So we're at the 'downtime' point of the story. Remember when I said it was going to be an inbetween things? Well, it's going to feel that way in the next couple of chapters. A bit like A Better Place Part 3 if you will. I'm not overly happy about those chapters, but I need to transition smoothely toward the end, I have a few things left to say, and I'm afraid it'll be feel a bit too long...
Plus I've reworked those chapters too many times to change them again, so you'll have to bear with me.
Either way, thank you for reading and commenting, we're at about 3/4 done here.
Chapter 24 : The First Days
The first week at Ol'Leapers bakery has been hard on Gideon. Having to wake up at 4AM to hop on his bike and get to works isn't a habit he managed to take as quick as he hoped he would. Especially since it clashes completely with his previous sleeping schedule.
But now, he manages to wake up at the right time, and not having to go to class afterwards makes it feel like vacation.
He's rolling the dough into balls to make some bread when he hears the bell chime.
"Keep at it boy. I'll be back in a jiffy."
From where he is, he can't hear much of what's being said at the counter, but he doesn't really care. Making the balls isn't really interesting, but it's not boring either. It's soothing, comforting. When he finds himself with that type of repetitive work, his brain always flies back to the same topic anyway.
It makes him feel a bit guilty to think about Judy so much. He hasn't seen Travis much in the last couple of weeks, and maybe he should try and make time for the weasel.
"Boy, we have a new recruit."
Gideon lifts a brow and turns toward the entrance to see a doe that has to be a couple of year older than he is. She doesn't look like much, it's your standard hick bunny. No comparison to Judy. "Hey. Sorry I ain't shakin' yer paw. I'm Gideon." The tod greets, waving one that is covered in flour.
"Her name's Catherine, she'll work the counter."
"Nice to meet you." She says in a tone that suggests it's anything but. The tod doesn't really care, he's used to the mistrust anyway.
Then they get back out of the kitchen to talk about her contract, and Gideon goes back to his work, trying to apply himself. The harvest festival will be held soon, and he wants to be able to help as much as he can.
He knows Mr Leapers isn't ecstatic about having a fox employee, and that he doesn't trust him yet, but he does need him. His last hires either left for college, or for better work opportunities in the city, and as he's growing older, the workload is starting to take its toll on the owner, especially without his wife. Mr Leapers still acts cold toward him. Distant. Much like most of his teachers did, really. As long as it's not open hostility, he can bear it. As long as it's not the steel mill, it'll still be nice.
When the buck enters the kitchen again, alone this time, the tod turns to him, opening his mouth. Maybe he shouldn't question his boss.
"What is it, boy?"
"I..."
The buck looks at him expectantly. His features show no hostility, but it's clear his patience is thinning as his employee hesitates.
"I was wonderin' why ya hired her. Since I'm workin' wid' ya and all."
"You'll be here only half the time during your apprenticeship. I'll need someone to pick up the slack when you'll be studying. I'd rather have her get to know the shop before the busiest times of the year… Now, get back to work."
"Yes boss." Gideon nods, obeying the order.
"Why not this one ?"
Mr Leapers is sick. He opened the store anyway, but he's resting in his home upstairs. All the while, Gideon is taking care of the baking in the kitchen. His boss instructed him to come up and get him if he needs anything, but by now, the tod knows how to recognise slow days, and this is clearly one of them.
So he's cleaning the kitchen and putting the last bakeries needed for the day in the oven before calling it a day and leaving through the back.
And since there isn't too much activity, he can clearly hear what happens at the counter.
"This tartlet batch was a bit undercooked by the new baker. I'd rather not have you poisoning yourself."
So that does explain why some items sell less than others. He thought it could be attributed to the clients taste.
"Why put them up, then ?"
"Presentation, mostly." Catherine explains. "The counter would look empty otherwise. Why don't you take a slice of blueberry pie instead ?"
The tod feels his anger rising and closes his fists. That's exactly what he feared. Deserved criticism, he can easily take. But that… He knows the tartlet were perfect !
Well, they were good enough, there's still some possible improvement, but they clearly weren't undercooked. He doesn't go out to make a scene, though, as he knows it would reflect poorly on the business. Plus, he knows that his boss kept it for himself that he was hired, he did notice he was doing everything to keep him in the kitchen, away from his client's eyes. If anyone knows he's working here, it hasn't become the talk of town yet.
So Gideon waits until the shop is silent to enter it.
