Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight books. I'm only borrowing the characters and will return them mostly unharmed.
Claire shuffled her way through Quil and Embry's kitchen, pulling out random cans and spices from the different cupboards. She made her way over to the pot and added in the canned tomatoes and pepper flakes. Spinning around to toss the can in the trash, she ran straight into a wall. Or so she thought.
"Woah!" Huge palms grasped her elbows and steadied her. "Watch out, Claire-bear! There's no need to rush. You are going to wear away my floor with your running."
Claire rolled her eyes as she pressed her palms onto Quil's chest, lightly pushing him away and ducking under his arms and away from him. "I wasn't running, thank you very much. You just happened to have a 'lurk moment' and creep up behind me." She stepped farther away from Quil and flashed him a tight smile before turning back to the stovetop. "Will Embry be home in time for dinner?"
"No, he's working tonight." Quil exhaled sharply at Claire's silent rebuff. She had been doing that a lot lately: moving away from him as soon as he came close. He didn't understand what was wrong. They had always hugged or leaned against each other on the sofa, but now she jerked away if he simply placed a hand on her shoulder or nudged her with his elbow. They still joked around and teased each other, but he felt that their relationship had come to a standstill. She is still sixteen. We still have time. He constantly reminded himself so, but he was still frustrated. He sometimes thought he had sensed a change in Claire, a newly found pulse of energy appearing between them. But now, he had started to doubt his own senses. She obviously was not at the point in their relationship where she could think of him like that. He could only hope that she would eventually reach that point. That's all that mattered.
Claire shut her eyes lightly and took a deep breath, trying to ignore the man behind her. Because that's what he was: a man. Not a teenage guy. Not a potential boyfriend. A MAN. She had to put whatever stupid, silly, idealistic, impossible fancies she had about him to rest. She had already tried to catch his attention and it had not worked. So, she had to stop herself while she could. If she had to avoid all physical contact with Quil to keep those thoughts out of her head, then she would! She straightened her spine, grabbed the wooden spoon, and determinedly jammed it into the pot of spaghetti.
"Uh… is it almost ready?" Quil shuffled his feet around, impatiently looking at the simmering pasta sauce and smacking his lips.
"I'm just waiting for the pasta to boil. Do you want to check if it's ready with me?" Quil laughed and quickly scrubbed his hands at the sink. This part of the cooking process wasn't even necessary, but they continued to do it for the sake of tradition. They grinned at each other conspiringly and reached into the pot, each pulling out a long noodle. Nodding together, they both flung their noodles into the air, watching as the pasta stuck to the wall like glue.
"They both stuck. It's ready!" Claire smiled and reached towards the colander to strain the pasta. She was stopped by Quil's raised hand.
"I don't think that was a thorough enough investigation. We have to try again to be completely sure that the pasta is perfect." Claire giggled and watched Quil delicately pluck another noodle from the steaming pot.
"Observe." And with that, he swirled the noodle in an intricate pattern and flung it up to the ceiling. Claire laughed at his concentrated face and looked at the now-cold noodle hang from the ceiling.
"It stuck again! Can we eat now?!" Claire watched as Quil snuck another noodle out of the pot and turned to face her.
"I think I have to test one more surface before I can say that it's ready." Claire's eyes widened as she recognized the mischievous gleam in Quil's eyes.
"No, Quil! No! Stay back!" She laughed as she grabbed the colander and used it as a shield. "I just washed my hair! Nooo!" Quil snickered and moved closer to her, brandishing the noodles threateningly. The noodle nearly brushed up against Claire's head when:
"Quil! Look behind you! What is that?" Quil laughed and skeptically raised his eyebrow at Claire.
"Come on, Claire, I won't really fall for tha-" He froze at Claire's wide-eyed stare and twisted around to face the window behind him.
"Shit.." he mumbled to himself. He was going to murder Embry.
"Quil" Claire exhaled breathlessly. "What is that? Is that a… a bear? It's huge!" Claire squinted and moved closer to the window, trying to make out the giant shape moving in the darkness near the edge of the forest.
"Claire, get away from the window. The.. bear might.. uh.. try to eat you."
"You know, it doesn't really look like a bear eith― What are you doing? Quil, stop being silly! It can't get me through the wall!" Quil grasped Claire by the elbow and pulled her into the living room. He spun her around and pushed her down till she plopped onto the sofa with a small oof!
"Claire, listen to me," Quil said, kneeling down in front of her so that he was looking directly into her eyes. "I want you to sit on this couch and stay here. I will be right back, okay?"
"No, not okay. Where exactly are you going? You can't go out there! There's something… big out there! Are you nuts?"
"It's a harmless little bear. I'll be right back."
"A harmless little bear? It was bigger than your car! Why are you doing this?" She grabbed a hold of his hands and pinned them to the couch on her sides.
"Claire, don't you trust me? I'm not going to do anything dangerous. I'm just going to peek outside and come right back in." Claire reluctantly surrendered his hands and sat frozen on the couch, shooting him a disbelieving look.
"Don't move." With that, he walked out of the room in two large strides. Claire listened for a moment and heard the front door open and snap shut. She sat anxiously on the couch, nervously bouncing her knee and tapping her fingers. Where was he? One minute passed… then two… three…
She heard the sound of the front door squeaking open and approaching footsteps and let out a shaky breath. She looked up to find Quil standing in front of her, the lines of his facial muscles tense and his mouth hardened in a grim line. Behind him, she saw a solemn Embry standing without a shirt and shoes, wearing only a pair of cutoff jean shorts. Her eyes met Quil's unyielding gaze.
"Come on, Claire. We are going to your Uncle Sam's house. Now."
AN: Now the good stuff starts! The question for this chapter was "What is that?" I hope you enjoyed it after my long delay in updates. Sorry about that: real life took over. Anyways, review and tell me if you like the direction that the story is taking.