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

Chapter Thirty

Every sound seemed like a warning these days. Alarm bells wringing her brain, shaking her back to senses she didn't need to regain. Everything– the obnoxious clock, loud every morning. Unnecessary, too, when she was up by then already. Just another barrage to the ears.

And Quinn's ticking pocket watch and the beeping of crosswalk stoplights and the buzzing that told her that the milk was done frothing. All of it, some chorus of repetitive sounds that counted painstakingly down to whenever that final one would go off.

A beeeeep and it'd all be over. A flatline, in a hospital, like on one of those shows. A car horn urging her to move when she couldn't. The boom of a gun.

She had no idea how it would end. But it felt more and more real by the minute. Real as those harmless loud noises that spooked her, and the fear that annoyed her. Set her on edge.

This time, the all-too-familiar sound of the Mocharia door chime.

She jolted. She'd been examining the old box of critic ribbons she'd received. Counting them, counting the weeks. She'd stopped bothering to hang them up after about a month, just tossing them into a now-overflowing box that had held the Thanksgiving-exclusive ingredients.

She whipped around, a few ribbons spilling onto the floor as she caught the side of the box with her knee as she rose. The bell had surprised her, as ridiculous as it was. The person at the door, though, at least was a pleasant surprise.

"As I live and breathe," Akari murmured, quickly cleaning her hands.

"Hey," Simone smiled, "Feels like forever, huh?"

Akari didn't say that no, it didn't feel like forever. It seemed like yesterday. The last few months had shot by like a bullet, and pierced her with the intensity of one too.

She just smiled back.

"You seen the doc yet?" Simone asked. Really, the project was all they had in common. At least, all they knew they had in common. Akari felt a pang of regret that she'd never really taken the time to get to know Simone. Or Didar... or anyone else in the documentary crew, either. They were coworkers, sure, and that was fine but...

"It's out?" She hadn't known. She'd expected to hear something from Louie before– did that mean...? Did they have to do something about it? Or was there a reason she didn't know?

"Not, uh, publicly. But it's finished, editing and all."

"Oh... wow–" If she was honest, she'd barely thought about Mocharia Life . So much must have been done in post, and she hadn't spared it a second. She shook her head slightly, "Oh, well, what did you want to order?"

"Mmm... the special is fine. Though, could you substitute the lavender for orange?"
"Yeah, no problem."

"Ah– and is the strawberry dairy– like cow milk?"

"Think so."

"Shoot, uh, could I do soy instead, then?"

"'Course."

Akari began to prepare the drink.

"Decorations look nice."

Akari had managed to get the Sugarplex decorations up the night before. The color combinations had always felt very circus-y to Akari, and she could easily overthink it into something sinister. The place where the ringmaster would take his final bow.

Or, you know, a coffee shop celebrating a yearly film festival.

"Yeah, it's a couple days early, but," she shrugged, "Sugarplex is a big deal for you, I guess?"