The Watch – Part 87:

I walked into the kitchen and saw Amy sitting at the table, drinking a glass of water with a two pieces of toast on a plate. We both made eye contact before quickly looking away and focusing on what we were doing. I opened the fridge and grabbed a carton of Apple juice, took a glass out from the cabinet above and poured myself a drink. I then took the bread from the breadbin and slotted two slices into the toaster and pulled down the lever to let it cook. As I was doing that, as hard as I tried, my face steadily went from pale to red with a mixture of embarrassment and awkwardness. What do I say to break the ice? The toast popped, making me jump and snap me out of my train of thought. I picked the two slices out of the toaster and buttered them before shuffling over to the table and sitting down at the opposite end of the table. Amy had just finished her two pieces of toast and gulped down the last few drops of water before setting them down onto the table. She then looked at me with an expression that said she wanted to say something, but didn’t know what, but her gaze made my face go even redder. Of all the things that could have happened this morning, I was not expecting that. I was half-asleep, so my brain was in automatic mode until it had woken up properly, and so I went about what I usually do first thing in the morning. Is that really an excuse for what happened? I wasn’t used to Amy being in the house, but that shouldn’t be a suitable reason either. And why am I only telling me this? Shouldn’t I be explaining all of this to Amy? Maybe she’ll understand. I geared myself up to say something, to break the ice and get the ball rolling. We have to have this conversation in order to disperse the tension, which is currently at max level at the moment, and is quite clearly making us both feel incredibly uncomfortable. I opened my mouth, ready to say explain everything…

‘Did you see anything?’ Amy asked suddenly. Due to the sudden question, I had to change my thought pattern slightly so that I wouldn’t say anything that wasn’t relevant to the question.

‘No. I only saw you lift up your towel and cover yourself,’ I said after a second or two had passed.

‘Are you hesitating because you did see something and you’re too embarrassed to say anything, or because you didn’t see anything?’ Amy asked deductively.

‘I didn’t see anything,’ I said a little bit more sternly, hoping that Amy would believe me.

There was a long, pregnant pause before Amy spoke again. She analysed my answer, my tone and my facial expression before concluding, ‘I believe you,’ she said. It was at that moment when the tension had evaporated. A great weight had been lifted off of my shoulders, and from the looks of things, Amy felt the same way. Her shoulders relaxed a little by falling downwards instead of being up and agitated. Although, I did notice that her shoulders weren’t as relaxed as mine was. Does that mean there was still something on her mind?

‘There is one thing though,’ Amy said, confirming my suspicions. ‘Why didn’t you knock?

‘I was half-asleep, meaning my brain was changing from automatic mode to awake mode, and so I went about my daily routine by going to the bathroom and splashing water on my face to wash out any sleep in my eyes,’ I explained instantly.

Amy didn’t say anything. Did I say something wrong? How could I have done – it was the truth.

‘So you forgot that I was in the house.’

‘This is all new to me,’ I defended.

‘But people must have been in the bathroom before, though. There had to have been a time when you found the door locked…’

‘Why didn’t you lock the door?’ I piped up suddenly.

‘Why didn’t you knock,’ Amy asked.

‘I didn’t knock because the door was unlocked,’ I explained confidently.

‘So if you had turned the handle, found the door locked, you would have knocked to see if anyone was in there, even though you would know that someone was in there because the door is locked,’ Amy said, picking at my logic, which I had to admit didn’t sound as strong as it did in my head. I think my facial expression gave that away; Amy didn’t look too happy.

‘I am sorry,’ I said.

‘Thank you,’ Amy nodded with acceptance. I think that is what she wanted all along. I’ve just realised just how new I am to all of this. ‘I’ll let you off this time,’ she said practically reading my thoughts via my facial expressions.

‘This time,’ I said, surprised, ‘Is there going to be a next time.’

‘I hope not. You need to knock first. You got lucky this time, but next time there may be consequences.’

I went red.

‘Don’t you dare,’ Amy said sternly.

‘Don’t I dare what?’ I asked, needing more information.

‘You know what,’ she said sternly

‘No, I don’t.

‘You’ve gone red because you were thinking about stuff,’ she explained.

‘You didn’t exactly help me not to,’ I said.

‘Oh, that’s how it is, is it?’ Amy said. ‘Just finish your breakfast and get ready. We’ve got a long day ahead of us and I don’t particularly want to waste it arguing.

‘Right you are,’ I said, taking a massive bite out my toast, realizing that it was too much for me to chew and so I had to tear off a bit more so that I could fit it all in my mouth. Amy sighed and shook her head before heading into the living room and waiting for me to finish.

***

‘Do you have everything?’ Amy said. Her excitement had naturally evolved into stress. I knew this meant a big deal to her and so I remained calm throughout as I knew that if I snapped, I would make the situation worse tenfold.

‘Yes,’ I said.

‘Money? phone? laptop?’ she asked.

‘All safely packed into my bag and ready to go,’ I said.

‘Then let’s hit the road,’ she said, opening the door and walking out. I closed the door behind us and followed Amy towards the station.

‘Do you have everything?’ I asked her.

‘Do you have to ask?’ Amy answered with a question.

‘Just checking,’ I said.

‘And rightfully so,’ she said, smiling and linking her arm with mine as we set off for an adventure.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)