Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

"See, that's the problem with all you Plastics. You think everyone's in love with you when actually everyone hates you. Like, like Aaron Samuels? He broke up with Regina and guess what,he still doesn't want you."

:: M&M Kisses ::

He was first Regina's, although he hates being referred to as her "property." Janis knew this before Cady did, before Cady found out the hard way. She also knew that Aaron's favorite candy is M&Ms before Cady even knew who Aaron was. Janis couldn't help the fact that they had to work on a project together and she also couldn't help the fact that Aaron told her nearly every day they were together that he loved her.

He said he loved the way she was strong and that she didn't let Regina break her like everyone else did. He told her that he loved her determination, the way she drew until her fingers cramped and she couldn't hold a pencil or paintbrush in her hand. He would massage her fingers and tell her that he loved her over and over again.

It's not that she didn't like hearing those words over and over again from him or that she didn't like Aaron himself. She loved him too; he was sweet and genuinely nice although his fidelity could be questioned since they slept together exactly seven times even when he was supposed to be with Regina.

Sometimes they wouldn't even be touching in order to feel each other. Aaron would just sit on that half-broken stool in her basement and watch silently as she drew and drew and drew until the charcoal piece fell from her hand and shattered on the ground. He would then get up and stand before her and grab her hand and rub her fingers gently saying that he wished she wouldn't push herself too hard and that he wouldn't know what to do if she ever really hurt herself.

But she knew the way Cady felt about Aaron. It was the serious kind of attraction that could deepen into love. Janis questioned Aaron on several occasionsbut Aaron would only protest and he'd take Janis' dirty, paint and ink smudged hands in his and tell her that he loved her and only her. When he kissed her, it tasted like M&Ms.

But now here she was, six weeks before graduation, two hours before finishing this stupid painting, and twelve minutes before Aaron arrived. Although Janis loved everything about Aaron, she wasn't enough for him. Here she was, some strange, bitter girl who was still holding onto a middle school grudge...and then there was Cady, uncorrupted, gentle, and genuine. She was wholesome and always looking at the world through rose colored glasses. She was better for Aaron.

Janis could hear the door at the top of the stairs that led down to the basement open and she could hear the click as Aaron turned on the lights. He asked her what she was doing down here in the dark. She just kept drawing until the pencil faltered, skidded, and smeared half of what she had been working on for the past four hours. She could feel Aaron standing right behind her as the pencil dropped from her fingers and her hand fell back limply against her side.

Her hand cramped up almost unbearably which could explain the strange sensation of tears in her eyes. It had nothing to do with Aaron's retreating footsteps or the fact that it was her fault that those footsteps were walking away from her, not towards her to grab her hand and massage it.

"Fucking hell." Janis grabbed her own hand before the pain got worse. She could manage on her own without Aaron. She carefully rubbed her fingers in a circular motion, trying to imitate what Aaron had done. Those strange slivers of water that tasted like salt that were causing strange little splotches on her canvas shoes weren't because of the fact that she was standing in the dark, lonely basement by herself.

Only when she looked over at the picture she drew, she forgot that she was supposed to have given it to Aaron. It was for their anniversary. It was a picture of her, Cady, and Aaron, whose arm was draped loosely around Cady's shoulder that Janis had drawn from a photograph. You could tell they were comfortable with each other even though it was just a picture. But for her own sake, Janis drew so lightly that it was almost invisible, her hand twined with Aaron's like she knew it was, hidden from camera's view.

After she pulled herself together and told herself off for being such a wimp, crying over a goddamn hand cramp, Janis picked up the eraser and carefully erased away any smudges that were on the picture and made sure to wipe away any traces of the twined fingers and touching palms.

:: End ::

Obviously the quotation is from Mean Girls, said by Janis, which partly inspired this one shot.