Hell's Kitchen: The Truth Behind the Papa Louie Universe

Chapter Two

It had been a week since Papa Louie'd been in the shop. She hadn't been given a ton of training, but luckily there was a pamphlet that explained everything, including what Papa Louie had failed to explain. The first day or two had been rough, but she thought everything was going smoothly now. Only the last customers of the day, dubbed by locals as "Closers", stressed her out. It wasn't like their orders were particularly hard, but just their presence made her hands shake and her mind fog. Several times she'd messed up, added an extra shot of syrup, or forgot the whipped cream on a drink. One time she even gave one of them the completely wrong type of milk, and there were only three.

Tomorrow was the day the food critic would come, and she was scared of him most of all. Maybe Jojo would be fine, not as menacing as Quinn or as stuck up as Mousse, maybe he'd be a normal guy who just-

Oh, who was she kidding? On her second day, when Duke Gotcha, who she'd seen on TV countless times, came in and ordered a drink in the same plastic-y voice he used when he read the news, she nearly cried. Her first Closer. She'd heard of them, but he said "I'll be tougher on you" and winked. Why would he wink? Why would he say that at all? She had held her breath when she gave him his order- he carried a horrible energy that he would kill her if he didn't like his coffee, and Akari knew that sounded silly, but she'd come to find out that all the Closers possessed this energy, and she felt like it might destroy her. Maybe she'd get used to it

Whippa wasn't horrible, but she mumbled her order and Akari stressed the whole time that she may have misheard her. She smirked as she left with her order, and as she left the door she muttered that her whipped cream wasn't centered. Akari knew that Whippa knew she could hear her. And Whippa's younger brother, Mousse, was the most arrogant little brat she'd ever had the misfortune to meet. God, those kids were spoiled, their "I'm better than you" attitudes practically left a stench in the cafe. They aggravated her so much she wanted to pull her hair out, and she cringed at the prospect of their weekly visits to come.

Petrona was fine, but she was the executive producer of the documentary and Akari couldn't shake the feeling that her job was in her hands. Everything, however, went perfectly fine. Fine.

Bertha was similar to Petrona in that nothing truly bad ever seemed to happen, but she blew her whistle just once after ordering and it reverberated in Akari's head hypnotically until Bertha'd left the store- horribly uncomfortable. The worst part was, she'd asked the customer directly before her in line if he'd heard it and he said no, even though he'd definitely been in the room when it happened.

Quinn. Everything about her struck terror into Akari's heart, her cold expression, the way she laughed- it sent a shiver down her spine. Her loud watch, pounding in Akari's ears like thunder- the ticking making its way into her dreams at night- the way she spoke loudly to her clients on the phone, when they were the only ones left. She'd fight back the urge to start clanking dishes around as she prepared her drink. If Duke Gotcha seemed like he could kill her, Quinn seemed like she could make it her life's duty to make sure no one ever found her body, never bothered to look for her, and never even remembered she was ever alive. All of the Closers felt otherworldly to Akari, the demonic nature of the six of them skipped past mildly worrying to positively terrifying, and Quinn was the worst of them all.

Except for Jojo. He could be the worst, and she wouldn't know until tomorrow. She dreaded it, and there was no one she could talk to about it. No one would believe what she said, they'd call her crazy. "You're a barista at a small coffee shop. Business is slow and easy. What do you have to worry about?"

But maybe she knew someone who would listen to her.

Olivia had come in on Thursday, the last normal customer, right before she had Quinn for the first time. She was in the shop when Quinn came in, and Akari had made a comment about Quinn to her. She'd looked a little shocked, and scribbled something on a scrap of paper. Akari came to find out that it was her number, which she had shoved into the tip jar along with a generous wad of bills. Akari wasn't sure exactly why Olivia had given her her number- she doubted it was romantic interest, what with the abruptness of her decision, but who knows, maybe whispering "Goodness, doesn't her watch ticking make you feel like your skull'll split in two?" was the way to her heart. All she knew was that 'Call if you need me' was written at the top, and Akari couldn't think of a more necessary time.