The Runaway Bride

“Or maybe it's you and your sick need to give love then take it away
And you'll add my name to your long list of traitors who don't understand”

-“Dear John” Taylor Swift

Someday she would laugh about it she thought. Someday it would all seem like a joke. Even though today it seemed like a cruel one. She would laugh about it someday, maybe not today, but someday. Was it suppose to hurt this much? She didn’t really know how to handle the aching pain she felt in her chest whenever she heard his name. She liked to make believe it didn’t hurt. But the throbbing in her heart reminded her that it did.

Letting him go made her feel cold. He had been her motivation to keep on fighting. She thought she had won, but everything seemed so pointless. Outside she looked like she had it all together, but in reality she was a wreck. Why couldn’t she just let go?

“Everything ok?” Emily asked her as she stirred the batter of muffins she had whipped out.

These days that question seemed to be attached to her. Everywhere she went people had the need to ask her how she was doing. They wanted to see a broken Violet, but she wouldn’t break. She was tangled up inside, but she most definitely would not show that side of her.

“Good” she lied as she flipped though one of the “Homes” magazine Emily had.

“Is that so?”

“Yup”

Emily sighed putting down the spoon, “Violet I know Paul—“

“Save it” Violet cut her. “I don’t need to hear how Paul is hurt and needs time. I know that line trust me. I’ve memorized it. But you know what I realized? I’m tired of just giving time away. I almost lost time when I was on my deathbed. I never want to lose time again. I don’t have any more time to give, Emily. Paul doesn’t want any of my time and I’m tired of just wasting it on someone who doesn’t seem to want me as much as I want him.”

Emily stood quietly taking in everything Violet spilled out. She observed her as she flipped through another page of the magazine. She seemed as though she were set. Emily couldn’t think of a life that didn’t involve Sam. Maybe she wasn’t as strong, but in all honesty if being strong meant not having Sam then she didn’t want to be. She didn’t only feel this way because of the imprinting. She was in madly in love with Sam regardless of the imprinting. But thanks to the imprinting their love was able to blossom. Sometimes it hurts her to think that if it weren’t for the imprinting they wouldn’t be together.

She feared that if it wasn’t for the imprinting their whispered I love you’s would be nothing. She always pushed that thought away though; because luckily she did have him and he was her everything and she knew Sam felt the same.

Violet turned to look up at Emily who seemed to have a small worried frown.

“Em?” she asked.

“Huh?”

“You ok?”

“Yeah” she smiled weakly feeling a bit blue that she couldn’t express her worries to Violet.

Violet chuckled sadly feeling a familiar tug on her heart, “I wish I could have a love like yours,” she confessed feeling a little envious. “The way you and Sam look at each other… it’s indescribable. When he looks at you it’s like… like he sees you. And I mean actually sees you. It’s like you’re a painted sunset and he’s the artist, his admiration for you radiates off of him” She sighed. “Why doesn’t, Paul see me like that?” Her heart tugged again, “Actually, he never did—he never will.”

“Violet—“ Emily stopped herself. She could feel a knot forming inside her throat. It pained her to see two loved ones away from each other.

“It’s ok, Emily” Violet reassured her. “I’m just babbling on. Don’t pay any attention to anything I said. It doesn’t matter”

“Of course it matters” Emily walked to the table where Violet sat and sat down next to her.

Violet shook her head “Not anymore. It’s over.”

“Vi—“

“When are the guys getting here?”” Violet interrupted her. She didn’t want to talk about Paul. She didn’t need people feeling sorry for her. She had already spilled too much of her feelings.

Emily exhaled knowing what Violet was doing, but let her have her way nonetheless.

“They should be here any minute”

And soon enough the boys came stampeding in.

“I’m so hungry!” Jared complained.
“The food is not ready, you’ll have to wait” Emily said getting up as Sam went straight to her to give her a kiss on her temple.

Violet smiled at the small affection Sam showed Emily.

“Hey lookee here, it’s Madder!” Jared said as he sat across from her followed by Seth who sat right next to her, Jacob and Quil.

“Yup, soak it all in” Violet smiled at him.

“Nice to see you” Jacob smiled at Violet. Violet returned the smile. A sincere smile in fact. She had always thought Jacob was sweet.

“I’ve missed you!” Seth hugged her “Where have you been?”

“Around” she smiled returning the hug. She hadn’t seen Seth in a while trying to avoid Paul. She had missed that little boy. Although, technically he wasn’t little anymore, but she would always see him a cute and adorable little Seth.

“Well it’s good to have you back!” He chirped happily.

Jared rolled his eyes “Your such a kiss ass”

“Leave the kid alone” Jacob shoved Jared earning a shove back from Jared.

“Grow up” it was Quil’s turn to roll his eyes.

Jacob raised an eyebrow curiosity filled his eyes wondering what was up with Quil then without hesitation shoved him. “Relax bro”

“Relax? How can I relax? Paul is going to get here any second now and hold and behold Violet and him are going to go at it like thy always do!” he blurted. Jacob hit him on the back of his head giving him a frown. “No offense to you Violet” Quil added while rubbing his head.

