Summer Fair Part One
"Morning gang." Becca smiled, last to arrive to the stall at the park where the Summer Fair was being held. Many other businesses were setting up their stalls around the park, as well as a company who had come in to set up rides for the kids. Everything was in full preparation.
Everyone mumbled a good morning to Becca whilst they feverishly got prepared for the busy day ahead.
"You're late." AJ told Becca who came in through the back of the stall.
"It's 8.05." Becca scoffed.
"I said 8 at the latest." AJ reminded her.
"I slept in." Becca said, "I'm here now. What can I do?"
"Phil's car is parked down the street, I need you to start bringing things up here with everyone." AJ nodded.
"Ok, I'm on it." Becca nodded, sitting her bag over whilst grabbing a Red Bull from the pack which was sitting, "I think buying a twenty-four pack of Red Bull is a little extreme." She scoffed.
"That was Daryl who brought them." Punk said, standing over by the side where he was cutting bagels in half, so they were ready to go for orders.
"You'll thank me for them when you all feel dead at 3pm." Daryl nodded, coming into the stall with buckets of ice.
"Over there." Punk told him as he nodded.
"Phil." Linda called as she appeared at the back of the stall, leaning on her walking stick.
"There you are." Punk smiled.
"Pete is bringing the cakes in." Linda nodded, referring to her husband.
"Thank you for everything." Punk nodded to her.
"It all looks very busy around here." Linda said, holding onto his arm as he walked into the stall where everyone was incredibly busy, rushing around for final preparations.
"Morning, Linda." AJ said pleasantly whilst she was slicing her Puerto Rican sweet bread into portions.
Linda just ignored her, continuing to look around the stall, "Where are the two boys? Are they here?" She asked.
"Uh… Linda, this is AJ." Punk said, "My girlfriend." He nodded as Linda had no choice but to turn to AJ and acknowledge her.
"And what's this you've made?" Linda asked, wandering over to AJ where she was stood at the counter slicing her bread.
"It's a sweet bread. A Puerto Rican recipe." AJ told her, watching Linda inspect it as if it was a dead body and she was a coroner.
"Well, it certainly has risen well." Linda nodded with admiration, balancing her two hands on her walking stick in front of her.
"Would you like to try some?" AJ asked, glancing over at Punk who smiled at her.
"Just cut me a little piece. Tiny." Linda nodded as AJ cut her a slice and handed it to her on a napkin, watching the elderly woman take a bite.
"I know you have a baking experience. What do you think?" AJ asked her.
"Light and fluffy." Linda nodded happily, "Sweet without being too much." She said, "Wonderful." She said, dusting her hands off from the crumbs and wandering her way back over to Punk, "Phil, let me show you what I made for you." She said, taking a hold of his arm again.
AJ just smiled and shook her head. It was a small step, but it was the best interaction she'd had with the woman so far.
"I hope these aren't Mister Eckles' pet chickens." Lyla sighed, walking into the back of the stall with a tray of raw chicken for the deli sandwiches which they were going to put on the grill fresh to order.
"Lyla." AJ tutted.
"What?" Lyla said, "Where else would they come from?"
"Just sit that tray over in the fridge." AJ shook her head.
"I can carry a bucket of ice!" Shiv yelled at Daryl as they walked into the stall, both holding a bucket of ice each.
"I'm just saying, you look like you're struggling there." Daryl scoffed.
"Well, I'm not." Shiv insisted, "I can manage perfectly fine." She said stubbornly, marching her way over to the corner where they were dumping the buckets of ice for the cold drinks.
"Quiet voices, guys." AJ nodded to them both just as Linda interrupted into a cackle of laughter, hitting Punk with her walking stick and leaning into him with fondness. She supposed he must have said something funny, but all she saw was Punk turning to her with a shrug and a smile.
"Where's my chocolate fountain?" Daryl asked, "Did you put it in your car?" He turned to Punk.
"Yeah, it's in there." Punk nodded to him.
"I will let you busy bees get on with things." Linda said, "I hope it all goes well." She nodded, wandering her way out of the stall.
