вυмp ιn тнe nιgнт

TWENTY SEVEN

jasmine didn't leave her room for a solid three days after failing to find jacob. she'd ignored her entire family, all her concerned friends, and especially bella swan, who had tried calling her to ask if she knew what had happened to jacob and why he'd disappeared. even rosa and joseph weren't able to get ahold of her.

she left a couple depressing voicemails, but other than that, the witch didn't speak. the only thing close to words coming out of her mouth were the enraged screams she kept from her family with her ever-so-popular silencing charms, which kept even vampire and other supernatural hearing at bay.

now, jasmine had tried locator spells multiple times already. but whenever she did, there was never a definitive place of where jacob was. he was either in the woods, or at the beach, or his house, or some secluded place that wasn't really marked on her maps. she'd refrained from asking any of her quilete friends about it, not wanting to bother even trying to speak to any of them.

but it hurt. it hurt so much to know that she'd lost jacob to whoever had been with him in those final moments before the call cut.

she didn't know who had been there, or why they had talked like they knew what was happening to her friend, but jasmine didn't trust it. she didn't trust whoever it was, and she didn't trust whatever they had done to him that caused him to also, evidently, cut everyone off. she assumed from the fact he spent time at his home that billy was aware of him ghosting everyone, or that billy was aware of whatever the hell had happened to his son.

but jasmine couldn't find the strength in herself to leave her room and go confront either the man, or his son.

eventually, jasmine was broken out of her state by something knocking on her window, and she blankly looked over only to go wide eyed at the sight of paul lahote at her window. somehow, he was hanging off the side of her house easily, and it stunned her that he was just there, waiting for her to let him in.

also, for god knows what reason, he was shirtless.

she stumbled over, hastily opening the window and allowing the other teenager in. paul seemed to greedily inhale the smell of her room, confusing her for a moment, before she chucked a large hoodie at him she'd had with her for years.

"never show up to my house shirtless, you heathen. there are children here."

"i didn't go around the front, i just went straight to your window," he responded, cheekily sticking his tongue out at her as he pulled the hoodie on.

she and paul had steadily been building their friendship back up during the few weeks after their talk. he came over sometimes just to hang out, or they went out and got food or watched the water at first beach. it was easy to fall back into their old rhythm, full of laughter and trust and stupid jokes, and a hidden want to be near each other. except, now paul was entirely too aware of that want, and jasmine still didn't have a clue as to why she felt so much better whenever paul was around for her to talk to or just chill with.

"what are you doing here?" she softly questions, her hand flicking and starting up another silencing charm. if jackson wasn't already aware of paul's unannounced presence, he would be if she hadn't used the spell.

"i came to see you. hailey said you haven't been talking to anyone and haven't left your house in days. and, you haven't responded to any of my stupid texts, so i decided to come see if you were pulling a bella."

jasmine snorts slightly at his disdainful mention of the swan girl, but smacked his arm lightly. "don't make fun, dick."

"anyways, i mean it when i say i'm worried about you. you're secluding yourself, and you're not talking to anyone, so i just..." the girl watches as he avoids her eyes, searching for words, until he looks back up at her. "i wanted to make sure you were okay."