By Now

The sound of glass breaking woke Paul. With careful steps he made his way through the house, a heartbeat was beating rapidly in his kitchen and the smell of blood wafted throughout the house. He turned the corner and froze at the sight of a small blonde girl shaking on the ground while picking up pieces of glass.

“Nora?” Paul said quietly and the blonde spun around. Mascara tracks ran down her face as she gulped, “I-I just came for the rest of my stuff. I didn’t know you were home.” She stated quietly picking her self up off the floor before stumbling slightly. Paul reached out and caught her arm before she went down again frowning as she almost immediately pulled away.

Her cropped blonde hair twirled around her face as she quickly moved to grab a box on the floor, her citrusy scent floated around his nose teasing him and he squeezed his eyes shut breathing in. A sniffle brought him out of his stupor as he watched her try and keep a grip on the heavy box, moving around the remains of broken glass. He took the box from her gently before heading out the back door spotting her truck and lifting it in.

Glancing over he nodded towards her bloodied arm, “You should go to the hospital, looks like you’ll need stiches.” Paul said softly watching as she wiped the black liquid off her cheeks smearing the already dry remains across her face. Walking forward slowly he let the pad of his thumb graze the apple of her cheek slowly wiping them clear.

Crystal blue eyes stared up at him and he nearly broke moving closer to her, his forehead pressed against hers, her sweet breath filled his mouth and he let his hands circle her hips slowly. Pain ebbed at his chest gently as he thought of his new girlfriend Lily, sweet, sweet Lily.

With strawberry blonde hair and honey brown eyes the girl was beautiful, but she wasn’t Nora. She wasn’t the girl who he said those three little words for the first time, feeling like his heart was about to burst out of his chest. She wasn’t the girl who helped him paint the entire house and instead got more paint on each other than the walls.

She wasn’t the girl who his mother fell in love with or his sister looked up to. She wasn’t the girl who he had bought a ring for.

But she was his imprint and he had no choice in the matter.

He had to let the love of his life go, and move on with someone who fate had dubbed ‘his’. Paul shook gently as Nora’s hands slid slowly up his chest for the last time, squeezing his eyes shut he tried to ignore the wetness seeping from between his eyelids as he heard her let out a soft sob.

With speed he didn’t think he possessed Paul grabbed Nora’s thighs hoisting them up around his waist and sitting her on the tailgate kissing her so fiercely he wished it would never stop. The sweet taste of her mouth did nothing to stop sharp twisting pain from stabbing at his gut as Lily’s face entered his mind.

He ripped away from Nora blinking as he gasped for breath, it wasn’t fair, he wasn’t supposed to feel like this. He was supposed to just want Lily, this tearing feeling he felt while staring at Nora only pained him more as he realized he was loosing the only real love he had ever had. Slowly Nora slid off the truck and sniffled once more, the slam of the tailgate made Paul flinch as he watched her wrench open the old trucks door.

Letting their eyes connect once more Nora bit her lip to keep from crying out and threw herself into the truck quickly turning it on and shifting out of the drive. Heavy raindrops started to thunder down on the windshield, the wipers didn’t seem fast enough.

Nora feared looking back and faced forward crying silently, refusing to look back at the broken man she had left behind.