the girl who cried wolf // Twilight Saga

°six°

“The woman knows me.”

○○○○

Saturday had arrived, and Ronnie had just left Quil’s. She wasn’t too impressed when Bella had ‘casually’ mentioned to Charlie that she was meeting up with Paul later that afternoon. Ronnie couldn't’ really blame how Charlie was reacting, especially with how Bella was after Edward.

To Ronnie’s annoyance, Bella had spent all week calling this a date with Paul. And no matter how many times Ronnie tried to convince her sister otherwise, Bella wouldn’t listen.

Spending time with Quil that morning was just what she needed. She did find it hard not telling him the real reason why both Embry and Jake had ‘ditched’ them before. She was however very happy to hear that the pair of them had gone back to school, and started hanging with Quil again, and not left him there, alone.

Parking near Sam’s repair shop, she got out and started to make her way over. Before even getting to the door, Paul met her, with a big smile on his face. “Hey!”

“Hi.” Just looking at him started to make her heart beat faster. “You probably used your wolf super hearing or something.”

“Nah, didn’t need to use that, when I could hear you driving down the road in that heap of cr-” Paul started laughing, but when he saw Ronnie’s reaction, he stopped.

“Easy, Lahote!” She playfully slapped him on the arm as Sam came up to them, carrying a brown paper bag. “Oh, hey, Sam.”

“How’s it going, Veronica?” He handed her over the brown bag. “A gift from Emily. She’s very excited to see you again.”

“Thanks, Sam.” Ronnie lifted the bag and smelt it. “Blueberry. The woman knows me. Please thank her for me.”

“Enjoy whatever, this is.” Sam laughed as he headed back inside the repair shop.

Both Paul and Ronnie looked at each other with their cheeks red. “Wanna go down to the beach?” Paul asked, looking down at the bag of muffins. “And you can eat your muffins.”

“Sure.” Ronnie shook the bag as they started walking. “Let’s go.”
  
While walking down to the beach, Ronnie opened the bag, grabbing a piece and eating it. “Mm, delicious.” Paul started laughing as Ronnie spoke with her mouth full. “Oh, there’s a note.” Ronnie dug through the bag, grabbing the piece of paper. Taking it out, Paul took it.

“Ronnie. Enjoy the muffins and welcome to the pack. PS, enjoy your date with Paul…” Ronnie’s face went red with the mention of a date. She noticed the anger in Paul’s face. “Damnit, Em. I told her this wasn’t a date.”

“Hey, it’s okay.” Ronnie shrugged her shoulders, grabbing the paper off Paul. “Believe me, Bella has been at me all week, calling this a date. Even my dad got annoyed thinking I was out galavanting with you.”

“I bet he’s thrilled.” Paul sarcastically said.

“If he knew the truth about Edward, then I think he’d be pretty happy with you.” As they walked along the beach, their hands brushed off one another. 

“Uh, what does it feel like?” Ronnie awkwardly asked. “The whole imprinting thing?”

“It’s kind of hard to explain.” Paul took the bag off Ronnie, and grabbed a muffin. “You and Bella are twins, right? And people always joke about twin telepathy. It’s similar to that. If you go through, like, any pain, I can feel, sense it.” Ronnie watched as Paul seemed to get uncomfortable. “Since I imprinted on you, it’s like you’ve become the most important person to me.”

“Wow.” Ronnie took a deep breath. “That’s…intense.”

“Yeah, it’s a weird feeling.” Paul ran his free hand through his hair. “‘Cause like, before I phased, I never really cared for anyone aside from myself. And now, there’s you, and the pack.”

“What about your family?” Ronnie asked, not sure if she was overstepping.

“I’m an only child, and my parents split when I was eight.” Paul started eating another muffin. “My mom bolted, and I haven’t seen her since.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Ronnie placed her hand on his arm. “It’s shitty, right? We were only a couple of months old when my parents split.”

“What made you want to live with Charlie?” He asked.

“As a kid, I was a bit of a troublemaker. And I think my mom just had enough.” Ronnie leaned down and picked up a seashell, wiping the sand off it, and admiring it. “Like, for example, between the ages of 5 and 6, I ran away from home maybe, six, seven, times. Granted, the furthest I’d make it was the train station.”

Ronnie say down on the sand, looking out at the ocean. Paul, not wanting to be standing on his own, joined her.

“And that’s when you moved to Forks?” Paul laughed.

“Yeah.” She nodded. “Within the first week of being here, Charlie brought me out to the Rez, where Harry was having a barbecue. I remember just meeting the boys, and thinking ‘yeah, I like it here.’” Ronnie looked on to see some kids playing by the water. “Whenever Charlie was working, I was either at Billy’s with the boys, or at Harry’s learning how to hunt or unknowingly annoying Leah by wanting to be her friend.”

