Twilight Imagines

16. Cutting Board (Embry Call)

(Published June 23, 2023) 

   Watching a horror film on a stormy night had probably not been my best idea ever. Embry had been out with the pack all day, though, and I had been bored out of my mind. Besides, Embry had told me that he had no interest in the film when I had last brought it up, so I figured he wouldn't mind missing out on it.
   But now I was making supper in the kitchen alone with the wind howling outside. The clouds were so thick that the sunset wasn't visible at all and it looked like night outside. Every little noise that the wind or the house made sent me jumping into the air in fright. I had already given up on cutting peppers for the omelets I had planned on making and was shoving the partially cut vegetable to the side when I heard it.
   Slow footsteps in the hallway.
   Footsteps that were trying to be quiet.
   Coming towards the kitchen.
   My heart started pounding as I turned to face the doorway to the hall. I had left all the lights on, so it wasn't anything like a scene from the movie I had just watched. I would be able to see the intruder coming. However, my terrified heart was pounding so loudly that it was almost covering the soft, quiet footsteps.
   It's probably just Embry trying to scare me. I thought to myself as my hand slowly moved across the counter behind me, searching for something to protect myself. If it is him, he picked a bad day to do it!
   The footsteps paused just outside of the doorway. If it was Embry, I knew he could hear my frightened breathing. I wanted to call out for him to cut it out and just show himself, but images of the movie I had just watch flooded my mind and silenced me. The only warning he had against scaring me was the speed of my heart.
   After a minute, probably of consideration, he rounded the corner with a casual grin on his face and was about to greet me. However, my mind was playing tricks on me with those movie characters and I threw the first thing that my hand grabbed at him with a terrified squeak. Fortunately for him, he had speedy werewolf reflexes and caught it before it struck him in the stomach.
   "Hi?" He asked with a slight chuckle in his voice.
   "Embry, you scared me!" I exclaimed, placing a hand on my thumping heart.
   He looked down at the white object in his hands and choked back a laugh. "I noticed. It's not everyday that someone throws a cutting board at me."
   "Sorry. I'm sorry." I shook my head, trying to shake off the movie and the scare I had just had.
   "It's okay. I'm guessing you watched that movie?" He walked over to me and set the cutting board on the counter behind me again.
   "Maybe?"
   "Hmm."
   "Don't judge, okay? I like a good scare, just not when I'm in the house alone, apparently." I realized.
   He looked down at me with twinkling eyes, and I knew what was coming next. The river of laughter he was holding back came tumbling out as he ran over the situation in his mind again. I raised an eyebrow, but ended up laughing right along with him. I couldn't help it; laughter was contagious!
   "Well, at least we get to cuddle tonight." He teased.
   "We cuddle every night!" I argued, wiping away the tears from laughing too hard.
   He grabbed my hands and grinned at me. "Yes, but the nights after you watch horror movies are the best. You're so nervous that you don't let me go until it's light outside."
   "What? No way, I'm not that scared!"
   "You are."
   "Am not!"
   "Babe, you just threw a cutting board at me."
   "And?"
   He just laughed again, pulling me into a hug.
   "I'm not scared." I muttered into his shoulder.
   "Of course you're not now. I'm home, so nothing will hurt you." He whispered.
   "Have you always been this cocky?" I grumbled.
   He laughed yet again and pulled back to look at me. "I have my moments. But you love me anyway."
   I sighed dramatically, trying to fight the urge to smile. "I suppose I do!"