"She finds you very funny." AJ scoffed.
"I'm a funny guy." Punk shrugged, walking over to her and watching her slice her bread carefully, "Everything go how you wanted it to?" He asked her, whilst the rest of their crew paced back and forth, bringing everything into the stall.
"I think so." AJ nodded, "Apart from barely getting any sleep last night." She looked up at him unhappily but with a smile.
"That wasn't all my fault. We're fifty fifty on that one." He said.
"What about you? You got everything ready to go?" She asked him.
"Yeah, got our sandwich making station ready to go over there." Punk pointed to the back of the stall where a mini grill was sitting alongside a counter for them to make the sandwiches up.
"Do you think we have enough ice?" AJ asked worriedly, watching Shiv go by with another bucket, "It is going to be a hot one out."
"Yeah, I'm going to get Daryl to put a few bags of ice into the freezer. I think we should be alright." Punk nodded.
"I found it!" Daryl yelled excitedly, walking into the stall with his chocolate fountain.
"You're not putting it on until the afternoon. No one wants a chocolate fountain for breakfast. Parents' will hate us." Punk shook his head.
"C'mon, do it for the kids." Daryl nodded.
"No." Punk shook his head as Daryl huffed.
"Bad dad." AJ frowned to Punk who just rolled his eyes.
"Hey, I got a present for you." Punk nodded to her as she looked up at him.
"A present?" She laughed a little.
"Yeah, come see." He nodded, wiggling his hand out to her as she took it and followed him out to the back of the stall, "I got you… your very own display board." He smiled, taking her round to the side of the stall where a display board similar to the one for his own shop was sat.
"Oh, Phil." AJ chuckled a little, "That's so sweet."
"I figured the dogs were getting bored peeing on mine. They needed something new." He said.
"You did it for the dogs." AJ nodded.
"For the dogs." Punk agreed.
"I love it. Thank you." She smiled, reaching up and kissing him multiple times.
"I think I knew I loved you from the second I saw you running across the road with my display board." He told her as she looked up at him, swallowing the lump in her throat as she heard the L word he'd just said so confidently.
"You saw me?" She asked.
"Of course I saw you." He scoffed.
"But you came over and asked about it as if you never saw who took it." AJ shook her head.
"It was more fun that way." He shrugged as she smiled up at him.
"I love you too." She nodded, looking up at him and knowing for sure that this man was supposed to come into her life for a reason. He made her the happiest she'd ever been, and she'd gotten to fall in love with him, but also fall in love with herself again because of him, and for that she was entirely grateful.
Punk leaned down and kissed her softly, cupping her cheeks as she leaned into him and lost herself in the kiss.
"Alright, enough of that." Daryl stuck his head round the corner as they broke away from the kiss, "We need hands in here." He told them.
"Daryl, Shiv… two guava iced teas, an extra hot cappuccino and an iced oat milk latte." Punk nodded over to Daryl and Shiv who were at one end of the stall near the coffee machine.
"I got the iced teas; you do the coffees." Shiv told Daryl, grabbing two plastic cups and filling them with ice.
"Extra hot cappuccino?" Daryl asked.
"Yeah." Shiv nodded, "Iced latte is oat milk." She reminded him.
"Ok." Daryl nodded, turning to the coffee machine and brewing some coffee shots first.
The morning of the Summer Fair was almost coming to an end and to say the stall had been a success was an understatement. Punk had to actually run over to the butcher's stall to buy more bacon as they'd ran out for the breakfast sandwiches due to the high demand. AJ was also out of breakfast pastries and Daryl and Shiv had been busy non-stop making drinks.
"Finn, where is that bacon and egg?" Punk asked.
"Coming. Here it's here." Finn said, handing Punk the wrapped-up sandwich.
"And this is the peanut butter and jam." Lyla passed another sandwich to Punk.
"Thank you, children." Punk nodded to them.
"Why do people order extra hot?" Daryl asked to no one in particular.
