There's Always a Catch

The week soon ended, it seemed my life was quickening lately. I went to school for a two days this week, the principal wasn’t happy.

Anyways, that’s not important. What is important is I was going to the bonfire tonight, I was now just getting ready. I told Paul I’d dress nice, and I was determined to look nice. So I had a nice soak in the bath, and got ready, I dried my hair letting the curls take over. I decided to leave my hair down, as Paul said he preferred it down. I got dressed in some pale stretchy jeans, and pale pink tunic top with some brown Ugg boots and I finished off by putting a small amount of makeup on and a spray of perfume. It was just in time when Paul picked me up.

He looked so gorgeous, in dark jeans and a black t-shirt. His hair styled nicely like always and I had the sudden urge to run my hand through it.

“Hi!” I say hyperactively. Paul stares at me in awe and I wondered if I had something on my face. I touched my cheek just in case.

“What?” I ask, after Paul hadn’t said anything. He just stared at me, in complete shock. Did I not look decent enough?

“You look beautiful, you’re so beautiful Casey” Paul says softly, a sense of emotion in his eyes. He was so sweet and caring, I wondered how I deserved him.
I blush openly and Paul smiles widely at that. “Thanks” I mumble, grabbing my keys and purse and I go out the door, closing it behind me.

“Let’s go” I announce and Paul takes my hand again and we walk to his truck, while driving the radio played Chasing Cars by the Snow Patrol, we sat in content silence. Paul suddenly turned the volume down and looked at me, to the road, then back at me again.

“Casey” he states warmly.
“Yeah?” I ask unsure, he sounded different.
“Tonight, things are going to change okay?” Paul says softly and I feel my heart quicken. Change?
“What’d you mean?” I ask confused, but Paul didn’t answer. For his own luck, we were at Sam’s where the Bonfire was being hosted.

We jumped out the truck and made our way over, it was dark and the stars were out twinkling proudly. The sound of a crackling fire could be heard and their was lots of talking. There were some people I didn’t recognize and gave me some funny looks when I walked past, my hand linked with Paul’s.

“Casey!” the voice says, I was talking to Set about this recipe Emily told me about, when the voice called me. I turned around slowly and I saw Bella grinning at me.

“Bells!” I say, and hug her.
“What you doing here?” I ask excitedly.
“Jake invited me.” Bella says merely and I nod, grinning still.

“Everyone! The stories are about to begin. So go grab a good seat!” Billy Black, Jacob’s father who I had the pleasure of meeting earlier, shouted out cheerfully. Paul took my hand and led me to a nice, comfy place in front of the fire. He handed me a blanket and I wrapped it around me and sat down on the floor, as all the chairs should be taken by the Elders that were here.

“Casey, sit on a chair” Emily tells me. I shake my head, giggling.
“I’m fine Em, I’ve got Paul to lean on” I say and lean back, to find Paul had sat right behind me, his legs around me, and I used his chest as support. He placed one hand on my leg and the other on my stomach, feeling a tiny kick.

“You’ll always have me Casey” Paul whispers sweetly in my ear, making me shiver from how close we really were. I smile slightly, watching the flickering fire.

“Centuries ago…” Billy begun in a voice full of wisdom. The way he told the story was fascinating and I found myself sitting forward to listen more. During the story, I was cuddled against Paul and it felt right. I was intrigued about the cold ones and the wolf spirits. I was especially interested in the ‘imprinting’ where one finds their soul mate by a first glance. A person was made for another one, that’s what imprinting was about. I wished it was real.

“Do think their real?” Paul whispers in my ear suddenly. I look up at him, seeing his russet skin glow against the light of the fire.

“I don’t know…you never know what happens out there, they could be real for all we know” I say honestly and Paul gave me a half-smile, this confused me.

After the stories finished, much to my disappointment. Paul insisted I come for a walk with him. We ended up near the beach, it looked amazing at night the stars reflecting against the calm waters.

