Love and Food

xiv: the final banquet

It was now December and just like that, the world was taking a transition into Christmas. November let the carols start to soak in, but December was when it was full force.

Cecilia was doing her last week at the banquet and times really did fly by.

Every week was a new cuisine and she and Evan would taste test it together. Although one week was when the lady that nobody liked burnt her food.

When it was time to enter, christmas time was in full swing. Everybody was like santa's little helpers, and the kitchen was moving along.

This week, it was christmas in Puerto Rico, and it was going to be a fun one, run by one girl all by herself. Sally, it was in fact.

There was a lot more help this week than there was for any other week, but Cecilia still wanted to help as much as possible.

Dishes soon started rushing in faster than a crowd of people waiting to get into the hottest clothing store on black friday. Cecilia was constanly in and out and in and out again. Buckets came through to the point that it was an overload on everybody.

Cecilia though, was surprisenly calm, in fact, she enjoyed the rush. This was a taste of what business was like. She worked in retail, and rushes were no stranger to her. The feeling of a rush gave her excitement, and a chance to let her workaholic self come to life. When things got backed up, she was always there to step in to help.

When a wave of calm came through, so did Evan. He was trying to catch a breath as he walked through the kitchen. It was obvious that he was uptight and destressed. His eyes caught Cecilia and he felt a wave of calm for a second.

He walked towards her and started shaking her shoulders.

"I am so fucking stressed right now."

She shook back.

"You're doing great out there, you got this!"

He bounced back for a second.

"Thanks, that actually hit the spot."

"You want a massage too?" Cecilia showed her grabby hands.

"Maybe later, sunshine." Evan was a totally different person for a second before he had to leave again.

"Evan! What are you doing in the kitchen? You're supposed to be a waiter." Sally found him in the kitchen.

He rolled his eyes and left again.

What was that all for? Cecilia couldn't help but smile a bit. Oh god, she checked her reflection and she was beet red. Oh no, is she falling for him now too?

She decided to go to the small area where all of the silverware and dishes were kept, and she got a text message from her mom asking if she would be needing anything for dinner tonight? She texted her what she wanted for dinner and just as she hit sent, Evan appeared again.

"Distressed again?"

"Texting loverboy again?"

Cecilia shook her head.

"No, it was my mom."

"Your mom still texts you?"

"She's texting me more than men do."

"Won't she let you live?"

"No."

Evan smirked.

"I see you have a little rebel in you. And I thought that you were just a gifted honors student with a tragic backstory."

"Bold enough to think that I'm a good student. I'm content with C's, it's just my parents that are not. They didn't even want me to go to college."

Evan raised his eyebrows.

"Interesting."

He inched closer to her, sliding her cap slowly off her head and his lips were centimeters to her forehead.

It was when a shadow spooked Cecilia and Evan pushed back.

"Oh, I forgot that those windows are kind of see through."

He felt a little mortified.

"Sorry about that."

He left again and Cecilia followed shortly after to do some more bussing.

It wasn't until the doors closed that everybody had some time to relax. Some of the staff were told to take it easy, and Evan was one of them. He found Cecilia and they started walking until they found a set of chairs that were free for them to sit at.

Evan was wearing a Christmas hat and Cecilia took it off of his head. She giggled and put it on her head. He looked at her smile and looked away, his face was blushing red like crazy. By now, Cecilia's hat and apron were off, and Evan couldn't help but stare at Cecilia, she seemed so perfect, as if he wanted to make her his.

Family meal came again less than 10 minutes later and they went to the kitchen again. Chef was having a meal with the teachers, so the kitchen was all good.

Everybody grabbed food and that's when Cecilia was bold and asked Evan for his number. He slid his phone from behind her and she plugged in her number to his phone.

After that, they grabbed their food and started to be immersed in the chatter of what was new. Finals were coming up, and that was a large worry of Cecilia.

When it was time to clean up, Cecilia wanted to help but everybody was sure that they got this. Before she left, Evan walked her and gave her a massive slap on the back, she made a weird sound with a faint moan at the end.

After that, she changed her clothes and put some water on her face. She couldn't really process all that had happened. That Evan was a strange one indeed. But, she actually kind of liked it. He made her feel strange, in a way that Joseph never made her feel before.

As she was leaving with a group of girls, Evan appeared from the shadows and hugged her in a way that was absolutely bizarre.

His one arm was wrapped around her waist and his other was near her neck. The air grew heavy, as now they were inches apart. He held her that way for a minute, and she swore that he was gonna kiss her. She wanted to kiss back, but was that crazy to hear?