"Hey. Whadya tell the client the tartlets were undercooked?"
The doe gives him an expression of surprised uncertainty. "Aren't you supposed to be gone?"
"I'm getting ahead on it fer this evenin'. And ya haven't answered my question."
"Uh… Mr Leapers told me they were."
The tod glares at her. "He didn't tell nothin' like 'dat. If they were undercooked, he would've told me and made me redo them." He counters.
Her expression souring, the doe crosses her arms. "I don't know what Mr Leapers was thinking when he hired you, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't like a fox talking to his colleague like that. And we both now you don't know what you're doing in this kitchen. No way a fox could know how to bake like that."
"Talkin' like- Now yo listen to you little-"
"No, you listen to me. I don't know how a fox managed to get hired here, but you have no place in that kitchen. You should be ashamed of taking advantage of Mr Leapers age and generosity."
"I ain't- He tested me and I passed !"
"Oh yeah ? Well, I'm pretty sure you cheated. Anyway, go back to kitchen, or else I'll tell Mr Leapers you're slacking off."
"Sure go ahead. He knows I ain't."
"Do you think ? I wonder who he'll believe. A fox, or the daughter of whom he buys half of his fruits to for the best price." She grins.
The tod wishes he would feel shocked. He knows he isn't the sharpest, but he knows the doe isn't making any sense. Unfortunately, a lot of mammals that accused him of things before didn't make sense, and that never stopped him from taking the blame. Bad fox, sly fox… "Whatever." He sighs. He knows by now that this is the kind of conflict that would only be worsened by violence. And if it turns into something big, the tod already knows who his boss will side with.
Since they have stopped school for the summer, Judy and Gideon can't really study at school. Of course, the doe doesn't need much studying, and mostly does sport or helps on the farm anyway.
She insists to give him some tutoring, so he won't forget what he learned during the year. She knows the core subjects will be easier during his apprenticeship, but she wants him to have as high grades as possible. She was afraid his mom would hover around them, but she mostly leaves alone when she's there. And since she has to work, she doesn't spend much time with them anyway.
The only downside is that they have to take care of Hailey. Well, Judy wouldn't call that a downside. The vixen kit is mostly adorable and silent. It's a bit weird to the doe, as in her family, the bunny kits tend to be rather rowdy, but she suspects it's a side effect of the house being constantly filled with noise and chatter.
In any case, they still manage to have a good time together. It always ends up in a make out session on the couch. She wishes it could be somewhere outside, on the back garden for example, but the neighbours would see them and the secret would get blown.
"Hey, wanna watch a movie afterwards ?" The tod asks, raising his face from his notebook.
Judy looks toward their old TV. "Why not, but I don't see a DVD player."
"Don't worry 'bout that."
He quickly finishes his exercise and she corrects the couple of mistakes he made, knowing full well he's reached the end of his focus span. It's way shorter now than when they were working at school, but that doesn't surprise her. After all, they are supposed to be on vacation. And the goal there isn't to raise his grade, but simply to keep knowledge fresh in his mind. And to hang out together.
"So, about that movie ?" Judy asks.
"Let's go to my room."
That sentence makes her blush, but the implications go right out the window when he grabs his sister and a couple of her toys, and starts walking up the stairs.
She's only seen the tod's room once before, and it hasn't changed much, save for a coffee table settled against a wall, with a small TV on top of a VCR, and a cardboard box next to them.
Putting his sister on the rug next to his bed with her toys, he goes to open the box. "Ya can help me chose, if ya want."
The cardboard box is chokefull of old videotapes. Deersnays animate movies, early Pigsars, and whole bunch of live actions from Hollywool.
"Oh, you got the Gerbilator 2 in there ? Where do they all come from ? And the TV ?"
"The TV, I bought it for cheap. Travis gave me the VCR. We already had the VHS box in the attic. Dad broke our last VCR and put this all in a box to get rid of them. Never did. I stumbled upon it the other day."
As they reach the bottom of the box, Judy pulls out a couple of boxes from movies she doesn't recognise, until she turns them around and starts blushing. "Guess I understand why you wanted a VCR." She grins, giving them to the tod, careful to keep his little sister from seeing the cover.
He grabs them and his eyes widen. "I-I-I didn't know they were there." He sputters. "I mean, I didn't know dad had that type of stuff."
"Hot vixen astronauts riding the red rocket..." Judy reads, low enough for Hailey not to hear. "My my, Gideon, I didn't think you were into that."
