𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐎𝐌, (paul lahote) ✓

𝑰𝑽 - 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔

ACT FOUR

Eloise has never been more confused than right now.
Eyes darting from Penny, to Emily, to Bella and then to Embry, none of them spoke up.

"Did I do something?" Eloise asked, this time growing frustrated. Penny just shook her head, scoffing.

"No, Paul's an idiot, that's what happened. Don't worry, we'll leave before he comes back." She spoke, standing up straight to throw her arm over Eloise's shoulder.

"Let's go, Em." She spoke, glaring at an Embry that shrugged his shoulders, standing up.

"-ily, not -bry." Penny said, laughing and nudging Eloise, as if nothing just happened. As if Paul's reaction to Eloise wasn't the weirdest one ever.

"Penelope stop it. Paul's not an idiot, he's.. actually really nice it's just..." Emily started, stuttering as she tried to come up with something that wouldn't make Eloise wary of Paul. She shouldn't dislike him, despite Penny's reaction.

"He's shy!" Jared piped in, Jacob trying to hold his laugh in and Bella furrowing her eyebrows, confused. Embry refrained himself from rolling his eyes at Jared's lie. Sam rolled his eyes and Emily was glad that Eloise was looking to Jared and didn't catch onto everyone's reaction.

"Shy?" Eloise asked, confuses too.

"Yea he's really shy. Poor guys always on the edge, especially around new people. And, who knows, maybe you remind him of someone that.. bullied him, right, he used to be bullied." Jared grinned, happy with his story.

"Oh, uhm well I didn't want to make him uncomfortable." Eloise said, looking to Penny who smiled at her already.

"No, it's okay, he's gotta get over his demons. How about you come over tonight. Eat dinner? We'll hang out together." Sam went along the lie, surprising everyone in the room.

"Oh, okay." Eloise agreed.

The day on the beach was over far too soon. Penny, Emily and Eloise went swimming for some time and Eloise was surprised to see how prepared Emily was. She had packed them lunch and towels and even bought a hairbrush with her, which Eloise was really thankful for.

After a while the wind picked up and just as soon as they finished drying off and putting on clothes, it got cold. Eloise had quickly changed the bandage on her hand, and she was thankful that neither of the girls said anything about it.

Emily had brushed Eloise's hair and Penny was packing up when her phone rang with a message. Emily and Penny were deep in conversation, and Eloise didn't catch Emily's eyes as they glanced to her phone when she picked it up to see who texted her.

Eloise tried not to show reaction when she saw the contact name.

William: Please come back. I love you.

Eloise decided to turn her phone silent, ignoring the text and smiling when Emily announced that she was done.

"Thanks." El smiled and she didn't notice the look Penny and Emily exchanged when she picked up her bag.

"Let's go, shall we? Gotta prepare some food for tonight." Emily said, nudging Eloise playfully.

The trio drove home in silence, listening to Penny sind along to the songs on the radio. Eloise insisted on sitting in the back and she kept feeling her phone vibrating and every time her mood would sink a bit more. A bad feeling was sitting in the pit of her stomach and her heart felt heavy. She tried not to let her frown be too obvious.

You're a fucking bitch you know that?!

Better come home before I'll fckn find you

And again, Eloise chose to ignore the messages, not even opening them so William wouldn't see that she's even read them.

Just as she started getting into her thoughts, Emily turned off the engine and the tree of them walking into the house. Voices could be heard from outside already and when they entered, the same bunch of boys were sitting on the couch, playing Mario Kart on the TV. It seemed that currently Jacob and Jared were going against each other, seeing as Embry stood next to the couch with a bag of chips, Sam sat next to Jared and Paul sat on the same seat Eloise sat on earlier, arms crossed and watching the TV intently.

All eyes turned to them when they entered, except for Jared who just kept on playing the game.

"Did you have fun?" Sam asked, Emily walking over to kiss him on the cheek.

"Of course they had fun. I was there." Penny said, walking over to Embry and snatching the bag from Embry, who threw up his arms in frustration. Eloise snorted at her joke, quickly covering her mouth. Her eyes automatically went to Paul, who just sent her a small smile in return. She smiled back shyly.

"Come, sit Eloise. Winners up against me, you won't want to miss that." Penny said, standing infront of Paul whom just rolled his eyes and reluctantly stood up. Penny plopped down happily and everyone on the couch moved to the right to make room for Paul and Eloise. Paul sat down next to Embry, who had sat down next to Jacob, snatching the chips from Penny and leaving enough space for Eloise to sit down comfortably.

She walked over, thanking Paul with a smile as she sat down carefully. Paul tried to make himself as small as possible, trying to make more room for her and to seem less intimidating. He had shifted earlier that day knowing that the fight the pack had seen through Embrys mind link, was his imprint. Knowing what happened, he tried everything in his power to not seem intimidating to her.

He reached over, offering Eloise the bag of chips. Eloise smiled at the act and happily grabbed a few. Paul watched her eat, happy with himself. "I'm Paul." He introduced and she muttered her name with a shy smile.

This was going better than he thought.

"Hey Paul, I told Eloise earlier that you left because you're shy, you know because of your past and all. But you don't have to worry, Eloise would never bully you, she said." Jared said, handing over his controller to a grinning Penny, who tried to suppress her laugh at Paul's confused face. Eloise was certain she hadn't said that.

"Bully me? My past?" He asked, confused and somehow Eloise didn't fully believe Jareds story anymore. She smiled nonetheless, finding the conversation utterly entertaining.

"Yea, it's okay. You know, Eloise, Paul wasn't always this big and pretty." Paul cringed at that description and Eloise watched his facial expressions with a smile.

"He used to be skinny and small, shorter than you." Jared stated next and Paul was about to tell him to fuck off, until he's heard Eloise giggling and he instantly started smiling, eyes telling Jared that he'd kill him later.

Paul was whipped already and everyone could tell. And Eloise was genuinely happy and even Penny was impressed by how comfortable she seemed to be this hoard of guys. Maybe it was the imprint working, but everything was going perfectly, until her phone vibrated again and even tho Eloise hadn't really took notice of her phone lighting up, still laughing with Penny, he had read the message on her phone.

William: I'm going to find you cunt, and I'm going to fucking burn you.