THE WHITE SUN AT MIDNIGHT | J.BLACK

[10]

Paige sat on her plush bed sheets as she stared wearyingly at her math homework sprawled across the entire bed. She huffed and stood up, starting to pace around her bedroom. Ryland and the rest of the Millers had been a nice distraction from her thoughts trying to gnaw through her brain and down to her heart. But once she left their house after a wonderful dinner cooked by Mrs. Miller, she couldn't get distracted anymore. She wanted to talk to Jake, but she also didn't simultaneously, and it bugged her. She wanted to talk about the imprinting, but she also didn't want to get rejected or get into a fight. Not that she knew how Jacob's temper level, but she assumed from his little snap at her that it wasn't the best.

In the middle of her panicking, she passed her window but stopped in her tracks once she saw a figure standing at the edge of the woods. Paige slid the window open and squinted her eyes to see the boy she was panicking about standing there. Her eyebrows shot up in an instant, and Jake looked to be debating about something. 

He then shook his head and turned around, about to run back into the woods, when Paige shouted, "Hey Jake!" He whipped around, and the girl winced. The animal in her must've escaped for a bit. Once Jake saw her, his eyes widened in horror, and he started stumbling over what to reply with.

"What're you doing?" Paige called to him, and Jacob gulped. He came here to talk to Paige about the imprinting. But when he saw her, his mind went blank. He began mumbling random words under his breath until Paige waved him inside. 

Jacob sighed and bit his lip, debating if he should follow her orders. With great hesitation and much cussing, he jogged up to her house. "Uh, hey-hey, Paige. I um-I was here because erm . . . ." he stuttered, and Paige held in a small giggle that was about to escape her lips as she leaned against her windowsill.

"Are you stalking me now? The inner animal got you all obsessed?" She joked, and Jake suppressed a laugh.

"I um . . . . I just came here to uh . . . . to maybe talk about the whole imprint thing," he said with a weak smile, and Paige sighed.

"Come on," she whispered, even though she knew Jacob could hear her. Jake nodded his head swiftly and climbed the tree outside her window, and hopped through the open hole on the side of the house. Paige stepped back as his feet hit the ground, and he huffed awkwardly. Both their lips forming into straight lines.

"So uh . . . . what do you want to talk about?" Jacob stumbled over his words, and Paige furrowed her eyebrows.

"I thought you were the one who wanted to talk," Paige replied with the same amount of discomfort.

"Oh right um . . . ." Jake sighed before continuing, "look, I know you're my imprint and everything but -- but I'm in love with your sister. I'm in love with Bella. And after I imprinted on you, some of my feelings changed, but I still know I love her. I can't tell If it's sisterly or what, but I know I feel something that wasn't there before I phased. And maybe it's just the inner animal thing, but I don't-" 

"Oh my god, shut up," Paige cut him off, and his eyebrows raised into his hair. "I get it. You love my sister. And I'm fine with that. I used to love someone the way you love Bella before you imprinted on me. And like you, I don't know if it's still romantic or if it's just brotherly now. But what I do know is that imprinting happens for a reason. Believe me, I know. Based on my tribe's stories, imprinting is one of the core values of being a shifter. So how about this. We let this imprinting take its course with us, and if we end up together, we end up together. But if we don't, then we don't," she reasoned, and Jake stared at her before nodding hesitantly.

"Okay, yeah, yeah, why don't we just let it do its thing," he agreed.

"That what I just said," Paige replied with a soft lift of her lips. Jacob grinned at her before starting to move his gaze back to her. Her beauty was breathtaking to him. He didn't understand how someone could be so gorgeous. And how no one had snatched her up yet. But he was far from complaining. The fact that he had a chance with her sent little fireworks through his entire body. He might've not figured out his feelings for Bella and Paige, but one of the only things he did know. Was that the Swan sisters were not to be messed with.