HELLO, I'M BACK!
We started a new course, in which we spent a whole day listening to lectures. So I wrote two and a half chapters of Restaurantsies, of course. Here we go with the first one! But first, review response
Jonna Hufflepuf - I can confirm. It's important that the pyramid stands up.
Finch and TB are icons together, and I need more of them in my life, so I'm giving you more. Will you also give me more?
Finch's explanation is that teachers deserve insults sometimes.
Oh yes, my mistake. Classic Beethoven, of course.
I'm glad to have made you laugh!
Teachers at restaurant school aren't fair. We just have to deal with it.
THANK YOOUUUU
Okay, here we go!
"We're open!" Seitz shouted.
"Officially open!" Smalls repeated, just a bit louder than Seitz.
"Alright. S'everythin' in its place?" JoJo asked, much quieter than the previous shouts, now that only the window 1 group needed to hear.
"I think so." Smalls quickly looked at the counter.
"We don't have any cress," Henry pointed out.
"Go get it, Hen," JoJo said quickly. "Do we got all the plates in the heat cabinet?"
Smalls swiftly bent down and slid the cabinet door open. A stack of white plate, a stack of black plates and a few soup bowls stood in there.
"Yep!" Smalls answered.
"Great!" JoJo did a couple of thumbs up. "Ev'ryone knows what they's gonna do?"
"We's platin'," Smalls said proudly, holding her fist out for a quick fist bump from JoJo, which she got.
"I'm gonna put the salmon an' cauliflower in da oven," Albert nonchalantly said.
"An I'm doin' da same wit da chicken an' da mushroom truffles," Henry said, patting the food pan with the uncooked truffles.
"Excuse me?" a voice interrupted. It was Davey. "I got an order here."
"Fantastic!" Smalls returned to her position in the window. "Let's hear it."
"Two root vegetable soups, out," Davey said, handing Smalls an order receipt. She took it and hung it on the shelf, under the label "out." "An' two salmons, wait," Davey continued with another receipt, which Smalls hung under the "wait" label.
"Thanks, Dave!" Smalls turned around. "Two soup jugs needed, Jo!"
The intense game of getting the outed dishes out as soon as possible was on.
Smalls bent down and opened the heat cabinet twice as fast as before, and retrieved two black bowls. The second they were on the counter, JoJo pied some cream onto the bottom. Smalls placed a few root chips in the bowl. One, two, three. All fastening themselves in the thick cress cream. She heard the familar sound of the flambéing fire on the stove. The pear pieces would be done soon.
"PRAISE SATAN!" Albert dramatically roared. Considering he was behind a pan of alcoholic, but controlled, flames, the cry was logical. It was a good place for a ritual.
"Here are the onions," Henry said, placing a pan beside Smalls.
She took the half moon shaped onion pieces and placed them on the soup.
"Pears here," Albert appeared, doing the same as Henry.
Using a grabber, Smalls added the hot pears to the bowls. In perfect timing, JoJo appeared with the soup jugs.
DING!
Smalls enthusiastically pressed the waiter's bell.
"Davey! Table 2! Two root veggie soups! Out!"
She avidly shoved the soup receipt onto the finished-receipts holder. While Davey picked up his soup bowls, and Jack took the jugs, Smalls danced in a celebratory manner. It quickly got sweaty.
"Ay! Party!" Sniper appeared.
Smalls immediately leaned her elbows on the counter. She looked Sniper up and down.
"Damn... You pull off that apron well."
Sniper proudly posed, showing off his waist in the long apron. In the middle of making himself look nice for Smalls, he stopped to tell her: "You don't look too bad yerself." He smirked. The only option for Smalls was to copy him and model a bit herself.
"Sniper, don't just stand there."
Classic Finch, coming along and runing the fun. Sniper gave Smalls one last smirk before heading to window 2. Smalls observed him with a goofy smile as he handed his table's order receipts in to Buttons. She and Sniper had been officially dating for two months now, yet she still found herself marveling at how Sniper could make any small action look so beautiful, and in her own words: iconic.
Just as he'd promised, he returned to Smalls in window 1 as soon as he'd left his receipts. What he told her was only slightly disappointing.
"I gotta go give my table bread, but I'll be right back."
When he left, he practically traded places with Mike, who left his receipts. All three guests at his table had made the questionable decision of ordering the snail toast. "Garlic marinated currant snails on toast?" To who did that sound appetizing? Smalls had secretly and hopelessly hoped that she wouldn't have to open the snail can. Now here she was, doing exactly that while JoJo spread some garlic butter on their prepared fried toast. Grabbing the snails out of the can was like grabbing a large booger out of a body of water. In other words - it was disgusting. Had it not been for the importance of guest service, she would have just thrown the snails onto the toast without care. Sadly, she now had to touch them more while arranging them on the bread.
