PETRICHOR , paul lahote.

012. bonding time

PAUL LAHOTE woke up at nine, showered for twenty minutes, devoured his breakfast for ten minutes and overthought for the final half-an-hour before Lena was supposed to arrive.

Or at least, he assumed she was arriving, because she didn't clarify last night. She just told him to be ready by ten...which he was.

"So, who's the girl?"

Paul's head snapped up at his dad's teasing question, "What? There's no girl."

The older man nodded slowly with a sly smile, "Sure, son. You spent forty minutes getting ready for Jared, then?"

The teenager glared at his dad, "No. I mean—oh, shut up."

"So, who is she?"

"It's not like that." Paul said, "It's not a...romance thing. We're just hanging out."

"Okay, it's not a romance thing." Paul's dad spoke, "But you want it to be?"

"No! Why the hell would you think that?"

"Because you're nervous." The man answered clearly, "And you don't even get nervous when Sam sends you out to hunt that ginger vampire, so it must be big."

"It's not big, just...odd." Paul finally said, nodding to himself in agreement at his own answer.

"Odd how?"

Paul went to answer, but a loud scraping sound rang through the open kitchen window. Paul's dad turned to see a tall girl with short dark hair on a skateboard swerving down the road leading up to their house before kicking up the piece of wood on wheels and travelling up to the front door on her feet.

He looked back at his son with a smirk, "Lena Parkinson? I thought she was 'the bane of your very existence'?"

Paul stood with a huff, "She is."

"Then why are you so nervous to hang out with her? Scared you might like it?" The man teased as he followed the boy to the front door.

Paul turned to his dad just as Lena knocked on the wood, "Don't be weird."

The man shrugged, "You're the one being weird, dude."

Paul ignored him, opening the door to reveal Lena in all her glory, skateboard in hand. She was wearing worn out converse with her usual brown jogger shorts and a t-shirt from Wolf War Clothing.

"Nice shirt." Paul's dad commented with a smile and a nod, "Where'd you get it?"

Lena looked down at her top, smirking, "Found it in the trash, thought i'd fix it up. You know me, I'm a stickler for charity work."

The older man chucked and shook his head, "Watch it."

Lena smiled before turning to Paul, "Ready?"

The boy nodded stepping out the door and closing it behind him, despite his dad's protests. He followed Lena down the drive before she turned to him and asked, "Get your board."

"My what?"

"Your skateboard." Lena smirked, "Jared told me you used to ride, so don't lie."

The wolf huffed and ran back to his house, reaching under the porch and bringing out a dark blue skateboard that looked like it hadn't been touched since Paul phased, which it probably hadn't.

The teenagers set off down the road, Paul taking a minute to adjust before it was smooth sailing for them both. The air swept them up as they speeded down the street, Lena waving at the cars that passed by.