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That made me laugh. Because yeah.
“I hate cheesecake. Don’t bring me cheesecake.”
“Really? You said it was yourfavourite!”
“I didn’t.” I grinned carefully. “Or if I did, I lied. I can’t stand the stuff. Urgh. No more cheesecake.”
“You never even tried my cheesecake.”
He was surprisingly good at this. Cheering me up. Calming me down. I was starting to think it was one of his superpowers. He was still smiling as I got up and shook myself out of my unease.
“Got stuff to do,” I said.
“Yeah. Me too.”
“I’m off then.” I didn’t know why I was lingering.
“Hu…”
“Hu-go.” I grinned. “My name is Hu-go.”
“Well, for that, I’m only going to call you Hu now. Anyway, can I borrow that thing you had?”
“This?” I held out the stress ball.
“Yeah. I’m not doing too well with this no smoking thing.”
“Have it.” Fuck. I was going to struggle without it, but I handed it over, watched him squeezing that tiny cupcake into nothing. And releasing. And again.
I liked his hands, I decided. And I liked that he made me laugh. That this friendship was so bloody easy. Because it was. And why the hell was I just standing here with a stupid grin on my face?
“Go on then!” He shooed me away.
As I walked back inside, I turned around and saw him fish a cigarette out of his pocket. A lone, crumpled one. The bastard.
I marched straight back out there, yanked it out of his grip and just said one word.
“No.”
Then I walked off. I knew he was laughing anyway.
Ben
Sometimes I was fine with what I was. I was more than competent in my head, less so when it actually came to following through with things. Like today, when I had to teach a new trainee to plate for me. I could sometimes plate myself, but those days were rare. I was the head chef, which meant spending less time on the line and more time plating and inspecting the food leaving my kitchen. Everything had to be perfect. I had standards. Unfortunately, my standards were at a height my hands simply couldn’t reach.
Ihated that I wasthatchef. My reputation was all over town. I was the guy who couldn’t even peel an onion without chopping off a finger, and believe it or not, the rumour hadn’t actually come about through any kind of lie. I was hopeless at times. Other times, like at home when I wore my special gloves and really concentrated, I could put together a proper meal all by myself. I took great pride in that.
Hence I was borderline yelling abuse at the poor girl who was actually doing a decent job of picking the right lettuce leaves to form the shape I wanted. She’d even spotted the markings and discarded the offending piece of lamb’s lettuce into the bowl that would later go for our staff dinners. We didn’t waste perfectly good food. We just chose who to serve it to.
I was in a foul mood, and the nicotine cravings were overwhelming. The kid on the sauces got it in the neck next, but he wasn’t new and should know better than to cut the hollandaise like that. Fuck. And too much salt! I spat the stuff in my mouth into a napkin and yelled some more. God, I was a right bastard today.
“Yes, Chef!” the kid barked back, returning to his station.
“Heads up!” I shouted. “Get your fucking act together, we’re better than this! Paul, the carrots are rank, and can someone get those sauces up to scratch?”
I shook my head. Scratched it as well. Went to wash my hands and tried to calm myself down, shouts of, “Yes Chef!” following me as I walked out front to check on the floor.
It was just me here today, and Tabitha was running the restaurant team. She was not only a very capable waitress but also was often left to take the reins on days like this, and it was reassuring to know we had people like her and my senior chefs, who stood in for me when I took some rare time off.I needed my shifts to run smoothly, and trainees were a lifesaving necessity for us—how else would these people learn how to do the job? But God, I hated having new staff. Thankfully, Tabitha had things under control, and the waiting team ignored me as I strode through to the lobby. We were just finishing off the last of the orders, and once desserts were out, we could start scrubbing down.
