saw that I missed a call from Sam. That can't be good. I tried to think if I had missed a patrol as I called him back.

"Hello?" I said as he answered.

"Is Paul with you?" He said.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Put the phone on speaker. I need to talk to you both." As I got back into the kitchen I put the phone on speaker and waved Paul over.

"Ok. He's here." Paul gave me a questioning look. I shrugged back.

"Where are you guys?"

"My house." Paul said.

"Ok, come over to Emily's as soon as you can. We need to have a pack meeting."

Me and Paul shared a look. A pack meeting. That can't be good.

"Why?" I voiced the question we were both asking.

"The Cullens are back." He said and hung up.