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4. Get Eggs

"Keith, a girl just beat you," Andrew commented as the four friends sat on the side of a road, eating away at sandwiches packed with scrambled eggs and sausage. Keith slapped the back of Andrew's head and a piece of sausage from his bread roll fell down onto the ground.

His heart went out to that piece of meat.

"Shut the fuck up, Andy," Keith growled. "If dumbass over here had just passed the flour then I would have won."

"Whatever you say," Logan scoffed.

"Excuse me but I was making muffins and it was my damn flour!" Nick yelled. "Get your own next time."

Keith glowered at him and stood up, throwing his wrapper in the garbage beside them. It was already a few minutes past seven and would take another fifteen to walk to the bakery but Keith wasn't worried even though Maisie told them to get there on time. She could wait.

"Why don't you like her?" Nick asked. "Maisie ain't that bad."

Keith shrugged. "She rubs me up the wrong way. I don't know."

Logan sighed and stood up as well, throwing his wrapped at the garbage where it sunk in perfectly. "Well stop being such a bitch about it. If it weren't for her we'd be in prison, remember?"

Keith's jaw ticked as Logan began to walk off. Nick clambered up and clapped a hand over Keith's shoulder. "Come on, we're already late. And Logan's right. She did help us."

Keith watched Nick walk off with Andrew before eventually groaning and following after them.

***

Cindy Small was at it again.

There she was, in the middle of her daughters bakery with a tray full of homemade candles.

"Mom!" Maisie snapped. "You know what I said about candles in the bakery."

"Oh I know but this is a new smell and it's just so good!" Cindy sighed happily.

"Mom." Maisie clenched her eyes shut, counted to five then finally opened them back up again. "People walk into a bakery expecting to smell cake and pastries and bread, not a Yankee candle rip off."

"Oh, don't be silly," Cindy laughed. "They'll love it. It'll probably bring in more customers!"

No it won't you crazy woman, Maisie thought to herself before looking up at the clock.

7:23

She was going to kill them.

"Where are those delinquent friends Tony was talking about last night?" Cindy asked.

"Late," Maisie grit out and Charity walked out from the kitchen.

"Still not here?" she asked and Maisie shook her head. "The weekend is the busiest time. We'll just have to do it ourselves like usual. I've got the rest of the prep done."

"Thanks Char," Maisie said and turned back to her mom. "Please, just please get rid of them."

Her mom frowned at her before turning to Charity with a bright smile. "Would you like to smell my new candles?"

"I can smell them from here," she said from the other side of the room. "They're great."

Liar, Maisie thought.

"Well I have to go anyway," Cindy said. "And remember Mais, school comes first."

She nodded mutely as she watched her mom walk away and then sighed when the door finally closed. "It smells like a fairy threw up and then had a bath in dirt."

Charity scrunched her nose up. "I mean I love your mom and all but she definitely has room for improvement. Shit, I think my eyes are watering from it."

"Where the hell are they?" Maisie asked. "I said I needed them here at seven sharp and I won that bet fair and square so they can't complain. They have to do their community service here and if they don't then Tony's gonna send them to prison and you know how happy he'll be about that."

"Tony really doesn't like them," Charity commented.

"They don't exactly like Tony," Maisie said. "And you know how he is...he can't trust people."

Charity nodded. "They'll show up. Eventually. I can feel it."

Maisie snorted. "Whatever, I need to check on the bread."

Maisie headed into the kitchen and took out two loaves of onion bread and two loaves of soda bread. She set them to cool for a moment before she sealed them up to keep them warm for as long as possible. She heard the faint ringing of the doors opening out front and so walked out, wiping her hands on her apron.

And there they were.

All four of them sat down at the tables, lounging like the kings of the world. Charity was busy talking to a customer who kept glancing at the men nervously and Maisie already knew this entire idea was going to blow up in her face. Get extra help, she said. Let them do community service with you, she said. Nothing will go wrong, she said.

Maisie walked over to them and stopped, putting her hands gently on her hips. "You're late. Forty five minutes late."

"We're slow at walking," Keith said and Maisie fought the urge to glare.

"The longer you guys put off being here, the more hours you have to keep making up. Get here on time and in the long run you'll be out of here before you know it. All you're doing is baking stuff and you can happily stay out of prison, it could have been a much harder time for you guys."

Keith looked away and Maisie turned to grab their aprons from a hanger. She placed them down on their table and they all picked them up.

"Sorry," Nick said and Maisie blinked in surprise. "You did help us after all so...thanks."

Andrew and Logan nodded in agreement and Keith shifted uncomfortably.

"I'm not gonna say sorry," he said. "But thanks."

Maisie smiled and gave them a nod before looking over at Charity who was now alone as the customer was leaving. "Well I guess we now have to just get the job done," Maisie said.

"Maisie," Andrew stepped forward, confusing German accent thick and heavy. "When you say we have to help you bake things...does that mean we also get to eat them?"

"No Andrew," Maisie said. "That's just a waste of supplies...which reminds me..."

Maisie walked into the kitchen and the boys frowned at each other until she walked back with two large bags of flour under her arms. Charity rushed over and grabbed one off her. She stared down at the bag and her eyes widened.

"Um Mais, why are they wearing clothes?" Charity asked her friend as she held a bag of flour adorned in a toddler size outfit.

"Because they are going to be your children," Maisie said and Nick blinked.

"I'm sorry, what? I must have heard you wrong because I swear you just said that bag of flour was my kid."

"It's going to be for the next eight hours," Maisie said.

