8. Preheat Oven

"What the fuck happened to being discreet?"

Nick rubbed the back of his neck and Logan looked out the window, bored. The former actually felt bad about what had gone down yet the latter didn't seem to give two shits. When Maisie had watched a Bud's Bakers bitch come running over to Bud, she knew something had gone wrong. And then when the two men came back and admitted to punching a random guy, Maisie was about to pass out.

"It wasn't our fault!" Nick said.

"So Logan's fist just maneuvered itself into that guys face by itself then?" Maisie raised an eyebrow.

"Well duh," Nick scoffed.

"Hey," Logan said as he slid up onto the top of one of the bakery tables, "don't blame dumbass over there, he didn't do anything wrong. I'm the one that punched him."

"And are you ever going to explain why you punched him?" Maisie asked.

Logan just looked at her until Maisie blinked and slowly straightened up with a frown. The kitchen doors were hauled open and Keith walked out with Charity and Andrew. Keith stopped beside Logan and sat on the table as well.

"I'm sick of baking," he said.

Maisie nodded. "Right yeah, have a break, thanks."

Charity sat beside Keith and Maisie didn't catch the way their hands brushed subtly. She also didn't catch the way Keith tapped her hand back with his finger or the quick look he sent her.

Maisie rubbed her hands down her arms and pouted without realizing. "I'm so tired. I just want to go home."

"Join the fucking club," Nick snorted and Maisie glowered at him.

Andrew lay down on the booth of the table Logan sat on and promptly went to sleep with his arm over his eyes. Maisie noted the position was one that the boys did often. She also noted that sleeping was something they did often too. Logan leaned back on the table and blinked slowly, his eyes were a little red at the corners and Maisie honestly couldn't tell if it was because he was tired or if he was high.

Maisie looked over at the doors to the bakery and her heart sank. No one was there, no one was coming and money was becoming nonexistent.

***

If Maisie was going to be bluntly honest, Charity needed to calm the fuck down.

Maisie sat at a table in the bakery, trying to get her twelve page essay done for the next day. The guys were in the kitchen doing the last few batches of muffins and cupcakes that needed to be made for a smaller order. They weren't exactly amazing at the whole 'getting a cake to rise' part but surprisingly weren't bad at smaller things like mini cakes. Nick was the most surprising part though.

A week in and Maisie could already tell that the guy was actually okay at baking. He wasn't exactly comfortable or delicate with it but he could get out decent cupcake once in a while before Andrew devoured it.

"Charity," Maisie said. "Trying to get an essay done here."

"Maybe I should just become a lesbian," Charity huffed.

"That's not quite how that works..."

"Guys are such assholes. I can never find a good, nice boy. They're all smirky and leather-y and imma-go-cheat-on-my-girlfriend-y. I'm sick of them!"

"Then don't date anyone," Maisie said half-heartedly. "There's no law saying you have to constantly have a guy's throat to shove your tongue down. Just be single for a bit."

"Single?" Charity pouted. "I'm trying to find a solution, not a punishment."

Maisie sighed and saved what little she had of her essay before looking up at her best friend. "There is no solution. You had a bad relationship and it probably won't be the last bad one you have. But trying to find a solution is only going to dig you further into a ditch. Just do something to forget about it."

Maisie went back to her essay and Charity bit the inside of her cheek until it stung. She wrung her hands together and glanced over at the kitchen doors and her nerves went crazy on her. Just do something to forget about it, Charity sighed, simple.

Maisie finally leaned back in her seat and cracked her back violently when Charity walked back into the kitchen to supervise the guys. Her high collared, short sleeved white tee rose up at the stomach between the bottom of the fabric and her loose jeans. She heard the kitchen doors open back up and glanced up when a familiar blonde walked over.

Logan looked around the bakery as he stopped in front of Maisie. "No customers?" he asked.

She shrugged. "They come and go. Most go. It's okay though, gives me time to get this paper done."

Logan smiled a little and sat down in the booth beside Maisie. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned his back against the seat, mimicking Maisie's position without realizing. He looked at the laptop screen and scanned his eyes over the words before blinking.

"I don't know what half those words mean," Logan said.

Maisie laughed. "Psychology. It's not that bad."

"It looks bad," Logan commented. "And confusing."

Maisie faked a long sigh. "Yeah," she scrunched her face up. "Its actually pretty bad."

Logan grinned and took his pink apron off, placing it on the space beside him. He still hadn't gotten used to the unnatural array of colours that the bakery held in its small four walls. Maisie's grandma was either colourblind or batshit crazy. The weirdness of the building had begun to grow on him but he knew that most customers were walking away because the bakery didn't look the part. Bud was raking in every old person he could and Maisie could barely get a raccoon to touch the cakes they made.

"When we were at Bud's, we saw a couple things that seem to be making money," Logan said.

Maisie perked up immediately and turned her head to look at him. The movement made Logan realize how close they actually were to each other. From the way she had her hands behind her head, Maisie's elbow was moments away from touching his arm. Yet it stayed at a small distance; a distance Logan suddenly hated.

"Yeah?" Maisie prodded. "What did you see?"

"They do special occasion cakes. Like birthday cakes with the kids name on it and wedding cakes and stuff. They're making hundreds and hundreds off it. If we do that but a little cheaper then people will come running and leave Bud's fat ass in a ditch on the side of the road."

Maisie snorted out a laugh at that and nodded. "Okay, that doesn't sound bad."

Logan thought for a moment, wondering how he could address this topic kindly enough. "There was one other thing I noticed with Nick."

"Yeah?" Maisie asked.

Logan nodded. "The interior. Or more the decorating. Wall colours, counter colours and even the type of panels that bracket in the display shelves. As much as I don't want to step foot back in Bud's Bakers, it isn't a bad looking place. I would have probably bought something if I wasn't broke and didn't break one of their noses."

Maisie smiled a bit but it just ended up turning into a disgruntled sigh. "My grandma decorated this place...well I mean Tony's grandma did but, I never did really like it. It's what she always wanted and she loved the mess of colours but customers don't I guess. I want to re-decorate. But I can't."

Logan frowned.

"Re-decorating costs money, Logan," she said. "Money I'm not making. This job is dragging me down and I'm trying to get a degree in the middle of it. Nothing's working out. If I don't get the money to at least re-decorate then the bakery has nothing going for it."

Logan had never seen Maisie look so distressed. She was usually upfront, level headed and stubborn. But now she was literally stuck. There was nowhere to go, no loophole no hidden road to go down. She either had to make money or the bakery would be gone. Years and years that her grandma put into it all just wasted away for nothing

"There's always another way around it," Logan said softly and Maisie's elbow accidentally knocked his as she shifted on the seat. "You'll be okay...you've got us."

Maisie shook her head and grinned.

Yeah, she had them.

Thank you to FoodLover77Penguin for the great banner!

Thank you to TokyoXx for the cool banner!

- Tahlie x