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

Chapter Eighteen

Quinn jabbed her finger at the sign displaying the New Year's ingredients, and Akari flinched.

"Really?" she asked, "But it's advertised right here?"

It was the absolute worst time this could have happened, but the ingredients were way more popular than she would ever have imagined. They'd run out of the specialty cannoli shells, and the fruit cereal– though, she could probably get some from the grocery store if she really needed, it was nothing special– and the god-forsaken Flavor X Syrup.

People would practically ooh and ahh over the stuff, asking her if it was 'really rainbow-colored!', and she would assure them it was, to even more enthusiasm. And it was rainbow, but it was also an average clear simple syrup mixed with rainbow edible glitter. Which was cool too, sure, but the glitter was almost too fine to not look gray, and well, it really was just an average simple syrup. That hadn't stopped anyone ordering it though, and this made the second time she'd run out by the end of the day. Fortunately, the first time nobody had wanted it after it was gone. Unfortunately, today was the exact opposite.

"Yes, sorry ma'am. But we've run out, short notice." Fuck, she really should have just been mixing up some random combination. No one seemed to know what X-Syrup was meant to taste like, and if she mixed it in–

"Well, you should have another sign to alert the customers of this!"

"You're absolutely right!" There wasn't any point arguing with her. Quinn probably wanted her to.

"It's just, the day is nearly over, and we should have some more in tomorrow, okay?"

She didn't bother to stifle a condescending tone. With Quinn as vindictive as she was, what was the harm in poking a little bit of fun? It was all true, anyways, and she couldn't get fired. Maybe Quinn'd complain to Papa Louie and he'd flip out at her or something, but in all fairness, nothing stopped Quinn from straight-up lying about Akari's service. For now, she just scoffed.

"Can I get you something else?" Akari continued, "I recommend the marshmallow syrup. Or, we should have some tomorrow if you'd like to stop by—"

"Don't be silly." Quinn snapped, "Of course, you wouldn't understand how tight my schedule is. It'll have to be next week! And what then, if you don't have it again?"

Then you'll just have to go without your goddamn syrup.

"I'm very sorry, ma'am–"

"I'm a lawyer, you know!" Oh, are you gonna sue me over some fucking syrup, Quinnie?

"I'm very sorry."

Quinn stormed out of the shop. Good riddance. Such a shame they'd lose out on business like that. She was such a terrible employee... and Papa Louie'd be out for blood if he found out. And she couldn't care less.

Quinn was messing with her. She knew it. At least she hadn't reacted– really, she'd been the perfect employee. It was all just evidence of how much Quinn sucked, another story to rant about to Olivia and Allan.

Allan, if she ever managed to see him– he had become very busy with hockey. His team was nearing the end of their season, and with that, playoffs. She'd taken most of the shifts in the past week while he practiced, and they'd barely even spent a minute in the same room as each other. Not that it was only his problem, she also wasn't around all too often.

She hadn't slept at the apartment all week. Papa Louie had raised the temperature on the thermostat for a little bit, but that combined with the rainy past weeks made the building sort of damp and muggy, and he'd resorted back to heavy air-conditioning, even in the still-frigid January weather. It was, at the very least, uncomfortable to be staying there. Naturally, she was at Olivia's instead, and Olivia had just arrived home.