Overwritten

12 ; black and blue

He grinned, clearly satisfied with the result he had received. He stood up, collecting the dishes into one pile and bringing them to the sink.

"So my coach has his break tomorrow, so I can leave early. Why don't we visit Yasmin tomorrow?" he said, not looking at me as he began to load the dishes into the washer.

"Uh, yeah, that works, I'll let Scott know tomorrow I guess," I said, standing up. I felt awkward sitting at the table as Jake did the work, despite there being nothing else to do. I walked into the cramped kitchen area, leaning against one of the benches.

I tried to avoid my eyes from hovering above the refrigerator in the corner. A camera which had to be there, but invisible. I still could feel the shakiness I felt last night when I flicked onto that channel. Seeing myself on the screen.

"Hey, I was actually wondering if you could ask Scott something?" Jake said, interrupting my train of thought. I paused, waiting for him to continue, "Just, could you ask how Jessie is doing?"

"Jessie?" I said, the dishwasher humming into motion, "I thought you saw her yesterday,"

"I did it's just..." the words rolled over in his head for a moment. I tried to ignore the pang on jealousy I felt when I saw how much he cared about her, "Don't worry about it, it was stupid anyway,"

"No, it's okay, I'll ask him," I said. I knew that Jake would never be satisfied with an answer from Scott, but I could at least try. Even though Jake and I had a rough start, it was the least I could do "He's just not very responsive right now, but I'll ask him tomorrow,"

There was a pause. He gave me a small smile, relief flooding his eyes. I found myself jealous of the way he viewed her. Not of him, I didn't like Jake like that, but just the way he loved her. I was jealous that I could never be loved like that.

"Thank you," he said softly. And another silence crossed the air.

My mind switched to the watch. With all the drama and mayhem that was happening, I had forgotten about the fixed watch. Digging into my pocket, I handed him back the watch.

"Here," I said, the gold watch glinting in the harsh lights of the kitchen. He stared at it for a moment, and I continued, "I got it fixed earlier today. I'm sorry it broke,"

"No no, you keep it," he said pushing it away from him. I stared down at the glimmering watch, so different than the ones we wore today, "It was for you anyway"

"I... really don't think I deserve this," It lay in my hands, faintly ticking past. It truly was dazzling, but I could never forget who the watch was meant for. And what I had done to the boy who had tried to entrust it to me.

"Yes, you do," he said, crossing his arms. His voice was sterner now, and paired with the uniform caused an aura of authority, "Take it, because I'm not,"

I sighed, knowing defeat was mine. Flipping over the watch, I held it underneath my current watch, closing the golden clasps around my wrist. The cool metal pressed against my skin as I turned it over. I was lost for words by how perfectly it fit.

The dishwasher lightly pinged, and Jake opened it up to begin unloading it. I walked over and helped, and with limited dishes to put away, it was done in a few minutes. It felt empowering being responsible, having an apartment to myself that I could now take care of.

"Would you like to go read a book with me again?" he said, turning to me. The light humming from the dishwasher was gone now, and instead replaced with a calm silence "It's the same book as yesterday though, I picked a few more if that one was boring,"

"Yeah, I'd like that," I said, realizing how far exhaustion had crept up on me. Today had been filled with various events that I wish I didn't have to think about.