TO BE TRUSTED | twilight

vi. it's not me, it's you

Lyla couldn't deny she was freezing, her soaked clothes clinging to her body making it impossible to warm up. Hesitantly she scooted closer to the guy, going rigid when he put his arm around her shoulders to pull her closer. She was ready to snap at him when she felt his scorching skin begin to warm her up.

"Damn, you weren't kidding, you're boiling, are you ill or something?" Lyla asked.

"Why? Are you worried about me?" He teased.

"No, just don't want to get sick." She quipped back.

"I think that ship sailed about 5 minutes into your stroll in the rain." Paul responded.

Lyla laughed at that, which easily made Paul smile with pride, though she couldn't see it.

"Ah, she laughs, does that mean I get a prize?" He teased.

"Oh yeah, your prize is me not kicking your teeth in for the whole 'I'm hot, I can warm you up' routine."

"It wasn't a routine." Paul denied with a small bark of laughter.

"Sure it wasn't."

"I'm telling the truth!"

"Of course." She turned her head to look at him as she made her sarcastic remark, not realising how close they were until their eyes met.

They stared at each other, the playful smiles fading from their faces, before Lyla cleared her throat and scooted away from him slightly.

"This is me, on the left." Lyla spoke up as they approached her uncle's house.

Paul pulled up outside and she turned to him with a slight smile as she slid out from under his arm, not noticing how it made his smile falter.

"Thanks for the lift." She said.

"No, problem." He smiled genuinely at her, and for a moment she understood why his smile made Jess so immediately infatuated with him.

She went to open the door and get out, but something made her hesitate, a question she needed to ask. "Um, why did you? Give me a lift, I mean?"

He looked slightly taken aback by the question, but he soon composed himself. "Like I said before, you don't know me, is it so hard to believe I'm just a nice guy?"

"In my experience, no ones ever 'just a nice guy'." With that, Lyla hopped out of the car and walked into her house without so much as a glance back, though Paul's eyes followed her the whole way.

☆

That day wasn't the last Lyla spent with Jake and Bella, it was an unexpected trio, to say the least, and Lyla didn't always join the other two, sensing that Jake's feelings for the older girl were a bit more than just friendly and wanting to give the pair some time alone every now and then.

Jacob and Quil began joining Lyla and Jess at school sometimes too, since the recent development of Embry joining the supposed cult left the two boys in the same boat as Jess and Lyla.

"I don't get it." Quil spoke bitterly from his new seat at Jess and Lyla's lunch table.

"Don't torture yourself, Quil." Lyla advised, not bothering to follow his eyes to where she knew they glared at where Paul and Embry sat at the table that the 'cult' seemed to have claimed.

Jess had yet to arrive and Jacob sat sulking as he stabbed at his never-to-be-eaten lunch, he barely payed attention to the pair he sat with, his main focus these day only ever Bella or Embry's sudden betrayal.

"But I just wanna know why." The curly haired boy declared.

"Well, you won't find out, believe me, I've tried figuring it out, hell, I even asked Jared once. But only they know and, in case you haven't noticed, they refuse to talk to anyone but each other." Lyla ranted.

It was then that Jess plopped down at the table, her expression emanating anger - something rare for the girl, until Jared suddenly changed over night.

"I don't believe it." She seethed.

"What happened?" Lyla asked dully, waiting room hear the next scandalous turn of events.

"See for yourself." Jess scoffed, nodding to the door of the cafeteria.

Part of Lyla wished she hadn't seen, the hurt that the sight sent through her more than she could have ever expected, but the other part knew that not seeing it would have been allowing herself to have false hope.

Jared walked in, looking almost like his old self again as he laughed at something the pretty brunette girl walking next to him said, but the big difference separating him from who he used to be was that the girl next to him wasn't Lyla. That was the most painful part - that the Jared Lyla knew wasn't gone, he just wasn't her Jared anymore, or even Jess's. And that made Lyla think, maybe it wasn't him, maybe it was her that was the problem, after all, Jared was still there, but Lyla had once again been abandoned.

☆。 *。 ★。

So, a bit of interaction between Lyla and Paul, what do you think? There's still the lingering feelings that Lyla has for Jared, who has finally imprinted on Kim. I don't know whether it's clear but everyone thought Jared and Lyla were gonna end up together, even them, so it hurts Lyla to see him with someone else, even though she's technically got Paul.
Until next time!
xxx