"These're the snails?"
Thank god for that voice.
"Yes siree," Smalls stopped moving the snails around and looked up at her boyfriend instead.
"The schnails," he repeated, studying the gooey blobs.
"What did you say?" Smalls asked, amused.
"Schnails."
"That's a new pronunciation. Schnails..."
Sniper grinned when she said it. Then he queeried further.
"D'ya think we'll get to taste some?"
"You would willingly eat this?" Smalls wrinkled her nose.
"Hell yeah."
"Weirdo," Smalls giggled.
"Well, ya gotta taste a bit a' everythin'," Sniper responded, shrugging with the shoulder that wasn't leaning against the wall.
"I sure don't."
"How about..." Sniper narrowed his eyes and leaned closer to Smalls. "If you eat a snail, I take you out fer cheesecake lata'."
"Deal," Smalls couldn't not agree with that.
"Then it's a plan." Sniper took Smalls' hand, lifted it and gave it a quick kiss before hurrying to window 2 to pick up his finished starter plates.
"Wash yer hand," JoJo commanded.
"What? Why?"
"They's gotta be 100% clean. Who knows what Sniper's done with his mouth lately."
"He's been kissin' mine, that's what." Smalls snickered.
"Just wash yer hand," JoJo instantly looked tired of Smalls talking about her and Sniper. While they took Jack's order, Smalls "washed the kiss off." Then she irritably returned to the window.
"What's been ordered?"
"Three soups, one toast."
"Ah come on, not more goo."
Smalls frowned, sticking her hand in the can again. It felt a bit better this time, knowing these snails were going to earn her cheesecake later.
The four dishes were quickly prepared and outed, and a while passed before the next meals were outed. During that while, Sniper was told off by two teachers and three students for hanging out in the kitchen too much. That didn't stop him from stopping at Smalls' counter every time he passed it. As timing would have it, just as Sniper left to see if his table was ready for the main course, Davey appeared in the window.
"Table 4, main course, out, please."
"Salmons out!" Smalls announced to her group.
She once again crouched down to grab plates. This time, for the first time, the flat black ones.
"Heat lamp time," she excitedly told herself, reaching for the hanging lamps. She turned one on and put her hand under the warm light. Getting a tan as Sniper would have said.
"Here's asparagus." Albert came with a frying pan containing both green and white asparagus.
"Great," Smalls said. "How's da salmon comin'?"
"Three minutes!" Henry answered her.
While waiting fro the salmon, Smalls grabbed a grabber and carefully placed the pieces of asparagus on the plate. She did the rest of what she could without the cauliflower and salmon. A click of hollandaise, some green beans, and just a little bit of cress. In the corner of her eye, she saw a pair of legs sliding into the window.
"Hey," Sniper said. Smalls looked up from her plates to see him leaning against the wall again. "I think this main course is missing a bit of main course."
Smalls glanced down at the plate in front of her.
"Y'know, I think yer right."
Sniper grinned.
"Allie-boy!" Smalls shouted into the kitchen.
"Shut the fuck up, Smalls," Albert answered.
"When's da fish done?"
A silent second where Albert checked the oven timer passed.
"Lil' more than one minute!"
"Then I'll be here with ya," Sniper said.
"Ya sure you ain't botherin' me?"
Smalls and Sniper locked eyes for a second before bursting out laughing. As they quieted down, Sniper leaned forward and whispered:
"The only ones I'm botherin' are my group mates."
Smalls looked behind Sniper, where a few feet back, Davey was eyeing him aggressively. His eyes quite clearly were repeating the "Don't just stand around."
"Have ya tried the schnails yet?" Sniper asked.
"Fuck no."
Y'know you gotta," Sniper said, a slight melody to his words.
"I know." Smalls nodded. "Fer da cheesecake."
"That's my girl," Sniper leaned in and gave her a quick kiss. Right then, the oven shrieked. Why it sounded like a dying duck when it was done, Smalls didn't know.
"Here comes the salmon an' cauliflower," Albert announced.
"Here comes the main course," Smalls repeated for only her and Sniper to hear.
Albert held the oven pan out, and Smalls used the pincer to move the hot food onto the plate. She poked it around a bit before deciding she was satisfied with how the plating looked.
"Ding ding ding! Salmons ta table four!" Smalls shouted, smashing the bell.
She waited as Davey started making his way through the waiter's passage, but he was quickly stopped. Tommy Boy came in, carefully closing the door according to schedule. As soon as he was closed off from the restaurant dining room, he bolted, pushing Davey out of the way, right to the window.
With wide open eyes and quick words, he said;
"Mr. Pulitzer's here."
CLIFFHANGER ENDING WOOT WOOT
Stay tuned to find out how serving Mr. Pulitzer goes, and in the meantime, leave a review won't you :)