Attraction

71.

Revealing what I am to my mom or aunt Layla could be the result of their death, the Volturi would certainly kill them if they found out about my existence. My mom could know about Paul and all would be fine, but if she knew about me, that's a different story according to what Renesmee told me yesterday. How am I going to keep my job, my apartment? Living like a human means being around humans and I don't trust myself right now, but nonetheless I need to get back to my apartment today. My phone probably has died and when I turn it back on it's probably going to have fifteen missed calls from work and twenty seven from my mom. When I slip on my shoes and walk out to the living room where Paul is, I realize it's almost midnight, he probably has work in the morning.

"I'll take you home." He lets out a sigh, one that's filled with disappointment.

The kind of disappointment you have when you realize Monday is tomorrow and you have to drop off your partner at home. He grabs his car keys but I object.

"You have work tomorrow, you need to sleep. I can get home." I try to tell him.

Paul doesn't seem completely uncomfortable with the idea for a moment but he shakes his head.

"No, no, you're not walking or running home even if you are fast." He hesitates for a moment as if he's torn before letting out a breath and dashing down the hallway to his room.

"What are you doing?" I call out. The sounds of drawers being opened fills my ears.

"I'm staying with you tonight." He calls out from the bedroom, I smile happily at his decision.
"You're not going to stay at your apartment by yourself and do nothing all night, especially not alone." Paul has a point, I don't sleep anymore.

If I am going to stay at my apartment I would much rather listen to his heartbeat all night anyway, it's very calming to listen to.

My apartment door opens which Paul holds open for me, I thank him before walking inside. Everything is exactly the way I left it, my phone is on the table, the small pieces of paper from the envelope I ripped open remain on the floor. I'll have to remember to clean those up. I pick up my phone which surprisingly has thirty percent of its battery left, just as I suspected, I do have missed calls.

Twenty missed calls from my mom, twelve from work—I really hope I'm not fired. It's too late to call my mom or my job right now, I'll have to call them tomorrow.

"Are you okay?" Paul asks, he sets his clothes for tomorrow down on my couch, I turn to face him.

"Yeah, it's just weird being here again. Last time I was here I was a human." I answer him honestly.

All of the food in my fridge is going to go bad soon and I can't even eat it anymore. Oh, and my coffee maker. Great. Will I have to get rid of it? No, I'll just make coffee for Paul or whoever else decides to come over, same as food. I'll just have to buy it all beforehand so it isn't just sitting in my fridge.

"I guess you're one of the only people I'll be cooking for now." I halfway smile, something feels sad about that.

I liked cooking human food and eating it, I liked coffee with Paul—it was our thing in the mornings. Now it's just another memory. Jeffery really did do this to spite me... I am sure he either thought Paul was going to have to kill me or he knew Paul wouldn't kill me and he just planned to take away all my simple pleasures of being a human.

"Don't see it that way. I love your cooking and I know your mom does too, things are going to be a little different now that's true but I'm still here." Paul soothingly states.

He wraps his arm around me before placing a kiss on my forehead, I smile weakly. At least I can still shower, I need one. I'm mentally drained.

"I love you." I breathe out.