Aeipathy • Paul Lahote

Imprint

Everyone snapped out of their stupor fairly quickly when a resounding smack was heard throughout the beach. Each pair of eyes instantly went to Paul, who's head was turned, before flitting back to Estrella who was slightly shaking her hand. "No one teach you any manners?" she hissed. She didn't take notice of the boy subtly beginning to shake as she turned her gaze to the rest of his group. "Seriously, you guys? Do all of you have a staring problem? You can either speak up instead of being creepy and weird, or you can continue on your way and stop bothering us."

At that she sat heavily back down, ignoring the mumbling of the group as they grabbed Paul and scurried towards the forest, his shaking having gotten worse. Bella was staring wide eyed at Estrella, not fully knowing how to comprehend what had just happened. She assumed, from the reactions of all of the boys, that Paul had just imprinted on her sister. That alone was enough to stall her brain, but then her sister smacked the boy with little to no flinch and actually moved him. But she couldn't comment on that, without giving away secrets that weren't hers to share. "Why did you do that?" she questioned instead. 

Estrella gave her sister a smile and a shrug. "I told you, I've got your back." She leaned back against her sister again, both of them fully relaxing once more. "No matter who I have to protect you from, I'm gonna do it. I won't let anyone hurt you." 

At that, the two girls drifted off into their own thoughts, staring up at the sky together. Bella had her sister's words ringing through her head. How was the ginger girl supposed to protect her from anything she was going through? Bella wanted nothing less than for her sister to get involved or to put herself in danger and decided to vow to herself that she would be the one protecting Ella. Even if it had to be from her own imprint.

Meanwhile, Estrella's mind wandered back to the boy. She hated him, she knew that. The tone of voice he took with her sister was condescending and rude and the sneer on his face made it so much worse. But the spark in his eye and the aura of his soul kept her mind at war as she couldn't help but wonder who he was. What made him so upset at her sister? Was it justified? Was it understandable? Why did he run off the way he did? Why did he stare without speaking when just moments before he was confident and snarky? She was riddled with questions and thoughts of the boy, followed by the aftermath of her scolding herself for being so concerned with a boy she knew she hated. She hated him. So why couldn't she stop thinking about him?

She asked herself that for days. She spent time with Bella and connected with the Cullens and bonded with Charlie and at every moment she found curiosities about the boy popping up. She thought of him when she was cooking with Bella, wondering if he would like what she was making before deciding she didn't care. As she sat with Emmett and Rosalie, watching the blonde girl fix up a car, she wondered if he drove, what he drove, and if he was safe. But she reminded herself that she didn't care. The sports games Charlie watched never kept her interest, but spending time with Charlie was always high on her priority list, so as the game played on she wondered if he played sports, or watched sports, or if he could make heads or tails of what was going on on the screen. But she didn't care. 

It was about the fiftieth time of her reminding herself that she didn't care when she got frustrated and snapped. The book she had been reading was set down on the table and she gave Charlie a kiss on the head, telling him that she was going out for fresh air, before jumping into her car and driving. 

Driving to the La Push beach in the middle of some random day was ridiculous. There was no way she would just run into him but it was her best idea so that's where she went. She parked her car and marched onto the beach and plopped herself down on a log laying across the sand. She huffed at herself and sat watching the water crash against the shore. Estrella didn't know what she expected, but she definitely didn't expect a person to sit next to her on the log. 

"My name's Paul," he greeted casually, making her snort. 

"I don't care," she responded briskly. "I don't care what your name is or how old you are or what you do for a living. I don't care if you can drive or if you like sports or what your favourite food is. I don't care who you are. I don't care about you. I don't like you. I don't want you around. So why the hell won't you get out of my head?"

"I care," he mumbled, letting out a slight chuckle. "I care what your name is and how old you are and what you do for a living. I care if you can drive or if you like sports or what your favourite food is. I care about who you are. I care about you. I might like you. I want you around. So maybe that's why I won't get out of your head. It's why you won't get out of mine."

She sighed at that, instantly letting her guard down. "Well what's your favourite animal then?"