"Because they want it extra hot." Shiv rolled her eyes.
"So, they can get ulcers on their tongue?" Daryl shook his head, "Seems dumb."
"So it stays warm for longer." Shiv said, "Can you move over a little?" She asked, feeling like she barely had any space to move.
"Move over where? I'm practically on top of this coffee machine." Daryl shook his head.
"You keep stepping on my foot." Shiv complained.
Of course things hadn't gone completely smoothly. There had been a considerable amount of bickering. Not just between Daryl and Shiv but between… all of them.
"What if someone asks for a croissant?" Becca asked AJ.
"We tell them we're out." AJ said.
"But what if it's a little kid who wants one." Becca frowned, wrapping up a cinnamon roll for a customer which AJ took money from and passed to.
"What do you want me to do, Becca? Whip up croissants out of thin air?" AJ said stressfully, "Morning is almost done, anyway. The croissant window has closed."
"Croissants are for any time of the day." Becca objected.
"Not today." AJ said, "Who's next?" She smiled pleasantly, watching a tall, good-looking man walk up to the front of the stall, "What can I get for you?" She smiled.
"I will try the guava iced tea and I'll take a croissant." The man nodded as Becca turned to AJ with folded arms.
"We're actually out of croissants now. Is there anything else I can get for you?" AJ said.
"Oh… then I will take a bacon sandwich." He nodded, "Hey, there you are!" The man yelled suddenly as AJ and Becca jumped with confusion, wondering if they were serving a mad man.
"Hey, buddy." Punk chuckled, budging his way over to the front of the stall, accidentally nudging Shiv who spilled one of the iced teas she'd just made.
"Phil!" Shiv whined loudly, "There is no room to breathe in here!" She shouted angrily.
"What's the deal with you working with a bunch of kids?" Cole chuckled.
"Sorry, Shiv." Punk cringed.
"Can you go have your reunion outside?" AJ asked Punk, not realising how snappy she sounded. The heat and the pressure were definitely getting to all of them, "It's just… holding up the queue a little." She said.
"Alright alright." Punk scoffed, "I'll be two minutes."
"Another iced tea to go, Shiv." AJ said.
"Give me a minute, I'm redoing the one Phil made me spill." She said stressfully.
"Here, let me help. I've finished the coffees." Daryl said, taking the cup from her and filling it with ice to help her out.
Meanwhile Punk had quickly left the stall through the back, meeting Cole round the side and giving him a friendly hug. It'd been so long since he'd seen a familiar face apart from Sophie of course. It was nice to say the least.
"You just got here?" Punk asked him.
"Yeah." Cole nodded, "I can't believe this is your stall. I waited about forty minutes in line just to get to the front."
"Yeah, we're doing pretty good." Punk nodded, "My shop and the other coffee shop across the road from me have joined up. It's all a little crazy in there." He admitted.
"Looks like it." Cole said, "We can catch up properly when you're not working. What time you get off?"
"I should be free about five." Punk nodded, "I can introduce you to everyone, and my girlfriend." He said as Cole punched him on the arm.
"Of course you got yourself a girlfriend here." Cole nodded as Punk shook his head at the excitement from his friend, "Well, I can't wait to meet her."
"She's great." Punk nodded, "She's actually in there working. She owns the other coffee shop. Her name is April. AJ." He said.
"You look like you fit right in here, man." Cole smiled, genuinely happy to see one of his good friends looking so happy and free.
"Took me a while but… I'm starting to feel at home." Punk nodded.
"That's great, man." Cole smiled, noticing Lyla appear from the back of the stall, holding a can of red bull in one hand and a vape in the other, wiping her sweaty forehead and taking a puff, "Who's that?" Cole cocked his head a little as Punk turned around.
"That's Lyla." Punk said, turning back to Cole, noticing he was staring pretty hard, "That's AJ's friend. Don't be weird." Punk pushed him.
"She's nice." Cole shrugged innocently.
"Ok, I gotta go. I'll catch up with you later." Punk patted Cole's shoulder before heading back into the chaos.