easy.

She watched him with tired eyes.

"Where are you going?"

His breath caught in his throat - she could tell. He straightened himself, running a cool hand through his pillow-stressed hair. Mouth open, gaze cast up into eyelids, he exhaled loudly.

"Out. I'm.. going out."

And with that, he picked up two mismatched, dirty socks off the floor and exited the bedroom.

They'd been seeing each other for several months now. Unwilling to categorize the relationship as anything official - friends or otherwise - they'd kept things casual for simplicity's sake. No strings attached... no answers to be given. It was easy.

At least, it was supposed to be.

Tangled in the bedsheets, Jessie hoisted herself off the bed and stepped towards the sheer-curtained window. Through it and just below, she watched him climb into his beat-up little Honda and start the engine. She lifted her left hand and, without his acknowledgment, gently waved him off. When he had finally driven out of sight, Jessie moved back to the disheveled nest they'd created and crawled in. She reset the sheets and smoothed the silken comforter back over her.

She wondered where he was going. Back to work, or out to lunch, or to the gym. But it didn't matter - it couldn't. Casual. Easy.

Jessie reached across her pillow and felt around the smooth surface of the bedside table. Sitting up, she found what she had been looking for and hesitantly brought it to her chest.

She slipped the ring back onto her finger as though it had never been gone.