Sandwich Making
"So you make the bagels fresh every morning?" Lyla asked, standing in the kitchen of Punk's coffee shop.
They were a week out from the Summer Fair and she had been invited over one afternoon to have a look at how the bagels were made and what kind of sandwiches they were going to make for the Fair.
Punk was showing her in the kitchen whilst Daryl and Finn took control of the customers out the front. Both the young boys, although not the best of friends, had begun to work very well and Punk had full confidence in them to handle things for an hour or so whilst he showed Lyla the sandwich trade.
"Every morning." Punk nodded, "I'll have all of them ready to go for the Fair. I'll come in and bake them first thing so it's just the fillings we need to make fresh."
"And what fillings are there?" Lyla asked curiously.
"So, in the morning we're gonna do the breakfast sandwiches. Customers can choose their filling. We got a choice of sausage, bacon, egg, cream cheese and salmon or just a bagel with jam and peanut butter." He told her.
"Seems simple enough." Lyla nodded.
"Sometimes customers ask to double the filling up. So, we can do sausage egg or bacon and egg too." He told her, "Going into the afternoon we'll do our deli sandwiches." He said.
"Which are?" Lyla asked, watching Punk head into the walk-in fridge to grab out some ingredients.
"We got three choices." Punk said, "The favourite one is chicken, pesto, roasted tomato, buffalo mozzarella and arugula." He told her, dumping some ingredients down on the counter, "And we toast it so the cheese melts."
"Jesus." Lyla scoffed.
"Seems like a lot, I know." Punk nodded, "This one is AJ's favourite." He let her know.
"It does sound tasty." Lyla nodded, watching him half a fresh bagel on a cutting board.
"Pesto goes on first to both sides." He showed her, "Buffalo mozzarella next with the tomatoes. And this goes under the grill to get the cheese melted and the tomatoes soft." He showed her, putting the bagel under the grill.
"Then you add the chicken and arugula once it's melted?" She asked.
"Yeah." Punk nodded, "Real easy."
"What are the other two options?" She asked.
"Roast beef, Swiss cheese, mustard and pickle." Punk said, "The beef is good shit. Comes from the butchers down the road."
"And the last option?" She asked.
"Turkey club." Punk said, "You think I should do a vegetarian one too?" He asked, just realising all the sandwich options had meat in them.
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Lyla said, watching Punk take out the bagel which he'd had under the grill.
"Ok, we'll do some avocado bullshit too." He said as Lyla laughed a little, "Ok, cheese is melted so chicken goes on and arugula on top." He said whilst putting the ingredients onto the bagel, "Wrap it up in AJ's fancy paper." He smiled, wrapping the sandwich up and then slicing it in half, tearing the two halves apart to show Lyla how good the bagel looked.
"Damn." Lyla nodded.
"Taste test." He told her, handing her one half of the sandwich whilst he took the other, both of them biting in.
"Good." Lyla nodded with a mouthful as Punk chuckled, "Really good."
"Yeah?" Punk smiled as she nodded, "And it's pretty easy, right?"
"Looks it." Lyla said, "It's a different ball game when there's customers waiting on them being made. Pressure can get to you."
"That's why there's three of us doing the sandwiches. Finn is great at it. We'll be there if you get stuck." He nodded.
"I think I should be fine. Once I get the swing of things." Lyla nodded. He made it look so simple making the sandwich up in front of her, but she wasn't used to doing something like this, and with the added pressure of a line of customers waiting on their orders, she knew it would definitely be challenging. But she was up for the challenge. And Punk definitely had a calm nature, so she wasn't worried about them working together.
"Is AJ still over there practicing her Puerto Rican breads?" Punk smiled.
"Yeah, like a mad woman." Lyla nodded.
"She's desperate to get them perfect." Punk said.
"That's pretty much AJ with anything she bakes." Lyla said.
"How did you guys decide you wanted to work together?" Punk asked her, "I've never really asked AJ."
