Rivals

A Casual Day

After a long conversation and a few jokes with Jayden, I sipped on some coke.

Jayden was slurping his too, holding the cup in one hand.

"Hmm so. . . I think we can put this here." I said, pointing towards a chart paper.

He nodded in reply.

"And this here. . . Or should we add this here?" I asked him, but my words fell on deaf ears.

"Mhm. . ." He mumbled absently, reaching the packet of chips. I grabbed his wrist.

"You won't listen to me, will you?" I looked deep into his eyes, "I told you not to remain silent and share your ideas. This isn't just my project!" I explained.

He shrugged again and said, "I don't know much about this. But you are a mastermind, you're so creative. You're a genius!"

I scoffed at his attempts of fooling me.

"By the way. . .*crunch*. . . I'm writing with the pencil you gave me."

I looked down at his pen.

Huh? When did I gift him a pen? As far as I remember, I gifted him only a chocolate. . . And my heart.

"When did I gift you this?" I said, questioningly. I grabbed another bite of the spicy chips flavoured chips and muttered, "Mmm, this is delicious."

"It fell on the ground and you picked it up and asked if it was mine, and I took it." As he spoke, I recalled the events. I was still surprised that he remembered all that.

"So you mean it actually wasn't yours?" I finished. He chuckled back, "I mean. . . Finder, keepers."

"Cool," I said, "But I was the one who found it!" I leaned in from my chair and tried to grab it from him. He swiftly exchanged the pen in his other arm and tried to get away. But suddenly, my chair leaned too in and I lost balance and fell on him. Somehow, I didn't fall all over him, my hands stood against the bed, which prevented any serious accidents.

I quickly regained my posture and stood at a distance, shyly. "I'm sorry." I mumbled softly like a kid who just got scolded.

He got up too, and said, "Nah, it's okay." We stood there for a few seconds, a moment of awkwardness. I ran my hands through my hair, lost in thoughts.

"Uh, would you like something else?" He said, holding the empty food tray.

I nodded, "Right, I would like you to pay attention to the project." I ended abruptly. He shrugged and went into the kitchen, leaving me alone for a while.

I sighed, thinking to myself about all this awkwardness.

Isn't this enough for a day?

I sighed again after noting our progress so far in the project.

Suddenly, I heard a loud sound of something heavy falling. It came from the direction of the kitchen. I ran out of the room at once and speeded straight into the kitchen. "Jayden! Are you okay?"

"Just. . . Barely alive." He said in a muffled voice. A big metal box was laying on the floor, almost touching his toe. "It just missed an inch."

"What? From where in the world did this drop on you!?" I gaped. Still in shock, I tried to lift the heavy box. As soon as I touched it, I realized there was dust all over.

It must be old.

"Will you explain me anything, mister?" I looked expectantly at him. He just shook it off and gave a simple reply, "It was just kept up in a corner, but something..." He paused and tried to stand on his toes and peer up at the spot where it was kept. He couldn't reach it. "Uh, Ayako," He began, "Let's get outta here."