Mess

"Okay. Let's go ahead and do tonight. I don't mind if it's late, and it'll be nice to unwind after today anyway." Kirk texted Ron quickly before looking back at Adison. "I suggested Nemo's." The club would be open late, and they had a nice corner set up with several pool tables. "Hopefully the meeting won't last too long. If you guys wanna meet up before I get there, that's okay too. I..." His sentence trailed off as Nancy came through the office space to deliver some papers to Barnes, and she was very obviously trying not to laugh.

Kirk looked up at her and arched an eyebrow. "What's the joke?"

Nancy paused at Barnes' door anr snickered. "Sorry. You should go see the mess in the hall. Two boxes of papers, all the way from the second floor."

Kirk's eyes widened. "Down the stairs? What happened?"

"Apparently Jamison tripped. At least that's what Mark said. I didn't see it happen, I just saw the result."

Kirk rolled his eyes and glanced back at Adison. "He was amazing today, huh?"


Out and down the hall at the bottom of the stairs, Jamison sat on one of the steps, trying to sort through a handful of papers to get them back in order. More papers were strewn all over the stairs from top to bottom. He'd done such a good job at ignoring Mark that he hadn't seen Mark stick his foot out to trip him. He was lucky it had just been the boxes to go flying and not halos own self. So much for ending the day on a good note. 


Garret wished he had more to give Nate, but he really didn't know what could have happened today. He'd think on it more though. Falling silent, he concentrated on his supper, letting the conversations go on around him.

It wasn't much later when Garret was hesitating just outside the living room. Maggie was upstairs doing schoolwork, and Nate was with Laura on the couch before he had to go back to work. Finally mustering up enough gumption, Garret wandered in to sit in one of the chairs.

Laura cocked her head. Was something wrong? "You alright?"

Garret nodded. "Yeah. It's just... Well, when I picked up Maggie today, I... she had this paper about a dance and... she asked me to go with her."

Laura's eyebrows rose. She shouldn't be surprised, but usually Nate took care of school events. She knew Garret probably didn't want to go either, and Maggie had put him in an awfully awkward position.

Garret looked at Nate. "I told her I'd talk to you. I...didn't know what to do." He really was at a loss. He didn't know how these things worked or why Maggie had even asked him. He knew the girl liked his company, but her innocent attraction didn't go any further than that, did it? Wouldn't it be more appropriate for her brother to take her? And wouldn't that be what Nate would prefer anyway?