Paradoxes Found

Chapter 22: Meeting the Family

When I get to my Aunt's house, I unlock the door and shout to see if anyone was inside. No response. I sigh and quickly walk into the kitchen, grabbing a pen and a piece of paper to write a note saying that I was gonna do something over the week(end). I scurry to my room and just grab my whole suitcase, unplugging my charger from the outlet and stuffing it in the case. As I'm zipping up my bag, my phone rings. I check the caller but the number says Unknown. I decided not to answer it and just shut down my phone completely.

I shuffle back into the kitchen with my stuff in hand. There's a sound of a horn honking at the house, and I walk outside, locking the door behind me and flurry into the passenger's seat of Tim's car.

"Hey Bell." Tim softly grabs the tip of my chin and lifts it up, calmly connecting his lips to mine. In that moment, I forget all about Kat, Chris, school, etc.

I pull back and give him an awkward side hug. "Hi."

Tim starts up the engine and pulls out of the driveway, speeding down the road towards the "McCarthy Family Campsite" (sarcasm).

A Few Hours Later...

We soon arrive at the edge of Maple Creek Woods. I look over to Tim and he looks over to me.

"We're here." He says with no emotion.

I open the car door and step out on to the black top road, the smell of wood and grass filled the air.

"Wow.." I stood in the road, astonished at what I saw around me. I felt a hand slip into mine, and I was faced with Tim literally dragging me to where his "family" camped out.

As we walked hand-in-hand, I looked all around as if I've never seen the outdoors before, kinda like Rapunzel you can say. There were pines everywhere and a few maple trees (ironic). The sun's rays made the afternoon a bit chilly, but warming, and only a little bit of snow survived. I was totally into the scene, it was so romantic-

"Hey Tim!" A voice of a male, about 16 possibly, called out. A could feel Tim's hand loosen as he reacted by his muscles tensing up, then calming down.

"Hey Alex." Tim looks at me, as if beckoning me to come with. I follow shyly behind, as I see a tall boy with dirty blonde hair swept over his eyes, and from my wolf vision, has icy blue eyes - sorta like Kat's.

"Hello there!" The boy 'Alex' peeks at me from behind Tim. I try to avoid eye contact and look at the ground. Great, I probably look like a little girl hiding behind her father, as if begging to not go to school or some jazz like that.

"Uh, this is -"

"That girl you've mentioned here and there?" A low voice echoes.

"Quite contrary, Raven." Wait, is that blush I see?! Wow. This is a first of Tim blushing, I didn't even know he was capable.

"Huh?!" I get dragged out from the darkness and into the light, where Tim's siblings and see me.
"This is Bella Summers." Tim introduces me, as he wraps his arms a around my waist.

"As you probably already know, I'm Alex McCarthy."

"I'm Raven, but just call me Rave." I look over to a girl about 19. She has hair to the length of her shoulders, it looked like it was black, but she dyed some parts lavender purple. And she wears some pretty emo clothing. (Sorry if anyone is offended >.<) We all sit around a weak fire, the sun was now setting in the firey horizon. I look around at my surroundings and found two tents: one for girls and one for boys. There were little scraps of fur here and there, along with the crushed bones of small woodland creatures. Honestly, I thought they hunted bigger prey to feast on together... Like a pack of sorts.

"So Bella-"

"Huh?" I shake my head and focus on the vampire family.

"Tell us about yourself.." Alex crosses his arms and leans back, almost falling off the log.

"Well, I like to draw, my favorite animals are foxes, and my favorite color is neon green."

"Cool." Raven adds, looking directly at the fire.

A piece of hair swifts into my face as I yawn.

"Looks like someone is tired," Tim pokes my cheek and helps me stand. "Will you okay, beside the fact that your sleeping right next to a blood-sucking demon?"

I laugh and respond: "I've already slept with one, you silly. If she tries anything, I'll scream."

"Heh, okay. Goodnight." Tim pulls me in for a soft, satisfying peck on the lips and releases me, as he walks over to join Alex at their tent.

"You know I'd never do anything to hurt you, right?"

"Ah! Oh, of course not Rave. I trust all McCarthy's!" I yawn again and drag my bag towards the tent, entering through a huge fold. "Wow!" I never really went camping because well, I lived in New York and let me tell you, they don't have many camping areas without people making out in the middle of the woods, or some idiotic teens who do drugs and that shit. But this tent was enormous on the inside, kinda like the TADRIS from Doctor Who. I lay out a black sleeping bag and crawl inside. I notice that Raven is still sitting by the fire, just staring. I shrug off the thought and snuggle deep under the cover and fall asleep.