PETRICHOR , paul lahote.

026. no more risking it

THE WEEKS FOLLOWING BELLA'S WEDDING we're what Lena would describe as...oddly quiet. Ever since her arrival in LaPush, it had been nonstop drama and chaos. If it wasn't for the pack dealing with raging vampires, it was Lena dealing with Paul being a bitch. But now the raging vampires were...gone, and Bella and Edward were married and Lena and Paul were dating. So there was nothing to do.

It felt weird. Really really weird.

"I mean...top ten? We'll be here for a minute."

Embry groaned, head rolling back, "Dude, it's not that hard. Top ten hottest marvel actors? Be real, bro!"

Currently, the pack were at the beach. Celebrating Leah being accepted into her number one college, the wolves were hanging out, barbecuing, and playing volleyball. They sat in a circle on the stand, eating burgers and...rating marvel actors.

"...Florence Pugh, Angelina Jolie—"

"Angelina Jolie isn't a marvel actor."

"Dude! Eternals! It's like the best marvel movie ever, man!"

Ignoring Embry and Quil's usual bickering, Lena turned to Leah with a smile, "You've been unusually quiet tonight. What's up?"

Signing, Leah blinked at the girl—her first ever girl friend who she actually liked—and pursed her lips, "Nothing. It's just...uh, I guess I'm jealous. You're with Paul, Quil is with Claire, Sam and Emily have their thing...Bella is married. It's a little lonely, now. I guess."

Smiling sadly, Lena put her hands on Leah's shoulders, turning her towards her, "Leah you're amazing! Whether it takes a year or ten, you're going to find a person perfect for you."

She sent her a knowing look, "I mean, look at how me and Paul got together. Who knows, your perfect person could be right under your nose."

It was just as she finished the sentence that the volleyball came flying at them, hitting Jared—who was sitting with Kim—right in the chest. He went flying back, and everyone else flinched back.

"Sorry man!" Rebecca ran forward, blonde hair tussled in the wind, "I guess Paul forgot about the wolf strength."

"Your good." Jared coughed out in reply, throwing the ball back. Lena watched as Bex rejoined Paul in their one on one, eyes zoning in on her boyfriend.

"I don't know whether I prefer the arguing or the eye fucking." Leah commented, "Can't you and Paul just be normal?"

Lena chuckled, "Never, baby."

In the two weeks it had been since Bella's wedding, not much had happened. Paul and Lena spent two days receiving jeers of 'I told you so' from everyone around them, Embry and Quil were too worried about entering their senior year to be all that fun, Sam and Emily were...Sam and Emily, and Jacob moped. Obviously.

The most exciting thing that happened was probably Teddy's boyfriend, Luke, spending the weekend at their house because his was under refurbishment. They watched movies, and Lena learned that the man was quite the baker—she had cupcakes to serve the whole rez when Monday came around.

Oh, well, there was another thing. One of those things that will go down in history—or in other words: will never be forgotten about by the pack groupchat.

Paul was arrested.

In Lena's defence, Paul didn't seem like the romantic type, at all. It's not as if the notion bothered her, if it did she wouldn't be dating him. She just couldn't picture the boy decorating a pathway with rose petals and handing her a thought out gift by the sunset. It just wasn't his thing.