"I hated the degree I was studying. I dropped out not long after AJ did. She moved back in with her aunt and I moved back with my parents. I got a job as a barista, and I really liked it. It was fun… getting to serve different customers every day. Or the same customers." Lyla nodded, "AJ was obviously going through a difficult time. She barely left her aunt's house, so I'd always go visit her and she'd always be baking. We just joked that we could open up our own place. I'd serve the coffee and she'd do the baking." Lyla smiled, "Then it stopped being a joke and AJ told me she wanted to move away from New Jersey but that she didn't know if she could do it alone or if she could go without seeing me. We spent pretty much every day together. Especially after she was attacked."
"I know you mean the world to her." Punk nodded as Lyla just smiled to him.
"So, we looked into everything. AJ is more textbook smart than I am, so she dealt with all the finance stuff. We saw the building for the coffee shop listed and we googled this town. It seemed like everything AJ was hoping for." Lyla smiled.
"Not what you were hoping for?" Punk asked.
"I loved the look of it." Lyla said, "But sometimes it's hard not having much to do. I wouldn't change any of it for the world, though. It's been the best years of my life." Lyla smiled.
"You guys are like sisters, huh?" Punk nodded.
"Yeah." Lyla nodded, "She went through hell. It's hard to really explain it to someone who wasn't there. It was… the worst." Lyla said.
"Did you know the guy?" Punk asked. Although he wasn't exactly best friends with Lyla yet, there was definitely a respect between them. It was clear they both knew that they each had AJ's best interest at heart, and that put them on common ground.
"Yeah. Not well but I knew him from around campus. I knew he'd been on a few dates with AJ. She seemed to like him." Lyla shrugged, "And then when I found her that morning…" She shook her head, still seeing the image in her head.
"Bad?" Punk nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat.
"I honestly thought she was dead." Lyla admitted, "She had a clump of her hair pulled out of her scalp." She shook her head, still not understanding it on some level, "The room was completely trashed. Her laptop was snapped in half. She was just lying there on the floor… covered in blood and…" She stopped herself, shaking her head to try and get rid of the thoughts.
"She does talk to me about it." Punk let her know, "Not often but… sometimes." He nodded.
"It took her a long time to talk." Lyla said, "I just couldn't fathom how a person could treat someone like that. He seemed like a perfectly fine guy to me. That was the scary part. I just never saw it coming. I was out partying that night." She shook her head with guilt.
"You can't blame yourself for not being there." Punk shook his head.
"I know but I still do." Lyla said, "It was the worst thing ever. Seeing her go through that. Not just thinking about what actually happened to her that night but… seeing what happened to her afterwards. How much of her life she lost because she was so afraid of everything and everyone." She shook her head, not realising tears were running down her cheeks, "God, I'm sorry." She said, quickly wiping them.
"Don't apologise." Punk said quietly, watching her dry her tears, "Lyla." He said.
"Yeah?" She turned to him, wiping under her nose.
"I will never hurt her." He shook his head as she looked up at him, "I… I am really in love with her." He admitted to her. He knew he was in love with her. It was the only explanation for how he felt.
"I can see that." Lyla laughed a little.
"It's that obvious?" Punk smiled.
"A little." Lyla nodded, "She's dated these past few years. She's tried so hard to let herself get close to a guy again but… it just never happened. She just never felt comfortable." She said, "And then you came along. And I've never seen her so happy and I… I love it." She nodded.
"She deserves happiness." Punk nodded, "And every minute she's willing to give me, I'll do my best to make her happy."
"I know you will." Lyla nodded, "God, we were only supposed to be making sandwiches here." She rolled her eyes, laughing a little as she patted under her eyes to make sure they didn't go puffy or red.
"Food can make people emotional." Punk shrugged, "I'll just tell AJ that you loved my sandwich so much that you cried." He said as Lyla chuckled.
"It is a good sandwich." Lyla nodded, "And… I'd be honoured to make them with you at the Fair."
"The honour is all mine." Punk smiled, "I actually just wanted to make sure I didn't have to work with Becca." He admitted as Lyla laughed.
"I don't blame you." Lyla nodded, "She'd be reading your daily horoscope to you the whole time."
"Of course she would." Punk said, tidying away the ingredients he'd brought out to make the sandwich.
"And Phil?" She said as he turned to look at her.
"Mhm?" He waited.
"She's very much in love with you." Lyla assured him as he nodded with a smile.