CHASING CARS

four.       memories

▬▬ CASSIE SMILED AS she watched the waves hit the sand and roll away, it was a beautiful scene ― the sun rising out of the water, the sky a beautiful mix of orange and pink, the water rippling with the breeze. She pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her chin on her knee, letting the sound of the waves relax her mind. It was October, her favorite month of the year. She loved the October air and the smell of pumpkin that seemed to be permanent all month long.

The night before had been another long night of wondering, and imagining what her life would've been like if she knew her biological family. With that and the screaming from Bella, she had gotten no sleep at all, so she decided that sitting on the beach might help her relax.

What she didn't plan for was the group of guys kicking around a soccer ball a few feet down the beach. She knew them, it was Sam, Jared, and Paul. The Cult of La Push. She rolled her eyes, just the sight of Paul made her so mad that the waves and the usually calming beach wasn't working.

Cassie and Paul were friends once, best friends even, but he became closed off and he shut her out ― they were only 8. But when they started high school they were working on becoming friends again. They shared a few classes and it was impossible for them not to talk, but that ended when he joined Sam's cult and once again she was pushed away, shoved out of his life. He moved seats in class ― when he started showing up again ― he refused to look in her direction and he never spoke to her again. It was one reason she was okay with leaving the school on the reservation when Bella moved to town.

Rolling her eyes she pushed herself to her feet and started in the opposite direction that the three boys were. She was already irritated and watching him laugh like he was perfectly fine made her want to scream.

"What's Cassie doing here so early?" Sam asked, nodding his head towards the girl as she walked away from them and Paul turned, he hadn't seen much of her since he phased and he knew the her moving schools was partly his fault, but he knew it was for the better.

"She likes the beach." He told him as he looked away from her, he knew that being near her would put her in danger, so he wanted nothing to do with her, no matter how much it ate him up to be so distant and cold to her.

"She seems upset." Jared pointed out, he knew Cassie, not nearly as good as Paul once had, but he had seen her around the reservation his entire life. "Maybe you should check on her."

"She doesn't want-" Before he could finish this sentence Jared kicked the ball towards her, all three watching as it flew towards her until it hit her back, bringing her to a stop.

"I didn't mean to hit her!" Jared defended himself and Sam glared at him.

"Idiot." Paul huffed before running down the beach to the girl that had picked the ball up and was now walking towards her truck.

"Is she taking our ball?" The boy mumbled as he looked at Sam.

"I'm not giving it back!" Cassie called out, not bothering to look back to see which of the three boys had come to retrieve the ball.

"Yeah." The alpha nodded, his lips pulling up onto an amused smile.

"Are you okay?" Paul asked but she kept walking. "Come on, Cas." He sighed as he fell into step beside her and she looked up at him, obviously annoyed, but the second they locked eyes it was over. He could see so much, he could see her, more specifically her smile. And he could see him doing anything to see that smile every day for the rest of his life.

"No, I'm not okay." She huffed, glaring at him but the dreamy look in his eyes had yet to go away. "I came here to get some peace and quiet, to relax, but no, you neanderthals are so obnoxiously loud. And on top of that you hit me with a soccer ball, a soccer ball that I'm keeping. Okay?" She raised an eyebrow at him before turning to get into her truck. She tossed the ball into the backseat before she crank the truck up and drove away.

Paul blinked as he shook his head, he was confused as to what had happened, she was gone, her truck was gone, she took their ball. But he just remembered imprinting on her and the bond cementing between them with a simple look and he hated that he had pushed her away for so long.

"She took our ball!" Jared huffed, bringing Paul back to Earth completely.

"You imprinted."

"Yeah." He nodded, confused as to why it was Cassie but honestly he didn't care, he had imprinted and all he wanted to do was be close to her again.

"She took our ball."

"So?" Paul shrugged as he looked at the boy that only seemed to care about the fact that Cassie just took their soccer ball.

"You realize she yelled at you, right?" Sam asked as he looked at his beta, he had never seen the boy smile so much, granted, it was a small smile and he didn't even realize he was smiling.

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah, called us neanderthals." Jared added. "Then she took our ball."

"Forget about the ball!" Paul huffed and the boy frowned.

"We need to do a perimeter run before you guys have to be at school." Sam told them and they ran into the woods, all three phasing onto wolves before running through the trees with great ease and grace.

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▬▬ CASSIE ENDED UP parking her truck on the side of the road, she was too tired to drive and she didn't want to wreck her truck. . . again. The first time she skimmed a tree and messed up the paint job. She moved the bench seat back as far as it would go before she reached for the blanket she kept in the backseat, she laid down and covered herself up before she let her eyes fall closed.

She had been sleeping less than usual, with the constant worry she felt about Bella and the screams the older Swan let loose throughout the night.

She had gotten all of ten minutes of sleep when she was woken up by a knock on her window. She sat up, slightly panicked until her eyes landed on the one person she didn't want to see and she groaned.