We were hand in hand again, the wind blowing gently against us. It felt perfect, perfect to be here; with him.
“So, what’s going on?” I ask him, I knew he had something to tell me.
Paul sighs gently, tightens the grip on my hand.

“Paul?” I coax, and he finally begins to speak.
“What would you do if I told you that everything Billy told you tonight…was true?” Paul says nervously, I let my hand go limp. He was joking.
“Paul, that’s not funny. Their not real” I say, trying to laugh it off but I felt unnerved, it felt like he was telling the truth.

“I’m not joking Casey, it’s true. The shape shifters are real!” Paul says, stopping me in my tracks. Our hands now separate.

“How do you know?” I ask sternly. Paul looks almost guilty.
“Because I am one!” Paul snaps, sounding annoyed and I was more than shocked…
“You can’t be. It’s not real!” I say firmly, wishing this could end now. He ruined the moment now, by making up lies.

I froze. History was repeating itself. I remember saying similar things to him
I remember telling him I was pregnant and he accused me of lying and this is what I was doing to Paul now. I was going to lose Paul too.

“Stop lying” I beg, feeling the tears coming. Paul took a deep breath and spoke again:

“I’m not Casey, it’s true. I’m a shape shifter, I was born to protect the lands of La Push. I fight vampires for a living and I’ve imprinted on you. I’m completely in love with you Casey! You have to believe me!” Paul begs. I shake my head furiously.

I step away from him, the look of rejection washed onto Paul’s face.

“I can’t do this right now, I just can’t. This isn’t real Paul. You don’t love me, you don’t fight vampires. You’re making this all up!” I yell, stepping further away. Paul stepping closer and closer.

“I’m not! It’s true, I swear!” Paul says sounding in pain. I looked at him, he looked sincere, apologetic.

“Stay away from me Paul. I can’t deal with your lies” I say so coldly, I could feel his own hurt.
“I’m not lying Casey. I love you” he says, trying to convince me. He reached out to touch me, I cringed away.

“I knew this would happen. I knew it was too good to be true” I cry, sniffling. With that, leaving Paul alone on the beach, I ran back to the bonfire.
If Paul was a shape shifter, and the guys all looked like him. They must be wolves too.

Sam saw my damp face, and my expression of hurt.
Everyone quietened down. “Casey?” he asks warily. Paul was walking back up, he was soon near me. The guys stared at me, then back at Paul.

“Casey, please!” Paul begs, trying to grab my hand.

“DON’T TOUCH ME!” I scream. Jacob and Seth suddenly stand up.

“Paul! What did you do!” snaps Leah, glaring at him.

“I’m going home” I snap at Paul and I storm away, making my way to Forks.

Soon, a truck pulled up beside me. It was Leah.

“Get in” she orders and due to my pain, I got in.

I curled up and cried softly, leaning my head against the car window.

“He loves me” I whimper and Leah looked at me sympathetically.

“I’m part of it Casey. I’m a wolf too” she says and I sit up, shocked.

“What?” I ask, speechless almost.

“The genes were passed on to me too. I phased last year.”

“Oh my god” I whisper.

“I didn’t want this life Casey, understand that. None of us truly did. We were chosen and it’s our duty to protect our lands against the leeches-I mean vampires. It’s our way of life, but we’re not monsters of evil Casey. We’re good people with the right intentions. We would never intentionally hurt you. We had to protect you from our secret until Paul was ready” Leah explains firmly.

I couldn’t think straight. I couldn’t breathe right.

“Just take me home” I murmur tiredly.

Leah nods and we drive home in silence. When I got to my drive, I glanced at Leah.

“Tell Paul to leave me be for a while. I need to think” I say carefully, Leah nods understandingly. I got out and rushed inside, as the icy cold nipped at my cheeks.

When I got in and went straight to bed, I couldn’t get to sleep as Paul was on my mind, replaying what had occurred tonight.

Paul and all my best friends in La Push were shape shifting wolves.
And I thought being pregnant was complicated.