Ever After -Completed-

Apologies

><Collin><

I wiped my hands on my pants, only managing to smear the printer ink on them. The package had spilled while I was trying to replace it, and now I'd have to run to the store to get another. I was already hard pressed for time as it was-the publisher had allowed me two extra weeks to finish this collection. 

To make matters worse, I was still dating Josh. Which was usually such an amazing thing, even Meg agreed that he was great, but he'd been so distant lately. I couldn't tell why, instead bouncing between giving him space and being there. Trying not to be clingy and trying not to be detached. Everything sort of piled up. 

Meg came into the office, handing me a few cotton balls and the rubbing alcohol. I smiled gratefully as she helped me to clean my hands, making sure non of the liquid spilled. When the black smears all faded, she dumped the now-black cotton balls into the trash and handed me new jeans to change into. 

I thanked her, and she smiled weakly. "No worries...hopefully. Matt texted me-I have no clue how he got my number, by the way-to say that they'll all be coming over. Which I guess is a good thing?"

"Don't worry, Meg. They guys are cool, all of them. You can trust them not to hurt you. And that's not just me being stupid for once, I promise." 

She shook her head like it was obvious and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, a tick that usually told me she was thinking. Not nervous, not lying, just figuring out what to say. "I'm not worried about me, I'm worried about you. Josh never comes with all of them. And I remember you saying that he's been distant lately. I just don't want to see you hurt, Collin."

I forced a smile, shooing her from the room so I could change. "It'll be fine."

><Meg><

"Fine," I muttered, throwing two packages of printer ink in my shopping cart. They weren't colored, but I supposed it didn't really matter if Collin was just printing out the rough draft of her stories. 

Not paying attention to where I was was walking, I lingered around the aisle. To tell the truth, I wasn't anxious to be getting home. The guys were nice enough, but that didn't mean I wanted to be social.

My cart hit another with a clang and I sighed, not surprised my the collision so much as annoyed. I kept my eyes down and pushed passed Jacob with a muttered "sorry". 

He sped up a little bit to jog next to me as I hurriedly threw some items into my basket. "So, how've you been?" Jacob asked casually, as though i wasn't trying to escape him.

I shrugged, throwing some pasta into the cart and rushing through the aisles. "Good enough. You?" I'm a Canadian-being rude simply isn't done here. 

"I'm fine, really, I have an interview for this job..." He rambled as I started to check my stuff out at the register. I gritted my teeth as the familiar woman's voice sounded, saying there were unexpected items in the bagging area. What. The. Fuck.

Finally, after what seemed like a million light years, I put the ink through the scanner and grabbed my bags. "Goodbye, Jacob." I said, trying not to run.

"Bye!" 

><Collin><

Matt, Mike, and Ian were in the kitchen, attempting to make chocolate chip cookies. They had barely started, but already I could envision pounds and pounds of flour on the floor. Which, from their shouts, seemed to be true. 

Josh flipped through the channels, finally landing on a movie. Young Frankenstein, one that was classically black and white. 

Meg came through the door, carrying a few plastic shopping bags. She set them on the ground and headed to the kitchen, barely even nodding in my direction. The door hadn't even begun to swing closed behind her before she shrieked, "What have you done to my kitchen?!"

Next to me, Josh chortled, going over to see what was happening. I followed. 

It was a war zone. In one corner, the three guys all stood, sheepishly, with hands clasped behind their backs. Meg had her hands on her hips and was glaring at them. Flour caked the floor completely, some of it in clumps from spilled milk. 

"Meg, why don't you just help them finish this batch, alright?" I suggested lightly, trying not to laugh. 

"I don't want to teach these imbeciles!" She complained, only half joking. 

"I take personal offense to that," Matt said. "Obviously, these two are imbeciles and I'm just a fool."

"Can I be a dimwit?" Mike joked. 

Meg rolled her eyes. "Fine, whatever. But I'm holding the line at you, Casselman. That's enough synonyms for today." She put on her apron and washed her hands quickly. "First rule-don't melt the butter all the way."

Josh and I left, watching the movie until the smell of cookie dough distracted us. The cookies didn't turn out too bad, really-just a little burnt. I actually liked them a little better that way.

We all finished the movie together, laughing at the absolute ridiculousness of it. The whole Frankenstein's monster thing had been made over a sickly amount of times, but this one was by far my favorite. 

The guys had to go record some songs at the studio. I gave Josh one last hug and they left, taking the blackened cookies with them.  

I joined Meg in the kitchen, where the piles of flour were growing stickier by the minute. She gave me a sideways glance and I nodded, already heading towards the closet. "I'll get the vacuum."