"You okay?" He asked through the window and she rolled it down with the hand crank.

"I'm not giving you the ball back." She grumbled as she shifted to get more comfortable, then she pulled the blanket up over her and he laughed.

"I don't-nevermind." He shook his head. "Look, I saw the truck, wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine." She huffed. "Just tired. Haven't been sleeping much."

"Why not?" He asked as he leaned against the door, his arms on the window.

"No." She shook her head. "I'm not doing this."

"Doing what?"

"This." She motioned between them. "Last time I did, you left and it sucked."

"Cas."

"No, Paul."

"At least let me drive you to school."

"Not going to school today." She shook her head.

"Then let me drive you home."

"Fine." She huffed as she slid over, he smiled as he opened the door and climbed in. "After this, we never speak to each other again."

"Don't be like that." He reached over and poked her side, knowing she was ticklish there.

"No poking!" She swatted at his hand and he laughed a little.

"I just wanna be friends again." He told her as he started the truck and pulled onto the road.

"I don't."

"I forgot how grumpy you are when you're sleep deprived." He joked and she glared at him. "There's that smile I love so much." He mumbled sarcastically and she sunk down into her seat and let her eyes fall closed. "But I'm serious, Cassie, I miss you."

"The feeling's not mutual." She muttered, but it was a lie, Paul glanced over at her.

"Damn, Cas, lighten up."

"Just shut up and drive." She mumbled as she sunk even farther into the seat, Paul glanced over at her as she moved a few times, trying to get comfortable.

"So, you gonna tell me why you haven't been sleeping?" He asked and she groaned as she rolled to face the window and he sighed. "Look, Cas, I'm sorry." She opened her eyes but didn't move from her spot. "A lot of stuff went down and I didn't want to pull you into that." He paused to see if he'd get an answer but she stayed still. "I messed up. I know that. And I know that you can't just forgive me that easily." Once he realized she wasn't gonna answer he stopped talking, with a sigh he reached over and turned the knob on the radio so that they weren't sitting in awkward silence.

Both smiled as Another One Bites the Dust played from the radio, Cassie had long since forgotten about the cassette that had been stuck in her truck for years, she hardly listened to it anymore. It reminded her of Paul, it was the mixtape he made for her as an apology at the start of high school.

Paul smiled, he hoped that her keeping his mixtape meant that she missed him as much as he had missed her. He had forgotten about it, but as soon as it played he was flooded with memories of them in that very truck.

It was back before she could even drive, they were merely fourteen, but Cassie knew she wanted Billy's old trunk since she was six. So the two teenagers sat in the cab of the trunk as it poured rain, listening to the mixtape Paul had gifted her just a few weeks before.

"I can't wait until I can drive this thing." The girl smiled over the song that played from the speakers, she gripped the steering wheel and smiled.

"Me either!" The boy agreed. "You can just chauffeur me around." He put his hands behind this head then propped his feet on the dash.

"Feet off the dash!" She swatted at his legs then reached over and wiped it with her hand. "That's not how you treat a trunk." She scolded him then a knock on the window made the two jump, they looked over to see Charlie with an umbrella as he stood outside the driver side door. "Hi, daddy." She waved as she rolled the window down a little.

"Let's get you kids inside." He told and they nodded, she rolled the window up then they jumped out into the mud before racing towards Billy's house. Charlie laughed as he shook his head. He made a note to ask Billy about buying the truck in the future for the girl that loved it so much.

They hadn't been able to remove the cassette since that day.

Cassie ignored the urge to turn around and ask the boy if he remembered that day when it was pouring down and they had sunk off the truck that they were sitting in. There was a lot she wanted to ask him, but she let her eyes fall closed as he drove towards her house.

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▬▬ "SO YOU GONNA tell me why you're so tired?" Paul asked as he put the trunk in park and pulled the key from the ignition.

"No." She replied as she sat up straighter and opened the door, he sighed before doing the same.

"Cassie." He huffed as they met in front of her truck.

"Keys." She held her hand out to him with her palm up but he just looked at her. "Are you just gonna stare at me?"

"I wanna talk."

"I don't." She shrugged. "Keys." She moved her hand closer to him before curling her fingers trying to get her keys from him so she could go inside and sleep.

"We have to talk eventually." He told her as he dropped her keys into her hand. "I'm not going away this time."

"I don't believe you." With that she gripped the keys then made her way up to the front door.

Paul watched for a few minutes, until she was in the house and the door was closed, before he turned and made his way down the road back towards the Reservation. He hated that she was being so cold and distant, but he knew it was his fault. He knew that he had broken her trust more than once.

Cassie huffed, kicking her shoes off, before she made her way up to her room where she fell face first onto her bed. She stayed like that for a few seconds before moving to crawl under the covers, she let out a sigh as she closed her eyes. To her surprise she saw Paul, that dreamy look on his face as she yelled at him, she opened her eyes and shook her head before closing them again and drifting off to sleep.