Behind Closed Doors

It has been 15 minutes of non-stop talking and laughing for Paul and I. Yes, we’re already at Cesario’s. And no, we haven’t ordered a single thing. This waiter had been standing beside us all annoyed, waiting for us to make an order but it never came.

“And one time, when my dad got a 1972 Chevy Pickup all those years ago, me and Sam who’s still in his teeny-tiny power ranger pants wanted to impress him by cleaning up the car, right? And we chose dish soap and wood furnishing oil instead of, you know, car wash soap. We waited for him to come home, grinning madly expecting him to be all happy with us. Imagine our faces when we heard a scream instead,” Paul grinned.

I laughed, the thought of Sam and his Teeny-tiny power ranger pants itself had made me burst into tears, “What happened to the truck?”

He shook his head at the memory, “the paint peeled, and the machine broke,” he cringe, “turns out we left the sponge on top of the electric thing.”

“I imagine him being super happy then?” I smiled, wanting him to go into details, “Is it you, the one who’s getting all of the blame?”

“Surprisingly, no” He stopped for a moment to smile a smile only he knows what it means, “Sam did, since he’s older and he’s ‘supposed’ to decide which is right and wrong. Tell you something, say the words 1972 Chevy Pickup infront of him and I swear he’ll wince. Says his ass never felt the same again,” he chuckled seeing me laugh, “no wonder he’s never good with cars.”

Wiping my left eye, I calmed myself down, “You know,” I looked at him, who is looking all handsome with his black long-sleeved shirt, two of the buttons on top left unclosed, revealing a peek of his sculpted body. Yes, he looked all bad-boy-ish, which is really not my type, but the look on his eyes and the smile he has on his face makes me wonder what else is there. “You never struck me as much of a talker, Paul.”

He was about to respond when we heard an irritated cough. The bored, skinny waiter had been tired enough waiting for us with his notepad and pen in hand. He made a weird hissing sound and pushed his dirty glasses, “are you two ready to order now?”. His expression changed when he looked at Paul’s threatening expression and gulped, “Or… or… do you want to come back here in 5 min-minutes?”

Paul huffed, his chest rising up and down. Jacob warned me of his temper before, so I’m not surprised a little thing like this would ruin his good mood off easily. He stared down the nervous waiter. I could feel his shoulder tense up, and on reflex, I put my hand on top of him. Paul flinched and looked at me with an amused expression (and a “phew” coming from the waiter). He calmed down when he saw me smile. “No,” he said to the waiter who straightened his posture almost immediately, “we’re ready, do you have something meaty?”

***

“2 and a half large pizzas,” I shook my head, taking his hand when we left the restaurant, “You ate 2 and a half large pizzas by yourself”. Paul grinned as he led me to the sidewalk, everything’s reachable in La Push, so we don’t bother bringing a car along. I myself isn’t wearing high heels, only simple black flats with a tiny lace ribbon on both tops. “I thought pizzas are supposed to make you fat,” I wondered, “Why aren’t you fat?”

“I don’t know, maybe it’s some sort of gift,” he answered freely, “Maybe it’s a thing for you to be attracted to me,”

“Oh, ha-ha,” I mocked, my white dress flowing from the wind. “Do you always have to be such a sweet talker –oof!” Just my luck, I tripped. And (thank god! Thank god!) Paul was there to catch me, his hand circled around my front waist, the other on my back.

“Do you always have to be so clumsy?” Paul breathed at my ear. I chuckled, and the smile disappeared when I turn around, realizing how close our faces are, I could feel his hot breath on the tip of my nose. He looked into my eye and I can’t look anywhere but his also. Taking a deep breath, he moved closer. Our noses touched. I closed my eyes, we all know what’s about to happen.

And then a wolf howled.

And I don’t get what I expected.

I got a feeling that it’s taking too long that I opened my eyes, seeing him froze, his face still millimeters from mine. I gasped softly, scared seeing him like this. His eyes narrowed just a bit, but not at me, just at the space or whatever it is I couldn’t see, “P-Paul?” I stuttered, trying to shake his shoulders.

