Obstacles [on hold]

Chef

"Kath, I'm leaving. Don't EVER, bother me again." Tanner turned his back, walking away from me, out of my house with his bags.

"Don't come back either!" I screamed back at him with rage, my mouth moving by itself.

What am I doing?

"Tanner," a voice whispered, low and harsh. Steven was standing a few feet away, chest heaving constantly, panting hard.

My eyes widen in horror as he slowly walked towards Tanner, raising the knife in his hand that I didn't notice before. His glare was deadly and he was not going to stop.

Tanner backed away from him, moving backwards and bumped into me, knocking me off my feet.

"No....." I whispered, as Steven, now pinned Tanner on the ground in front of me. He raised the knife, both hands gripping the handle tightly.

As he pulls back his hands and thrust them forward, I let out a scream,

"TANNER!!!"

My eyes opened to the warm, orangey sunlight shining through the closed curtains of my bedroom window. I sat up in shock as I took time to process that it was just a nightmare and I actually screamed.

The door slammed open moments later with Tanner shouting my name, face filled with concern.

"Kathy! What's wrong?" He asked, walking over and sitting on the edge of my bed.

My mouth was dry and my heart was racing. I didn't know how to reply, thus I just sat there, taking deep breaths and calming myself down. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead during the dream and I wasn't aware until Tanner uses the sleeves of his sweater to soak them up, gently patting on my forehead.

"I.... You left me....asking me not to bother you.... Then you walked away and suddenly... Steven was about to kill you." I looked away from his piercing gaze, trying to forget what I just saw as he moved over to embrace me in a hug.

"I'll never let that scumbag beat me, and I will never leave you Kath. You know it. It's okay." He consoled me, hands fisted against my back. I slightly nodded against his chest and he released me from the hug.

Sensing my mood, he quickly changed the subject. "I was uh... Just making dinner. Fish and chips?" He questioned, raising one eyebrow.

"Mhmm.... Wait what? You cook?"

"Yeah, well... I was planning to surprise you on your birthday but I guess it's better to let you know now because of the way things have been going lately, I hope it makes you smile, even though it might be a big failure." He rambled as he combed his fingers through his dirty blonde hair shyly.

A warm feeling spreads throughout my heart. Despite the millions of questions that I have about his cooking thingy, I held them in and followed him to the dining room.

"I know your fever just went down and I should be feeding you healthy food instead, but what better way to make you feel completely better other than with your favorite fish and chips?" He grinned, pulling a chair out for me to sit. I shaked my head, smiling at how he never fails to make me feel better.

"Here's your fish and chips m'lady, please enjoy your meal," he says as he places the plate full of fish and chips in front of me then bows politely before sitting at the seat opposite me.

I thanked him and started cutting through the fried fish. Woah, he did a really good job though, the arrangement was like something you would see in a high class restaurant, the plate is squeaky clean like he scrubbed it a million times and the smell is just heavenly. My mouth was already watering as I brought the nicely cut piece of fish towards my mouth. I see his grey eyes following them towards my lips intently, waiting to see my reaction. Well, this is interesting.