I pulled away to see Cal frozen to the spot, his mouth slightly open as he stared at her. Chef took off his hat and took her hand to kiss it.
‘Miss Chase, what an honour to have you in my kitchen.’
‘It’s an honour to be here, thank you for letting me come see it,’ she enthused, looking around her as all the kitchen staff stared in awe. One chef had paused midway through drizzling treacle over a pancake and the plate was now overflowing. Sky’s eyes landed on Cal, who was frozen to the spot, and she fluttered her eyelashes at him.
‘Hi, I’m Sky. You must be Cal. I’ve heard lots about you.’
Cal spluttered a hello, practically choking on his own spit and providing me with plenty of ammo should he ever feel the need to tease me about anything ever again. At least I didn’t lose my mind in front of celebrities.
OK, fine, so there was that time when I shouted ‘JAW’ at Ethan Duke. But that’s different.
Chef ordered one of the cooks to pull up a chair for Sky, and then told her that she was about to witness something spectacular.
‘Flick is going to whip you up something. She is a self-professedexcellentcook.’
Everyone’s eyes turned to me.
‘No, no, no. Surely Sky would rather you, the head chef of Hotel Royale,’ I emphasised, ‘cook her a delicious breakfast fit for royalty.’
‘Nah, I’m happy for you to cook me something,’ Sky said, sharing a mischievous smile with Chef. ‘What’s on the menu?’
I racked my brain for anything that I had ever made before. The list was short. I glanced back at the treacle now spreading in a pool across the work surface.
‘Pancakes,’ I squeaked. ‘I can make you a pancake.’
‘I love pancakes.’ Sky laughed.
On instruction from Chef, Sasha hurried over with a frying pan and all the ingredients I’d need, lining them up neatly.
‘Good luck!’ she whispered as she placed down the bowl of flour.
‘I need it!’ I whispered back.
‘No conferring with Sasha,’ Cal said, finding his ability to talk again. ‘And no googling the recipe. Pass me your phone so there’s no cheating.’
I slapped my phone into his palm and then put on the apron that Sasha passed me. I hesitated at the next piece of apparel handed over.
‘Really?’ I asked Chef, dangling the hair net from my finger.
‘Really.’
I rolled my eyes and then shoved it on my head, letting Sasha help me tuck in all the bits of hair round my face and looking daggers at Cal as he burst out laughing.
‘It suits you,’ Sky declared through giggles.
Ignoring the lot of them, I rolled up my sleeves and began to attempt a pancake, while the rest of the kitchen got back to work and Chef got back to bossing them all about. Regaining his composure, Cal started asking Sky about her latest album, leaving me to get on with it without the pressure of the two of them watching the process.
Miraculously, I remembered how to make the batter and couldn’t help but feel extremely proud of myself as I poured some of it into the hot frying pan.
‘Very impressive!’ Sky cheered as I stood aside to let her and Cal admire it. ‘Now, flip it.’
‘Your wish is my command,’ I said, grabbing the handle of the pan with both hands and tossing the pancake with gusto.
Unfortunately, it was a little bit too much gusto. The pancake flew high into the air, over my head and landed with a splat on Chef?’s head.
I gasped and Sky clapped her hand to her mouth. The whole kitchen froze as we waited for Chef?’s reaction.
‘What?’ he said finally, looking round at his staff. ‘You guys don’t like my new hat?’
