A F T E R D A R K | PAUL LAHOTE - 1

09

Sun in Forks was a rare thing, so when our dull and rainy town was blessed with nice weather, every single person could be found outside.

It's where I was now, sitting on one of the benches outside school on our lunch break with Bella and Jessica, taking in the beautiful rays as they warmed my skin. There was a reason I kept sunglasses in my bag and finally the day had come where I could use them.

I didn't mind a bit of sun but in Phoenix it was always unbearable. Same heat, different day. The air was always thick as opposed to what it was like here. The almost constant rain made the air weightless and it made the rare sunlight blissful to sit under.

But, as always, my moment was ruined.

"He's not here." The voice of Jessica spoke out, reminding me she was sat near me. I opened my eyes and looked out of the tinted lenses to see her glance back at Bella's always curious eyes. What was she taking about? "Whenever the weathers nice the Cullens disappear."

Ah, makes sense now.

"What, they just ditch?" Bella asked and I removed my sunglasses from my face, pushing them to rest in my hair as I looked to them both curiously. I hadn't noticed that the Cullens weren't here but now it had been mentioned I was thinking about where they had trotted off to.

"No." Jessica said, closing her eyes and resting in the sun again, "Dr. and Mrs. Cullen yank them out for hiking and camping and stuff.. I tired that on my parents." She scoffed, "Not even close."

Underneath my hand, my cellphone buzzed and diverted my attention. I looked down to the item with creased brows until I saw the name in black bold letters.

So how about we stop randomly bumping into each other and conveniently meet up with each other instead?

Paul, the cheeky bastard.

I picked up the phone with a grin and opened the message to write a response.

I'm sorry, I think you have the wrong number. I don't talk to mysterious strangers I meet in the forest.

Some moments after I hit send a response came in. I had to admit, I was impressed with his response rate but then again it had taken me mere seconds to reply to him.

I never mentioned anything about a forest.

And then another.

And besides, you gave me your number while we were stood on the outskirts of a forest.

I rolled my eyes and started typing away just as Angela sat down on our table with an excited grin, climbing in next to me as she put her bag down.

Was there something you wanted Paul? Or are you just here to bug me?

"Guys, I'm going to the prom with Eric." My friend beamed, "I just asked him.. I took control." She said excitedly.

"I told you that would happen." Bella said with a nod while biting into an apple.

I smiled at Angela as my phone beeped again, "That's amazing, I'm happy for you."