Cause Baby, You're My Better Half

I stared at myself in the car mirror, trying to comprehend my new teeth. That's right lady's and gets, Roni Cooper got her braces taken off! Can I getta woot woot?

"They look great, sweetheart," mom assured me, smiling kindly.

"I know, I'm just trying to convince myself that these are my teeth," I laughed, examining my teeth from a couple of different angles'. "What do you think Embry'll think?"

"I think he'll like it, but why do you care what he thinks?" she asked a little smugly, but not enough to alarm me.

"Uh, because he's the guy that's with me the most and if he doesn't like them then, uh…Hey look, we're home. Thanks for taking me mom, have fun at work," I waved, getting out of the car. I couldn't tell my mom that I suspected that Embry had imprinted on me! And that I was okay with it, none the less! I all but ran to the door, tearing it open, running inside and slamming the door behind me. Why did I care what Embry thought? It's not like I liked him or anything…right?

"Roni, what's wrong? Are you okay? Do you need anything?" Embry's frantic voice questioned. I turned and saw him sitting up right, but there was sleep in his eyes. Oops, looks like I'd woken him up.

"I'm fine Embry, go back to sleep," I ordered walking past him and into the kitchen. He followed behind me, yawning slightly.

"I can't do that, your home now, I have to watch you," he stated sitting down on a bar stool, not taking his scrutinizing eyes off of me. I turned to face him, smiling slightly.

"You really take your job seriously, more serious than Paul," I laughed, exposing my new smile. Embry stared at me, eyes wide. "What, do I have something in my teeth?" I asked looking at my reflection in the refrigerator.

"You don't have braces," he stated dumbly.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Sherlock," I laughed opening a cabinet door.

"You look even more beautiful without them, if that's possible," he whispered, causing me to blush scarlet.

"Thanks," I thanked, biting my lip, not looking up from my search. "So, how long have you been here?" I asked casually, grabbing the recipe box me and my mom had made when I was little.

"A few minutes, I just got off patrol," he yawned.

"Embry, go get some sleep," I commanded looking at him sternly, picking out the recipe I wanted. "I'll be perfectly fine right where I am and I'll yell for you if I need any help." I was pulling out ingredients now.

"What are you making?" he asked, taking my focus off of him for the moment.

"Brownies," I answered, grabbing the last of the ingredients and putting them on the counter. "I haven't been able to eat them for a long while because of my braces and I'm just dying for them."

"Can I help?" asked Embry slipping up beside me. I raised an eyebrow at his suddenly perky attitude, but shrugged. "Great, I haven't made brownies since I was a little kid."

"My word, that was years ago," I gasped, stretching out the word years. He glared playfully at me. I just grinned before turning back to my project. "Alright, let's start with the base. I'll melt this butter and you get some measuring spoons. There just in that drawer." He nodded, starting his task while I did mine.

Twenty or so minutes later, we had the batter ready to pour into the pans. I'd decided that I'd help out Emily and make some extra brownies to bring over for the guys.

"Okay, the pans are greased and the batter is ready to be poured, but I feel like I forgot to do something," I murmured to myself.

"Did you preheat the oven?" Embry asked, using a silicone spatula to scrape the side of the bowl.

"That's it," I exclaimed, turning to face to oven. But before I could turn the nozzle, something gooey made contact with my left cheek. I opened my mouth in shock and turned back to Embry. He was looking down, but it was clear he was the culprit from the devious smirk on his face and the brownie batter on his hand. "Embry Call, you jerk! What did you do that for?" I screamed, marching up to him.

He looked up at me under his eyelashes, his brown eyes smoldering. I staggered back slightly, but kept my stern look. "I thought it would be funny," he finally admitted, not looking a bit sorry.

"You thought it would be funny?" I growled. He stared at me for a moment before bursting out into laughter. I was glaring at him when an idea filled my head. "Your right Embry, it was funny," I told him, walking closer to him. He stopped laughing and stared at me, not in the least bit suspicious.

"Yeah, the look on your face…" he trailed off as I got closer to him. Hmm, maybe the idea that I'd come up with over the past month was right.

"Hmm, I do make pretty funny faces, don't I?" I was inches from his face now. I could see that he was trying really hard to breathe and I was feeling the same way, but I was a much better actor then he was. He just nodded, staring straight into my eyes. I took that as my chance and quickly grabbed the bowl of mix and dumped it onto his head. It took him a minute to realize what I'd done, but when he did I was half way to the back door.

"Hey, that's not fare," Embry yelled and I could hear him chasing after me. I laughed and ran faster.

"All's fare in love and war," I joked. Suddenly I welt a warm pare of arms encircle my waist and pull me into the air. "Ah, put me down, you're getting chocolate all over me," I squealed.

"That's the point," he laughed rubbing his arms over me. I wouldn't have admitted it to anyone, but I liked when he did that.

"Stop," I giggled, wiggling around in his arms. He didn't say anything, but what he did do was plop onto the ground and push me under him. For the first time I got a good look at what I'd done to him and burst out laughing. Every last part of him was covered in brownie batter and I was sure I looked no better.

My laughter was suddenly cut off, though, by Embry's lips being pressed against mine. It took me a minute to comprehend what was happening, but when it finally sunk in I pushed myself closer to Embry and kissed him back. He smiled to my reaction and put his arms around my waist, bringing me to his chest.

"Um, are we interrupting something?" Beth's voice broke into my little world. My eyes opened wide and I pushed Embry away and sat up, gasping for breath.

"Nope," I gasped glancing at the back door. Standing there was a smug looking Beth and an angry looking Paul.

"Embry, what the hell is going on?" Paul seethed through his clenched teeth. I suddenly thought about what Embry and I might look like to other people. We were both covered in chocolate batter and he was on top of me and we were making out. Yeah, probably not the best way to have someone, particularly your brother, find you.

"Well," Embry muttered, rubbing the back of his head, his cheeks tinted pink.

"Don't touch my little sister ever again or I'll-" Paul was cut off by Beth's hand slapping over his mouth.

"I think it's just so cute! Embry finally told Roni that he imprinted on her and on the day she got her braces off too!" Beth gushed. I could feel Embry stiffen beside me, but I just smiled at Beth and nodded. I'd guessed Embry had imprinted on me and it wasn't that big of a shock, but I couldn't deny that I was a little shocked when it was said out loud.

Embry Call had imprinted on me. Embry Call was mine, forever!