She'll leave the last one of everything. The last little bit of milk, the last cookie...everything and anything.
"Hey, Auggie, do you guys have some food in this place?" I relaxed into the couch and brought the beer bottle I was holding to my lips.
"Somewhere in the cabinets."
"That's a very broad description," Stu muttered, as I heard his fingers tapping away on the computer that was balanced on his lap.
"Eh, it's Barber. He'll find something." "Ooh, cookies!"
"See?"
"Leave some for us, alright, man? While you're munching away, some of us are actually working." I heard a slight slap and a "Hey!" from Stu so I assumed Barber hit him in the back of the head.
"A man needs to eat." The couch dipped as he sat next to me and handed me a cookie. "Here, I think they're chocolate chip. Or raisin. I can never really tell the difference."
I took a tentative bite and grimaced. "Raisin. Definitely raisin."
"Sorry, man. There was another box in there but it only had one cookie in it so I left it alone."
"What?"
"There was another box in there but - "
"Yeah, I know what you said. But why is there just one?"
"No idea," Barber said through a mouth full of cookie. I shook my head at him and stood, making my way to the kitchen. I found our cookie drawer, pulled out the nearest box I could find and tipped it over into my hand. Sure enough, only one cookie.
"That's so weird...I haven't even eaten from this box. Annie must have."
Shrugging, I popped the cookie into my mouth and smiled when I discovered that it was not raisin but chocolate chip. After throwing the box away I opened the fridge to grab the milk carton in the door. Beer was great, but nothing beat the taste of cookies and milk, even when you were a grown man. The jug felt light and I shook it gingerly, feeling the slight swish of milk at the bottom. As I poured it, I noticed it barely made half a glass.
"One cookie. Half a glass of milk...we need to go grocery shopping." The jug joined the empty box of cookies in the garbage can and I made my way back to the living room. Barber and Stu were busy typing away on a project that Joan assigned to us over the weekend. It was huge and Joan thought it'd be better to have the three more experienced techies handle it. For us it was a piece of cake...plus a reason to just go to one of our houses and eat food and drink beer.
"Getting anywhere?"
"Kinda. This software on this guy's computer isn't the greatest to work with."
"Don't you think it's kind of odd that Joan didn't even tell us who this computer belongs to and why we have to find everything that's on it?"
"Not really. She does it to me all the time." I took my spot next to Barber and snatched my headphones from the table.
"Oh, by the way, Annie called."
"When?"
"Just now. We didn't answer because we didn't know if she knew we were here and that would just be...weird."
I rolled my eyes again and searched the table for my phone. Stu slid it over to my hand.
"Thanks," I hit two on my speed dial and held it against my shoulder as I typed on my computer.
"Hello?"
"Hey, you called?"
"Yeah, I was just wondering what you wanted to do for dinner?"
My hands stopped. "I thought you were hanging out with Emily tonight?" "We were going to but apparently she got really sick during the day and had to go home. So, I just visited her a little bit and now I'm on my way back to our place."
Oh boy.
"Well, here's the thing..."
"You're with Barber and Stu, aren't you?"
"You know me so well."
She laughed. "It's okay, I'm sure I can find something at home to make myself. Just call me when your coming home, okay?"
"Here's the thing..."
"...you're at our house, aren't you?"
"Maybe..."
She chuckled, which I took as a good sign. "It's okay. I haven't talked to either of them in a while so it's okay. I miss them."
"They miss you, too."
"I miss you, Annie!" Barber yelled.
"Yeah, me too!" Stu joined.
"There's your proof." I muttered.
"Well, why don't I just make a dinner then for us? It'll be like a family reunion."
"Sounds great, but we barely have anything here."
"What do you mean, I went grocery shopping only two weeks ago."
"Well, there was a box with one cookie in it and barely any milk and we just finished both of those. I didn't check the rest of the fridge."
"Oh...right. I'll stop by the store then." Something in her tone made me stop.
"You wouldn't happen to know anything about the mysterious one cookie box would you?"
"No. I mean, why would I? I bought those for you."
"I never touched them."
"...I've got to go, I'm heading into the store. See you in half an hour?"
"Um, yeah. I love you."
"Love you, too. Bye."
She hung up and I let my phone slide out of my hand onto the couch.
"What was that about?" Stu asked.
"No idea. She got a little defensive when I asked her about the cookie box." I shrugged it off and slid my headphones on my head.
"Weird."
"Yeah, weird."
"By the way, she's making you guys dinner."
Barber stopped typing. "Dude. I love your girlfriend."
"Hands off."
"I won't touch her. Her cooking however..."
"Just don't trust her chicken noodles soup."
"Any food is good food. How would you like it if you were stranded with no food?"
I shook my head and toned him out as I kept working. True to her word, about half an hour later, I heard the door slide open.
"Annie!" Stu greeted.
"Hey, boys!" I heard the rustling of bags and I stood to help her. "Thanks. Could you take these?"
She greeted me with a peck on the cheek and I couldn't help by smile at her gesture. She put the bags in my arms as she shrugged her coat off.
