Chapter 28
Twenty-Eight
ADDIE
Eli and I hadn’t talked.
I also hadn’t seen him since I left his room five days ago.
The only signs of life were the shower running in the early hours of the morning, and that he was eating the meals I left on the oven for him.
It was quite the adjustment after a month of a routine where we saw each other every day for hours at a time.
And it had allowed me to get very in my head because there was no way he should be able to work that many hours while employed at Vivi’s.
Which meant that he was avoiding me.
Which only stung a little.
Although I had now sighted my flatmate, he was still avoiding me. I had been given a job to do via a member of staff whose name I had completely forgotten because I couldn’t get over the fact that it wasn’t directly from the head chef.
I was peeling potatoes and turning them into chips that, fortunately, I was not going to have to cook.
Everyone knew peeling potatoes was a task you assigned to your enemies. I already had two blue plasters on my hands.
Although I could admit that my injuries might have had more to do with stealing glances at Eli as he worked.
Seeing him in his element was beyond attractive.
There was a practised ease to the way he moved around the kitchen. Checking in on his staff while they moved through a mildly chaotic prep time. Chopping vegetables at an alarming rate. Managing to maintain three different sauces and make a massive batch of pasta.
And he didn’t look like he was frazzled at all.
I had seen chefs working with a full staff, looking more stressed than Eli did with two team members missing.
The only time I caught even a flicker of stress was when Dad came into the kitchen to say that we were five minutes from opening.
He shook it off quickly and called for all five of us to clean down our sections and get ready for service.
My chips were taken away by Kayla, who, by the looks of things, was going to work both desserts and mains. As I wiped down my section, I tried to switch my mind to a leadership role. It sat in a similar lane to my professor persona, so it wasn’t too difficult to find.
I heard a throat clear behind me and turned to find Eli standing awkwardly.
His eyes were guarded but still gentle. It was only now that he was looking at me that I realised I’d missed him this week.
“Is it okay if I give the team talk?” he asked. Quietly, but with a gruff undertone.
I took a deep breath before I replied.
“This isn’t my kitchen, so go ahead.” I gestured at the floor.
He clapped twice. “Gather around, everyone!” Eli called.
Seeing us all in the huddle, I realised how truly tiny this team was today. If this service went off without a hitch, it would be a miracle.
“I know it feels like we’ve come into this service on the back foot, but I have faith in this team and I know that we are going to have a good service.”
A chorus of ‘yes, chef’ was enthusiastically cheered, signalling the end of a speech that I thought would go on longer.
Everyone dispersed to their stations, and then I remembered something.
“Eli, quick question. How do you want me to call the dishes? As the protein, or do you have a system?” I should have asked earlier. If there was a system, then I was fucked. I was a quick learner, but I wasn’t that quick.
“Protein is fine. There are no duplicates. Thanks for helping today. No one else could cover at such short notice.”
“Oh, you mean no one else wants to pull double shifts at an obscene rate?” I hadn’t meant to say it. I definitely hadn’t meant to say it in such a mean tone. Eli actually flinched.
Then started turning red. First up his neck and then across his cheeks. It looked even more obvious against his chef blacks.
“That is less to do with you and more to do with the fact that I have a never-ending need to be in control while we get this new menu set up. So, yeah, I’ve been working a lot of hours to make sure that it’s going well.”
“What a relief to learn that it’s because you are a control freak and not because you now know that I have a scar in the crease of my thigh from cutting myself while I was shaving my pubes off three hours before I planned to lose my virginity.”
Eli made a choked-off, spluttering sound that drew Kayla’s attention. She raised her eyebrows in amusement before entering whatever mode she had to be in at the start of a service. His cheeks reddened further, and I felt oddly happy with myself.
It was nice to have his attention again.
Although I regretted bringing that night up. I had just about managed to convince myself I had moved on. It was just a thing that happened that was fun and, in the long run, meant nothing.
But his blush and the way that his eyes darkened just a little felt like something.
“That was why you were doing it?” he asked when he managed to compose himself again.
I frowned. “Why else would I have been doing it?”
He shrugged. “Personal preference, I guess.”
“At seventeen? No, I was definitely doing it then because I’d overheard enough of the boys in your year talking about how bush was disgusting. If I had known what palaver it was, I wouldn’t have done it.”
Eli’s cheeks were somehow getting redder, his eyes darkening further.
“But then you wouldn’t have that extra sensitive spot that I’ve been thinking about getting my mouth on again all week.”
He clapped a hand over his mouth, a quick flash of panic in his eyes.
“You know you’d have to stop working doubles for that chance, right?” I teased.
Having an ‘again’ with Eli was even dumber than having a ‘just once’ with Eli. I actually wanted him to stop working doubles because somewhere beneath the blush and the lust-darkened irises, he looked exhausted. The purple under his eyes made him look like he’d been in a fight.
Eli nodded and rolled his lips together. “Can we discuss this later? I don’t think a kitchen moments before service starts is a good place for this talk. We should give it the time and space it deserves.”
“You’re right. We’ll talk when you get home. I’ll be in a shared living space.”
One side of his mouth ticked up. “Yes, chef,” he said as he went back to his station.
Well, I didn’t hate him calling me that.