Ch. 1
"Pick up at Pastry!" Mercedes yelled trying to distinguish her voice over the boisterous sounds of the restaurant kitchen. Margo,her favorite server comes over with a huge smile.
"Mercy, this looks amazing! You have done it again, and so quickly! You rock!" Mercy beams at the compliment and is about to thank Margo, when she hears her pastry sous chef, Nichole yell "Order in!" Mercy and Margo give each other a knowing look and get right back to work.
Mercedes Jones is a pastry cook at one of the very few high end popular restaurants in Lima, Ohio. Her love of desserts comes from her grandmother and mother who always made the best desserts from years and years of trial and error. They passed down that knowledge to her and she decided to take it to the next level going to culinary school for baking and pastry. She hopes one day to open her own café and serve the best desserts and other baked goods in all of Lima.
"Earth to Mercedes! You have thirty seconds to get that dessert in the window! Move your ass!" yelled Nichole with her back turned to Mercedes.
Having had enough of Nichole and her yelling for the past two hours during the lunch rush, Mercy snapped her head around and spoke through gritted teeth. "Its BEEN gone! That was the last order for lunch!"
"Your ass is so big, I couldn't tell that you were finished with the tickets." sneered Nichole as she looked Mercedes up and down.
Just as Mercedes was about to go off on her she noticed Nichole's eyes widen and a huge smile spread on her face. Mercedes turned around and noticed that Sam had come down from upstairs with his knife bag over his shoulder and his apron in hand. As he walked past, he did a slight head nod toward the pastry station and Mercedes felt Nichole bump into her as she obnoxiously yelled, "Hi Sam!"
Mercedes rolled her eyes. Nichole's crush on Sam was blatantly obvious and it was pathetic. He barely knew her name. But that didn't stop Nichole from screaming hello to him every time she had the opportunity.
Sam gives her a half smile before walking further into the kitchen to start his prep work for dinner service.
"Im so gonna get that," Nichole confidently whispers to Mercedes "just a matter of time and opportunity." Mercedes makes her "Eww.. you nasty" face and starts to clean up. She didn't make the face because Sam was unattractive but of the way Nichole made getting with him a mission or conquest. She thought that was cheap and unappealing. Mercedes had been working at Your Place or Mine? Restaurant for three years. She has worked tirelessly, working both lunch and dinner shifts for months on end with only a day or two off in between. Her previous sous chef, Rebecca was awesome and loved Mercedes. She kept saying that Mercedes was next in line for pastry sous chef. Rebecca loved how Mercedes was so creative and came up with amazing ideas for new desserts and gave her full credit for everything. A few months ago Mercedes was just finishing up the lunch shift when Rebecca came bounding down the stairs cursing under her breath. She stopped and gave Mercedes the saddest look, "Uh, Mercy can you come upstairs for a sec? Chef McCallister and I want to speak with you." Rebecca dropped her gaze and kept it down as she and Mercedes headed back upstairs.
"Becks, what is going on?" Mercedes asked quietly. Rebecca didn't even look her in the eye, she just mumbled, "Fuckery of the highest level, that's what."
Mercedes tilted her head in confusion and was just about to ask Rebecca what she meant when Chef McCallister came out of his office.
"There you are Mercedes! We have some great news to tell you!" as he guides the two ladies into his office. Mercedes looks over and notices another young woman sitting in the office. Mercedes gives her a smile and a hello and the girl barely responds in kind.
"Mercedes as you know, Rebecca is leaving us very soon and the position of pastry sous chef will be open." Mercedes beams at him and looks over at Rebecca who is finding the worn out carpet in Chef's office very interesting.
"I would like to introduce you to Nichole Corronella your new pastry sous." Mercedes heart drops and she tries her best not to let her disappointment show on her face. She plasters on her fakest smile and turns to shake her hand. "Nice to meet you, Nichole. Welcome to Your Place or Mine?" she gets out with a painful smile.
"Thanks, Maser..uh..Mercedes? Right? Well, I just want you to know that I run a tight ship and I do welcome suggestions." Nichole said confidently.
'Did this bitch just try to call me Maserati?' Mercedes thought to herself.
Noticing that Mercedes wasn't responding, Rebecca pipes up, "Mercedes lets go back downstairs and finish cleaning up." She doesn't wait for Mercedes and bolts from the office.
Five of the quietest minutes ever passed while Mercedes and Rebecca were cleaning up before the pm crew came in. Mercedes was heart broken. 'I worked my ass off for that position. Rebecca said it was mine anyway.' she thought.
Chancing a glance in Mercedes direction, Rebecca could tell from her facial expression that she was wondering what the hell just happened in Chef's office.
Rebecca took a deep breath and began, "Listen Mercy, You were my only choice. Chef and I agreed to begin taking applications for the person to replace you in this position not sous. Chef didn't talk to me at all about what he was doing. I found out twenty minutes before you did. Im so sorry. Listen, if you need a reference when you apply somewhere else you know you can count on me."
Mercedes scrunched up her nose. "Reference? Im not leaving. I have worked to damn hard and put in too many hours to throw it all away."
Six months later and Mercedes is still there. Still working her ass off. Still not getting any recognition. She was done cleaning and went upstairs to change and get ready to leave. She was lost in her thoughts as she was leaving not hearing someone come running up the steps on the other side of the door. As she is about bring up her arm to push the door, it comes quickly swinging in her direction.
Ok. So I know this is slow starting but I wanted to establish some foundation on the dynamic between Nichole and Mercedes so you can have a greater understanding of what will be happening later. Yes I know this is supposed to be a Sam & Mercedes story, I can guarantee you that it is. He is in the next chapter.