tongue twister • paul lahote

xv

B E L L A  S W A N did not leave her stare to the imagination of Santana the following weeks at school. The blatant, narrowed look always following her was hard to ignore. Although it never left her, it wasn't hateful. Curious maybe, more than anything. This carried on for weeks, but Santana didn't have the guts to confront her about it, despite her companions from her class urging her to. Santana brought it up to Paul in the following days after the incident with Jacob, assuming perhaps he had told her about the run in they had at her house. His best advice was to stare back.

Although it wasn't the greatest advice, she was content at the fact he wanted to help at all. He seemed to care when she had an issue, and although this imprint thing was new to her she was starting to grow accustom to it. The kissing hadn't stopped, but she still hadn't  found the courage to start a relationship. She was dealing with her trauma from Jacob separately from her friends on the reservation. She knew their ties to him, and didn't want them involved in it. Her dad had suggested a therapist, which she was against at first thought, but finally agreed to go to after several conversations about it. Nobody knew about it except for her and her father.

While she was sorting out her problems, Paul never left. He urged her to talk to him, and to let him in but she was stubborn. She didn't want to seem weak. Paul took this in a different way, that hurt him slightly. He put on a face that it didn't bother him and tried again with her. Santana loved Paul, and Paul loved Santana. Everyone seemed to know it except Santana and Paul. Perhaps that was why her actions hurt him so much. Words have a power, especially in admittance. Paul was never a dreamer, so to assume something he wanted so bad seemed to far out of reach for him. Santana on the other hand, hid the feelings thinking that they could stay inside until she fixed her other problems. She was also afraid of rejection, or losing the relationship they developed. Perhaps it seemed like a good idea to her, but to everyone watching the unruly situation unfold, it was nothing but stressful.

Everyone was advocating for the two to get together except for Jacob. He didn't support it solely because Paul did not want him speaking to Santana. He saw the damage he already caused to the girl and he did not want him to disrupt her any more. He loved the fact his pack mate imprinted, but despised that it was on his best friend. Jacob wanted to make amends so badly, but his emotions were so strong that they continually got in his way when he tried to express his thoughts. They were always mistaken for anger or denial. That wasn't the case, he was just so scared of losing her that he freaked out when he spoke to her. His Bella situation didn't help either, he loved her. She acted like he was the best person in the world, but he knew deep down she still loved Edward. It was obvious, and painful for him. He was determined to get her to fall in love with him. Maybe if she did, he could make everything go back to normal.

Santana was returning from her third session of therapy for the week. Monday's, Wednesday's and Friday's, she took an hour of her time to talk about her feelings with a young lady named Christine. It was obvious she helped Santana, but there was a lot left undiscovered on Christines part. Santana was a closed book. In reality, that's almost an understatement. She was a diary kept under lock and key.

She pulled her keychain out of the back pouch of her book bag and stuck the key into the lock of her front door. It turned with ease and she pushed open the barrier between the inside and outside. She retracted the key from the door and closed it. She discarded her bag in the closet by the entrance and heard rustling in the kitchen. Immediately her heart sped and her palms broke into a sweat. She took a reluctant step towards the door to the kitchen and heard a course of giggles coming from inside. She immediately relaxed at the familiarity of the sounds. Her feet carried her into the room and she saw three shirtless boys sitting around her dinner table.

"Why are you in my house?" She tried to hide the smile forming on her face when they turned to look at her. Her black hoodie and black jeans suddenly seemed like way too much clothes compared to their jean shorts.

"We had to come see our favourite lady." Jared said smugly. Paul and Embry laughed as she rolled her eyes. As she walked towards the trio, she pulled her brown hair from its ponytail that had gone astray at some point during the school day.

She immediately gravitated towards Paul and he held his arm out. She slid in beside him as he wrapped the extended arm around her. "You guys don't think of calling anymore?" She teased and they shrugged.

"Why call when we can climb through your bedroom window. Which you should start locking, by the way." Embry said in a scolding tone.

"You're scolding me for keeping my window unlocked when you're the ones that climbed through it? You guys technically broke into my house." She pointed out. The three looked at each other and nodded, not seeing an issue with the statement. "You're all out of your mind." She opened the refrigerator, looking for something to cook for the bottomless pits she called her friends.

"So, were actually here to ask you to come to the beach fire tonight. It's Friday." Paul said.

"I had no idea, it's not like I own a calendar or anything." He rolled his eyes at the small girls sarcasm. The unanswered question gave Paul a twinge of anxiety as he waited for her to continue. "Yes I'll go, don't be silly." The three smiled as she spoke. "Now what do you want to eat?"

***

The crisp air surrounded the group as they walked toward the beach. The blue sky was drifting into a pool of reds and pinks as the sun set. Paul held Santana's hand tightly, and harmed and Embry crowded around them, rambunctious and excited. They could see silhouettes in the distance, and it reminded Santana of the night she met the rest of the pack. The night she met Paul. She lifted her eyes to look at him, but he had beat her to it and was already looking at her. He made a face at her and she grinned at his childishness. They quickened their pace towards the rest of their friends.

This time, Santana caught a glimpse of a little girl tumbling around, holding the hands of one of the boys. She couldn't really tell from her distance, but the shorter, bulkier build reminded her of her other best friend, Quil. She looked at Paul for clarification and he nodded, already knowing what she was looking at. "Quil imprinted."

"O-on a baby?" She stammered, worried.

"Do you remember how I said it's not necessarily romantic all the time?" She nodded. "Well he's like her brother for now. Until she grows up and understands, he's whatever she needs. Claire is Emily's niece. Emily wasn't thrilled at first, but there was no control over it. Now, she's one of us. A little baby wolf." He smiled. "Well, wolfette."

She shoved him at the sound of the lame joke and he laughed, pulling her back to him. When they approached the group, the head count was accurate. Everybody was there now. She greeted the girls and sat next to Kim, Jared's girlfriend. The girl pivoted, after greeting her boyfriend, to look at Santana. She immediate began telling her everything that was happening on the reservation, which caused Santana to smile. Kim and Emily were like the girl best friends she never had.

As Kim was talking, Jacob caught her eyes over the flames. Santana looked down immediately, causing Jacob to sigh. He always felt defeated around her. He didn't know how to get her to see how sorry he was. Paul noticed this interaction and Jacob picked up that he wasn't happy about it. Instead of focusing on her, he sent his attention to Embry who sat beside him, and buried himself in conversation with him. It was going to be a long night.