“Huh? Oh,” he took a couple steps back, his face looking bewildered. Paul gulped and looked at me with an apologizing mimic, “Lana, I’m sorry but… I have to go,”

“What? No! What are you talking about?” He was millimeters away from kissing me and now he’s going to run? “Where are you going?” I called him desperately when he walked further, to a direction heading inside the woods. I could hear him mutter some, ‘there’ ‘business’ ‘stuff’ ‘gang’.

I huffed, Jacob and his group has been annoying enough. This was supposed to be the most perfect date! That’s it I made a plan inside my head, tomorrow ignorance is definitely going to be my best friend. I’m ignoring them. All of them. Including Paul and his sweet, sexy, good-looking self.

I froze on my steps. A wolf howled. And it came from the woods, which Paul got into. I turned around with a panicked expression, I’m far from Cesario’s now, and maybe it’ll be too late to get help. Oh well, these flats are made for walking.

***

5 minutes later I’m already battling my way inside the woods, I’ve gotten scratches on my arm. “Well, this is stupid,” I muttered, “It should be him saving me, not the other way around”.

In absolute despair, I am almost giving up. Looking back, I don’t know how to get out from here. If I hope for some luck, maybe then god will send me some mercy and let some policemen found my body tomorrow before it gets eaten by worms.

Eew, worms.

“I’m telling you, this is great danger. We must evacuate as many as possible,” I could hear a person say. And it sound similar to Paul’s voice. I stepped closer, hiding behind the leaves. I know it’s safe with Paul but I got a feeling that I should lay low. I peeked and let out a satisfied sigh, it is Paul. He started to speak again, to whom I don’t know, “I will, in a few minutes. But…” he paused.

I immediately panicked, my hands closing my mouth. I closed my eyes as I let a muffled whimper hearing a growl coming. But somehow, I’m not scared for me, what about Paul and whoever he is with? Will they be hurt?

The sound got closer and closer to me. My hands started shaking, silent prayers are on repeat in my mind, and a few tears dropped to my hands. There’s no sound coming from Paul, which is weird, and made me panic even more. What if he’s eaten? What if he’s dead? What if… oh wait, what’s something cold doing on top of my feet?

“SNAAAAAAKE!” I screamed, kicking the green snake away. It was curling on top of my feet, I think it is harmless but still, it is kinda freaky when out of nowhere a snake pops out on top of your feet. I let out uneasy breaths, my eyes blinking rapidly.

“Alana?”

“Oh, no” I muttered, looking up to see Paul with an angry expression. His body shaking uncontrollably, “Paul! I… I, I followed you here because I heard a wolf howling and it came from this direction and…” I stopped. A russet colored wolf was standing next to Paul, an amused expression on its face. “Oh,” I repeated, slowly backing myself from Paul and the wolf, faster when I saw that there are more behind.

Out of nowhere, a wolf with short thick fur came out, growling a low throaty growl. It’s size is so big you could compare it to a bear. And its fangs are sharp. But there are twinkles in its eyes, I decided not to pay more attention to it and looked at the fangs instead. Bad idea. The wolf jumped at my direction, and I screamed.

But my scream isn’t half as loud as Paul’s growl. The brown wolf and I looked to him. And the most surreal thing happened.

Paul’s body shook, and in a second he exploded. He exploded to a grey colored wolf, the size even bigger than the brown one. His clothing had completely tore apart, even his nike shoes. I gasped, and by instinct I backed away, seeing as the grey wolf or Paul approaches me quickly. But to my surprise, the wolf didn’t face me when it reached me, it faces the brown one, making nasty growls.

As if it was protecting me/

The other wolves came out from hiding, and I could see the russet one shaking its head, another familiar glint in his eyes.

I whimpered again, noticing my ankle is twisted. Meaning; I can’t run and escape. Looking up, all the wolves eyes are pointed at me. I gulped. Slowly, the grey one moved closer and sniffed at my injured ankle. I could hear it sighing, then It looked at me with a tortured expression. It laid down next to me, its eyes on me all the time.

“What’s going on?”