𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐑. paul lahote ✓

𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

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EMMETT CULLEN: THERAPIST

EMMETT PRIDED HIMSELF IN BEING AUGUSTINE'S BEST FRIEND.

So, naturally, two weeks after the Cullens left Forks behind, he was the first person to notice the girl's piss poor mood.

They'd been up in Alaska once again, regrouping after the events that played out the night of Bella's birthday birthday. The Denalis were always welcoming, and Carmen practically tackled the youngest vampire among them the moment they arrived.

"Your room is exactly how you left it."

Said vampire put up a courageous front, but Emmett wasn't an idiot. Okay, maybe he was in an academic sense, but he wasn't a fool to knowing Augustine better than she knew herself.

So, on the morning before he and Rosalie were about to embark on a spur of the moment trip to South Africa, he all but cornered her in her old room when she was drawing.

Barricading the only exit with his body, he knew she noticed his presence based on the telltale tension that rose to her shoulders. "Go away, Emmett."

And yeah, that was another thing he clocked onto right away. Her insistence of being alone was fucking bizarre, considering she usually was never that far from another member of the family. Tanya had noticed her voluntary solitude as well when Emmett had brought it up to her, claiming that it reminded her of the girl's behaviour during the first few weeks after her transition.

When all she wanted to do was wallow.

"No can do, Aug," he replied, crossing his arms over his chest to appear intimidating as she swivelled in her chair to face him. Judging by the deadpan look on her face, it wasn't working. "You've been in a shit mood and everyone's starting to notice."

"Don't know what you're talking about," she shrugged, although her eyes instinctually faltered to the wall beside Emmett.

His unamused scoff reverberated around the room, making Augustine look at him again. "Esme offered to watch The Prisoner of Azkaban with you last night and you said no," he pointed out, watching as her expression shuttered, "that's weird; you'd never pass up the chance to bash Peter Pettigrew for his betrayal."

"Maybe I just wasn't in the mood," she offered meekly, unconvincing.

"Wasn't in the mood," he mocked in a tone that was supposed to replicate hers, but was just a little too high pitched. He shook his head. "No offence, but that's a crock of shit."

Augustine groaned, throwing her head in hers hands. "You are so annoyingly persistent," she muttered out, trying to move around the topic at hand, "even worse than Alice. At least she already knew I was gonna say no."

Emmett's gaze turned scrutinizing, scanning her form as if he was looking for something. He, alongside every other vampire in the house, knew that the girl always fought the urge to open up. Though she'd eventually grew out of it, it was always noticeable that she found it hard to tell people how she really felt.

But, Emmett was as headstrong as he looked, and he wouldn't be letting this go. If she could be stubborn, he could be worse.

"This isn't just about what happened at the birthday, is it?" His answer came in the form of Augustine's shoulders drooping, head still in her hands. "I'm not leaving this room until you tell me."

The ravenette's head snapped towards the nearby clock on the wall, and she frowned. "But, you're supposed to leave for the airport in an hour."

"Better start talking, then."

Augustine met his unflinching gaze, and unleashed a sigh when she saw him start leaning against the door for extra emphasis that he wasn't going anywhere.

The words were lodged in her throat, and had she been human, she was sure that she would've thrown up by now. Confiding in others had never been her strongest suit, especially after having grown up with such an emotionally constipated mother like June Dubois.

"Remember what happened on my birthday?" she started, phrasing it as such because she really didn't want to rehash the exact events once more. When Emmett nodded, her focus turned to her nails. "Well, we've sorta been talking."

"Talking how?" came the older vampire's immediate question, judging tone reminiscent of when Augustine's actual brother had found out she had her first boyfriend. Protective.

"At first it was all just petty fights and arguing," she told him, pausing for a beat after biting her tongue harshly. "And then we started getting along. He was pleasant."

Emmett's eyebrow arched up. "But?"

"After Bella's party, I asked him why he keeps switching up— one second he's trying to comfort me and the next he's calling me a leech."

The hardness of her tone was in direct opposition to the fact that her lip that started to quiver. And shit, if Emmett was still in Forks, he would've pummelled the shit out of this jerk, treaty be damned.

But, rather than come off too strong and potentially set her off, he pushed himself away from the door and sat on the edge of her bed. She watched as he did so. "And how did that make you feel?"

Her nose instantly scrunched up. "What're you, my therapist?" she asked, about to spin back in her chair to resume her drawing when Emmett's foot nudged it back.

"Humour me."

"Not great.. obviously."

"And why didn't it feel great, oh young one?"

The ravenette snarled lowly in annoyance, knowing Emmett wasn't going to let up on his insistence. She hesitated, eyes dropping down to her hands that began fidgeting in her lap. "It sucks because I see everyone else with their mates, so in love that it's sickening, really," she grumbled out, obviously avoiding the mention of Bella and Edward, aka the current exceptions to this fact, "and mine can't even see me for who I really am. All he sees is the enemy.. makes me tired."

Deep down, Augustine wanted Paul Lahote to see her.

She wanted her mate to know that she could still spike a volleyball just as well as she could when she was human, even though Carlisle warned her against trying out for the team. She wanted him to know that drawing had always been her escape, even though her family couldn't afford the basics growing up. And above all, she wanted him to know that she believed in love, even if she never had any great first hand experience with it.

Now, all of this was covered by a simmering anger, a hatred that she had for the older boy. But even she knew it was because she had to protect her own heart, despite it lacking a heartbeat.

After a beat of silence her eyes flickered back to Emmett's, seeing the soft gaze settled within his own amber ones. "It may suck now, but we're immortal; all we have is time," he began, rising as he ruffled her straight hair. "It'll pass."

"Hope so," came her sighed response, now turning back to her desk as Emmett moved back in the direction of the door. When she reached for her pencil, she was met with the sight of a singular strawberry with its leafed stem still attached. With furrowed eyebrows she called out one last time to the stocky vampire. "Em, you seen my pencil?"

He turned back and looked on the desk, palming his pant pockets before shrugging. "Nope, why?"

Staring at the strawberry like she was losing her mind, she prodded it at with her finger to ensure that yeah, she wasn't hallucinating, and aimlessly replied back. "Nevermind, not important."

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[ wyn's note ]

emmett forcing august to talk about her feelings: check.

thanks for over 7K reads guys!! absolutely bonkers!! also shoutout to wattpad for fixing their formatting, ily to whoever fixed it with the update <3 this means NEW FORMATTING FOR MY BOOKS teehee

next chap will include a bit of a time jump into mid new moon, and it'll be a paul/pack pov ;) till then, xx