𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐑, paul lahote ✓

𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

┏━━━━⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆☾ ﾟ｡⋆━━━━┓

ITHACA, NEW YORK

WHEN AUGUSTINE GOT THE CHANCE TO LEAVE ALASKA FOR NEW YORK, SHE OBVIOUSLY TOOK IT.

As much as she loved catching up with the Denalis, truly revelling in Carmen's everlasting affections, it was New York. When she was little, the idea of even travelling out of state seemed like such a far-fetched dream, but New York had been the biggest dream of them all.

Augustine had such a fascination with the state as a whole, but more-so the inner city; she'd always wondered why it was called The Big Apple, why they decided to put Lady Liberty there as opposed to somewhere else, and why Daniella McAdams from her freshman year history section said they made the best bagels of all time. Sure, she couldn't eat said bagels anymore, but it wouldn't hurt to just smell them, right?

So, she packed up her things and ventured to New York with the rest of her family— with the exception of Edward, who had already gone off on his own to who-knows-where. The last she'd heard from him was the night after Bella's birthday, the car ride to the airport the following day being silent until he spoke up. "I don't blame you," he had said, but somehow she still felt like he did. Why else would he then proceed to go no-contact with the rest of them? Rosalie was lucky she even got an occasional message from him, which soon became their only way of knowing he was still alive(ish).

Ithaca was no New York City, but it would certainly do. It wasn't as dreary as Forks or even Northern Alaska, but it was refreshing— serene in some strange way. And as of late, Augustine needed all the serenity she could get.

⋆☾ ﾟ｡⋆

It started the day after she mailed off her letter to Bella Swan.

Though she kept it cool, Augustine's emotions were fried— in an ever constant state of flux. During the day, whilst in the comfort of the rest of the coven, she was as normal as any teenage vampire could be. It was at night, however, that Augustine felt every negative emotion she could have bubble to the surface.

Jasper was always alerted at the sudden change, and Augustine grew to expect a series of faint knocks on her bedroom door between the hours of 12AM and 5AM. He'd always use those peculiar calming abilities of his on her if she ever got too upset too fast, but it was something that grew to be a nightly routine between the two.

Once, when he returned from a late night Philosophy lecture, he had jokingly asked if her frenzied mood had anything to do with leaving her mate back in Forks, and she had to hold back the urge to throw him into the floorboards.

Yeah, she was going through Paul withdrawals.

She'd gladly suffer through such withdrawals if it meant she never had to see him again, if it meant she never had to have him lift her hopes up minutely before stomping on them.

Leech. The word, his stupidly gorgeous face that she wanted to punch... it all just made her want to vomit.

In her whirlwind of constantly changing feelings, the following few weeks consisted of the ravenette misplacing things.

She'd been drawing a lot lately to ignore the millions of pings from her phone, many of which belonged to the Dilaurentis boy that she also left behind without a word. Still, she'd always see his name pop up, signalling he hadn't given up on her just yet.