Lionblaze Lost the Lightning

Chapter 6: Burned

Hollyleaf pulled on her uniform, feeling nervous. I hope I do well today, she thought to herself. If I don't burn anything, then I'll be happy. She put on the hat that was mandatory for all cooks to wear, feeling silly. I look like a boy… ugh.

She sighed, giving one last look in the mirror before walking out of the staff bathroom. She smiled and nodded at the waitresses who looked at her for a second too long, clearly wondering who she was.

"Hey there," a girl about her age said suddenly, stopping to stand in front of her. "You must be Hollyleaf."

"That's me," Hollyleaf replied hastily, reaching out to shake her hand. The girl reached out her hand, and Hollyleaf couldn't help noticing her perfect long red nails. She felt embarrassed of her own chewed off bare nails, and she shook her hand quickly and pulled away.

"I'm Squirrelflight," the girl said, smiling slightly. Hollyleaf couldn't help but notice how she looked her up and down, analyzing her. "We haven't had a girl chef in forever. I hope you do well."

"Thanks," Hollyleaf mumbled. "So, who's training me today?"

"My husband will be doing that when he gets in," Squirrelflight said. "He'll be here in half an hour."

"Oh," Hollyleaf connected the dots at once, and she felt her heart beat faster. Lionblazes words echoed in her ears. I knew a girl named Squirrelflight from high school, and she married a guy named Ashfur. I saw it on Facebook. He's like, double her age or something.

"So you're married to Ashfur?" Hollyleaf asked, feeling a sickly feeling rise up in her. Do you know he texted me last night?

"I am," Squirrelflight replied, raising an eyebrow slightly. They stared at each other, not speaking. Hollyleaf looked away first, fiddling with one of her apron strings.

"You can start by cutting up some vegetables until Ashfur gets here," Squirrelflight said at last, breaking the horrible tension. "They're in the walk in fridge in the kitchen."

Hollyleaf nodded as she walked away. Hollyleaf stared at her, admiring her long light brown hair and slim figure. She looked good enough to be a model, and Hollyleaf wished she could wear something other than the tacky cook's uniform. She walked away in the direction of the kitchen, thinking to herself. Squirrelflights a catch. Why would Ashfur want to text me at two in the morning when he's got that girl with him?

She looked down again at her apron, hating the way it was so baggy and ugly. She thought of Squirrelflight, in her tight black waitress shirt and cute ponytail.

Oh, why do I even care what Ashfur thinks anyways?

She forced him out of her mind and went to get the vegetables. They were far too heavy, but she gritted her teeth and carried them out of the walk in anyways. She walked past another cook, who looked at her with an amused expression on his face.

"Need some help?" he asked.

"N-no," Hollyleaf grunted. The cook sighed and took off one of the boxes.

"You must be Hollyleaf," he said as he carried it behind her. "It's nice to finally meet you… Ashfurs spoken a lot of good words about you."

"Oh," Hollyleaf squeaked in surprise. "That's cool."

"I'm Solman by the way," the guy said, smiling at her. "But everyone calls me Sol."
"Nice to meet ya," Hollyleaf said, setting down the box of vegetables on the table. Sol set his box next to hers, and Sol looked over at her. Hollyleaf nearly sighed out loud as Sol looked her up and down in the exact same way Squirrelflight had. Jeez, what the hell is everyone's problem?

"I gotta ask," Sol said, shaking his head. "Why are you a cook and not a waitress?"
"I wanted to learn how to cook," Hollyleaf explained. About six different flashbacks of her burning dinner at her house crossed her mind, and she pushed them away. "I've never been good at it, and I'd like to learn."
"You can't cook?" Sol scoffed, narrowing his eyes at her. "Well you're in for a rough ride, girlie."

"I know," Hollyleaf snapped, getting tired of Sol already. Get out of my face and let me cut these damn vegetables.

"What's your method on sautéing a mushroom stir fry?" Sol asked.

"I don't even know what that word means," Hollyleaf whispered miserably.

"Well then," Sol chuckled, shaking his head. "I have a feeling you chose the wrong job, missy."

Lionblaze flipped the pancakes, looking forward to eating them. They smell so good, he thought to himself. Dovewings gonna be so impressed! He thought of Hollyleaf, and a flashback ran through his mind of his sister burning pancakes one morning. They're a little bit overdone, she had said, putting the charred black pancakes on a plate. Hope you like your pancakes crispy.

"Hey… Lionblaze? What are you doing here?"

Lionblaze looked up to where the voice came from. Dovewing was standing at the top of the stairs, in her hello kitty pajamas. She looked tired, scratching her head in confusion.

"Good morning!" Lionblaze said cheerily, flipping the pancakes again. "I made you some breakfast."
"Have you been here all night?" Dovewing asked, looking at her phone in disbelief. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"I wanted to let you sleep," Lionblaze said, walking over to her. He hugged her, feeling her five month baby bump press into his stomach.

"Oh, I must look terrible," Dovewing broke away awkwardly, running her fingers through her tangled hair. "If I'd known you were gonna be here I would have had a shower before coming downstairs."

