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But when I kneel down next to her, I realize she’s…laughing. Silently. Her body is shaking from laughter, not…a seizure or who the hell knows what I thought it was when I first saw her lying there.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers through her laughter, wheezing slightly and curling onto her side, her hands covering her face. “I slipped and fell and it was the most ungraceful thing…” And then she bursts into laughter again, the sound filling the kitchen this time.
“God, you scared the shit out of me,” I say, sitting on my ass on the floor next to her and rubbing my hands against my face.
“I know, and I’m so…”
She tries to apologize again but, for whatever reason, tilts her face into her hands and starts laughing even harder. As if me being scared is the funniest thing to ever happen.
I purse my lips and narrow my eyes at her, but there’s no real heat behind it.
When she looks up at me, she points at my face. “See? That’s the look I was expecting from you. Something angry, like the normal way you look at me. Not the truly worried expression on your face when you flew in here ready to save the day.”
She breaks into laughter again, but this time, I feel slightly stung by her comment.
“I don’t always look at you angry.”
Emily snorts and pins me with a look that says I call bullshit.
“You hate me, Colton. The only reason you put up with me is because your parents basically forced you into it.”
Even though she still has a small grin on her face, I can tell saying this out loud isn’t exactly funny to her.
“But it’s okay, you know? I’m just glad to know if I start to bleed out on your kitchen floor one day, you won’t leave me to fend for myself,” she adds, and then starts laughing again.
Rolling my eyes, I move to stand up.
“Alright, that was a bit harsh,” she says, reaching out for my hand, the warmth of her palm sending a jolt of shivers up my arm and down my spine as I pull her up. “I know you wouldn’t let me die.”
I let out a long sigh. “He wouldn’t let me die,” I echo. “What a glowing recommendation.”
Emily giggles, but her laugh cuts off and something pinched takes over her face, her hand coming up to her head.
I narrow my eyes at her.
She shifts slightly and lets out a gasp of pain.
“Did you hurt yourself?”
She shakes her head then winces again.
“I’m fine,” she answers, though nothing about the way her face looks makes me believe she’s fine.
“Oh yeah, you’re really convincing me here.”
I can’t help but laugh at her absurdity, and she lets out a laugh too, albeit a subdued one accompanied by more wincing.
“I think I smacked my head pretty good, but it’s nothing some Tylenol won’t fix.”
“Hold on.”
I grab her a glass of water then pull open the cabinet in the corner where I keep medicine and vitamins and the protein powder I haven’t used in months. Grabbing her a few pain relievers, I drop them in her hand.
As she takes them and swallows most of the water, she wobbles slightly, her eyes closed, and her hands reach out to grip me for balance.
“You alright?” I ask, dipping my head lower so I can see her eyes as they open.
She blinks a few times then gives me a smile.
