SILVER LINED DOUBT. [JESS MARIANO]

ONE.

Marley glanced at Luke in confusion as she noticed that Jess had a notepad and pen beside him. When Luke folded his hands together and sighed, she put it all together. Jess was going to be working here.

"No," Marley said, pointing at Luke.

"Yes."

She shook her head. "Do you remember what happened to the last person I trained?"

"I do."

"You fired Patrick the next day."

"Yeah, because Patrick was a moron who didn't know a quarter from a nickel," Luke replied. "That had nothing to do with you."

Jess raised his hand. "In his defense, they're both silver."

"Shut up," Luke said, not bothering to look in his direction. Marley crossed her arms over her chest, biting the inside of her cheek as her eyes fell on Jess. "I trust you to train him, Marley. There's a reason that I've kept you around."

Marley frowned at her boss. "I don't know why you're posing this like a question," she muttered. "You know that I have no choice."

"There's that reason," Luke chimed, his voice uncharacteristically cheery. He motioned between Jess and Marley. "Marley, this is my nephew, Jess Mariano. Jess, Marley Acosta. She's going to be training you this week."

"Her?" Jess asked, looking at his uncle in awe. "Isn't she like, twelve?"

She scoffed at him. "Dude, I'm a sophomore."

"Your middle school has names for each grade?"

"I'm going to be sixteen next month, jackass," Marley said.

Jess raised a brow. "In dog years?"

Marley clenched her jaw and glared at the smirking boy in front of her. "Luke-"

"You," he said, pointing at Jess, "don't be a shithead. You will listen to her and respect her no matter how young she looks."

Marley gaped at him. "Hey!"

Luke turned to her. "And you," he said. "You will train him without complaint. You will watch what he does, how he does it, and if he can do it better. You're in charge."

"I know you don't trust me, but I didn't realize I needed a chaperone," Jess muttered.

"Shut up," Luke repeated, again, not bothering to look at his nephew. "And the two of you," he began, "will not fight. You will not disturb the customers. You will work and get along or work in silence. Understood?"

Neither teenager said anything. They shared a look of something that resembled defeat then focused on Luke.

"Okay," Marley said quietly.

"Sure thing."

Luke clapped his hands together, ignoring Jess' tone. "Glad we're on the same page." He handed Marley her apron from beneath the counter and placed it on the counter. "We have customers. Get to work."

The owner eyed them both before he went back into the kitchen. It was quiet as he left, as Jess and Marley seemed to stare each other down. A small smirk found its way on to Jess' face.

"You heard him," he said, pulling the book out of his back pocket and flipping to a page he had dog-eared. "Get to work."

Marley glared at him, scowling as she watched him skim through the book as if she weren't in front of him. She reached over the counter and ripped the book out of Jess' hand. She ignored his shout of a protest as she stepped on the shelf built into the counter below, then moved up onto the table of miscellaneous junk that stood beside her. She placed the book on the highest shelf, giving Jess a wide, overexaggerated smile as she looked down at him.