"Okay Maury, I don't know if you did a bio class at all but I can't humanly pop out a bag of flour so that thing is not my kid," Nick said.

"Yesterday you destroyed an entire bag of flour then got that flour all over the kitchen. You ruined a quarter of the day's supplies. I can't afford to keep replacing it all so you're gonna learn to treasure your flour."

"You want us to pretend this bag of flour is a real baby?" Keith raised an eyebrow and Maisie nodded.

"This is unethical," Logan said.

"What if it accidentally bursts open?" Andrew asked.

"Then you just burst open a child," Maisie deadpanned and Andrew's eyes widened in horror. Maisie held the bag of flour in her hands out to Nick and Logan.

Nick reached out and held the flour in one hand until it became too heavy and awkwardly cradled it like a baby. "I feel like a twat."

Maisie gave him a pointed look and turned to Logan who crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at the flour in Nick's arms as if it were the bane of his life. "No," he said.

"It's only eight hours."

"I'm not being a father to an illegitimate bag of flour."

"You don't even need to feed it. It doesn't have a mouth. You literally just have to hold it and not kill it," Maisie exasperated.

"It's not the baby I'm worried about killing..." Logan muttered, looking at Nick who had begun cooing at the flour until he realized everyone was looking and quickly coughed. "Give me a different partner."

"Nope, you and Nick now have a child," Maisie said.

"No, I don't want it," Logan said. "I don't want his offspring."

"Too bad," Maisie smiled at him and Logan glared at her.

She turned to look at Keith who was holding the 'baby' up in the air by one hand and looking at it like it was a brick. Andrew poked it and Keith slapped the back of his hand.

"This is stupid," Keith voiced.

"No it's not," Maisie said. "You're the idiots that ruined supplies so now you have to learn to treat them with care. I'm not made of money."

"But why is he my wife?" Keith pointed to Andrew who smirked.

"Oh Keithy don't be like that," he said, layering the accent on thick and trailing a finger down Keith's chest, "I thought what we had was going good."

Keith slapped his hand again and Andrew laughed loudly, followed by Nick's snickers. Maisie gave Keith a long look and sighed. "I mean it when I say I'm not made out of money. I can't afford to go through more bags of flour than needed. If you're gonna keep breaking stuff and eating the products then I'll be out of business by the end of the month. I let you do community service here to get you guys out of prison but mostly because I need the extra help. There are no more employees but me and Charity-"

"Charity and I," Charity piped in.

"-and I don't have the money to pay for anymore. I'm as dependant on you guys as you are on me."

Keith looked at Maisie for a few extra breaths before nodding and lifting up the flour bag into the crook of his arm, awkwardly trying to balance it. Maisie finished by looking over at Logan who stared right back. He didn't nod or acknowledge her words in any way but glanced down at the flour bag before sighing and going to sit down.

"Okay then," Maisie breathed. "Let's get started."

At that precise moment, the front doors opened and the policeman, Ben came stumbling in. He skidded to a stop and straightened his shirt. Maisie gave him a quick glance and rolled her eyes.

"You're late," she said.

"Better late than never," Ben said.

"You're a cop monitoring four men doing community service for charges of vandalism and theft. You're not supposed to be late."

Ben groaned. "Don't tell Tony."

Maisie smiled a little. "Don't worry, I'm not that cruel."

***

Halfway through the day, Maisie noticed Logan was missing.

Keith and Andrew were alternating making cake batter and looking after the flour baby where Nick was by himself trying to balance a bag of flour in one hand and pour the mix into a tray at the same time.

I hope he never becomes a father because that baby's gonna have a cracked head in a minute, Maisie thought.

She walked over and took the flour baby out of Nick's hand.

"Where's Logan?" she asked.

Nick shrugged. "Probably went to get a breather."

Maisie put the flour baby down onto the counter. "Just leave it there, it's fine. I'll go find him."

There were only two places he could possibly be, out the front of the bakery or out the back. Logan didn't seem like the type who would willingly put himself into the middle of a crowded or open area so Maisie opted for checking the back of the bakery first. She pushed open the back doors and pressed down hard on the rusty handle of the tall metal door that led outside. It fell open and a wall of heat immediately hit her. Sometimes she hated the weather in Arizona and wanted something different and spontaneous to happen other than just another blaze of sun.

Maisie shut the door beside her and saw Logan standing a few feet away, leaning back against the brick wall, smoking. She immediately wrinkled her nose up but walked over anyway, leaning against the wall beside him. Logan looked ridiculous in his bright pink apron but she made sure not to mention it.

Logan looked up at the redhead as she stopped beside him.

"What do you want?" he asked but Maisie noted that it wasn't hostile.

"You don't get a break for another twenty minutes," she commented. "Couldn't you have just held out?"

Logan smirked. "I'm not addicted."

"Wasn't the question," Maisie mumbled. "Look um...can you not smoke around here from now on? I don't care if you need another five minutes to walk somewhere else but we don't allow it."

"We?"

"I," Maisie said. "I don't allow. Can't stand the smell."

Logan turned his head to look at her and took another short drag before dropping it down onto the ground. Maisie wiped her sweaty hands on her apron and nodded. "Right well um, don't take too long out here. Nick nearly killed your illegitimate love child."

Logan's mouth quirked up into a grin and Maisie felt herself smiling a little too. She pushed off from the wall as Logan crushed his smoke with the bottom of his shoe.

"Smoking kills, remember?" she said as she began walking back to the door.

Logan looked at her with an amused smile. "It wasn't a cigarette."

- Tahlie x