“That’s why you’re so close to Jake, Embry and Quil?” As he asked, Paul moved a little closer to Ronnie.

“Oh, yeah. They’re my brothers.” Ronnie laughed, thinking to herself about all the times the boys and her would get into trouble when they were younger. “And me and Charlie, we got a lot closer. I love it.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a bad thing said about Charlie. Harry and Billy, they absolutely love him.” Paul sighed. “My dad? My dad is as useful as a glass hammer.” Ronnie watched as Paul scoffed. “If he’s ever home, he’s drunk. Doesn’t care about anything I do.” Paul looked at Ronnie who had a sad smile on her face. “It’s fine. I’ve got the pack, and that’s all I need.”

“And you’ve got me.” Ronnie slowly took a hold of Paul’s hand. “I might be a little scared, but I’m here.”

“What are you scared of?” Paul asked, raising an eyebrow. “Falling in love or something?”

“I’m not scared of falling in love. I’m actually in love with a lot of things in this world; my family, animals, the universe, food. I love myself.” Ronnie looked at Paul with a small smile. “You know, I may even fall in love with you someday. I’m not avoiding it, but what I am scared of..” Before Ronnie spoke anymore, she took a deep breath. “...Is falling so deeply in love with someone and investing my life into theirs, only to discover that they don’t feel the same way.” As Ronnie spoke, Paul had felt like his heart was breaking. “To me, that is how you die while still breathing and it’s so hard to pull yourself out of the heartbreak and depression.” All that went through Ronnie’s head was Bella and what she went through when Edward broke her heart and left her. “The truth is that you’re never gonna to really know if you’re falling for the wrong person until it’s too late and they’ve given up and left you.”

“Ron, I promise you here and now, that I’m not the type of person to give up on someone.” Paul had moved from beside Ronnie, and was now kneeling down in front of her. “Yeah, sometimes I get really angry and upset, so I need to take a minute to cool off, but I’ll never abandon you.” Paul leaned in and pushed a piece of Ronnie’s hair behind her hair. “I don’t leave people. And I think that’s why it always hurts so bad when people leave me.”

Paul had the saddest smile on his face as Ronnie placed her hand on his cheek. “You’ll always have me, Paul. Always.”

At that moment, both of them had leaned in closer, preparing to kiss, but as they inched closer, rain began to fall. They both started laughing as they saw how drenched one another was. Although he was laughing, Ronnie knew deep down that Paul was annoyed that their attempt to kiss was ruined.

Paul stood up, quickly grabbed Ronnie’s hand, pulling her up off the sand and they began to run across the beach to Ronnie’s truck. “I’ll drive!” Paul shouted as they ran up the little hill to the truck. He went to the passenger side, opening the door for Ronnie.

She sat in the seat, shivering with the cold, waiting for Paul to get in and drive off.

As Paul drove off from the beach, Ronnie wrapped her arms around herself, trying to warm up. “One hundred and eight degrees over here.” Paul laughed and she slid over, closer to him. He put his arm around her, as she rested her head on his shoulder.

“God! My hands are freezing.” Ronnie shivers while speaking. “It must be nice never getting cold.”

“It’s a wolf thing.” Paul laughed.

“It’s not. It’s a Paul thing.” Ronnie hums into his arm. “You’re just warm. You’re like your own sun.”

“Hm.” Paul looked at her and smiled. “I never tought of that before.” The truck stops and Ronnie looks up to see they were outside Paul’s house.

Before Ronnie could even move, Paul jumped out, running to her side of the truck, lifting her out. Instead of putting Ronnie down, he carries her into his house, finally dropping her when they reach his bedroom.

Paul opened his small closet and took some clothes out. “Here’s some dry clothes for you.” He gently threw them at Ronnie, and waved at her, leaving her alone in his room.

Ronnie took off her wet clothes, placing Paul’s hoodie over her and pulling his sweatpants up. She had only seen him in cargo shorts, so Ronnie didn’t believe he owned any other clothes.

After getting changed, Ronnie walked into his kitchen, finding him making some tea, humming away to a song on the radio.

“I love this song.” Ronnie says, gently grabbing Paul’s hand. “Dance with me.”

Paul doesn’t say anything, he just pulled Ronnie closer to her as they swayed around his kitchen.

“...Speed so fast it felt like I was drunk, city lights layout before us, and your arm felt nice wrapped ‘round my shoulder….” Paul quietly sang along.

“You know, this is actually the perfect date.” Ronnie whispered into his chest.