Violet was a little taken back by his outburst but understood where he was coming from. They were all probably tired of the ‘Violet and Paul drama’. To be honest it was a tad bit embarrassing that it got to that point.

Speak of the devil-- Paul and Embry made an entrance to the house. Paul’s eyes immediately landed on Violet. His eyes showed his surprise to find her there. He hadn’t seen her since their last episode. Violet quickly adverted her sight away from him.

“Violet!” Embry hollered. He walked towards her and patted her back.

“Hey Embry” she smiled.

Paul stood by the door not daring to go anywhere near Violet. He observed her as she interacted with the guys. He had missed her whole essence. Now that he finally had her near it was hard to stay away. He wasn’t sure why though. His every thought always began and ended with her. He could only see one side of her face, but took it all in. He took in the curve of her smile, how she occasionally would put her hair behind her ear, and how she obviously was avoiding him.

He snapped fro his thoughts when he saw her get up.

“I should get going” she grabbed her purse and jacket. An echo of goodbyes rang as she headed towards the door where Paul stood. She didn’t dare look at him. She kept her eyes on the floor the whole five seconds that it took her to get there. As she walked to it it felt like an eternity. She just wanted to get out of there. She accidently bumped her shoulder into him and for the first time in a long time turned her face to him.

“Sorry” she mumbled raising her head to him.

As Paul’s eyes met hers he felt a jolt of ecstasy coarse its way through his body. It was like a thousand of electric shocks were roaming all over his being. He didn’t understand the feeling nor did he want to. He felt himself being detached from everything that held him on earth. The strings he had been holding on to suddenly were cut loose and he felt free. All this time he had felt like a puppet feeling his every step being manipulated by someone other than himself. He felt himself falling and tumbling into nothing. It was like whatever was holding him down had finally released him. It felt like he was finally home. The woman in front of him was home. Fuzzy colorful specs surrounded her and it was only her that he saw. Nothing but her. He noticed every detail about her. He wanted to memorize everything. Suddenly as fast as the feeling of euphoria came it left and he was brought back to reality.

The string reattached themselves and he was once again a puppet.

Violet opened the door and walked out leaving the gang inside. Ignoring the knots she felt in her stomach.

Paul stood at the door consumed with confusion.

“Whoa, dude…” Jared said bringing Paul back “For a minute there I thought you had imprinted on her… weird,” he said shaking his head changing his attention to something else.

“Yeah…weird” Paul mumbled turning his attention to the door Violet had walked out of.

***

Saturday finally came. Was it bad that she was actually dreading it? She sat in front of her mirror and applied a little of blush. She looked at herself in the mirror and couldn’t help but frown putting down the brush. She didn’t feel like herself. It was like she was a stranger in her own skin. She could one find one word that could describe how she was feeling:

Blah.

She then felt guilty for how she was feeling. Poor Ben. He did not deserve the mood she was in. He deserved a happy and excited Violet, but the thing was that she was neither happy nor excited. She didn’t want to go through the dating process again. It was tiring.

She stood up and eyed herself in the mirror. Her yellow dress flowed just above her knees. Her hair fell over he shoulders in loose curls. She didn’t look bad, but she didn’t feel right. She thought about taking the dress off. Paul was the one who liked it when she wore yellow, so it didn’t feel right that she would wear it with Ben. But that was a stupid thought. It was just a color.

The clock read 6:42. The date was at 7:30. How cliché she thought. The guys had probably just got back from hiking were at Emily’s house. Surely Emily had whipped something up for them knows the guys and even Leah’s appetite. They sure could eat.

She wasn’t sure whether she really wanted something with Ben to work out. Sure Ben was a good guy, but she wasn’t really ready to start dating anyone new. She wasn’t even over Paul. She felt like a scratched disc most of the time always repeating going back to thoughts of Paul.

Her mind kept drifting back to when she bumped into him at Emily’s. The way he has looked at her left her breathless. What surprised her more was how quickly his look changed. One second he was looking at her as though she was the only person in the world the next second his eyes were clouded with indifference. The sparkle he had given her disappeared and he went back to looking at her the same way he had been looking at her since she had arrive. He looked at her with rancorous eyes.

The animosity he had towards her was almost tangible. It had inflated inside of him for four years. She wasn’t sure if he would ever be able to forgive her. It had been clear that they couldn’t be near each other after having an ardent past. He couldn’t swallow her presence and she couldn’t accept the fact that he couldn’t tolerate her presence.

As soon as they thought everything was ok, something in him clicked that reminded him what she did. Neither of them could live that way.

She deiced to distract herself by painting her nails. She sat on her bed barefoot and criss-crossed. She deiced to go with a light melon color. Just as she finished one hand her doorbell rang. She looked at the clocked confused as it read 7:02. She screwed back the top of the nail polish and set it down on her bed. She got up and went downstairs to open the door.

Her eyes widen as she saw a familiar beautiful copper toned man standing in front of her house.

“Paul?” She nearly shrieked.

The puppet had returned home.