Issue 1 Downtime

Theresa had a plastic ziploc bag of cookies held in one hand when she knocked on the door to Alex's room. After knocking, she supported the cookies carefully in both hands, holding them up where they'd be the first thing he'd see.

"I hope he likes them..."

"Yeah, just a minute," called a drowsy, metallic-sounding voice. The sound of heavy, solid footfalls came closer, though, after a few steps they grew more normal-sounding. Alex opened the door and looked first at the cookies, then at Theresa, then at Kay, then back to the cookies...

"Okay, you guys win," he said, pulling the door wider. "Come on in."

Theresa moved in, keeping hold of the cookies since Alex was handling the door. "We just wanted to apologize for stealing your girlfriend away from you the other day."

"Yeah, it was just... Guess I kinda chickened out."

"Okay seriously. You guys came into the room holding hands. Did you think that we're all too dumb to catch on?" he asked, eyeing the cookies.

"No," Theresa admitted, "but we weren't thinking very clearly at the time either. We were kind of focused on telling Brigid cause we didn't want to weird her out that..." She trailed off. "It sounds kind of stupid now that I'm saying it out loud." She offered him the bag of cookies.

Alex took the cookies as eagerly as any teenage boy being offered junk food. "Yeah, because Brigid freaks out and flies off the handle so easily, right?" he said, grinning a little as the power of cookies seemed to take the edge off of everything.

"No. But did you see how Steve looked at us? And it's scary, even if no one freaks out..."

"Well yeah. You guys wouldn't even stay in the same room with us, it was kind of insulting. I mean, have I ever come down on you about, I mean, anything?"

"No," Theresa said. "Look, I'm not saying mistakes weren't made. That's why cookies... We're just trying to feel our way through this." Feel? Seriously, Theresa?

Heh. She said 'feel'. "And all I'm saying is that if I can help you guys feel things out, just let me know," he said in the obvious tone of a guy who just couldn't let a comment like that slide, unable to stifle a grin.

"Oh shut up." she chuckles faintly.

"Hey, I'm just saying I have your back! Why, did you mean something else?"

"So not my type," she said with snort. "And besides, your girlfriend would break me in half." Then she looked at Kay, "And mine would probably drown me just for good measure.

"Oh come on, Brigid wouldn't... well... okay, maybe she would," Alex admitted. "These are really good cookies," he added, making sure they were set down where they could be shared.

"Thanks. Glad you like them."

"If they're good, it's Kay's doing. I think I mostly just made a mess."

"Well thanks, then. Again." Then he looked at Kay, trying not to sound annoyed as he did. "So are we finally cool?"

"I... didn't think we weren't."

Alex considered it as he picked up another cookie. "Okay. I'm good," he decided.

"Glad to hear it. Hey, we could even go on a double date sometime. We promise not to look like the girls are conspiring against you." She grinned.