"I'm not !" He reacts.
"Oh, you're more of a magazine kind of guy, then..." Compared to her sister, Judy's probably a bit more uptight than they are on the sexual front, mostly because she considers the rules to be more important than they do. Still, as a bunny, she knows she's probably more informed and open about that kind of things than other mammals. And the tod etting all flustered is hilarious.
"No, I'm not." He flushes, his gaze jumping toward the head of his bed, and then back to her.
Putting the VHS back to the bottom of the box, she takes a step toward the bed. "So if I was to take a look under your bed, I wouldn't find anything suspicious."
"Please don't do that."
The situation seems to affect the tod more than she had anticipated. She was just teasing him, but he went from blushing to pale. "I'm kidding, Gid. It's fine. I know you're a guy, I'm not judging."
Gideon exhales the breath he was holding. "Okay..."
"I'm just a little upset that you would look at other females..." She trails off, giving him a wink.
"Can we stop talking about this in front of my sister, please ?" He half snarls before burying the couple of incriminating VHS under others and pulling one at random. The tod feels a bit bad losing his cool. The topic makes him uncomfortable, and it's true that he doesn't want that kind of discussion to happen in front of Hailey, but he still feels like an asshole from talking harshly to Judy. She was just teasing, and he did do a whole lot worse to her, once upon a time. Preparing an apology, he turns around, for his eyes to fall on his girlfriend wearing a contrite expression.
"I'm sorry." She says. "It was… Insensitive."
"No, it's okay. I shouldn't have talked to you like 'dat." He answers. "I'm… it's just that I don't want ya to think I'm a pervert or sumthin'." The tod adds in a mutter.
"I don't think you're a pervert. My brothers are a worse than you are with that stuff. Can't enter any of their room without stumbling upon something like that… In any case, I'm sorry."
"S'fine. I ain't really mad." He huffs.
The mood turns to awkward, none of them really knowing what to say. Gideon opens his mouth, and closes it back, as Judy gives a weird chuckle.
"So… About that movie ?" He finally asks, showing the one he chose.
"Emperor's New Moose ? I remember it being fun."
The tod slides it inside the device and sits on his bed. She imitates him, placing herself right next to him. As the movie starts, she shifts, and her paw touches his left thigh. "Sorry."
"S'okay." The tod switches position and puts himself on his belly, his pillow under his chest. Since it looks a bit more comfortable than simply sitting, the doe switches position and uses his blanket the same way.
As the movie progresses, fins herself leaning against his shoulder, her paw looking for his. It doesn't take long for him to leave a kiss on her cheek. And then a second. And miss the third because she purposefully turns around.
After that, the movie gets pretty much forgotten, turning into a relatively tame make-out session, that manages to remain that way thanks to Hailey's presence at the foot of the bed.
Still, the tod's paw finds itself in her back, under her shirt, and the teenage doe finds herself wishing to be more alone with her boyfriend. And also, a lot more naked.
Then they hear the entrance door open and almost jump out of the bed.
"Kids ? Are you here ?" Willa calls.
"Yeah, we're watchin' a movie wid' Hailey !" Answers Gideon, hoping his mother won't come up quite yet, giving him time to cool off a bit.
"Okay. Judy, don't forget that you're supposed to be home before dinner."
The doe's eyes widen and she checks her phone. It's almost 7Pm, and though she has some margin, she should start to get going.
"I'm gonna go." Judy whispers, moving away from the tod, and straightening her crumpled shirt. Gideon doesn't say anything, but it's clear that he's a bit disappointed. The tod scoops up his little sister and follow the doe downstairs, before helping her put away her stuff in her schoolbag.
"How did the studying session go ?" Gideon's mother asks, leaving the kitchen with clean cutlery that she starts putting away in a dresser.
"Uh… Good. It was good." The doe answers, trying not to think about what followed it.
"Great." With a thin smile, the vixen leaves the room.
"I'll see ya next week, then ?" The tod asks, accompanying the doe to the door.
"Of course." She smiles, standing on the tip of her toes to kiss him.
As she leaves, Judy wishes that they could have a bit more intimacy. They could maybe do a picnic or something. After all, she has more free time than he does, so she could try to find time on his schedule to do that.
As he watches her go, the tod wonders if he did well not to talk about Catherine to her. Her colleague is getting increasingly aggravating, that's true, but he doesn't to involve Judy. He needs to know how to handle things by himself.