Never Seen It Before

I laughed running on the sand as Paul chased me, laughing I continued to run let my feet get hit by the cold water, “Can’t catch me” I taunted.

Paul finally caught up to me, wrapping his arms around me. “You’re going to get sick again if you keep getting in the water Ari”

I scoffed, “I’ll be fine”.

He laughed pushing me onto the sand, “What do you say about going on a double date tonight? Brody met this girl but she doesn’t want to go alone with him”

“Smart girl, doesn’t want to get raped” I joked trying to distract him as I grabbed sand in my hand, I pecked his lips before dumping the sand all over his hair and jumping off him, continuing to run away from his as he threw sand at me.

If you had told me a few months ago that I would be kicked out of the castle at Volterra, moved to La Push and fell for Paul. Then I would have wondered about your mental health and offered to help you get help. But now looking back, I don’t know why I didn’t do this earlier. Why didn’t get a normal life earlier.

To be truthfully honest, I wake up sometimes wondering if this is all a dream, and scared out of my mind knowing I care about someone so much in such a short time. I stopped running as I continued to think about everything that had happened in such a short time.

Paul caught up out of breath after a few minutes, “Babe, what’s wrong?”

Sending him a smile I shook my head, “Nothing, I was just thinking about us”

Smiling he leaned down, kissing me softly before sitting down on the sand and pulling me down with him, “How lucky I am to have you?”. Surprising me for a minute I had expected
him to say some cocky reply but he proved me wrong yet again.

“Or how lucky I am to have you” I murmured laying my head on his chest.

Looking down at me, his face holding the cutest smile I’d ever seen “Do you know what’s coming up?”

Scrunching my face up and furrowing my eyebrows I shook my head, “No” my voice holding confusion.

“Our six months baby” Paul’s grin turned to a frown as my eyes filled with tears, a few escaping; Paul frowned even more as he wiped them away with his hoodie sleeve, “What’s wrong?”

A chuckle escaped my lips as I tried to stop crying, “I can’t believe you remembered. I’m
sorry I’m getting so emotional, it’s just the fact you remembered and brought it up.”

“Why wouldn’t I remember? It’s been the best six months of my life, and I’m glad it’s been
you that I’ve shared it with” he murmured as he kissed the top of my head.

“Let’s do something special, for our six months” I offered excitedly.

He leaned down so our foreheads were touching and we were looking in each other’s eyes,
“As long as it’s a perfect day for you, I’ll do whatever you want”.



“Babe, I told you. You didn’t have to bake anything for my mom” Paul whined as he picked me up for Thanksgiving dinner.

I hit his hands as they reached to take the pie I had made, “Well too bad, it’s a decent pie; why put to waste?”

He stayed quiet for a minute thinking of a reply, “Because she already made one!” he grinned.

My smile turned into a chesire grin, “Well then I guess I can take the cake instead”.

His grin faltered, “You made a cake too?”

“Of course! I woke up early, and had nothing to do so I spent my day baking” I smiled putting the cover on the pie and taking the cake out of the fridge.

Sending me an innocent yet worried look Paul opened his mouth, then closing it until he finally opened it, “What type of cake?”

“Red velvet with royal icing and glazed fruit” I told him as I checked the cake.

“And it’s safe to eat? Because I eat everything, others don’t have the same resistance as
me” he pointed out.

Narrowing my eyes, I poked his chest with my pointer finger, “You ate my cookies and everything else I’ve cooked and said it was good”

“Babe they are! I’m just messing with you, but take the cake, we already have a pie” he hugged me tightly.

“Well then let’s get going, I’m nervous enough about meeting your mom”.

The drive to his house was short, but long enough in my mind to create scenarios where his mom hated me. “And you’re sure she’ll like me?”

“She likes you already knowing you got me under control for six months, she wants to know your secret” Paul chuckled taking my hand looking at me.

“It’s my smile, I know it” I laughed as we turned onto his street and parked in his driveway,

“Now or never” I breathed out as we just sat there.

He held my hand as we entered his house and walked towards the kitchen where his
mom’s back was facing us as she finished the last details, “Mom” Paul caught her attention.

“Oh hello! You must be the girl Paul keeps talking about, I’m Stephanie.” she grinned
rushing over to us.

I smiled, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, I’m Arianna but you can call me Aria if you want to”.

Paul chuckled taking the cake from my hands, “She brought cake, she even made it herself”
he boasted.

“Oh, you shouldn’t have. But thank you anyways, now you two go around the house. Dinner should be ready soon, and Paul; Mike is coming” she sent a look at him before shooing us
out of the kitchen.

“Mike?” I questioned softly as Paul started showing me around the house.

“This guy she’s been seeing, I usually leave before he gets here but its Thanksgiving so I don’t have a choice” he muttered showing me his room.

“You’ll be fine, you have me here remember?”

Nodding he kissed my cheek as we continued the tour of the house, as we got back to the
kitchen the doorbell rang and his mom asked us to get the door. I held Paul’s hand in my grip to keep him calm as we opened the door to Mike.

Eventually we all got settled down for the dinner, Paul at my side and his mom and Mike across from us. We made small talk as Paul’s mom and I got to know each other, every now and then she would comment on how great I was and Paul would grin and kiss my cheek.

After a few hours I smiled saying goodbye to Paul’s mom and Mike, telling them how much
of a great time I had and hoped to see them soon. Paul pulling on my arm to leave, I could tell he didn’t enjoy spending much time with the both of them together. But seeing him grin as we spent the holiday together reminded me how thankful I was for him.