"My pleasure." As I brought them into the kitchen, Barber and Stu followed.
"Dude, you are whipped." Barber laughed as Stu made a whipping sound.
"I'm happily whipped."
"Now that's just weird."
"Alright! I've got my famous lasagna lined up for you boys." Her arm found my waist and I grinned at Barber and Stu's childlike excitement.
"Whoo! Annie's famous lasagna! Thanks, Annie!"
"No problem. Just finish your little...computer games before dinner."
"Computer games? What we are doing is highly sensitive stuff." Stu teased.
"Stu, you were playing Tetris before." Barber scoffed.
"Tetris is a mind-boggling game that gets me focused."
"Right." Barber berated as he walked back into the living room.
"Mind-boggling, I tell you. Mind-boggling!" I could still hear their conversation in the living room but I quickly tuned them out. I grabbed Annie by the arm and pulled her into me.
"Thank you for this."
"No problem. Here, these are the cookies that we ran out of." She placed a box in my hands.
"That's so odd. I mean...where did they all go?" I wondered as I put the new box in our cookie drawer.
"No idea." Her answer came a little too fast.
"Annie, is something wrong?"
"No, nothing's wrong."
I put my hands on her shoulders as she started putting away groceries in the fridge.
"You're tense."
"Am not."
"Annie..." I used my no nonsense boyfriend voice and she sighed.
"It's just...a little embarrassing."
"I'm sure it's not that bad. Now what's eating you?"
She turned and grasped my hands. They were chilled from being in the fridge but they still had her Annie warmth. She took a deep breath before speaking.
"When I was little, my mom would always get upset when Danielle or I ate or drank a lot of something at one time. She told us we had to ration everything in case something happened where we had to stock up on stuff. Stupid, I know, but it led to me being extremely careful. Not to ration in case an apocalypse happened or something, but I was careful not to get caught. So I'd...oh, God, this is embarrassing."
"Keep going. I like your stories." I nudged her nose with mine. She sighed.
"I'd..I'd leave the last bit of anything I ever was close to finishing...and then blamed it on Danielle."
I didn't answer right away, and I kept my mouth sealed to keep the laughter back that was bubbling in my chest. After a few seconds however...I couldn't hold it in anymore.
"That...is the best thing I've ever heard!" I said breathlessly.
"It's not funny!" She said, but she had a bit of a chuckle. "It's something that scarred me for life!"
"You blamed it on your sister every single time?" I asked through laughs.
"Yes! Our mother's wrath was terrifying!" I laughed even harder then, leaning against the fridge and sliding down it. "Why are you laughing so hard?"
"I don't know," I answered after my laugh attack had died down a bit. "You just seemed so upset about it and it turned out to be such a little thing that I guess I'm just a little relieved."
"Little thing? For me it's huge! It was either leave the last one for the ration or no food for a week."
"That's harsh."
"It's the truth."
I smiled at her as she pulled me back to standing. Wrapping my arms around her, I pulled her tight to me as she opened a bag of noodles for lasagna.
"Well, you don't have to worry about leaving the last of everything around here. I want my Annie to be good and fed." I nuzzled her neck and she giggled.
"Good. Then I'm eating half of your portion of lasagna."
"Hey!"
"I've got to watch you, too," she tapped my stomach a bit. "You're getting a little pudgy there, mister."
"Am not." I pouted.
She laughed at me and kissed me hard. "Go play with your little friends. Supper will be ready soon."
"Have I said I love you?"
"Multiple times."
"I love you."
"I love you, too." I kissed her again and went back into the living room where Barber and Stu were typing away. I sat next to them in silence for a while until Barber spoke up.
"So...does that mean she leaves, like, the last bit to toilet paper, too?"
"We're you two seriously listening in on us?"
"We're spies man. Spies."
"That, are you two aren't very quiet. Ever." Stu teased.
"Shut up, Stuart."
"Just saying."
After a delicious meal, with a bit of awkward thrown in with Barber and Stu throwing layered sexual innuendos at me, I was finally able to push the two out the door with the promise that I'd let them have a longer lunch break the next day.
"Finally." I groaned.
"You invited them over," Annie reminded me.
"For a while...I didn't think you'd offer them dinner. You know how us techies get when we haven't been fed."
"You're like wild animals."
"Exactly."
She chuckled. "Hey, will you bring in the bread bowl? It's the last thing in the middle of the table."
"Sure."
I grabbed it and noticed that there were two pieces of bread left. Slowly, I got an idea. I grabbed one piece of bread and at it quickly, still wiping crumbs off my face as I brought the bowl into the kitchen.
"Thanks," she murmured as I handed it to her. I meandered my way toward the living room while I listened to see if she noticed.
"Auggie."
"Yeah?"
"There's one piece of bread in here."
"Rationing, darling, it's all about rationing."
And I didn't expect anything less from her as I felt the piece of bread collide with my head.
This one, too...I don't know where it went. When I wrote these prompts I totally didn't think about the chapter I was going to write for them...some are much eaiser than others. But, as always! Please, read, review, and enjoy!
