Harriet's POV
"And the winner is... Letter H!"
I was immediately let down that I'd didn't win, but not surprised that Jacob won the competition. He's had a lot of free time and it is no surprise that he is getting stronger and better while I have sort of reached a plateau.
While I accepted my defeat and started to clean up my station, a thought crossed through my mind. Didn't Grayson invite me to work for a day in one of his restaurants? It seemed completely out of question before, but now it doesn't sound so bad. If I want to break out of my plateau, this was the chance to get a taste of the real restaurant industry and gain experience. After all, the latest season of All Star Academy was wrapping up which meant casting for the new season had to be coming up soon. I had to be on my A-game if I even wanted to be accepted into the tv show.
"Hey Harriet...." I heard a voice say.
"Congrats on the win! I knew you could win." I said with a fake smile although wishing I was fooling him.
"Thanks. But that's not what I wanted to talk about..." He responded.
"Okay.....What is it. I'm kind of in a time rush." I said urgently.
"Well we haven't really spent any time together so I was wondering if you would go with me on a road trip next weekend to relax and spend time together..." He asked shyly.
That really was a thoughtful thing to ask. I'm sure he had planned it for a really long time too.
"That would be great, Jacob," I said smiling
At first it looked like he was ready to admit defeat but once he thought twice about what I said, a bright smile covered his face,"Really? That's awesome. I'll talk to you later about it."
"Sure." Then, he was off.
I packed up all my bags and headed out to the parking lot to call an Uber to go home and get stuff done before working in one of Grayson's restaurants.
The path home was still the same as it had always been. The same billboards, streets, and sometimes even people. It was the beautiful LA that I sometimes loved and hated at the same time. But no matter what, it was home and that was all a person needed. A place to call their own.
I walked into my silent apartment and flicked on the lights to find a complete and utter mess of clothes, dishes, and everything in between. I usually always kept my house clean, but I've noticed that once I get super busy, cleaning is just not on my priority list and my living space suffers a lot from it.
The first thing I started out with was the kitchen. Not even gonna lie, it's the place I spend the most time at. Reading, cooking, and eating. Lots and lots of eating. So why should it be dirty?
I got a bucket of Lysol wipes and basically wiped everything down and cleaned out the trash and also scrubbed the microwave. Even though I hate it, I washed the dishes that were as tall as the Empire State Building.
I went through every single small room that my apartment had to offer and cleaned the heck out of it. After I was done, my results were pretty amazing and I was actually proud considering I hate cleaning.
Now I was exhausted and ready for a binge fest. A goldfish and food network type of binge.
But before I could do any of that, I had to call Grayson and tell him that I wanted to work at one of his restaurants for the night.
"Hello?" I heard him say over the phone.
After cooking for Grayson, I learned that he has 3 phones. All of them are high class iPhones that I would die to have. Two of them were business phones that were used strictly for his company calls. His third one was his personal phone. Only his extremely close family and friends had access to this phone number.
Even when I asked to have his personal phone number, he refused but Hannah have him a scowl and gave it to me anyways.
"Hi...Um I was wondering if you needed any extra workers in your restaurant. I wanna take up that offer that you gave me a few days ago. This is Harriet by the way." I told him.
"Perfect timing. I actually needed a line cook for tonight at La Rosa Urge anyways." He said.
"So when do you want me to come in?" I asked.
"Show up around 8. Look for a worker named Freddy and I'll tell him to show you around and help you around the restaurant. Sounds good?"
"Sounds great. Thank you so much!"
"No problem." Then, he hung up.
Back to my beloved food network.
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Beep. Beep. Beep.
I had set my alarm to two hours before I was set to work because I had wanted to take a nap before my big day. Once I did wake up, I decided I didn't have enough time to shower and I just skipped to the makeup and hair. Right before I had went to bed, I looked up at least 20 different female chef makeup looks that were simple but classy at the same time. I went to howcast, Wikihow, and any other answers program.
With the little help of Ashley and Megan's help, I decided on a simple brown eyeshadow and a simplistic lipstick. There wasn't any point in drowning yourself in makeup because you were bound to sweat it all off anyways. With all the flames and hot bodies, no guest wanted to see droplets of A23 foundation on their filet mignon.
Uber to the rescue. But before I left, I made sure to grab all the items I needed. Nothing really that special. Just my phone, wallet, and backup cash that everyone carried in the city.
"Where will it be mam?" The uber driver asked.
"La Rosa Urge. You know the place?" I asked.
"Oh yes, of course. Only the fancy people go there though." He said with a wink.
I sighed and said,"Trust me. I am far from it."
The path to the restaurant was full of life and bright lights. It was crazy how beautiful and alive Los angeles got at nighttime. Especially in this side of the city. People with limos and black suv's surrounded all the parking lots and entrances of the high class restaurants and night clubs.
Something told me that this day at work was not going to be a normal one.
"Here we are. Twenty dollars." He said.
I thanked the man before paying him the money and leaving the car. Grayson's restaurant was drop dead gorgeous. The neon pink sign was the perfect thing to top it off. I had heard about this restaurant ever since I moved to LA which was a pretty long time ago. His restaurant required a strict dress code and a commoner had to reserve a seat up to one year in advance to even be considered for a spot. No wonder this restaurant was one of the top 5 in the country.
I walked through the doors of the restaurant to be greeted by a waitress who was in a outdone red dress.
"Do you have a reservation?" She asked with a smile .
"No actually." I replied,"I am working here tonight and it's my first time."
Her whole posture changed.
