benefits ( paul lahote )

vi. we like her

    The shifter and the teenage girl sat down on the coast. Cayla had her toes in the freezing cold water— but it didn't bother her too much.

    "So, what do you think of La Push so far?" Paul wondered. Whenever he took other girls from Forks to the native reservation, they always looked at others with judging eyes or silent remarks that they believed he couldn't hear. But he could. They didn't think he noticed when they looked at his house with such judgement clouding their eyes; about how lonely and seemingly uncomfortable the homes were. But he did. He had faced all sorts of criticism from multiple people in his life— and he expected Cayla to do the same.

    "At first— to be honest I was really nervous. I am obviously uh.. paler, so I expected people here to look at me differently but your friends are really nice. I actually wouldn't mind if you brought me here again next time." Kayla said, bumping shoulders with the boy who was way taller than her.

"Oh? So there's a next time?" Paul turned away to hide the smile growing in his face.

"Maybe. Maybe not." Kayla shrugged and looked to the native american next to her. Suddenly he stood and took off his shirt.

The small girl gasped and admired his stomach for a few short seconds before moving her hands to cover her eyes. "Woah there— I'm flattered it's only the first date." Paul chuckled and grabbed her hand that she was using to shield her eyes from what he thought was 'complete and utter sexiness' and pulled her to her feet.

"What are you doing?" She asked. A surge of satisfaction passed through her as Paul held her hand, but she pushed the feeling away.

"Swimming, of course." He winked as their feet started to submerge in the water.

"Paul this water is freezing and— just no." She tried to pull away though he was too strong.

"Awe does the almighty Cayla Hyan not know how to swim?"

"Of course I know how to swim I'm just not in the mood to catch hypothermia." She stated sarcastically, while he just laughed even more, something the Korean girl wouldn't mind hearing more.

"Haha so funny right? Watch how funny it will be once my pinky toe falls off." She tugged at his hand that was still attached to hers. The water had passed her knees was when she decided  enough was enough.

    Kayla finally ripped her hand out of Paul's grip and used her leg strength to launch herself on his back, wrapping her hands around his neck (trying not to choke him) and wrapped her legs around his waist.

    "Hoist me up before I fall dumbass!" She exclaimed kicking her legs around a little bit. He did so, slipping his hands under her legs and bounced— causing her stomach to be pressed closely against his back.

    "You couldn't have just gone into the water?" He questioned. Not that he minded their close proximity.

"Uh, no."

"What would you do if I dropped you?" he smirked as the words came out. She gasped hitting him on the shoulder. "Ow ow, okay I get it I won't drop you." He chuckled.

-

    From the brim of the woods, Jared and Embry watched the two from afar. "I like her." Jared said.

   "Yeah, me too."

-

   After being in the ocean (kind of) for a while Cayla and Paul has walked back to his car, because it was getting late. 

    "Actually, I'm sorry if it's rude to ask but can you drop me off at Mike's house?" She questioned innocently. Not knowing why it hurt him so much to drop her off at her significant other's house— and not knowing herself why she didn't want to go that much herself.

    "Like Mike Newton? The blonde white boy?" Cayla chuckled at his statement.

    "Uh- yeah. I left some papers from my Algebra 2 class and I need to get them."

"You guys are going out right?"

"Yeah. Wait— turn right."

"Oh. Well, how's it going so far?"

"Pretty good. Sometimes though I feel like he would rather be doing something else or like— Ugh! I just don't know how to explain it he kind of seems distracted for some reason and it's like: Am I really that boring? Or is it because of some other reason like he had a bad day and I don't know if I should ask. It's just really frustrating but all guys do stuff like that right? I mean, that's what I heard from—" She finally turned to Paul, seeing him glancing at her curiously as they pulled up to a red light.

"Oh, sorry I'm rambling. I probably shouldn't be talking to you like you're my therapist." She blushed.

"It's okay. I mean what are friends for?" He asked.

"Yeah."

The two stared at eachother for a long moment before the light flashed green in her peripheral vision. "Uh- Paul, the light."

To caught up in staring at her, he eventually turned back to the steering wheel and pressed down on the gas petal. They passed by many places on the way from the Native reservation to the city of Forks, Washington.

On the way to her boyfriends house her mind drifted off. Seeing the same people on the sidewalks, seeing they same one hundred and change at school every single day. It all seemed too familiar. Would she ever be able to leave? Would she ever be able to detach herself from the small town life? People had always told her that she was meant for more, but were they right?

Vampires were real, that she knew and when it came to it— would she leave her town at graduation to get away from the danger that irked around the Cullens to leave her friends in danger? But it also seemed that everyone who was born in Forks were stuck and rooted to one area never wanting to leave. Of course there were a few who left, such as the infamous ex-wife of Charlie Swan who deserted him.

-

a/n
lmao sorry i dont update and when i do they're really short but i just became a freshman and it's stressful but that's okay but this is just to say thx for 1k! luv u guys <3