Puzzle Pieces // m.f

0.7

"Rent?" Mark hadn't even considered this as being an issue and Jamie brought it up so casually that he was confused as to what she was talking about for a moment. "Why would we have you pay rent?"

"Well, I'm living here." Jamie had widened her eyes a little in confusion and stared at Mark while he stared at her legs, which she was swinging back and forth and occasionally bumping into the cabinet underneath her.

"Your job is writing, isn't it?" Mark didn't look up until she abruptly stopped moving, and when he did it was only long enough to see an obviously fake and uncomfortable smile. Nothing more than a manifestation of nervous energy. She began swinging her legs again, faster, more purposeful, hitting the cabinet with a greater frequency.

"I'm not published. Probably never will be. It's just... what I want. A hobby." Jamie immediately stopped moving after she finished speaking, the nervous smile still there until she realized and stopped it. She quickly pulled her legs up underneath her and stared at Mark, sitting so still that it was clear she needed to move.

"YouTube was just a hobby for me. Now it's my job. It's what you're good at and it's what you love. Don't give up on that." Mark looked up when he heard her forced sarcastic laugh to see her left hand raised slightly and each finger in turn tapping the pad of her thumb before restarting the cycle, each time looking like it was faster than the last.

"Motivational speaking aside, I need a job-" Jamie cut herself off at the warning look that Mark gave her and rolled her eyes. "-that actually produces income."

"You really don't need to worry about rent, Jamie, I promise." The rent had been exactly the same since Mark had moved in, and with the three boys splitting it evenly the number had been very comfortable, especially considering that they all contributed to groceries and the like as well.

"I need to be able to buy things for me, too. So I need to get a job, even if it's just waitressing." Jamie shrugged and stared at her food, unsure of if she wanted to eat or if she wanted to push it away from her. Eating in front of people had always made her uneasy.

"What do you need to buy?" Mark questioned as if he was challenging her, which at this point it almost felt like he was.

"Clothes, food, anything related to personal hygiene, I need to be able to afford doctor's appointments because I will inevitably break myself or get incredibly sick, plane tickets so that I can eventually get the rest of my things from back home, I need to be able to save up to get a place of my own because I doubt you'll be wanting me here permanently." Jamie counted the list off on her fingers, eventually shrugging and taking another small bite of her grilled cheese. "The list goes on."

"I'm happy to help out with all of that. Except for the last one, that remains to be seen." Mark spoke without hesitation, still feeling slightly as if he was about to fight the small girl in front of him.

"No." Jamie shook her head decisively and the word had made it out of her mouth almost before he had even finished speaking.

"Can we compromise?" Mark narrowed his eyes slightly at Jamie and crossed his arms over his chest theatrically.

"Depends on the compromise." She copied his actions and they stayed that way for a while, just staring at each other. Then Mark blinked and tried to pretend that he didn't blink, so Jamie waved her hand to move past this moment, mostly for his sake.

"This is a house that has been lived in by only three men for quite a while." Mark nodded at Jamie's nodding, taking their synchronized body language to be a good sign. "That's basically just another way of saying that we're lucky that we haven't been evicted and that we managed to live this long."