Only the "Strong" Survive | Paul Lahote |

*chapter twenty-eight*

Friday came around quicker than I thought, and with the nerves I felt I didn't know how I would handle an actual date with Paul. Most of our time together had been spent with the pack, or sleeping. We hadn't done anything like this, and he insisted on going to a nice italian restaurant meaning we'd both have to be dressed up.

Emily and I had gone shopping at a small boutique in Forks and I found the most beautiful dress. A silk, dusty rose color, with spaghetti straps that hit right under the knees. It accentuated my curves, while not being super tight so I felt comfortable in it. I got small strappy black heels, and a small black clutch as well. She was helping me get ready too, I was decent with makeup but couldn't do winged eyeliner or smoky eyes or anything like that, so Emily and Kim offered to help with the "glam" as they jokingly called it. Kim and I had gotten closer since the battle, having to be stuck in the house all day with a person will do that to you. And Jared was slowly becoming less protective, he had tried to keep her away from all of the pack drama the best he could, but with danger gone he felt more accepting about the whole thing.

"Quit moving, I might burn you." Kim said, twisting my hair around the curling wand.

I couldn't help it, I was anxious, my hands were shaking and I just wanted to curl into bed. There was a huge part of me feeling like I wasn't as ready for this as I thought I was, and the other part ecstatic about seeing Paul dressed in something besides cut off shorts and tshirts.

"How ya feeling?" Emily asked while shuffling through palets and palets of eyeshadow.

"Nervous, excited, terrified. What if he doesn't like me all dressed up?"

"He's going to love it."

"Okay but what if we have nothing to talk about?"

"Then do something besides talking." Kim butted in giving me a wink.

I felt my cheeks go red at the thought. I couldn't lie that I hadn't thought about it a few times, more than a few times. Ever since that kiss, his knee between my thighs, the way it made me feel. I wondered what it feels like to have him kiss every inch of my body, to know what it felt like to have his hands on everywhere he hadn't seen. Paul felt safe enough to go that far with, and I wanted him to know how much I cared about him. Isn't that what you do with someone when you care about them? But it would also depend what Paul wanted. He stopped me last time, he said there was no pressure. So did that mean he didn't want to have sex, or maybe he just didn't want to have it with me?

"Close." Emily shook me from my thoughts.

I closed my eyes allowing her to put the brush to them, I wasn't sure what color she was doing or style or anything but I trusted her. I felt kind of like a princess, and couldn't help but be impatient as I waited to see the final result. Emily told me to open my eyes and she started putting mascara on them, then moved to my lips with a color of lipstick that nearly matched the dress. Kim put the curling iron down and put a few bobby pins in my hair but still wouldn't let me look at the mirror. The two of them took a step back and smiled at me.

"Okay look!" Kim said excitedly.

I turned to the mirror and almost didn't recognize myself. My hair was curly, pinned up in an almost vintage like way, kind of 1940's, kind of big like the 80's, my makeup was soft. Natural glam, and the deep lipstick was something I'd never typically wear but it brought out my eyes.

"Thank you guys so much." I turned to them their smiles big and wide, I could almost cry. But I couldn't because that would've ruined my makeup.

"Of course sweetie," Emily said hugging me, "he's here waiting for you."

My heart began to race even more, I looked at them eyes wide and stood up. Trying to literally shake off the nerves before proceeding down the hall. Paul's back was towards me as I walked out, he had black slacks and a black dress shirt on, the way it hugged his shoulders and his arms I couldn't stop staring. The boys heads snapped up from the table and there was a small roar of whistles that made me blush, and then he turned around. Eyes looking at mine and then looking at me up and down, a smile growing wide on his face - making me feel butterflies.