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Boys at Work

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"These muffins smell absolutely delicious!" Anne exclaimed as she decorated each of the muffins with different colors of frosting; blue, pink, and yellow. She grinned down at the very last one which she just finished decorating. "They probably taste as good as they smell."

"They do taste as good as they smell," Prissy commented from the kitchen counter, chewing on a muffin happily. The redhead's mouth parted open because she thought that they weren't supposed to be eating any of them. They were for the young boys and men who were working on rebuilding the Gillis house.

"You're having one," she muttered sadly, and her mouth-watered. She scolded herself for thinking about how absolutely scrumptious those muffins would be; the icing melting on her tongue and the crumble of the dough⸺

"I finally found the picnic basket."

Florence walked into the kitchen holding a large basket that would eventually hold the blueberry muffins that the girls had teamed up and baked. Well, more like Anne and Florence teamed up and baked; Prissy had just stopped by the Robinson residence not too long ago to check up on her good friend, and by that time, the muffins were already prepared and in the oven. Florence placed the basket down onto the counter and propped the lid open. She studied each of the muffins across from Anne and smiled with satisfaction. "Great decoration skills, Anne."

"Thank you very much, Flo. Back in the orphanage, I used to bake all the time and although I wasn't really allowed to do the baking part, the caregivers there always gave me the task of decorating," Anne expressed and Florence nodded with amusement.

Florence addressed both of the girls a moment later, "Well, they're decorated, so let's pack them up now." She noticed the longing look that Anne was giving to the muffins as she packed them inside the basket and smirked. "Let's all treat ourselves to one as a job well done."

Anne's face lit up immediately as she carefully chose the most beautiful muffin there was. Prissy was already chewing cheerfully into another one (not that Florence knew, and everyone already decided that Anne was everything but a snitch) ⸺ and the Robinson girl chose a muffin with blue frosting, biting into it a second later.

"This was definitely worth the wait," Anne mentioned in between chews and the girls laughed.

***

Not a minute into arriving at the house and Florence was already annoyed. She heard Anne (who had run ahead of her and reached the construction site before her) shout from across her and she stopped in her tracks, wondering who she was speaking to, that too with such anger. "What is wrong with you?"

"Go home and bake cookies!" Billy bellowed from the roof of the house. His gaze flickered to Florence who was standing behind the red-headed girl, and he exhaled a sigh. He didn't know that she was there too.

"Headline, they already did," Gilbert joked from beside him as some of the other younger boys chuckled from around them.

Anne wasn't having any of it and retorted to the Andrews boy, "This is Ruby's property, or did you forget?"

"Why don't you shove off and leave the men to their work?" Billy rolled his eyes but earned a glare from Florence. This would not end well.

"Well, why don't you pay attention to your work, Billy? The show is up there, not here," she argued almost immediately, catching the attention of everyone on the roof. The laughs of the surrounding boys had grown louder and Billy's cheeks turned a bright red. Florence knew that it wasn't her argument to fight, but she couldn't say that she didn't find the oohs and ahhs of the other boys funny.

The Andrews boy rolled his eyes again, this time playfully. He wasn't going to say anything mean to Florence ⸺ not intentionally, at least ⸺ because she and he had sorted out their differences with each other not too long ago. He murmured a short 'whatever' as he focused his attention back on a nail that he was hammering.

Disregarding his tasks for a moment, Gilbert stepped down the ladder and approached Florence and Anne. He looked down at the basket in Florence's hand inquisitively. "What's this?" he asked the Robinson girl.

"We baked some blueberry muffins," Florence explained, grinning at her friend beside her. She opened the lid of the basket slightly, enough to give Gilbert a quick peek. "For you and the others at work."

Anne interjected quickly, "Give yourself more credit, Flo." She returned her attention to Gilbert and added, "Florence was the one who did all the baking. I mainly just decorated them."

"Well, they certainly smell delicious," Gilbert complimented and Florence grew flustered. She wasn't sure why she grew flustered, but she just did. It must be the heat, she reasoned with herself but didn't exactly believe her words. Gilbert reached out his hand but paused mid-way, looking at Florence as if silently asking for permission. "May I?"

"Of course!" She just about shoved the basket in his arms, but he held onto it with ease. "I'm only here to deliver the baked goods, so I should be going."

Gilbert wanted to ask her to stay for a while longer but decided against it. Instead, he nodded simply and let the two girls leave after bidding his goodbyes to them. He stared at their ⸺ her ⸺ departing figure for a moment before wiping some sweat from his forehead with the back of his free hand and headed back to his workspace.