Kiss Or Kill

Chapter 11

For the first time in a very long time, he was nervous.

He couldn't for the life of him figure out why Bella had been chosen as his imprint but the fact of the matter was that she had…..and there was nothing he could do to change that. He'd already tried denying the imprint and so far that had only brought pain which he knew without a doubt would worsen the longer he ignored the imprint. And he knew that Sam had been right when he'd said it was only a matter of time before Bella began to feel the effects of the imprint; for all he knew she was already feeling the effects.

Paul had no idea how he was supposed to tell Bella about the imprint. He knew that his previous interactions with her and behavior towards her would give Bella no reason to accept him and the imprint but he hoped that she would accept it nonetheless. But he was smart enough to know that the chances of that happening were tremendously low.

So with dread and nervousness consuming him he climbed into his car and drove to the Swan residence.

When he got there he saw Charlie loading food into Bella's truck.

"Hey Paul!" Charlie called to him

"Chief?" He responded

"I decided I would head on down to Billy's and just let you and Bella have dinner by yourselves."

Logically Paul knew it was better that Charlie not be there because of the things he would be telling Bella but the coward in him wanted to get right back into his car and go home.

On the drive there, he'd managed to convince himself that Charlie wouldn't be far enough away not to hear what was being said and he knew that Bella wouldn't agree to go on a walk or drive with him; so he'd thought that he would be able to get out of telling her about the imprint. But now that Charlie wasn't going to be there…..well, there was no reason and no excuse for him not to tell her. And quite honestly he worried that without Charlie there, Bella might actually go through with poisoning him.

"It'll be fine Paul."

"Huh?" He asked coming out of his daze

"You looked a little scared." Charlie explained

"Scared? Umm, no….nah….not at all." He rambled

"Hmmm; well I'm off."

"See ya Chief." Paul said with a wave

"Just so you know, I will be questioning you both about what goes on tonight…..so I expect you two to actually put in some effort to resolve your issues and get along." Charlie called as he backed down the drive way

Great. Paul thought to himself as he gave Charlie one last wave before making his way to the front door

"It's open!" Bella called out when he knocked on the door

Paul entered the house to see Bella descending the stairs and he cursed the imprint for the mushy thoughts that overtook his mind.

"Paul." Bella said when she reached him

"Bella." He nodded

"We can eat the kitchen or take it into the living room."

"Kitchen's fine."

"Ok."

When they entered the kitchen, Bella motioned for him to take a seat while she fixed their plates.

"I promise it's not poisoned." She said when she sat his plate in front of him

"Good to know." He replied

Dinner was a quiet and awkward affair, neither of them sure how to start the conversation or even sure that they wanted to. But alas the food was gone and there was nothing left for them to do but talk.