"You look beautiful," Lionblaze said truthfully, smiling at her. A glass clattered behind him, and he turned around. The dad had dropped the coffee pot and had sloshed it all over the table.

"Dad, how much coffee have you had?" Dovewing snapped, taking note of her fathers jittery movements.

"Too much blood in my coffee stream," the dad mumbled, sponging up the coffee with a dish towel. "Guess it's time to make some more."

"Here you go," Lionblaze handed Dovewing the plate of pancakes. "I made them perfectly."

"Sure they're not a 'little overdone'?" Dovewing giggled, giving Lionblaze a knowing look. Lionblaze snorted. Everyone knows Hollyleafs signature saying.

"Aw, crap," the dad said suddenly. Lionblaze looked over again, expecting him to have spilled more coffee. But that wasn't the case, the dad stood there holding his phone and scowling at it.

"What is it dad?" Dovewing asked, taking a bite of the pancakes.

"Just got an unexpected text," the dad sighed and looked over at Dovewing, looking sick. "Your mother is coming to visit."

"Now?" Dovewing choked. She dropped the fork and stared at him with a look of shock and horror.

"Pretty much," the dad sighed.

"Wait… why does everyone look stressed about that?" Lionblaze asked, confused by their reactions.

"My mom is um…" Dovewings voice trailed off. "Dad, how would you explain mom?"

"The opposite of me," the dad said at last, looking sad. "I'm kinda like instant coffee, and she's the most expensive drink on the Starbucks menu."

"No, no, no!" Sol cried out angrily, rushing over to where Hollyleaf was cooking. She stirred the sauce frantically, slopping it all over the sides of the pot.

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?" Sol cried out, turning off the burner. He waved his hands around and coughed, trying to ease the black smoke that had arisen from the pot. "How did you even manage this?"

"I don't know how it happened," Hollyleaf cried, feeling terribly frustrated. I can't even make a spaghetti sauce without fucking it up! Ugh, I hate this.

"It's burned," Sol snapped, inspecting the sauce. "It's all fucking burned, Hollyleaf. We're gonna have to throw the entire goddamn thing in the garbage."

"Stop swearing at me," Hollyleaf hissed. "It was an accident."

"I'll stop swearing at you when you stop burning shit," Sol snapped, dumping the sauce into the garbage can. "Now start over."

Hollyleaf gritted her teeth and didn't respond, grabbing another pot from the shelf. She slammed it on the table angrily, making Sol turn and glare at her. She shoved the other pot out of the way and turned on the burner, grabbing tomato sauce at the same time.

"Good morning, sorry I'm late," Ashfurs voice from behind her made her blood run cold. She quickly wiped away the sauce that had splattered on her face before turning around. Ashfur was walking into the kitchen, holding a thermos of coffee in one hand and a folder of papers in the other.

"Hey," Hollyleaf whispered, not knowing really what to do.

"Hey yourself," Ashfur smiled as he saw her, walking over to her station. He frowned as he passed the garbage can. "What's all this sauce doing in here?"

"It's no good," Sol snapped from where he was cooking a steak. "Hollyleaf burned it."

"Oh really," Ashfur set down his things on the table and walked over to where the pot was that had once held the burned sauce.

"We can't serve our customers that shit," Sol said proudly again. "So I made her make a new batch."

Hollyleaf watched as Ashfur grabbed the spoon from the sauce, and scrape some off the side. Hollyleaf nearly had a heart attack. Please don't taste it… ugh, this is so embarrassing.

Ashfur licked the spoon and narrowed his eyes, and Hollyleaf nearly died of embarrassment.

"Sol, this is fine," Ashfur snapped, slamming the spoon back into the pot. "A little overdone, yeah. But certainly not bad enough to throw away."

"But… what-" Sol stared at him. "It's burned, Ashfur!"

"So is the steak you're cooking," Ashfur shot back. Sol looked down at once, looking surprised as he noticed it was smoking.

"You're doing fine," Ashfur said quietly to Hollyleaf, smiling encouragingly. Hollyleaf nodded quickly and smiled back, wondering why he was defending her terrible sauce.

"I thought you went out last night," Ashfur continued, speaking quietly so Sol wouldn't hear.

"I did," Hollyleaf replied. "Why?"

"Most people look hungover and tired the next day," Ashfur shrugged. "But you still look gorgeous."

Hollyleaf nearly dropped the spoon she was holding out of surprise. She stared at Ashfur, not knowing what to say. That's a normal thing for guys to say, right?

Isn't it?

It is, right?

"Thanks," Hollyleaf said at last, feeling her face grow red.

"What's wrong?" Ashfur smiled. "Cat got your tongue?"

"That was just a really nice thing to say," Hollyleaf said simply, looking him square in the eyes. He stared at her back, and a gleam passed through them. Hollyleaf wasn't sure what it was, but she couldn't ignore it.

"Guess I'm gonna have to stay away from you today," Ashfur said playfully, picking up his papers and coffee.

"What?" Hollyleaf asked. "Why?"

"Can't have any distractions," Ashfur winked. "Some of us are trying to work here."