"Oh! Of course. Night shift. You need to enter through the back and clock in with your card and go through the same process you learned during orientation."
Before I could tell her I had not attended any orientation, she was already attending another customer and I was left to fend for my own.
I went to the exterior of the restaurant and luckily I saw other chefs pulling up for the night shift entering a door, so I used my instinct and followed them. I didn't make it that far whenever I felt a vibration in the back pocket.
A text message?
I clicked on the homescreen and revealed the message, "Good luck. I know you will do amazing. Tell me how everything goes!" -Chris.
So word gets around that fast, huh? But I wasn't complaining for the extra support because to be honest, I was feeling pretty anxious for my first time for the fear of messing up and making a fool of myself in the industry.
I typed him the simple response of, "Thanks" and continued to head to the door.
"Who are you? I've never seen you around." I heard a person ask.
"Oh, I'm just a guest line cook. I'm not a regular worker. Grayson Smith invited me." I told a girl who seemed to have black hair, blue eyes, and a lot of experience in the big leagues.
She had a smirk on her face before yelling to the rest of her co-workers. "Lookie here! We've got a ROOKIE!" As soon as she said that, the whole locker space erupted into noise. You would think this was an underground fight, not a high class restaurant.
"What's the name?" She asked me.
"Harriet." I responded.
She was in thought for a moment before saying,"So you're Freddy's new student, huh? Rumor is, the big guy is giving him a twenty thousand dollar raise just to help you. Anyone, and I mean anyone would LOVE to be his spot right now."
"That's a little dramatic, but yeah I can understand the competition." I responded.
"Restaurant biz is a tough business to be in, you feel me? So keep up or get left behind." She threatened.
Before I could even say anything, a new presence was made in the room. He had a tall and imposing presence with blonde hair and brown eyes. My dream guy. IF the personality was there.
"You guys aren't beating up my student already? She just got here!" The man said while unlocking his locker and stuffing his supplies inside.
"Don't get so beat up over it, Freddy boy. Everyone gets this treatment. It's what makes us a family." Another man said.
So that was Freddy.
"Sure it does. Hyland," He said addressing me,"Meet me in the prep station. We have to start prepping."He said. Then he was immediately out of the room before we even got to make eye contact.
"What position is he?" I asked to no one in particular.
"Oh you know. Only a 20 year old executive chef in the top restaurant in the entire United States." The girl who's name was Grayce said.
Wow. That was impressive. He had to have major skill to be that young and gain one of the highest positions in the entire restaurant. Second from the owner. I was only one year older,so it clearly showed that there is some serious competition in the culinary world and I have yet to reach my A game. That's what I'm hoping to achieve by working here tonight.
"That's really impressive," There was an awkward silence,"Okay then, I'll be on my way."
The kitchen that I entered was extraordinary. Better than Grayson's kitchen in his home. Better than any kitchen I have seen in magazines. This kitchen topped all their standards and made them look mediocre. The entire space was huge in itself. It was something straight out of a movie.
Every surface was stainless steel. The fridge, counters, and even counters. It looked like everything I had hoped for.
I walked in to find Freddy quickly chopping lettuce on a board and thinly slicing tomatoes.
"Brody was our prep cook. Which is supposed to be you. Get chopping please. Cooks without their chopped ingredients does not equal a happy kitchen. Grab a piece of lettuce won't you?" He said.
I was a little taken aback from his tone but nodded anyways a grabbed a lone board and started chopping. The kitchen was entirely empty. I wasn't sure how exactly the resturant system worked, but it seemed to be divided by breakfast and dinner. All the day shift workers had already left the building back to their normal lives.
The kitchen was silent for five minutes. I wanted to say something but I wasn't sure what to say. What do you say in a situation like this?
"How long have you been cooking?" I asked.
"All my life." He replied a second after.
What type of answer was that? Didn't leave much room for discussion.
"Well..." I said trying to get the conversation going," I've been cooking since I was ten and I've loved it ever since. In fact, Chris Flay was my mentor since-"
"Maybe if you weren't yapping, your lettuce strips might not be crooked. This isn't backstreet mcdonald's where people pay a few coins for a meal. People are paying thousands for a piece of lettuce with a sauce on top of it. What make you think the lettuce can be be anything less than perfect? Throw those all out." He demanded.
"They are perfectly fine though."
"And I am the executive chef telling you to throw AWAY the lettuce."
I didn't even think twice before doing as I was told for the sake of my reputation. This Freddy guy had the most passionate and serious face while cutting lettuce I had ever seen. It's like each piece of lettuce represented his hopes and dreams. And each tomato represent the small piece of life he had left. It was exaggerative but he made it work.
I went back to slicing lettuce and tomatoes until the other chefs came around and started their normal routines
"I'll take it from here chef," I heard a guy say.
The kitchen was in a frenzy. The waitress were telling chefs the house was completely packed as always and the different cooks where sharpening knifes and getting ready for the pile of orders. The clock struck 8:31 and a buzzing timer went off.
"Let's get rolling!" Freddy yelled.
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A/N
First, I'm not really proud of this chapter it was supposed to be longer but I didn't want it to be TOO long.
Second, I LOVE ALL OF YOU. I am so blessed to have my book have such a spike in reads and votes. I really appreciate it and you guys are pretty much the only reason that I still write.
I WANT TO TALK TO YOU GUYS! Don't be shy I leave comments so that I can respond to them! It can be criticism, praise, just a chat, I don't care! I wanna get to know you guys!
Next chapter: Next Saturday. 🎉
See you guys then,
Xoxo- Jennifire2001